Bonus Sized Spamalot

This was likely the best $20 that Ed ever spent. He bought 5 raffle tickets at Norm Lewis's Actor's Fund fundraiser at Joe's Pub back in May. Ed won a gift basket containing some T-shirts, a ball cap, a bottle of wine, a poster and two tickets to the Actor's Fund benefit performance of Spamalot.

Last night was the big night. We packed our binoculars in the stalker bag figuring that we would have rear mezzanine or balcony seats.

We grabbed a quick bite at a new discovery, The Theatre Row Diner on W. 42nd Street (just down the block from the Acorn, Beckett, Clurman, Lion and Kirk Theatres). New, clean, good service and well above-average diner food.

We headed over to the Shubert Theatre, and the first folks that we run into are our realtor friend Bill Moloney and his wife, actress Christine Ebersole. Hellos, hugs and kisses - from a Tony winning musical theatre actress? Is this really us? They were attending the show with their son Elijah and his friend. We had a nice chat and then picked up our tickets.

To our surprise and great pleasure we found that we were sitting center orchestra in Row F. Wow. The envelope also includes tickets to the After Party at John's Pizzeria following the show. Another terrific bonus.

We grab our seats and start watching the crowd. Charlotte Rae and Lynn Lane (widow of Burton "Finian's Rainbow" Lane) are sitting up in Row A. Marc Kudisch (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's evil Baron) and his girlfriend Shannon Lewis (Sweet Charity's Ursula) are sitting behind us. Chris Ebersole (currently in Steel Magnolias) is two rows away with her family. The rest of the Steel Magnolias cast begins to arrive. Three rows ahead of us are Rebecca Gayheart, Marsha Mason, Delta Burke, Lily Rabe and a glowing Francis Sternhagen. Rabe's mother, Jill Clayburgh is in the row ahead of us. In front of them is Joyce "Trixie" Randolph from The Honeymooners. She looks exactly the same 50 years later. Five or six seats down at the end of our row is the show's director, Mike Nichols. He's talking with actor Jeffrey Tambor. I'm quite certain that I saw Alan Rickman standing at the back of the house. I also see Broadway performers Brad (The Producers) Oscar and Leah Hocking (currently appearing in All Shook Up). This audience stuff was fun enough, and the show hadn't even started yet.

The show was just as good as the first time that we saw it. Some of the surprise of the really outrageous gags was gone, but the timing was better, and the whole show was tighter. I caught a lot of the actors' bits and looks that I missed on the first outing. Everyone milks every bit of their stage time for laughs and fun. Hank Azaria is out for a few months filming his "Huff" series for ShowTime, but his replacement, Alan Tudyk, was more than up to the job and every bit as good as Azaria. The marquee names are fine. I liked David Hyde Pierce better this time, but he's still a bit reserved and quiet for such a broad show. Tim Curry grounds the show and all the lunacy happening around him. Christopher Sieber is a dashing and funny Sir Galahad. He is barely recognizable later in the show under pounds of fur and padding as Prince Herbert's exasperated dad. Steve Rosen is a dead ringer for original Python member Terry Jones when he plays Galahad's mother.

The true standouts in a golden cast are still Sara Ramirez, Michael McGrath and Christian Borle. Ramirez deserved every ounce of her Tony. She has a phenomenal voice, looks delicious in all her sexy Lady of the Lake gowns and chews up every bit of scenery in sight. Michael McGrath is another ringer for a Python original, looking and acting so much like Terry Gilliam as King Arthur's servant Patsy. His dancing and comedy seem effortless. Christian Borle not only should have been nominated for Featured Actor, he should have walked off with it. He's a riot in every scene he's in. He's a dutifully dry and proper narrator, does some terrifc comic dancing as 'Not Dead Fred', gets great lyrics as a minstrel singing 'Brave Sir Robin' and is completely hysterical as Prince Herbert.

During intermission, I got to talk to Delta Burke outside the theatre. She looked terrific and was quite gracious. She's a Southern lady but much sweeter than her Designing Women character, Suzanne Sugarbaker.

The audience loved the show. It amazed me all over again how they are able to put so many of the great bits from the movie up on stage. Just a great big, silly, funny show full of really solid Broadway craftsmanship. I got a chance to appreciate the hard working chorus and really took notice of some fast costume changes and clever stage work that I missed the first time out.

We headed to the party at John's Pizzeria after the show. We had run into our friends Tim Pinckney & Eddie Pisapia at the show. Tim produces many of these events for the Actor's Fund and seems to know everyone. As we sat getting caught up with them about their recent home purchase in Maplewood, we were introduced to Spamalot's choreographer Casey Nicholaw. He was asking Tim about Maplewood because he's looking to move and has heard good things about the town. Ed went and got realtor Bill Moloney and introduces him to Nicholaw. Nothing like a good referral.

It was so strange to be hanging out enjoying free booze and eats and watching the cast of the show and the other celebs mingle. Tim & Eddie introduced us to Chris Sieber since they are quite friendly. Tim then brought over another friend, Sutton Foster, who actually introduced herself by saying, "Hi, I'm Sutton." As if I needed to be told a Tony winner's name! I was a bit dumbstruck. I could have raved about her talent, or Millie, or her brother's talent, or her boyfriend Christian Borle who was the best thing in the show we had just seen. Instead I said hello and nothing else. Argh.

We didn't take the camera out, and I didn't ask for autographs. It would have been out of place at the party. If just for the night, we felt like we had made it to the other side of the velvet rope. Really fun, so memorable and, as always, great to share with my sweet Ed.