Yes, you really CAN have it all: smelly knight … saucy pepperpot … faithful manservant … trusty man-steed. It helps if you're one of the multi-tasking stars of "Monty Python's Spamalot," making its downstate premiere Tuesday with a week-long stand at the Peoria Civic Center.

It helps even more if there are more than 20 key roles in "Spamalot" and only five guys and a gal hired to play them.

Christopher Gurr is one of that elite guard.

And he's happy as a wild knight on the town to be dashing backstage to gas up, dress down and/or adjust his brassiere straps.

That's because part of the time he's Sir Bevedere the Strangely Flatulent, known far and wide as "a wise, but smelly, knight."

At other times he's Mrs. Galahad, the generously endowed pepperpot (see accompanying glossary) who brought forth a son, Sir Dennis Galahad the Dashingly Handsome.

Moreover, there are additional moments when he's Concorde, trusty manservant and part-time man-steed to Sir Lancelot the Homicidally Brave.

Gurr has been whirling in and out of this revolving door since "Spamalot" burst its Broadway bounds three years ago.

That was when the show embarked on its new life as a sort of musical errant - roaming the land in search of new adventures and, above all, receptive audiences.

Because it's based on one of the all-time cult movie comedy hits, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," and earned copious awards, it hasn't had to search very far or wide.

Reflecting on the rigors of divvying your stage time up between multiple personas and genders, Gurr says it's less a challenge than "one of the ways I've survived for three years."

If he'd been cast in just one role, as usually happens in the world of theater, "I'm not sure I would have been able to stick it out," he notes.

"But this way I have my personally rotating repertory company every night. And if, say, Mrs. Galahad isn't my particular pot of tea, then there's always Sir Bevedere or Concorde."

Take your pick.

Gurr does.

So do his fellow "Spamalot" mates, all of whom are required to go the multiple-personality route, just as the original Python gang did in the 1975 movie.

"Actually," he confesses, "there's never been a night I've had when I haven't been glad to be Mrs. Galahad. She's always good to go."

Gurr's impromptu testimonial on behalf of Mrs. G almost sounds like it could be a line from one of the "Spamalot" songs - the ones with titles like "The Song That Goes Like This," "The Diva's Lament (Whatever Happened to My Part?)" and "He Is Not Dead Yet."

Gurr was first introduced to the world of saucy pepperpots and worse around the age of 13, courtesy a close encounter with "Monty Python's Flying Circus," then still airing on PBS.

Being a 13-year-old male, says Gurr, is like being a ball of Silly Putty in the hands of Monty Python: "I was right at the exact age to become a seasoned Monty Python fan. I immediately started using their lines and doing all their silly voices at school to impress my friends."

And, now, as an adult nearing middle age, he's using the some of the same lines and silly voices to impress paying audiences around the land.

Though "The Life of Brian" remains his favorite Python movie, "the more skit-like nature of 'Holy Grail,'" says Gurr, lends itself to the musical theater tradition, which is lampooned in "Spamalot" just as surely as the movie did a number on the Arthurian legend.

Despite outward appearances, the odyssey from screen to stage has not been a collective Python effort; rather, it was the brain-child of a lone alum, Eric Idle, who adapted the script into libretto terms, then penned the song score with an outsider, John Du Prez.

The title change was inspired by the movie's now-immortal line, "We eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot."

After a successful Chicago tryout in early 2005, the Broadway edition was placed under the purview of legendary theater titan Mike Nichols, who guided the production to 14 Tony nominations and three wins (including Best Musical).

All of the characters Python fans know and love and likely quote are present and accounted for.

They include: the numerically challenged (can't count beyond three) King Arthur, King of the Britons; Sir Robin, the-Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot; Patsy, King Arthur's half-Jewish servant/steed/trusty companion; the Dreaded Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog; and The Very Tall Head Knight Who Says "Ni!."

In the movie, the three roles played by Gurr were divided among two different Pythons: Idle essayed Concorde, while Terry Jones took on Mrs. Galahad and Sir Bevedere, along with his wisdom and flatulence.

Not every former Python has been charmed by the screen-to-stage transfer, including Jones, who described it as "utterly pointless" and "full of air" upon its 2005 opening.

He went on to say that "regurgitating Python is not high on my list of priorities."

Other members have been more upbeat, including Terry Gilliam ("it's Python-like …") and, on a pro-active level, John Cleese, who provided an audio cameo as supporting player God (the recording remains a part of the national tour).

"I'd heard that he (Jones) was not too hot about the show," Gurr says, "although I think all of them probably had very strong and conflicted feelings about it. So I wrote him a note. I felt like I owed him at least that."

The note, says Gurr, was one expressing deep gratitude to both Jones and the enduring Python tradition, particularly the pepperpot one he was now a part of.

"I told him that I keep a picture of him as Mrs. Galahad on my dressing room table - because it keeps me honest. I got a very nice note back immediately, and there was not even a tinge of disdain about."

Not even, he adds, a speck of "Ni!"

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Ham, jam & Spam

Terms and names to know for the first-time seeker of Monty Python's version of the Holy Grail:

Frolicking Finns

Giddy class of singing Scandinavians; evicted from story/stage after narrator reminds them he was talking about England, "not Finland."

A lot of Spam

Degree of processed meat consumption, circa the Dark Ages ("we eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot").

Coconut shells

What horses' hooves sound like here … what horses' hooves look like here … in fact, what horses' hooves ARE here.

"Ni!"

Salutation substitute preferred by The Very Tall Head Knight Who Says "Ni!"

Dennis Galahad

Mrs. Galahad's Sir-leaning son.

Pepperpot

Middle-aged hausfrau played by man in drag in any Monty Python project, "Spamalot" or otherwise; here, 'tis the salt-and-peppery Mrs. Galahad, mother of Sir Dennis (see above).

Sir Bedevere the Strangely Flatulent

A wise, but smelly, knight.

Laker Girls

The diva-prone Lady of the Lake's personal cheerleading squad ("The Lady of the Lake will make him a man/If she can't do it, nobody can").

Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Show

Quixotic knight errant; realizes he took a wrong turn and promptly exits show, stage left.

God

Deity sounding strangely like John Cleese (holy grail, it IS John Cleese).

French People

A knight of the round table's worst nightmare.

Marauding can-can dancers, tossed cows

Preferred battle artillery of French People.

A knight to dismember

The Black Knight.

Torso

What the BK (see above) uses to fight back with after his arms, legs and lesser appendages are lopped off.

Sir Bors

Hapless/headless victim of The Dreaded Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.

The Dreaded Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog

Dreaded assassin of Sir Bors.

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Filthy-rich Anglo show-tune composer; scourge of "Spamalot"

De-lightful, de-lovely, de-closeted

Sir Lancelot ("in tight pants a lot/he likes to dance a lot").

- Dan Craft