#28: The man's a joy magnet!

[merryclay]

I loved the recap, wandacleo ,and I love that full length picture. I think Clay's thighs are getting really muscular from all that dancing.

[bottlecap]

Great recap, wandacleo, and nice job in picking out all the salient point, treenuts.

laughn and I were thinking of seeing Curtains next month, but David Hyde Pierce is on vacation when we're there so we got tickets to Wicked instead. Now I'm glad, because the fan reviews of Curtains haven't been the greatest.

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

8 Days until Spring!

51 Days until The Closing Night of Spamalot!

53 Days until The New CD! :whoohoo:

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[luckiest1]

I have uploaded my stagedoor video from Wednesday night to the goldarngirl site. I think that this link should work, if you right click and save. Make sure you are using a download manager, the file is 126 mb. I will try and get it uploaded to the vault later today.

http://www.goldarngirl2.com/Spamalot/08031...k_luckiest1.avi

And these are stage door pictures that my daughter crimsonice took on Tuesday evening (clickable).

Hee, still trying to catch up before I write my tome. But first.............breakfast! Soooooooooo glad I booked today off work.

ETA: More clickables from crimsonice, these ones from Wednesday.

[FromClaygary]

Eeeeeeeeeee!! Thanks for the pictures and video! Will you LOOK at that gorgeous butt in that last picture!

ETA: Question for those who have already been to NYC, or who live in the area...

We tried and were unable to get a reservation at Carmines for Friday night the 21st.

Do you require a reservation for John's Pizza? Opinions on John's?

Recommendations for another restaurant close to the theatre, for about 8 people? What shouldn't we miss?

Thanks!!

[aikim]

Eeeeeeeeeee!! Thanks for the pictures and video! Will you LOOK at that gorgeous butt in that last picture!

Funny, that was the first one I clicked on!

Kim

[luckiest1]

If you like Tex Mex, we really enjoyed Chevy's. Only a couple of blocks. They can accomodate large groups.

[00lsee]

Fun recap, wandacleo. This cracked me up:

Clay looked so happy at the end and did his filled with glee look. Really, the man needs pants with a longer inseam. Fortunately, he doesn’t have them yet.

I understand what is meant by inseam, but technically what Clay needs is a longer rise in those pants...but that just sounds all kinds of wrong.

Or right. Depending.

And this? You are trying to kill me, aren't you?

Naaaa-aaaape...

*whimper*

[ldyjocelyn]

I just wanted to see this picture again. Talk about a tall drink of water on a hot day....

*slurp*

wandacleo -- THANK YOU for the recap! What glorious details! EEEEEEEE!

luckiest1 -- THANK YOU for the pictures! I can't wait to get home this evening to see the video.

Last night, my husband and I went to see one of the grand dames of country music, Loretta Lynn. It was very cool to see a living legend...even if my husband and I (at age 45 each) were probably some of the youngest people there. *g* Anyway, I almost had to laugh the entire evening. Here's the story: sitting right in front of us was this lady, probably about 50 or so. The opening act came on (a husband and wife team, The Wrights, with just two guitars and some good harmonies), and this lady started harumphing. Heard her after they were over: "I didn't come to see them, I was bored, I want to see Loretta Lynn." Well, then the main part of the show started -- except, that at age 70, Loretta "farms out" some of her show to her kids, grandkids, and her supporting band. This lady was NOT happy. She was there to see Loretta, damn it, and who were these people to take Loretta's time. All I could think about was the people who would leave during Q&A's solos, or who would grumble about their solos cutting into "Clay's time." Heh.

[bottlecap]

And this? You are trying to kill me, aren't you?

Naaaa-aaaape...

*whimper*

It's the curling nape hair again, isn't it, 00lsee. I was enjoying the profile, the look of intense concentration, and the eyelashes. The sight of all those cameras pressed up to the fans' faces just made me giggle.

Great pics! Thanks luckiest1 and crimsonice!

[cindilu2]

I'm back to work after our adventures in Airport Land yesterday, lol. Soooo, not much time to post but I thought I should share my one and only photo. For the chest-hair lovers...

