#25: TONIGHT'S THE KNIGHT! Knock 'em not-quite dead!

[cindilu2]

Did Clay's adlib get brought over here? When he was the stupid guard and Lancelot was late with his entrance. Time dragged on and then Herbert started to climb down out of his window and Clay poked the other guard with the weapon type thing he had. When Lancelot finally got there, Herbert was supposed to say "You've come to rescue me!" but instead said, "Where were you?"

So Lancelot had troubles? Two of the five times I saw it this weekend, he wasn't able to draw his sword (I think he actually didn't have it on in one) in his scene prior. He was very good at covering though.

Hahahah!! I love his drunken (not stupid, drunken ) guard almost as much as I love Sir Robin. This show is soooooooooo freaking funny. Far more than I expected it to be. How Clay gets through that scene without breaking up is beyond me. Not only are he and Herbert's father (Chris) hysterically funny, but watching Herbert up on the balcony is pee-in-your-pants funny. The audience is totally cracking up. I am soooo amazed Clay doesn't lose it.

I'll stop now, because I can't think of a single thing to say that isn't fan-girl. I simply adore him, in every single way.

I did grab quite a few extra playbills - if anybody needs one, pm me ... eta: all spoken for!!!

[muskifest]

cindilu, I thought Clay was the stupid guard---the one that keeps asking all the questions over and over...the other guard hiccups like he's drunk...Clay's is the..uh...bigger part.

Isn't that right?

(Well, I mean of course THAT'S right ...but as for the guard..? )

That Spamalot blog answer was a lot of hogwash. Just think of all the pranks and jokes and things he does just for laughs....he's such a kidder...

[Cotton]

May I introduce myself . . . ?

My name is Imma Dork.

ETA:

I clicked on the bigger OH smilie and it's sca-rewing up!

Toldya. Imma Dork!

Is it Monday by any chance???

[cindilu2]

I think they're both supposed to be drunk. That's why he can't get the orders right. I'm sure somebody will set me straight. *g* The other guard has no lines, but his body language is 'drunk'.

[Cotton]

Clay ad-libbing . . .

[bottlecap]

From the AP [viaCH]

Ex-Idol Clay Aiken slips into 'Spamalot'

Ex-Idol Clay Aiken slips into 'Spamalot'

By MARK KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer

Clay Aiken is trying to become the next American Idle.

The singer, who burst to fame during the second season of "American Idol," has made his Broadway debut in "Monty Python's Spamalot" — in creator Eric Idle's old role.

"There's a lot of pressure," Aiken says. "To think about how many people dream of doing something like this and to have the opportunity is pretty humbling."

Humbling, and possibly a little bit puzzling: What's a nice North Carolina boy with scant theater background and a penchant for pop lite doing in a scatological English stage comedy?

Exactly.

"One of the reasons that it intrigued me was that it was so different. Nobody I think would have expected me to show up in 'Spamalot,'" he says, laughing.

"It's very irreverent. ... I mean, my character soils his pants on stage multiple times."

This also is different territory for Aiken, who hasn't really acted much and was even cut from his high school's production of "Guys and Dolls." Just nailing the stage lingo has him rattled.

"I'm having to learn a whole new language. Upstage, downstage. I'm like, 'Upstage? What's that mean? Behind? Oh, got it. Why didn't you just say behind? ...' It makes me crazier than I already am."

Aiken, 29, has taken over the role of Sir Robin, the cowardly knight that Idle once played on film and David Hyde Pierce originated when the Tony Award-winning musical debuted in 2005.

"I think I'm probably just like the character — kind of chicken, afraid of everything and likes to sing. This particular character becomes a knight because he really just wants to sing and dance. He's so surprised when he finds out there's fighting involved. That kind of silly stupidity? — yeah, that's me."

Aiken, a performer who has sold 6 million CDs and continues to draw fans to his concerts, confesses to being sore and exhausted as he prepares for his debut. Aiken's first performance was Friday.

"Probably more preparation has gone into this than anything I've ever done," he says. "It's not just learning music and lines and even steps. It's mentally preparing yourself to do all of it at once."

Associate director Peter Lawrence says Aiken has been no idle diva; the singer asked to be treated like any other company member and has been surprisingly fearless.

"Clay really surprised me. When you meet him, he's this sweet kid from North Carolina with an accent. And you think there's no way he can do Cambridge material. And then he does," says Lawrence.

