What's Hot From Spamalot 2/09

Some fun stuff for you today here at What's Hot from Spamalot.

• First, here's a great review from ClaysFayevorite at The Clayboard:

  ...She and Claylily unexpectedly happened upon some FRONT ROW seats this week so they headed to NYC for the day. They were all excited about the new Clay shirt, button, and rectangular magnet with the shirt picture on it. She said the theater was full, as far back as she could see into the balcony, mostly NJU, lots of men. The woman next to her was not a fan, had not seen Clay since AI, but was very impressed with his performance. She had seem Spamalot before Clay's run began and seem to like his performance better. They thought Clay was again very animated, so much more so than when he began the show. Sitting on the floor (at Camelot) he was rocking out, stamping his feet, really into it and enjoying himself. When the CanCan dancer comes up behind him, just before "RunAway", he let out a loud "Whoop!" Right after "...I have to push the pram alot" , when the girls come out of the prams, he said "Come to Daddy, Baby!" She said during the guard scene, right after " ifififummm, ifififififummm.." he kept "puffing" his lips out. She said Tom (Prince Herbert) was very funny in the castle scene. He kept making faces until Lancelot cracked up and couln't deliver his lines. They were disappointed that Hannah wasn't there again. At the curtain call he was all over the place, once again, hopping, jumping up and down, just rockin'! The Knights of Ni sang "Rehab". At the stage door he was wearing blue sweat pants with a white stripe and a very bright green hoodie. She said even though the theater was filled, there were not as many people at the stage door ( guessed it was because it was mostly NJU in the theater). Oh, she did say that Clay got a wonderful reception from the mostly NJU crowd (EEE!!!) He told them at the stage door that he would sign one thing for each person. She couldn't tell if the person in C101 who was called to the stage was a fan or not, she seemed to freeze when Clay tried to give her the picture and he had to prompt her to "take it, take it". He didn't shake her hand.

• A couple of days ago, Clay introduced us to his "Dresser". Yep, that caused some commotion! And he did after all tell us to "spread the word" on the boards! Well, thanks to dardar1126 at the CB, here are a couple of great articles about "dressers", the people who help the cast change into their various outfits. Not the glamorous job you might think it is!
  
  The Dresser, By Peter Filichia - Here's an excerpt:

  As for the job itself, Fleming reports that some actors are neat and take off their costumes very carefully, but others carelessly leave them inside out or with a shoe stuck up a pant leg. "Sometimes that's because of the ferocity and quickness of their changes," he admits, "but sometimes it's the actor's temperament. Most of the time, though, they take off their things nicely, so I have time to fold them, put them in the basket, take them downstairs and hang them up."
  
  The fastest change he's ever had to do? "Jekyll & Hyde on the road," he moans. "Twenty seconds to get Philip Hoffman from a suit into a tuxedo. The tux was rigged," he confesses, "hooked together with sewn-together pants attached to the vest, and under the vest was a fake shirt. Most of the time, audiences actually see a real suit, unless something has to happen quickly. That's when we cut things apart." Velcro is not used as much as we might think -- "because it makes a loud ripping sound we wouldn't want the audience to hear."

  Meet The Dresser by David Finkle - Another excerpt:

  But real-life dressers abound on Broadway, and it's far from a glamorous job. These people work arduously in obscurity for a union rate (Local 764 in Manhattan) of $92 per show....At this point, Lugo dresses four of the women in the ensemble and assists on one other change, following what he and his colleagues know as "tracks." He explains that, "Backstage, everything is tracked from point A to point B to point C, like a train line. Your track is your physical movement backstage. You do a pre-set of a costume, and you know you then have to dress an actor for a quick change stage right. Then you have to help with a quick change stage left, and then you may have another change in the basement. We create areas in the theater where people can go to with a minimum of fuss."

• Windstar2 from The Clayboard remembered a hilarious line from one of the first shows back in January. You'll enjoy this!