[muskifest]

whoa....that last picture certainly highlights two features of Clay that always...

catch my smutty imagination eye:

1. the chest hair---Clay seems to have just the right amount of it---Of course, since I haven't seen the whole naked torso (except in my dream yesterday, but I could change the amount of chest hair in that), I can't be sure...but it SEEMS as though he might.

2. the fingers---They're so long, yes. But the SHAPE of them is unique to Clay. They're thick and solid at the base and then they taper to a delicate, probing end. Quite...stimulating to think about the possible uses of such an instrument, for sure.

[bottlecap]

To whomever has seeming lost every single undershirt the man owns: :big hug:

[muskifest]

from the CH:

Playbill.com

Broadway's Spamalot Will Celebrate Third Anniversary March 18

The Tony Award-winning musical Monty Python's Spamalot will celebrate its third anniversary on Broadway March 18.

The musical, which is "lovingly ripped off" from the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," began its run at Broadway's Shubert Theatre Feb. 14, 2005, and officially opened March 17. The production made its world premiere at Chicago's Shubert Theatre Dec. 21, 2004-Jan. 23, 2005.

The company at Broadway's Shubert currently features Jonathan Hadary, Hannah Waddingham, Clay Aiken, Christopher Sieber, Brad Oscar, Tom Deckman, Rick Holmes and David Hibbard.

The producers are offering three different ways to celebrate the milestone:

- Theatregoers can get one free ticket with every two tickets purchased at regular prices through April 11 by calling (212) 947-8844 or by visiting www.broadwayoffers.com and using the code SPAM3PK.

- On March 18 there will be a special 3-D performance of Spamalot. "Of course the show is always performed in 3-D," press notes state, "but you get to wear really silly glasses at this special performance."

- For a limited time, all triplets get in free when all three attend the show together.

Now THIS is definitely one of those times I wish I lived close to NYC!

[luckiest1]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Chest hair! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

OK, I have sufficiently recovered, enough to start my recap.

Where to start? Hee, what a whirlwind of a trip!

Non-Spamalot trip stuff, scroll at will:

I bought the Spam tickets the first day Clay was announced in the role. My first thought was that I had to go on Spring Break because my 16 yo son Stuart would never forgive me if I went without him. He's not really a Clay fan (although on occasion he does fanboi really well) but he is a HUGE Monty Python and particularly The Holy Grail fan. I took him to see Spamalot about 2 years ago when it came through Toronto, and he's been raving about it ever since. When I told him, that night, we'd be going to NYC in March to see the show because Clay had been cast as Sir Robin, he was thrilled, but he wasn't so sure that Clay would be able to pull off the part. And of course, I also bought a 3rd ticket for my daughter, crimsonice, who has been to every Clay concert with me (except for 2, and lets just say she's v.v. bitter about those, LOL). My good friend cindilu2 jumped on the bandwagon to become our 4th.

So, Tuesday morning, March 11, we got up in the middle of the night and hit the highway to Buffalo, NY, where we were to catch our Jet Blue flight to NYC. Smooth sailing, clear roads, no problems at the border. YAY! The flight was great, save for one scary moment where they told us that "Fifi", the evil French computer system on board, was not working, but they resolved that in a matter of minutes. Didn't help cindilu2's take off anxiety any, however!

We landed on time around 10 am, and grabbed a cab to Manhattan. (Now, a bit of a non-Clay side story here.....I am a HUGE Beatles fan. I was only 17 when John Lennon died, but it hit me very hard, and I have always had a desire to go to NYC to see the Dakota and Central Park and Strawberry Fields in particular. So as we're sitting in the back of the cab, driving through the streets of NYC, what song comes on but #9 Dream. I broke out in full body shivers, it was so eerie.) We were in contact with playbiller en route by cell phone. The original plan was to pick us up at the Port Authority bus terminal, but she couldn't get close to it because of construction and police presence, so she told us to hop out a few blocks away and she'd find us. Hee, that was kind of scary, but fun. Luckily, we saw her and she saw us and we managed to hop into her car before the cops ticketed her for stopping in a no stopping zone!

play took us across the Lincoln Tunnel (another cool thing for me since I am also a big Stephen King fan and that is a big scene in his novel The Stand). Then she took a slight detour and we parked in Weehawken, which offers up an AMAZING view of the NYC skyline. We got out of the car and took a bunch of pictures. It was just so exciting, the sun was shining, it was relatively warm (especially as compared the weather we left behind) and we were giddy. Thanks for thinking of doing that, play! Then we continued on to play's house, where we were v.v. happy to see a bathroom. LOL. Holly (the dog) was there to greet us, and I have to tell you, she was a huge selling point for Stuart. He loves dogs and she is one very sweet puppy.

