Spamalot Welcomes Clay Aiken: Photos & Recaps

What night it was! Clay officially debuted on Broadway last night in the role of Sir Robin on the Tony award winning Spamalot.

Check out some of these great photos from Broadway.com and Getty.


Here is a fantastic recap from the CB's PinayRN4Clay:

Spamalot recap:

January 18, 2008- Clay's debut

Oh what a night! I spent the night grinning and laughing out loud and I was not alone. The sold-out Schubert Theater pulsated with cheers for Clay and company. The cast memebers were all excellent but Clay was undeniably the one with the biggest applause. All the numbers were treated with huge cheers, but Clay generated the most oohs and aahs, and the loudest ovation at the finale. What a star!!! image image image

First thing first, Clay gave his all to the show. He was a sentry, a guard, Brother Maynard and, of course, Sir Robin.
Let me just break in detail his appearances-

Act One-

Scene 3- Clay was the first tower sentry encountered by King Arthur and his servant Patsy. King Arthur was trying to recruit knights for the Round Table to join him in his search for Camelot. Clay's first appearance was greeted with squeals as the audience realized it was him up on the tower. The cutest British accent ever and the most expressive face! How he could remember his lines I don't know. He was bantering with the other sentry as they discussed whether swallows could successfully carry a coconut.

Scene 4- Clay as Sir Robin with Sir Lancelot and the Not Dead Fred. Honestly, I can't remember what he was singing here because I was transfixed by his handsome face and the long, reddish hair. I think this is when he first shook out his leg in a dance; who says he can't dance?

Scene 7 & 8- The King and all the knights singing "All for One". They gathered in Las Vegas-Camelot complete with showgirls and all the glitz. Clay was hilarious as he ogled and ran after the girls.

Scene 10- The knights were taunted by the French soldiers and they ended up running away. I dare say, Clay's trot was the cutest of them all. image

Intermission-


Act Two-

Scene 3- Sir Robin with the minstrels- Now, Clay didn't sing here but his facial expressions were priceless as he reacted to the lead minstrel describing all his "brave exploits", and he finally stopped the minstrel's singing about Sir Robin's body parts being injured. I am telling you ladies, you need to sit up front to be able to capture the nuances of his performance. I think this is where he first "soiled" his suit. This is what Mike Nichols had been raving about- Clay has great comedic timing.image

Scene 5- Sir Robin and ensemble. King Arthur had been tasked with the job of creating a Broadway musical. I think the reference for Idol was mentioned here. This is Clay's big number as he announced that you need Jews to launch a successful musical. He sang "You Won't Succeed On Broadway". A piano came out , Clay flipped his knight suit to reveal his backside (alas with thights, image), sat down and stretched his arms up then tinkled the ivories for a minute. He then threw a sexy backside glance image then proceeded to do the "Fiddler on the Roof" dance, this time with grails. Ooops, he reached out for the wrong grail but no one was the wiser as he dazzled the crowd as he performed the sore-muscle-inducing dance. Imagine him on his knees; he stretched one long leg out, then glided on his other knee. A lot of people gave him a standing ovation for this.

Scene 7- Clay appearing as the 1st guard. Laugh-out-loud turn as he tried to understand the instructions from Prince Herbert's father (another king) to make sure that his son doesn't leave the castle. He's just full of surprises as he carried out a really complicated conversation with the king.

Scene 9- Clay came out as Brother Maynard (in a brown frock with a moptop and cute glasses). He skipped when King Arthur actually meant for him to skip reading a long passage. A lucky fan (I'm sure she is a Claymate) who was found with the Holy Grail under her seat was brought up the stage and received the first Arthur award. Well, she was stealing glances at our Clay. I hope she gets a copy of the groupshot.

Finale- "Find your Grail" medley. Sir Robin sang about finding his Holy Grail in musical theater. Marvelous!! image

In the curtain call, Clay was second to the last to come out. He's a superstar. Even his castmates are acknowledging that when they turned and pointed at him as the whole audience erupted in cheers. Standing ovation. I was choked up with so much pride for Clay. His face was lit up as he absorbed the love from the audience and the respect from his peers. A nice salute at the end from Clay. Awww.

Isn't he wonderful?

More...

I forgot to mention that Clay yodeled at the show. Call me biased but he was the best yodeler of them all. There was also a new song written just for him. He also belted out in full glorious voice in his last number. I don't remember what scene it was, but he talk-sang a few lines from "People" by Barbra Streisand.

His dancing was enthusiastic; he was gyrating and shaking his bonbons and even did a hula dance.

It was great seeing my friends Linluvsclay and Zippy again. It was nice gushing about Clay during the intermission. The not-just-us people were probably amazed at the turn-out and at the level of enthusiasm from the Claymates. The man next to me was guffawing at all the jokes even much louder than me.

I paid $20.00 for a Spamalot Souvenir brochure that the seller was hawking as a Clay Aiken brochure. It turned out to only have the 2-page fold-out poster of Clay in his Sir Robin costume clutching the chicken and the same cast description that was in the Playbill. The rest of that brochure has previous actors who parlayed the different roles. It was funny though that when the man first came out with the brochures, a group of fans descended upon him then squealed loudly when someone unfolded the poster with Clay in full splendor. He came back several times to replenish the rapidly dwindling supply. He told me that Clay's fans are amazing.

My friend and her husband thoroughly enjoyed the show. This is their first Clay outing ever and they wouldn't shut up as we rode the subway back home. They were caught up in the excitement because all around us in Junior's (a restaurant just a few feet away from the theater) were groups of females giggling away. My friend correctly guessed that they were Claymates.

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I've been back home for about 2 hours already here in Queens, NYC but I couldn't sleep yet. I'm still on a Clay high. I want to see him again!!!!