Tidbits 2/4

A new Spamalot blog from Clay is up!

2.4.08: Did you act in plays/musicals in school, or in your local community growing up?
Interestingly enough, I got cut from my high school musical my senior year, and wasn’t necessarily one of my 10-12th grade choir teachers “favorites”, so my experience in my younger years was limited to local productions. The North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh is a pretty reputable regional theatre that puts on some great shows in the area. But, it is so professional that it casts most of its performers with very experienced New York actors and musicians. They staged a production of 1776 in 1995 and put out a casting call for 21 year olds and older. I was only 17, but a good friend suggested I audition anyway to gain experience. I did and was the only person under 21 who did. Terrence Mann, the Broadway star, was directing it and chose to take a risk on a young kid, so I made it. I remember thinking I was such a star because I got to work with real professional performers. I did a few shows at North Carolina Theatre in addition to 1776 before I went off to college. I still try to catch as many of their productions as possible.

• Broadway World poster Yankeefan007 comments on Clay in Spamalot. It looks like Tyra Banks attended one of Clay's shows! Cool!

  Clay Aiken makes an impressive Broadway debut - nothing to write home over, but he doesn't make a fool of himself, either. They've added a lot for him to sing - a riff of "Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam" during the "Spam, Spam, Spam" section of "Knights" - I distinctly remember missing that line before, since it's such a Python staple. They've also added a verse in "All for One," which clearly defines Sir Robin as a wannabe Broadway star. Something about "when I get on stage, I'm the idol of my age," ironic and quite amusing. All he has to do is lose the constipated look on his face when he's doing the bottle dance.
  
  Ensemble is strong, and the show itself is in fantastic shape. The tempos are still too slow (another thing I pointed out on the last go-round).
  
  Just a note about audience. I thought I was going to catch Menopause. I've never seen so many middle aged women in one room in my entire life. And I don't know why they find it so impressive that "My Clay does 3 different accents!!!"
  
  Oh, and Tyra Banks was there, too. Fun afternoon.
  

• New York Magazine responds to criticism of their interview/article about Clay -

  2. Clay Aiken has a lot of fans out there, and apparently many of them don’t sleep. “The Happy Hickster” (February 4), Ariel Levy’s profile of Aiken, was posted on the nymag.com home page at approximately 11:15 P.M. on Sunday, January 27, and within seven minutes, the first of 227 comments (and counting) rolled in. The commentary raged throughout the night and for days afterward, as readers debated one another in terms that were not always cordial. Did the article make “Clay seem human. Flawed but human,” or was it “character assassination”? Had Levy played Aiken by seeing through his “hick” routine—or was it she who had been played? “I believe the author of this article has been had,” went one post. “Did she even know it? Sounds to me like she came into the interview with an agenda and that Clay, smart guy that he is, saw right through it. Ms. Levy got frustrated because Clay wouldn’t dish the dirt with her, and decided instead to call him a fake.” Commenters traded boasts over who among them knows Aiken best, including one who registered under the name CLAYSBF and stated flatly that Clay “is sexually active and continues to be. He is not nor will he ever be attracted to the opposite sex.” Amid the uproar, a few readers simply called the article “brilliant” and “very entertaining.”

• Calgary Herald - William Joseph working with David Foster -

  He lived at Foster's Malibu house (this was just before the Foster family's unfortunate Princes of Malibu reality TV show), recorded the album and hit the road. Since then, he's also been out opening for Il Divo and Clay Aiken.

• Chicago Sun Times - NFL commentary - "8:16: Toni, a k a She Could Be The One III, asks me if Troy Aikman is related to Clay Aiken. She's a work in progress."
• Newsday - Super Bowl quiz!

  9. The Fox broadcast team is:
  
  A) Joe Buck and Troy Aikman; B) Uncle Buck and Clay Aiken; C) Pearl S. Buck and ... oh, I give up. You try and rhyme with "Aikman" more than once

• Nothing here today