We had a bite to eat, and relaxed a bit, and then headed back into Secaucus to catch the bus into Manhattan. I'm sure play had seen it all a million times but it was nice of her to tag along with us while we started wide-eyed at all the buildings and billboards. We checked out the M&M store and the Hershey store, and just walked and walked to get a feel for the place. We ended up at the Shubert and I was in awe. It was so strange, just being there, after seeing so many stagedoor videos and pictures and there it was, for real. The barricades were folded up against the building. And then I saw the sign at the front with Clay's name, and I EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'd! Heh, they were all laughing at me, but I didn't care, I do fangirly quite well and proudly, thank you very much. And lo and behold, there were wandacleo and her friend Carol Jean waiting for us, so we all trouped into Juniors a half hour early and had some conversation and yummy food. All thoughts of healthy, low fat diets went out the window, and we chowed down on hamburgers, onion rings, pickles, fried shrimp, and ultimately, cheesecake! YUM. The staff were very friendly as well. I liked it. And the whole time, I had a view of the stage door, and was able to watch people coming out and going in. I remember texting ldyjocelyn from the restaurant, because I was just sitting there thinking how surreal it was to be there, finally. I had to take a couple of moments, I swear to god, just to breathe and get a grip. It was overwhelming.

First Spamalot recap:

After dinner, we walked around and did a bit more sightseeing, until about 7 pm, when we headed back to the Shubert and stood in the lobby (where it was heated). It was cool just to listen to the chatter of the people around us.....some Clay fans, one young girl had a purse with the Rolling Stone pic on it, but for the most part, they were "not just us" kind of folks. Stuart bought the Black Knight stuffed doll from the merchandise table....he's been coveting that thing since we saw the play in Toronto. Then we entered the theatre and headed up to our mezzanine seats. I perused the merchandise at the table up there, and had a chat with the friendly guy who was doing the selling. Our seats were row A on the left side near the aisle, and they were absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe how close they were to the stage! And we could see the left tower fine. jmh123 and her friend (whose name I can't remember, please forgive me) came and sat down in the two seats right next to us, on the aisle, which was great, since I'd been trying to reach her so that we could meet up. Of course, she hadn't been online, and the phone I'd left a message on was her home phone (oops) so that's why! And then we saw Jerome appear in the right private box section across from us, and seat Rosie and her wife, which made crimsonice's night, because she is a huge Rosie fan. There was a gentleman behind us reading the program out loud to his wife, the Clay bio in particular. Heh, it was cool.

When Clay appeared in the tower, there was no audience reaction, so I knew right away it was mainly a "not just us" crowd. We could see him in profile, and I loved the way he played with his helmet strap. So cute! His accent is fantastic, and his comedic timing is great as well. And then he was down there with his triangle, singing and dancing, and I could see every expression on his face, no binoculars needed. Amazing! And the gentleman behind us was having a great time, laughing at all the jokes.

It's really all a blur already, I can't remember too many individual things from that first show we saw. I remember dying laughing so many times, and then at intermission I remember texting ldyjocelyn to tell her about Rosie. She called me right back and we talked for a few minutes. The audience was full, right to the back of the mezzanine and into the corners, and of course the floor was full as well. I never saw the balcony. Then it started up again and Clay's expressions during the Sir Robin bit with the minstrels were hilarious. The first time he soiled his pants I could hardly breathe for laughing, he does it soooooooo well! And his big solo number just seemed to go by far too fast, but man, is it fantastic. His delight at seeing the piano, and the seriousness on his face when he gets ready for the Russian dance.........man, I'd love to see that part from front row centre. How can anyone survive it?