  It was during the scene where Prince Herbert, Lancelot and Prince Herbert's dad are all up in Prince Herbert's room. Lancelot has just come to "rescue" what he thought was a damsel in distress but finds Herbert ... all dressed for his wedding. (White gown and pink slippers ... LOL!) Prince Herbert's dad is questioning Lancelot for killing his guards and some wedding guest (father of the bride and hurting the bride herself) and Prince Herbert tells Lancelot not to worry about his dad cause he has a rope to escape on. Prince Herbert throws the rope over the edge of the balcony and proceeds to climb over. Lancelot and Prince Herbert's dad keep talking about the fighting. Prince Herbert pops his head back up and tells Lancelot to hurry, or something, and then Prince Herbert's dad goes toward the rope, takes his knife out and cuts the rope and Prince Herbert falls. On this one performance, as Prince Herbert's dad is walking over to cut the rope, he said, "This Meet and Greet has gone on long enough." This either was said at the Saturday night performance on 1-26-08 or the Sunday afternoon performance on 1-27-08.

  By the way, for everyone's information, a Clay Aiken meet and greet NEVER goes on long enough!!
  
  
• Here's another review, this one from Claygal at The Clayboard:

  Spamalot cast rocked again, especially Sir Robin! Seeing the show from the last row in the orchestra, Row S, #109, had direct view of the stage and what's amazing is that I could even see all the foot work (for a short person). Clay was definitely on a "high" and he's projecting his lines with greater confidence than when I saw him during the opening night performances. Orchestra was packed with great audience response to just about every scene. Could hear some fans reaction to my right also. The loudest audience reaction I heard during his performances was when he started up with the "Bottle Dance". Timing was perfect! The lady sitting next to me was very familiar with Monty Phthon as she used to be a big fan she said in her teenage years. She recognized him during the idol days, so the line when he's introducing himself to the audience was very meaningful! Entering the theater took exceptionally long and people were still getting to their seats as the show opened. One guy passing us in line outdoors yelled out his approval with thumbs up for "Great Show"! Nice, good sized crowd at the stage door tonight and what was so exciting is that I finally got close enough to see him and get my progam signed! That's what I'll put in the frame that I purchased from Playbill. He looked good dressed only in his green sweatshirt, no coat. We were very lucky that it hadn't started raining yet as he started from the left side of the stage door where I was standing and by the time he had worked his way to the other side,drops started coming down, so Jerome signaled him to go in. There were still a lot of people standing on that side who were disappointed, but many cameras getting photos of him. I wonder when he actually gets to sleep as he seemed so energized during the finale and was the only one still jumping around as the curtain came down!!.......Merchandise--t shirt is very nice, so got one and there were magnets of the same photo. It just dawned on me that anyone that needs an umbrella could purchase one there exactly like the umbrella number for the song: "Look on the Bright Side of Life"! Signing off from NY Live with Spamalot! I feel invigorated even after having gotten up at 3A.M. Amazing to find a cure for depression! Oh, miss Hannah.

• And one final review, which will prove that one never knows for sure which seat will get picked to go onstage. This review is from Clayinct, also at The CB

  Our seats were row B 101-103, so my daughter Kim sat in 101, hoping she'd get picked to go on stage. Today was her 18th birthday -- so we could hope! There were Claymates and NJU around us. I said hello to Claylily, who was sitting in the first row. The people directly in front of us were also celebrating their son's birthday, so he sat in A101. When the show started I was waiting with baited breath for Clay's first scene -- and I have to say I have never laughed so hard in my life. My face hurt from laughing so much. He did such a good job in all the parts, making his voice sound different for each one. When he had his big number, you could really see the look of determination on his face during the bottle dance. Oh, and you could really hear his "come to daddy" during the Las Vegas type number. That made me really laugh!
  
  My husband's favorite part was when he played Brother Maynard -- I thought he'd never stop laughing! The other two performers I really liked were Patsy and Brother Herbert -- both of them did such good jobs! After the show was over, I let Kim run for the stage door and I joined her as soon as I could get there. She was able to get right up to the railing. Another lady waiting was also celebrating her birthday, and when Clay came out, Kim mentioned that to him, so he said "Happy Birthday" to them. After she got her playbill signed, I gave him the big program to sign and when getting it back, it almost hit Kim in the face and Clay made a comment about here it is your birthday, and you get hit upside the face! -- that made her day....
  
  ....Oh -- and Kim didn't get picked -- it was seat C101. We had warned the couple behind us when they sat down and the women did a great job hamming it up when she got picked. Too bad -- it would have been a great end to Kim's birthday!!