"It's been a total delight and a surprise for me and everyone in the company to work with Clay because he can do things you'd never imagine he could do."

The show is based on the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," which came out in 1975. The film, in turn, grew out of the success of the cult BBC comedy series.

Aiken, it turns out, was a stranger to both.

"Until three months ago, I thought Monty Python was a person," he says, sheepishly.

Not surprisingly, the Python-Aiken partnership started poorly. After being courted by "Spamalot" producers a year ago, Aiken went to see the show and left befuddled.

And why not? He was expecting something like "The Phantom of the Opera" and instead saw characters slapped with fish, dancing plague corpses, a killer rabbit and cow tossing.

"It was, in my opinion, the stupidest thing ever produced," he recalls. "There's no plot."

Persuaded over the summer to return, Aiken finally got it. "It's just completely off-base. So I went in and realized that. You have to go understanding that they even advertise it as being the silliest thing ever. It really is."

That's something Python purists will be happy to hear. Even so, Aiken is bracing for criticism from die-hard fans who can be more caustic than Simon, Randy and Paula.

"I'm anticipating and expecting some sort of fallout. I think it's a little bit different when someone who's never done Broadway before, who may be more well known in the pop world, comes in to Broadway," he says.

"There's always this skepticism that they've been brought in for the wrong reasons or they didn't play their dues or they're not going to do their part well," he says.

"So I even told the choreographer and the director ahead of time, 'I don't want you to go easy on me. I want to do everything that everybody else does. Don't change things and make them easier for me,'" he adds, laughing. "I've since changed my mind."

Aiken, who got a degree in special education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, was teaching grade school kids with autism before he tried out for "Idol" in Atlanta. He was a former member of the Raleigh Boys Choir, and occasionally sang at weddings and at church.

"There's not really a market in North Carolina to sing for a living. There's not that career path for people. So I never really assumed or had any dreams or aspirations to sing," he says.

That changed in the seventh grade when his mother took him and a friend to a local production of the musical "Big River," starring Martin Moran as Huckleberry Finn.

"It was the first time ever that I looked on stage and saw people — you know, adults — singing. And I thought, 'Wow, wait a second. You can actually sing for a living?'" he recalls. "From that point on, I kind of allowed music to be a part of my what-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up scenario."

After finishing second to Ruben Studdard on "Idol," Aiken went on to release his debut CD "Measure of a Man," which went double platinum in 2003. His other albums are "Merry Christmas With Love" and "A Thousand Different Ways." He's currently working on his fourth CD, due possibly by May.

In one of the weirder twists of Aikens' Broadway debut, he looked down at the Playbill while catching a "Spamalot" performance before he officially signed on and saw a familiar name: Martin Moran as Sir Robin.

"So I'll take over Robin from the same person who you could say kind of inspired me to actually make music something that I would do," he says. "It's a very small world — kind of a full-circle thing."

[bottlecap]

Also some fantastic interview photos at Yahoo.

Seriously,

[merryclay]

That article and those pictures are just amazing. My eyes are leaking . The article is just so genuine. and our BF looks better than movie star out there. I'm on overload.

[zena]

Okay, everyone, finger on the scroll button and take a nice deep breath; zena's back.......

zena drags herself, half frozen, through the door of fca and looks around her tentatively.

So what day is it anyway; for that matter what year is it?

Karma or some life force is playing some really wierd tricks on me.

According to the messageboards, in Claytime that is, the ClayNation is presently orbiting around NY and Spamalot, and it is January 23rd, 2008.

Some strange twist of fate has me sitting in a hotel room in frosty downtown Minneapolis with a hazy view of the Orchestra Hall out my window.

I kind of feel like I'm in that Groundhog day movie, where the same thing happens over and over. Except for one thing though, I never get to the evening when Clay sings.

He's not in Minnesota anymore; he's in New York!

Maybe I'm being punished for not writing that recap like I said I would. zena waves cautiously at Couchie and K'Andre.

At any rate, I'm trying reeeeeally hard to "reality orientate" myself to the present day. Yesterday, when the very same bellhop who helped me in December, loaded my luggage onto the cart to take it up to our room, he asked me if I had been to the Hilton before. I said yes, for the Clay Aiken concerts but then added that Clay was in NY now doing Spamalot on Broadway.

