When I saw it on 6/17, it was located where it was when Governor Quinn saw it.
And the gentleman was gracious and very good natured. A bit at sea, since he didn’t seme to be a Python fan, but a good sport.
Waste
That’s what sucks about the biz is that even if you’re one of the lucky teensy minority who goes through the ranks and gets a big part in a big show, there’s absolutely no security. You can come off of a brilliant award winning run in the biggest show of the decade and NYC’s your oyster and the next year you’re appearing in a road show of Nunsense in Dothan, Alabama (and with stage, even the most successful show isn’t going to set you up for life- the cast of a moderate TV hit like Yes Dear or King of Queens will at least not have to work again for a long long time.
And it’s really terrible for non-white and over-40 performers. When I heard that On Golden Pond was going to have to close due to James Earl Jones’s illness my first thought was how terrible for Leslie Uggams and the rest of the cast- there’s about 1 decent black female role for 20 others. Mary Bond Davis has played Motor Mouth Mabel in Hairspray since it opened on Broadway and by now must be absolutely ready to puke whenever she hears the overture, but at the same point it would be terrifying to leave because as an over 40, overweight black actress it could be straight from Broadway to dinner theater in Utica in one foul swoop. I salute anybody with the fortitude for the business.
Sorry for the hijack. I had a thread on the SPAMALOT soundtrack; unfortunately they only showed “Find Your Grail” (far from my favorite number) on The Tony Awards- I so wished they’d shown “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” instead. I’d love to see what’s going on when the klezmer takes over, or to see what Dennis Galahad sees when he cries “Caw, blimey!” to the Lady of the Lake’s appearance.
The grail was located in the same place as Engywook’s when I saw it. It was an elderly man who was (surprise!) Jewish.
I saw Spamalot last weekend. Hank Azaria wasn’t in the matinee I saw but I was happily surprised Alan Tudyck replaced Azaria (Wash in Firefly and Reverend Veal in Arrested Development). The grail was found…
under seat C101 and the audience member was Jewish
Holy crap! I was at the same performance!
As far as the “magic seat” :
The seat used to be A101 at every performance until someone tried to auction the seat on eBay. It went for about $1500, if I recall. The producers didn’t want the seat to become that much of a “collector’s item” so they change it from show to show. besides, they said it was worth it to see the look on the face of the guy who won the auction when his seat didn’t get picked.
Or Kristen Chenoweth who was wonderful in “Wicked” and is now only a small supporting in “Bewitched.”
I haven’t been to the show but I listened to the soundtrack last night and … I’m kind of disappointed. From the soundtrack, it seems like it’s about 20% Holy Grail and about 80% meta-humor and in-jokes about Broadway (e.g. “The Song That Goes Like This” is just one big winky joke about stage music that goes on for far too long.)
And the lyrics just aren’t that clever – they don’t stand on their own like some of the classic musicals, say, Camelot, Pippin, or Fiddler. It might work better if you’ve seen the show, though.
I also count 13 episodes of The West Wing on her IMDB page.
I believe she also has a new album out – she sang from it on a recent Today show. Looks like she’s doing okay (though I haven’t watched Wing in the last six months; for all I know her character was killed off).