What's Hot From Spamalot 3/15

Saturday is always an especially hot day for Spamalot news. And this Saturday is no exception. Let's start with a little Hannah Waddingham news.

From The BBC News - This is a video of an interview with Hannah by the BBC entitled Spamalot Star Woos America. In it, you can see Hannah's New York Apartment, snippets of Hannah singing with Chris (Sir Galahad), Hannah making a snow angel, and a multitude of other interesting things.
In a blog called Hesira Knits, the blogger tells about their trip to New York, including taking in Spamalot. About Clay, she says:
We saw Spamalot which was a riot. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was more Monty Python than the actual movies. I didn't think Clay Aiken was Python material, but, I have a newfound respect for the guy. He was able to poke fun at himself and all the rumors surrounding him.
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Now for a few fan reports, taken from The Clayboard. First, we hear that the Saturday matinee was completely sold out! Great news and a great start to our 4-show weekend!

Canuck2010 gives us the following intermission report: Recap at intermission from toni7babe and Scarlett:
Looks like full house. They have front row center seats and the conductor said "good afternoon ladies" : They got a kick out of that! toni hasn't been for four weeks and she said that she noticed that it is much more fine tuned now. New little nuances added that are great. Incredible energy from everyone. no subs today, regular cast.

Clay absolutely magnificent - very animated. In the "Not Dead Yet" part, he is much more involved and moving around and making expressive faces! : More dirt on his face. Looking really grimy!

During the Dancing girls scene, Clay says to Sir Galahad, "Can I touch them? or "Can I touch?" and Sir Galahad says "We'll meet up with them later"

Clay is just killing them with his dancing!

Lots of fans in the audience - tons of applause.
Linlas gives us this report concerning the afternoon stage door appearance:
Just got a call with a stage door report....from Hopelessly Devoted

It was sold out....big crowd at the stage door....already gathered when they got out there..... He had on sandals.....

Jamie was there in one of the box seats

He started signing at the usual end....there was some commotion, someone said, "no shoving"......Clay stepped back and Jerome moved him to the other end...and he worked his way back to the beginning.....Shannon came out the stage door, he yelled...."Shannnnnon" and grabbed her and hugged her.....

She said everyone was more aninamated....the Knights of Ni was about Elliott Spitzer again......very energetic bottle dance again, added in a few new dance steps since the last time she saw it.... Sound guy in hysterics during the drunken guard scene......

Rick came out at the same time as Clay and signed at the front end....after Jerome took Clay to the other end......
Great Report from HopelesslyDevoted:
Oh wow that was FUN! Sold out show according to the box office...yay! It was my first time in SRO...and I have to say it wasn't bad! Definitely a great option, the ledge is velvety and cushiony and you can see everything fine except for the first tower guard scene...for which I had to bend down a bit. Stood next to a PYT who had not seen the play before and laughed her butt off the entire time! The coolest thing for me was during the drunk guard scene when I looked over at the sound booth guy and he was literally rolling with laughter...he's had to have seen the scene a million times, yet he was still beaming!

LOVE how Clay has perfected the tower guard...love the twirling of the helmet strap and the inflection in his voice...escpecially when he says..."couldnt bring a coconut back anyway"...lol He was very animated today...the whole cast was....I saw he added a few more dance steps here and there...got huge applause for his all for one 'idol of my age line'..so much so that you couldnt hear the rest of what he was singing...made a really cute face when galahad pulled him back into the line. Trying to remember more details, but the 'fog' is still pretty heavy...the knights of Ni continued on with the spitzer bit...something about "it's 3 AM and all the innocent children are in their beds but the phone is ringing at the white house..." ....raucous laughter ensued especially when rick said "Im a +%%*!" ....Clay didnt appear to break character from my vantage point but did have his hand up to his mouth.....the 'brave sir robin' scene was priceless...his facial expressions were spot on....the funniest I have scene....and of course by the time we get to prince herbert the audience is sooo primed they are literally rolling in the aisles with laughter....definitely one of my favorite scenes in the entire play...Clay was sooo cute at the end...he did the "and I've found my grail...musical theater!" with such a funny high pitched gleeful voice....and he did a very funny dance with patsy and bevedere that started out with them kind of kicking and then doing this kind of 'stirring the pot' dance move...very funny.

We were practically the first few to leave the theater and were quite suprised to find atleast 1-2 rows of people deep waiting already. By the time Clay made it out there it was atleast 10 people deep! Looked as if there were well over 100-200 people out there. When he came out he started at his usual side but there was some sort of commotion which I didnt see as I was squished in the second row like a sardine...the security guard (?) possibly said "no shoving" and Clay stood back with his hands in the air...at which point jerome very quickly scooted him off to the other end. As Clay went that way he found shannon...screamed her name with a kind of 'mock' scream and hugged her in a big bear hug....it was cute! He then proceded to start signing at the other end and made his way our way. He had on sandals! And a dark hoodie...darned if I can remember what it said...fog and all....I couldn't take my eyes off his face...he looked gorgeous!...I did manage to get video but this is a new camera for me and for some reason I cant get it to play with sound....may take awhile to figure this out...