The Knights who say Ni were hilarious, and Rick is so trying to crack them all up. We had seen all the footage about Elliot Spitzer while in the airport and on the plane, so we weren't surprised when he used it, but the Roxanne part cracked us up, and cracked the King up as well. The audience just roared the longer it went on. They have so much fun with that part every night. The rest went by in a blur, and next thing I knew it was curtain call, and then they were singing Always Look On the Bright Side Of Life. Hypocrite that I am, we snuck up a bit before the song ended to get down to the barricades.....but I knew it was our best shot at getting an autograph (being a Tuesday), and heck, I've been waiting for 5 years for one. So we took advantage and it paid off. But I felt so guilty later that night that I had a bad dream about being such a bad fan. *slaps self* I vowed not to do it the next night.

So we get down to the stage door with a bunch of other maniacs who were in the great scramble down the stairs, and it wasn't long before Clay and Jerome came out the door. Clay was wearing a blue stripey button down shirt with no jacket. His hair was messy and SO blonde. I couldn't believe he was RIGHT THERE. And then he came over to our side and he was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME for a few glorious seconds. He had stubble, I clearly remember that, and he was gorgeous. When he took my playbill and signed it and handed it back, he looked at me for a split second and I just about died. I remember saying "thank you Clay" and kind of floating away so someone else could squeeze in to get a chance. But I stood and watched until he finished and waved and went back through the stage door. Then Rick came out and we also got his autograph, and then we all stood around and EEEEEEEEEEEEEed and looked at crimsonice's pictures on her camera and EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEd some more. We finally said our goodbyes and hugs and headed back to the Port Authority to get back to NJ for the night. I was on freaking cloud nine all the way back, I just couldn't believe my luck. And then to find out later that someone captured the moment? Priceless.

To be continued..............

[ldyjocelyn]

Cool recap so far luckiest!

*adds a few candles of thanks to the altar of the person who got rid of Clay's tshirts*

- On March 18 there will be a special 3-D performance of Spamalot. "Of course the show is always performed in 3-D," press notes state, "but you get to wear really silly glasses at this special performance."

Waldo in 3-D?

*pretends to get the creeping crud at work so I can find flights for this show NOW*

[playbiller]

Man, they make me want to get one more ticket!

I love 3D

ETA - why wasn't I born rich, there are no decent seats left, only very far on the side way back in orchestra ditto mezzanine at full price (don't ask about at discount) except front row center is available at premium. Maybe they will reduce the price that day

[00lsee]

Well, it's about time they provided eye protection.

[luckiest1]

My friend and I went to see Clay for the second time tonight. We saw Spamalot on Tuesday, Curtains (not nearly as good) last night, and Spamalot again tonight. We are stuck in the hotel from hell—DO NOT STAY AT THE PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL!!! We have no internet connection and they charge by the 1/2 hour in the lobby among [MULTIPLE] other sins.

Anyhow…..on to Clay now that I’ve finished my public service announcement.

I’ll tell you mostly about what I observed tonight because I was so enthralled on Tuesday that I could hardly control myself much less my memory. We were in the center section row C on Tuesday and in row B right beneath the tower tonight, so we were looking right up into Clay’s face. I was watching his long fingers. When he talked, he was playing with the strap on his helmet. Then, when he started to ignore King Arthur, he turned away (like ignoring him) for a moment and his fingers wrapped around the corner of the window. He used his hands a lot when he was talking. When he was talking about the swallows he had his fingers fanned out and made like a bird-flying, with the hands mimicking wings.

When he was talking about becoming a Knight with Lancelot, he says “It’s not all dressing up and dancing” and he kicked his leg up behind him. So cute.

When the “Not dead yet” guy is singing, Clay stands there with his mouth open and gaping, looking totally shocked. He’s wearing brown scuffed shoes, by the way. I checked them out up close.

When Sir Galahad meets up with the LOTL and she’s right up against him and says she’ll show him how [to be a knight] he gets this look on his face and bends a little and put his hands toward his crotch. (“DOWN!!”) It was incredibly funny. Later when SG was trying to get the orchestra to stop playing, he started swearing at them and gave them the one finger salute.

When Sir Robin came back out as a knight, he was wearing black shoes that had blotches of silver all over them. ( Not that I have a foot fetish.)