His eyes nearly fell out of his head before he reverted to his "be polite to guests" mode, but he was immmmmmpressed. heee, I always enjoy that type of reaction.

The real world version of why I am back in Minneapolis is that my husband has a conference here, and that I didn't get to the mall last time cuz I was too busy having food poisoning etcetera etecetera.

No, I don't think I'll be going back to that restaurant.

FCA will never let me help organize a get together again based on my screwup there. Special apologies to Scarlett and Perusing One..

But I may sneak off by myself to relive the memories of that lovely post Christmas concert chocolate fondue........

All the wonderful and eeeeeeful recaps of Spamalot have me in the throes of some serious envy.........and I'm doing some serious wishing behind my stoic "it's all right" attitude.

It's about a six hour drive to Minneapolis from home, and DH and I spent most of that time discussing the "five year plan" for our business. There will be more budget discussions on the way home.

Still, maybe, somehow, somewhere, someday....my knight will come ......Oh, yeah, I am so completely gullible and naive when it comes to Clay.

Stamps foot!!! I want my crack at the Grail too!

Feel free to enable me okay? "g"

I missed The View because we were enroute having stimulating conversation about bottom lines, and then last night DH's stupid laptop wouldn't download anything. Grrrrr.

I feasted on the screencaps. Hated the hair and the poufy tie, but by the time I got to the 5th or 6th screencap, the hair was growing on me.

(Isn't that a stupid expression?)

I want Clay to stay stylish--as that's what he needs to do in this business. Long hair, short hair, bald, I don't give a damn. It's Clay I love.

wandacleo' , you have such a way with so few words. Right On.

A BIG shoutout to merrieeee who gives the best cellcerts ever. :F_05BL17blowkiss: I loved, loved, your fangirly self and your enthusiasm made especially Opening Night so real for all of us hanging onto every precious word.

I sure was wondering how I would survive without clack but the play by play descriptions by fans are keeping me from starving for sure.

Idyjocelyn, I'm so glad you are going after all. Do you have any tips for getting husbands to come around to understanding what the essential things for happy wives are?

Here we have a prime example of "behind the ear". It make me think of what should happen next, and wouldn't you know it before I edited this line, I had typed, "behind the eats". He does look rather delicious......

BWAH AND BWAH AND BWAH! I think it's him...just hanging around and starting to get a little happy------but not quite migrating north...you know?

Muskifest, your posts never fail to unscramble my perfectly respectful "g" vibes thoughts of Sir Robin, and cause my compass to spin.

:happy-male-133: Even northeast would be good would me..... :29:

Clarifying......closer to me.....more north....ummm.....geographically speaking, of course.

Does this work for you? Sorry - don't have access to my photobucket right now...

Yeah, yeah, well yeah, that picture works very well for me. Thanks bottlecap!

And while I'm sitting here alone in this particular frame of mind, it is my speculative opinion that Clay will never forget to draw his sword when the occasion arises.

zena reads last line of post over and sighs. I think I need an intervention. Sorry for the marathon post.

[djs111]

Oh, those interview pictures are fabulous! His hair is perfect! And many other expressions of praise!!! (tm Eddie Izzard)

That is a wonderfully balanced interview, too.

What a great year this is!

[ldyjocelyn]

Yummy pictures! Thanks bottlecap!

*pets new avatar lovingly*

"I'm anticipating and expecting some sort of fallout. I think it's a little bit different when someone who's never done Broadway before, who may be more well known in the pop world, comes in to Broadway," he says.

"There's always this skepticism that they've been brought in for the wrong reasons or they didn't play their dues or they're not going to do their part well," he says.

"So I even told the choreographer and the director ahead of time, 'I don't want you to go easy on me. I want to do everything that everybody else does. Don't change things and make them easier for me,'" he adds, laughing. "I've since changed my mind."

I love this. He knew full well that it would take a lot of hard work on his part to overcome some biases...and so he said "bring it on!" That's my guy. Always willing to look a challenge in th eye and face it down.

EEEEEE! I'm on top! I haven't been there in a while!

[cindilu2]

Oh, those interview pictures are fabulous! His hair is perfect! And many other expressions of praise!!! (tm Eddie Izzard)

That is a wonderfully balanced interview, too.

What a great year this is!

Yeah, that.

He is gorgeous beyond words...

Never thought I'd change my avitar, but gahhhhhhh.