I love this show and the entire cast...I cant imagine ever getting tired of seeing it! Clay you were awesome!
From LosAngelesDawn, here is a great observation about Clay's choice in doing Spamalot on Broadway:
At the time, I couldn't figure it, but now I think that Clay's doing Spamalot is a stroke of brilliance on his part! If he'd done a typical Andrew Lloyd Webber type of Broadway show, he would have been playing into the stereotype hyped by Simon's insults that singers with powerful voices are not good enough for the recording industry, that they belong in musical theatre (or Broadway). Clay mentioned this in some/a recent interview. So, what does Clay do? Spamalot, a show that doesn't showcase his voice, but does show his other talents - his flair for comedy, his dancing ability, his acting skills. The stage door is crowded, the fans love him, locals speculate who the star attraction is over there, the cast loves him, the media's eye is watching for his new album release.... Brilliant, positively brilliant!

Every performer would love to have a Broadway credit on their resume and Clay did it without proving Simon right; in fact, proving him wrong! And so much more, proving that he has so many talents and skills beyond just singing. I love it! Proving all that, making himself so much more marketable (dare we think silver screen), and slapping down Simon while he does it! Brilliant, Clay, just brilliant!
Belle6827's report includes some great comments from her husband. Here are some exerpts from her report:

...I saw Clay previously on opening weekend and I think the adrenaline was rushing more that night because of not knowing what to expect but tonight I relaxed more and took in more of the whole show. This is a marvelous cast. The things that stand out for me is how Clay really stays in character at all times. Even when he is not front and center, his facial expressions, his hands, his body language are in keeping with the character he is at that moment. I think he is totally "da bomb" as the guard when he is supposed to guard Prince Herbert. He is that guard who can't follow simple directions from the King. Clay's facial expressions in this part are just perfect. He has such a sober look about him. When Clay is the tower guard, I watched his hands fiddle with the straps of his helmet and I was drawn to how pale his skin is. The other thing that stood out for me, is how his eyes pop out ... they are crystal clear pools of emerald in all their sparkling beauty and I was sitting first row mezzanine. I can only imagine how mesmerizing they must be from the front rows. WOWZA!

My husband was with me. As a matter of fact, he is quite prominent in one of the pictures I saw over at CV. He was able to get a signed playbill and so did I. I promised one to someone on this board who is not able to make the show. I asked my DH for his impressions. He said that was some different kind of show. He thought it funny at times and laughed quite heartedly but at times, thought like Clay, it was the stupidest thing he ever saw. He was impressed with Hannah's voice but wished he could hear her sing straight out without the OTT stuff. He knew ahead of time that Clay didn't sing all that much but still wished that he could have heard more. DH thought everyone played their roles well and he said without prompting from me that he thought Clay was as good or better than the rest of the cast. DH also commented that it is very clear that Clay Aiken is more than a singer....

...There was a family of five sitting next to me who were all Monty Python fans... a husband, wife and three sons. They laughed at all the right places including Clay's parts. A lot of laughter from all directions. To me, it seemed that the audience skewed more to the older side with a lot of men. My DH even remarked how there were a lot of men at the show. While Clay did receive a lot of applause at the curtain call, I do think for the most part, the applause was very evenly distributed tonight.

DH and I made it to the stage door line pretty quickly. We were in the third row but there were two short people in front of me so I was able to see Clay very well when he came around. I am always amazed at how large and in charge he looks on the stage but at a bus line or stage door line, he looks soooo young and vulnerable. I will say this. I was real close and I got a very good look at him tonight. He looked exceptionally handsome. His skin was gorgeous but again, those eyes. Just the most beautiful shade of green and while I detest eye makeup on men, I know he needs it for the show and they have his eye makeup very dark. I do prefer his natural color eyelashes but I have to say with those dark lashes framing those green eyes, I think most women given the chance would have a very difficult time saying no to Clay Aiken. I also noted his lips. Usually they are quite pink but tonight they seemed lighter than usual but absolutely perfectly-shaped lips. I was amused when he came out the stage door because I immediately noticed his black hoodie and then when he walked away, I noticed the very nice dark jeans that they fit him very well. What I was unable to see were his feet but I needn't worry, my DH blurted out "he's wearing sandals". It just cracked me up because he sounded like he knew the fans always want a complete report including footwear.

My husband looked all around at the people at the stage door line which was very full. He got a big kick out of the women stretching and reaching and vying for Clay's attention to sign something. He just shook his head and said "this blows my mind". We thought the stage door group was very respectful and for the most part, I thought there were a lot of new faces especially upfront at least I didn't recognize most of them.