Eric Idle Takes on Handel

One of my favorites from the Monty Python bunch is writing an ORATORIO!

Sounds like Eric Idle's latest effort will be based on Life of Brian. The oratorio's title: Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy).

“It will be funnier than Handel, though not as good,” said Idle.



How on earth....?

Turns out the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's music director, Peter Oundjian, is Eric Idle's cousin. Every time they saw each other, they'd toy with the idea of collaborating. When the war in Iraq began, they considered doing a musical comedy called Peter and the Wolf Blitzer. That didn't come to fruition. Finally, the Toronto Symphony joined the Luminato Festival to commission the comic oratorio, which will debut this June.

Idle's working with his Spamalot collaborator John DuPrez on Not the Messiah.

I love Eric Idle's wonderfully ludicrous and inappropriate songs, such as "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life," from The Life of Brian.

Read more about Not the Messiah on the BBC, the Globe and Mail and Times Online.