When Clay was dancing, his feet were lifting up as he was rocking back and forth.

When the dancing girls came out swinging the ball things (What ARE those things?) Clay looks just gleeful—big goofy grin and we could hear him say “Oh, look at that.” Honestly, he does joyful glee SO well.

Later, in the Vegas scene after he takes his glass he is just running around with his mouth open in a state of ecstasy. He was over to the side with Sir Galahad and he was shimmying like the girls were doing with such joyful abandon and then he kicked up his leg and grabbed at his hip as though it hurt.

Tonight I noticed that the nun was a male. I missed that before. I was probably too busy watching Clay sitting on the table looking amazed at the dancing.

When the BIG FEET of God descend from the sky, Clay put his head down and hands over his eyes. When he talked about someone swallowing the grail, his hand touched his chest.

I loved when Clay was waving that torch around and tottering over the mountain looking just so confused and scared.

When he did the slow motion, Clay bent WAY lower than the others. We’re talking serious thigh control here.

His riding through the 4 seasons was funny as he shivered for winter, tongue out for summer, and hands up to protect himself when the guy came with the water.

In the French taunter scene, Clay threw his leg over and talked to his horse. It was so sweet.

In the scenes where Clay gets scared or nervous, he tends to put his left gloves to his mouth and sort of chew on a finger.

When the GIANT wooden rabbit came out, Clay said, “OH WOW” and grabbed the rabbit. Later, when they realize that the rabbit is inside the French castle, and they aren’t inside the rabbit, Clay rubbed his face in dismay.

The cow hit Patsy on Tuesday but missed him by a mile today, so Patsy just stayed in the scene and carried on.

Right before intermission, when they were doing the “Run away, run away” part, Clay looked terrified and was screaming when he ran backstage.

After intermission, during the Brave Sir Robin song, Clay was swaggering and looking so proud until the words started getting through and he got more and more upset. When the guy sang “his penis split” Clay reached out and hit/grabbed the tambourine to stop the guy. It was so funny.

Clay is a brilliant pooper. Seriously. He let out a squeal, clutched his but with his hand and waddled off with one hand on his butt and the other in the air.

The Knights of Ni sang, “If you want my body, and you think it’s sexy, it’ll cost you $4500 for three hours” (or something like that—people were laughing so hard it was hard to hear.) Then, Ni and King Arthur were laughing and couldn’t go on for awhile. Finally, Ni said “Paid for by Elliot Spitzer.” And everyone just lost it. The audience was just howling. Finally Ni said, “Life’s a bitch, “ which brought on more gales of laughter.

OH YES, one little memory from Tuesday, Clay almost lost it at one point and was sort of clamping his mouth shut and trying so hard not to laugh—I think in this same scene about Spitzer (they did the same routine on Tuesday).

Clay just rocked on “You can’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews.” He looked SO serious during the stomping and dance. Then, when he gets the yarmulke and the cane to dance, he called out “Papa, can you hear me?!” as he started to dance.

Clay is a great drunk—weaving a little, lower lip sort of out, glazed look on his face. The whole scene was just so funny. When Lance came running in and stabbed Clay, he opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and fell over

Rabbit scene—Clay was laughing like crazy at the rabbit until it got vicious.

Brother Maynard was funny, as always. He just sort of tottered out and pushed his glasses up a couple of times when he was reading.

Clay looked so happy at the end and did his filled with glee look. Really, the man needs pants with a longer inseam. Fortunately, he doesn’t have them yet.

It was a great show.

Both Tuesday and tonight the houses were packed. There may have been a few stray empty seats, but I didn’t see them and there were people all the way to the top of the balcony both nights. VERY appreciate crowd. Everyone got big cheers, but I think the biggest cheers were for Clay.

Clay came out to sign but I couldn’t get near him on Tuesday because there were so many people. He didn’t come out tonight. Not sure why. I couldn’t hear what Jerome said—again BIG crowd of people waiting. I’m sure many were disappointed.

We’re going to see Avenue Q tomorrow and Spamalot again Saturday night before we leave town, but we’ve decided to try to get tickets for Saturday afternoon as well. We just can’t resist.

(This report may travel.)

