Straight from Playbill, Inc. - Playbill Information and No Spamalot CD or DVD In Store For Us

Several Clayboard members were posting on the Spamalot thread Wednesday night when what to our wondering eyes did appear but the Director of Playbill Merchandising with news we didn't want to hear. In addition to posting some interesting information about the color and black and white playbills, he also let us know ever so gently that there will not be either a Spamalot CD or DVD released. As is true of many things, cost just won't allow it. Here is Bruce Stapleton's post to the Clay fans about this:

Quote by one of the fans: They have been great but believe me - it's all about the money. They aren't printing extras to be nice. At $10 a pop they know a good thing when they encounter the Claymates.

Mr. Stapleton's reply: Well of course we are a business, and we are in business to make money, and we make no apologies for that. But that said, I hope that we do get some credit for responding positively and politely to Clay's fans! We would not have even thought of offering the March Spamalot Playbill, or the Playbill from Clay's first performance, if the fans had not contacted us first and asked us to do so. And those that ordered the Playbill from Clay's first performance can attest to the fact that we understand that these Playbills are collectibles, and the packaging is top-notch to assure it arrives in your mailbox in perfect condition. And if there is any problem at all with your order, we stand behind our product and our service and we will make it right. We really do appreciate your business. Follow the link below. Follow the link below. Follow, follow, follow the link below!

http://www.playbillstore.com/playbills.html

Okay, enough pimping out of PlaybillStore.com, hi everyone! I hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but I get so many questions, and wanted to take this opportunity to respond to a few things.

First of all, Playbill produces the programs for Broadway shows (not the fancy souvenir programs available for purchase in the lobby, but the program you receive as an audience member attending the show). We do not produce Broadway shows. We have no financial stake in any Broadway show, and no say in what the producers decide to do about anything. Nor do we have anything to do with any merchandise produced for a Broadway show (other than our Playbills we offer at PlaybillStore.com). Yes, we carry merchandise from Broadway shows in our store, but we buy it at wholesale from companies that produce merchandise for Broadway shows, and we sell it at retail to the public. Believe me, if the company doing the merchandising for Spamalot was offering any Clay/Spamalot merchandise at wholesale to retailers like myself, I would have been here weeks ago trying to sell it to you!

But for whatever reason, what little Clay/Spamalot merch that has been produced is only for sale at the Shubert Theatre. The company that produces the Spamalot merch also runs the store on the official Broadway Spamalot website, and they don't offer any Clay merchandise there either. I've heard it's because a portion of the proceeds for Clay/Spamalot merch goes to charity, and they confine the sales to the Shubert to keep a tight control on inventory and accounting, but don't quote me on that! That's just what I have been told from one source.

Anyway, back to Playbill not producing Broadway shows - we get so many emails from fans wanting to know when and if WE are going to release a new cast recording featuring Clay, or a DVD of Spamalot featuring Clay.

Well, we won't ever produce either, because we aren't producers. We'll happily sell a new CD or a DVD if they should become available. But we have no say at all in whether either of those things happen.

Both are very, very longshots by the way - I can only think of two instances in which a Broadway show, after releasing an original cast album, went back to the recording studio and released a new CD with replacement cast members. That would be the last Grease revival in the '90's, not the current one. When Brooke Sheilds replaced Rosie O'Donnell as Rizzo, a new cast album was released. The other would be when Vanessa Williams replaced Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spiderwoman. The thing is, it is very, very expensive to produce a cast album. The cast and musicians get paid something like triple overtime for the recording sessions, on top of royalties. It's hard enough for an original cast album to turn a profit, let alone a replacment cast album, no matter who is headlining it, and that's no knock on Clay. Just the facts of the market.

And DVD is even more difficult. Just about every Broadway musical gets an original cast recording on CD. But very, very, very, very, very, few Broadway shows are ever filmed for release on DVD. This is because of the way Broadway contracts are structured. The royalties due to the creators, cast, musicians, etc., are astronomical. So the very few shows that get filmed for release on DVD are bankrolled by networks like PBS in exchange for the broadcast rights. Of the few Broadway shows that are available on DVD, all are the original cast. There are no DVDs of Broadway shows featuring replacement cast members available for sale at all, that I am aware of.

Sorry to be a downer to those hoping for a CD or DVD of Clay in Spamalot, but those are the realities. All the more reason to get off your butts and come to NYC to see the show!

Regards,

Bruce Stapleton
Director of Merchandising
Playbill, Inc.

In addition to this post, Mr. Stapleton came back and left another post with more information for us:

Oh, and the April edition of the Spamalot Playbill will have a color cover also. No word yet on the whether the May edition will have a color cover. Black and white covers come at no cost to the producers of a show. There is an additional charge for a color cover. So whether a Playbill for any particular show has a color or black and white cover is up to the producers of the show.

The April edition will not have the article on Clay. Playbill is printed monthly. The cover and the cast section are unique to each theatre, the rest of the magazine, articles, ads, etc., are the same for every Playbill in every Broadway theatre, and change every month.

Here's a direct link to the March edition of the Spamalot Playbill, with color cover and the article on Clay:
http://www.playbillstore.com/spplma20iswi.html

To order a color playbill, go to:

Color Playbill Ordering Info

Better buy them now. This particular one won't be there next month!

Thank you Mr. Stapleton, for taking the time to post this information for the fans. Broadway has gone above and beyond in the way they have treated both Clay and his fans!