[Ansamcw]

OMG...OMG...

WOW...those pictures have KILLED ME!!!!

OMG...

so grown up and mature...yet youthful looking....GAH!!!!

and what a wonderful little article...love what the associate director said...

I am sooooooo Happy fan right now...

I told ldyJ the other day that my fave hair was AMA/snowflake hair, then ATDW promo hair, then the blonde beach boy look....but man...in those pictures I think that hair is just overtaking ATDW hair!!!!

OH what a guy!!!! can the press please...for gosh sake permanently erase the Jenna Bush party/wicked pictures and replace their stock photos with these gorgeous shots!!!!

SIGH...I think that will be great look for the next album....EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

can you tell I;m excited!!!

[Ansamcw]

So I see a sudden rash of new avatars...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[bottlecap]

He is gorgeous beyond words...

See. Those right there? ^^^ Those are the MOVIE STAR looks we were discussing this morning.

Seriously, I'm dead. Stick a ninepence in my hand and call the cart to pick up my corpse. You won't even have to whack me in the head with a shovel or anything.

[muskifest]

cindilu...thanks for the guard info---I haven't seen it yet, so I'll defer to you lucky beyotches women who've actually BEEN there and DONE that (in your dreams, babe! )

And may I just add an OMG after reading that article? OMG. FINALLY, somebody gets it right. I want to write to the author of that article and give him/her kudos. Dang....Clay comes out sounding .... well, like HIM!

ah....I sense a turning of the tide....and it feels so freakin' good.

[Cotton]

So how about a sampling of quotes for a thread title?

"Irreverent, surprisingly fearless, a total delight and a surprise!"

Or some variation thereof?

[muskifest]

So how about a sampling of quotes for a thread title?

"Irreverent, surprisingly fearless, a total delight and a surprise!"

Or some variation thereof?

Oh, I vote for this...

He can do things you'd never imagine he could do

ETA: BWAH! I just noticed in that last picture where he's resting his arms on his knees? Look at HIS left leg---good lord, I know that's his iPhone! BWAH! Hey, Clay....call me!

[playbiller]

I think Clay was a combination of stupid and drunk - a sort of stupor drunk as opposed to the hysterical drowsy drunk accompanying him.

I don't need to go again to check do I? Hmm half price tickets.... good seats....

[wandacleo]

I don't know how ANYONE can look at these last pictures and NOT think the man is gorgeous.

Blind fuckers.

[Cotton]

I don't know how ANYONE can look at these last pictures and NOT think the man is gorgeous.

Blind fuckers.

Gee, Wanda, why don't you tell us how you really feel???

[muskifest]

from CH:

I am loving the AP article with a white, hot passion. And since it's AP, I imagine it will be picked up by many other media outlets.

...It's already happening this one is from the San Francisco Chronicle! Ah'm loving it. It's. About. Tahm.

Now you guys anywhere within reach of the San Francisco press or online outlets like SF Gate here that this link takes you to----I swear, I think this is the first POSITIVE, non-derisive news about Clay I've seen around these parts. The Bay Area has been pretty damned nasty re: all things Clay Aiken from my recollection...

I hope this story shows up everydamnwhere!

And wanda? "Blind fuckers?"

Hmmm....I'm sure I can smut on that....give me a second.

[zena]

Oh, thank goodness the thread is still here. I thought I might have killed it with that monstrous post.

He is gorgeous beyond words...

Seriously, I'm dead. Stick a ninepence in my hand and call the cart to pick up my corpse. You won't even have to whack me in the head with a shovel or anything.

Offstage zena whispers loudly to cindilu2, " No, no that's not the right line. It's I am not, yet, dead."

Clayfans have to have multiple lives for all the time this guy stabs us in the .... heart. And he's not done yet!

the very best Clay ever....

definitely movie star material......

Which do I like better?

The one that looks most like Clay; the "surprisingly fearless delightful, irreverent" one.

[annabear]

Now I wanna see that while "sight" seeing around NYC!

[cindilu2]

I think Clay was a combination of stupid and drunk - a sort of stupor drunk as opposed to the hysterical drowsy drunk accompanying him.

I don't need to go again to check do I? Hmm half price tickets.... good seats....

Not to belabor the point (I know, too late, lol) but I think even Clay referred to one of his roles as 'a drunken guard'. Whatever... he's riotously funny.