Wanda, what an absolutely fabulous recap! How do you remember all that stuff? You made me remember things I forgot.

[bottlecap]

Hee. I loved the whole recap, but I really enjoyed the cameo appearance by Holly. Good doggy. Pat, pat, pat.

[annabear]

LOVED your recaps, wanda and lucky! Thirty-five days! :00000442:

[merryclay]

I love recaps. Zap me to NYC, please.

[treenuts]

*whimper*

My new background! All the bigger/better to lick that little spot just back of his left ear!! I'm molesting my monitor y'all.

THIS

Waldo in 3-D?

AND THIS

Well, it's about time they provided eye protection.

Just made my mornin'. Ahh, smut&coffee in the mornin'. Ain't life grand

Great recap luckiest and pics!!

[cindilu2]

Hee - the good thing about being lazy at work is, I can just wait and 'yeah, that' luckiest1 and wandacleo. And now I'll be even lazier more time-efficient and copy my v. brief thoughts from the CB.

I was sitting two seats down from wandacleo (*waves*) on Tuesday night, and in the exact same seats that she had on Thursday on my Wednesday night. SO, I can just say yeah, that! to her recaps. Hee!

There just aren't enough superlatives for this show, in my completely-unbiased and humble opinion. It is just so much fun. Unless something miraculous happens, these were the last of my shows and I was a little misty during the curtain call on Wednesday night. Only for a few seconds though, because I know exactly how lucky I am to have been there. Clay was simply a joy to behold in all of his roles. The opening tower scene is fabulous - he does incredulous, dopey disdain v. v. well! All incarnations of Robin are inspired. He IS Sir Robin. His drunken guard has evolved quite a bit, and he and Chris play off each other to perfection. Brother Maynard is priceless - he turns counting to three into an art form.

It is a shame that Chris is leaving the show before everybody gets to see him. I simply can't imagine another person in his roles. On Tuesday night, in addition to his two-finger 'eyes-on-you' to the conductor during 'you'll wish that you weren't born' part of The Song That Goes Like This, he also gave the one-finger salute to him. I'm pretty sure they must've heard my *snort* in the balcony. He is priceless.

And the Knights of Ni was the funniest I've seen - both nights. Rick Holmes is a genius. I think I hurt myself laughing.

Hannah is spectacular. (As are her sisters!) What a powerhouse. I love her! And Tom Deckman is like a living cartoon. He is simply adorable in all his roles. I've said it before, and will say it again. This cast as a whole just has an effortless rapport, and it results in a performance that exudes fun and joy. It's infectious!

[luckiest1]

Part Two (more non-Spam stuff):

When we got back to play's house Tuesday night, the rest of the gang headed for bed, exhausted, but I stayed up to try and figure out which cruise to take Stuart on the next day. His one big thing that he wanted to see in NYC was the Statue of Liberty. So with play's help, we finally found the site that sold the advance reserved tickets into the monument itself. I purchased those and headed for bed. The next morning play was kind enough to drive us all the way to the docks in NJ, where we saw a movie about the statue, and then went through the equivalent of airport security before we were allowed to board the ferry with hundreds of other people. First stop was Ellis Island but we decided not to get off the boat, and just took some pictures. Then on to Liberty Island where we perused the gift shop, and then stood in another security line for 45 minutes to get into the monument itself. There is a very cool museum inside, and then we ascended the 156 steps to the observation level. Man, was it windy up there! By that point, the clouds had come over, and it was quite chilly. But what a view! Afterwards, we went back to the gift shop, and when we were in line we heard the sound of the ferry. Since they only run every hour, we booted it out of there as quick as we could and hopped on, only to discover that it was heading for NYC and not NJ. Hee! That was actually a good thing, since it saved play the trip back to get us, only to take us to the bus stop anyways. So, we ended up in Battery Park, and just followed the crowds out until we saw a subway. I love a good adventure! The subway employees were very helpful and friendly, and helped us figure out the passes and the routes, and we had no problems finding our way up to the 72nd Street stop at Central Park. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

We came out of the subway smack dab at the Dakota. That was freaky. We went to the front of the building and stood there for a while in silence, taking it all in. I was quite emotional, but Stuart was happy I didn't cry. I took a few pictures, and as we turned towards Central Park to leave, the guard came out of his little hut, and another guard, walking by, said very clearly to him, "Hey Johnny". OMFG, cue the Twilight Zone music. So we headed back across the intersection into Central Park, and found Strawberry Fields. Again, another cool moment for both of us. Someone had placed green apples in the middle, which I thought was great. Stuck around for a while and took a few pictures. Bought matching "Strawberry Fields Forever" hoodies from a street vendor to commemorate our little adventure, and then eventually wandered back down into the subway and back to 42nd street to kill the rest of the time until Spam!

