Recaps of Spamalot 10-25-08

Photo from Oct 21 stage door for your viewing pleasure.

This is a wonderful recap by anntherese54 from the Clayboard:

Saturday, October 25th, Evening Spamalot Performance

It was a crazy day, but I had a wonderful time last night at Spamalot in spite of the rain, the change in plans and the uncertainty of whether or not Clay would perform in the evening.

I enjoyed the show immensely. From the very first note of the music, I'm pretty sure I sat there with a big ****-eating grin on my face for the entire show. Tom, Rick and Wally Dunn (Belvedere) were out. I thought that the replacements did a good job (especially Rick and Wally's). I missed Tom, though. He is so exceptional in the role. His replacement had a great voice and was good, but Tom is just so amazing. However, the fact that there were so many replacements made the show fresh and new for me which I really enjoyed. I have a nephew who is in theater and I know he's had shows where he is the understudy. I know how happy he is when he gets a chance to perform because that's what he loves to do. So, I was able to enjoy and applaud the moments for the other cast members to get their chance to perform on Broadway.

Merle Dandridge was absolutely stunning. Her voice is amazing. Seeing her up close was a treat. She killed on her "Diva's Lament". What a voice!

My heart will always belong to Patsy. David Hibbard continues to play his part to perfection. His "Bright Side" and "I'm All Alone" numbers are my favorites in the show (along with Clay's YWSOB).

Clay was wonderful. I saw no evidence of his injury hindering him in any way. He danced, skipped, jumped, kicked and did all the usual choreography. I did not see any evidence of an air cast or brace. In fact, at the curtain call, as he backed up behind the curtain, he lifted both his pant legs and revealed his mismatched striped socks. No brace or cast was noted.

Here's where my recollections get really random:

-At the end, when the confetti streams down, Clay caught some of the yellow and white confetti pieces. Then, when he bowed, he opened his hand and blew the confetti pieces into the audience. It was cute!

-Also, during the curtain call, at one point, he stood on one leg and had his other leg bent and elevated and he turned and twisted on the one leg. I don't know which leg it was, and if it was his good leg or injured leg. But, he was moving very loosely and freely.

-When he came out to do the "I, too, have found my grail!" part at the end, he did a little Charleston dance where his knees came together and then spread apart with his hands crossing over his knees back and forth. Also very cute!

-He was glowing. He seemed happy and relaxed. If he was in pain, the guy's a damn good actor because none of it was observable on stage.

-When the LOTL came out dressed in her armor during the Camelot scene, as she walked out, she whacked Clay in his lower abdomen with her arm. LOL. It was really funny.

-The face Clay makes during the bottle dance is hysterical. No tongue going from side to side, but his eyes were crosseyed and just had this comical look on them the whole time. Very funny!

-The peasant was a young guy who was a lot of fun (seat C101). He got lots of cheers from the audience. Clay tried to shake his hand, but the guy did not even notice and did not shake it, so of course, Clay stood there looking crestfallen.

-Clay sang the most beautiful "Amen" during his Brother Maynard scene. I hope he keeps that part in that scene because it's another opportunity for him to showcase his gorgeous voice.

-The guard scene. It was the first time I saw Clay with his ears sticking outside his helmet and he looked hysterical. He reminded me of a young Red Skelton, who was a master of making people laugh just through his facial expressions and body language and his ability to be just plain silly. While standing guard after the king goes back into the castle, Clay began playing with the ribbons on his spear. He didn't do that when I last saw the show in September. It was great. He was totally distracted by the ribbons (feeling them, smelling them, looking at them intently) when Lancelot came out and killed him.

-Run Away scene. When the king and the knights were running in place for the "Run Away" song, one of the French can-can girls came up to him and rubbed her skirt in his face...a lot! lol. It was very funny.

-In the slow-mo horse riding scene, Clay made faces like he was going to barf. Again, very different facial expressions than he did the last time I saw the show, and it was fun to see all the little changes in his character portrayal.

-It was raining after the show, and Jerome came out pretty quickly to say that Clay was not coming out.

I stopped in a small cafe yesterday and bought some lemon tea to get out of the rain for a bit. The quote on my teabag reminded me of Clay, Spamalot, and my day's adventure:

"On with the dance, let joy be unconfined..." (-Mark Twain)