The comedic classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” released in 1975, was supposedly filmed in a mere five weeks for 200,000 pounds, shooting mainly around deserted castles in Scotland. Despite its meager budget and haphazard filming, “Grail” is widely viewed as one of the most influential comedies in contemporary cinema. The British troupe of brilliant screwballs behind the film is credited with doing for comedy what The Beatles did for music.

One of those screwballs was Eric Idle, who played Sir Robin in the original “Grail” movie (as well as half a dozen smaller roles) and penned about 150 of Monty Python’s songs. And so it was a natural progression for Idle to transform “Grail” into a musical stage production 30 years after the film’s debut.

The resulting musical, “Spamalot,” is a more polished, high-end production than the delightfully low-budget “Grail” ever was, taking home the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005. Director and choreographer Scott Taylor’s version, now onstage at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, features elaborate set pieces, extravagant dance numbers and hilarious costumes. And yet, he pulls it off without sacrificing too much of the original’s brand of inane humor.

The production begins with a scholarly looking Brit introducing the story, a comic retelling of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. It’s the story of England, he tells us. And, with that, the curtains rise on a Finnish community where villagers merrily dance about and slap each other with fish.

The aptly named “Fisch Schlapping Song” carries on for several minutes before our scholar returns to the stage to irately announce, “I said England!”

It’s exactly these types of non-sequitur laughs that make “Spamalot” a success, injecting fresh but fitting jokes into the modern restaging. There are occasional pop-culture references, some more subtle than others, including nods to Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. The musical even self-consciously parodies itself, taking a blatant poke at “The Nanny,” the 1990s CBS sitcom that co-starred Charles Shaugnessy, who plays King Arthur in “Spamalot.”

The play also pays homage to the Monty Python legacy, borrowing a few gags from other Python films. The audience is particularly tickled when The Black Knight, after losing his arms and legs in a swordfight with Arthur, quietly begins singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” an Idle tune from “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.”

With a talented cast of comedic singers and dancers around him, Shaughnessy proves a highly capable leading man, ably delivering quips with the deadpan bewilderment of original “Arthur” Graham Chapman.

But Shaughnessy’s understated performance is overshadowed whenever costar Rachel York takes the stage as the Lady of the Lake. Showing off her operatic vocal prowess, York blows the roof off with deliberately over-the-top singing, even when she’s lamenting her lack of stage time. Lady of the Lake was only mentioned in “Holy Grail,” and York’s character in the musical is thrown in purely as stage candy for the eyes and ears—a role of which she is humorously aware.

Aside from the leads, Jeffrey Denman is outstanding in Idle’s original role as Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. Matthew Greer excels as Lancelot, whose character takes some surprising twists in this edition. Like in the film, most of the actors take on side roles beyond their main characters, including Richard Costa as Sir Bedevere and Ayal Miodovnik as Sir Galahad.

And, just to spice things up, the play features a group of scantily-clad showgirls who make sporadic appearances to sing and dance, distracting both the audience and the characters. The crowd, too, becomes unexpectedly involved.

All the most memorable scenes from “Grail” are present here, from the coconut shell horse hooves to the “Knights who say Ni” to the fanged killer rabbit. But there are also plenty of new laughs, updated to 2010.

Many of the jokes in this musical version come at the expense of gays and Jews, though not maliciously so. For instance, when Arthur’s servant Patsy (Jeffrey Scott Stevens) reveals that he is, in fact, Jewish, Arthur asks him why he’s never mentioned it before. It’s not the type of thing you tell a heavily armed Christian, Patsy replies, to which Arthur nods his agreement.

Set a millennium in the past, “Spamalot” satirically addresses issues that remain taboo today—a hallmark of all good comedies—spurring Lancelot to announce at one point, “Just think, a thousand years from now, this will still be controversial.” The musical also speaks to the timelessness of Monty Python’s comedy. As the song goes, Python is brashly announcing to the world, “I Am Not Dead Yet.”

“Spamalot” runs through Sept. 11 at the Ogunquit Playhouse, 10 Main St., Ogunquit, Maine, 207-646-2402. For more information, visit www.ogunquitplayhouse.org.