After about an hour in Dave & Buster's, where two different people gave Stuart their tickets to buy some prizes, a brief run through the New York Yankees store to buy something for my other son, and a quick Starbuck's for me, We met up with crimsonice & cindilu2 for dinner at Chevy's restaurant . Heh, ask them about the free entertainment in the next booth (ewwwww). Apparently there was a couple who needed to get a room. Glad my back was to them. But really great Tex Mex food. Afterwards we killed a bit more time by wandering over to the theatre were Rent plays. My daughter is a bit of a RentHead so she took some pictures and signed the wall. Too bad we weren't able to stay long enough for her to catch a performance, but she saw it last year, and we are seeing it next week in our little city in Canada (the travelling cast, obviously).

2nd Spam recap:

This time, we had seats to die for, orchestra row B, cindilu2 & crimsonice on the left side, Stu & I on the right side, but both pairs right on the aisle. I couldn't believe how close the stage was, we could practically touch it. Seeing the orchestra pit was so cool, with the conductor's head in spotlight. The opening number, before anyone even comes on stage, is soooooooo funny. There is a trumpet part, and then you hear a shot, and then the trumpet part again, but the guy is obviously injured, it's all garbled, then another shot, and he's dead. The audience is laughing even before Tom comes on stage as the historian, LOL. From our angle, we could see Clay as he came from backstage and entered the tower. And this time we were face on for Clay's tower scene, and I just loved his expressions, and the way he says "I had a feeling" after the King says he's looking for men. CMSU! Then there he was, getting his hat fitted quickly, and out he came with those furry boots, and his triangle, singing and dancing right in front of us. We could see the stage makeup so clearly, the "mud" on his face. Not Dead Fred is so expressive, it was just such a different show seeing it from up so close. Things we never noticed from the night before jumped out at us. During the All For One song, I could clearly hear Clay's voice separate from the others, off mic, but I don't remember being able to hear that up in the mezzanine. They were right in front of us for the "Idol of my age" part, and it was so cool, they have this little campfire set up, and they roast Robin's chicken over it!

When Dennis is talking to the King, and then the Lady of the Lake comes up from the water, Chris Seibert was right in front of us, and he quite clearly said "she's stacked!" while miming having boobs. LMAO! I thought Stuart would die laughing.

Patsy is so funny during the Laker Girls song. He dances along, kind of marching in place with his arms swinging, and then he comes centre stage and does this hilarious dance while they sing "they lady of the lake will make you a man, if she can't do it, nobody can!". BWAH. On the way home yesterday, we tried to bribe cindilu2 to recreate it in the parking lot of Tim Horton's, but she said it'd cost us too much money.

Another really funny moment is when they are singing The Song That Goes Like This, and the song is going on too long, and Galahad (Chris) takes a couple of steps towards the conductor and sings "you'll wish that you weren't born" and does this motion with his fingers as if to say "you're dead". LOL.

The seasons part is great, as wanda wrote about, Clay really acts out each season, and his fear of water is played up in his reaction to the bucket marked "water". Hee, spring, summer, winter, and water. What happened to autumn? And then the slo mo, right in front of us. Clay was making the most hilarious faces and his body motions, oh my. And Lancelot (Rick) doing the spitting in slow motion, and wiping his arm across his mouth, was hilarious.

During the Brave Sir Robin song, it was so much fun to watch the way he reacts to the words Tom is singing. And at the penis part, his reaction is priceless, he almost seems to scare himself when he puts his hand on the tambourine to stop the song and then almost hits himself in the face. And the part when he comes back later, and is trying to shut the minstrels up and says "don't you know another song?" and the King asks him if he was running away and he says "no, I was running to where I thought the grail was".....is priceless.

It was really, really hard to watch the whole show and not just watch Clay from up that close. Honestly, I didn't try too hard. He is just so beautiful up close. It floors me that some people don't see it, but eh, their loss, right? He danced so much during the Camelot scenes, he bumped hips with one of the dancers, he mimicked the girls swinging those chain things, and then pretended he hurt himself, he shimmied, he shook, he was just on fire. He seems to be having such a blast up there on stage. I could see so many facial expressions from that vantage point that I'd missed the night before, just because of the angle I was on. In particular, after his big solo number, when he kneels down before the King, and then jumps back up to his feet, he gets this look on his face, almost a pout, he seems quite concerned and maybe even a little fearful of how the King will react to his news, and then relieved when the King says "let's go and find some Jews, then!" I watched his face during the French taunting scene, when I could see it, and he reacts to everything, even when his back is mainly to the audience. He never breaks character. The only time, both nights, that he did even a little bit, was during the Knights of Ni scene when every one was cracking up at the Elliot Spitzer stuff. Wednesday night, it went on for so long, the King completely lost his lines, Rick said them, and the King still couldn't speak, and Rick finally said "I'm such a bitch" or something like that, and then "we were doing Spamalot". The King eventually managed to speak his next line, but I swear the hilarity went on for 5 minutes.

The whole Swamp Castle part is probably one of my favourite parts of the show. Clay as a drunken guard is brilliant. The way he cackles at the prince's father at one point took me by surprise, I had no idea. And the way he falls down dead, and then lies still. Except one time I saw him shaking his head. And breathing. It was really hard to tear my eyes away to watch Herbert and the curtains but I didn't want to miss that, either. God, I need to see it at least 5 more times, I think. The beginning of May is looking really tempting. Heh, anyone with extra tickets for the last few shows, PM me. Herbert tries his best to crack Lancelot up, and I think Rick lost it for a moment. And the people around me seemed quite surprised with the whole Lancelot coming out scene. So many people didn't seem to have a clue what was coming next. At one point I was laughing at something either Clay was doing or something that I knew was coming and I heard the lady next to me say to her husband "what's so funny?" I tried to temper it but honestly, I was laughing so hard I was crying at times.

The Brother Maynard part is amazing. Clay has that down to a science. Every time he spoke about the number 3, he touched his glasses and paused for comedic effect and it worked so well. And the knights launched into a verse of "get your hand off my knee you dirty old bastard" which was great. In the finale, Clay really plays up the "musical theatre" line, and then stood right in front of me and danced while I grinned like a loon, I'm sure. And he was beaming during his curtain call, and making some faces, and he did his little salue right as the curtain was coming down. I was trying to catch confetti and get my coat on and as soon as the curtain was down we made a run for the exit. I don't know how we did it, because we were caught behind a lot of slow moving people, but we got ourselves out there and I managed to find a spot right on the barricades again. This time, I videod while watching Clay make the rounds. I got another autographed playbill (which I am going to give to my good friend heartsocean who can't get to NYC) and another close up view of the gorgeous guy in the Carolina hoodie. Rick was out signing again too, so we got his as well. Then we wandered off down the street to the bus terminal and NJ where we crashed into bed and set the alarm for 6 am and our flight home to Canada the next morning. Unfortunately, we ended up spending 7 hours at JFK airport because they put us on the first plane (scheduled take off time 9:45 am), then took us back off an hour and a half later due to technical problems, and rebooked us on a flight at 3:05 pm that ended up being delayed about another half an hour. Ugh. Add in an ugly incident on the shuttle bus at the Buffalo airport where one man was so pissed that he couldn't get on that he stood in front of the bus and refused to move until security was called, and we finally staggered in the door last night at around 9:30 pm. But I would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant I could see Spamalot another time.

Stuart's comments: His favourite scene is the God scene, when Clay says "honestly, there must be other cups he could use!" All in all, he says Clay was pretty good, but he's no Eric Idle. LOL. ("Mom, don't write that! They'll hate me!") Seriously, that's pretty high praise for him.

FYI, video has been vaulted:

http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Specia...alot/luckiest1/