I'm baaaccckk! Clay got a wonderful send-off tonight by both the fans and his gracious colleagues. I'm dead tired and have a headache and my husband is complaining about some bill that I misplaced, but here goes my disjointed, ungrammatical stream of consciousness.

Orchestra area was wall to wall Clay fans. All the main characters got great applause when they first came out to play their role. Tom as the Historian actually had to make raise his hands to quiet the audience.

Clay's applause that went on and on when he first made his appearance at the tower. All the actors were very patient in waiting for the applause to subside. There was a very funny scene when Clay is guarding swamp castle, the laughter was nonstop at one point, so Tom as Herbert actually sat down on the ground! And then Herbert's father sat down and then the other guard sat down!

The new Sir Belvedere is excellent.

Rick's routine for Knights who say Ni went on and on and on. He sang "My Baby Takes the Morning Train" for several minutes and I couldn't hear well but I think he made up the words for a lot of it. I think the main reason it went on so long is because he wanted to crack Clay up. Clay's lips curled, but he didn't lose it!

When they sang "All For One" Clay punctuated each phrase with the cheesiest grin you ever saw! It was hysterical.

When Clay finished his showstopper, it was a REAL showstopper. First of all, when he got to the piano, he turned around and gestured to the audience to quiet themselves. He had to turn around again and raise his finger, and boy, did we shut up! He wasn't pissy, it was cute. After the number he got a standing O, and when he stood up from kneeling down, Jonathan gestured to Clay to kneel down and again and soak in the applause. He did this twice.

The peasant was the cutest PYT who must be a fan, or at least she is now! She gave Clay a flirtatious wave which he appreciated very much! He waved back at her and seemed to wink at her. They continued to give each other flirty smiles. Clay seemed all pleased with himself, and continue to wave to her and give her flirty smiled when she went back to her seat. He then bragged to the other knights about the attention she was paying to him!

Nick looks great! Saw him on the way to men's room,and I think I saw Mike Nichols, too. I haven't caught up yet, but are there any other reports that Nichols was there. It was nice seeing Mary, Quiana and Angela.

The cast is just so gracious. When Jonathan took his curtain call, he made a gesture to the crowd to forget about applauding for him, and he gestured dramatically toward Clay. He took Clay's arm and pulled him center stage. He got two bouquets of flowers; one from the dancing girls who gathered around him, and one of the stage managers came out with flowers.

I visited the ladies room in the basement after the show and the bar was roped off and prepared for a party! It was low key, I think, there were just bowls of potato chips, pretzels, Hershey's kisses, and a few dozen glasses of champagne poured.

It was a great evening to be a Clay fan.

Got home about a half hour ago and quickly skimmed this thread; hope I don't repeat what others have said. It will be quickie since I have to get up in a few hours to go to work!

Two words describe this afternoon and tonight--and those words are--simply magical. I can't begin to describe it--the electricity was palpable. The energy was contageous. The love was everywhere. It was the most amazing experience and I so wish you all could have been there. The entire cast really played off of the audience and totally stepped up their already high caliber game. Everything was more pronounced; jokes were held longer, facial expressions were even more animated than usual, and the respect and love that the cast has for Clay was incredible to witness. When Jonathon waved off his applause, knelt down and held out his arms to Clay encouraging the audience to show him the love, I had goosebumps. Hannah was beaming. Everyone was. Just an incredible moment.

Quick things about the show itself--some of the things that I couldn't get out of my head on the train ride home. The shimmy/multiple pelvic thrusts were something to behold. I would love to have seen Quiana's and Angela's reactions to it!! The stomp/shimmy with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, the bottle dance, the dancing with the girls and flirting, and grabbing, and leering at them. His awesome voice. There are no words to describe the guard scene. Just can't do it justice. The laughter was amazing. He totally brought the house down. The crowd roared and I thought I would never stop laughing. He was mesmerized by those ribbons. He looked at them so lovingly, and his touch when braiding them was so tender and gentle. When Tom gave up waiting for the laughter and applause to stop and sat down, I totally lost it. Lost it again when the other guard and the king sat down. Totally hilarious and is a scene I will never forget.

I hope the big honchos were there tonight. I hope they saw for themselves what an incredible entertainer he is. I hope they saw the comedian he is, the actor, and of course the best singer ever. They certainly saw the love of the fans.

I'm sure I'll think of lots more, but I have to get some sleep. I want to say hello to all the CB-ers I met tonight. What an amazing group of people. But when you have an amazing man, you have amazing fans. It was a pleasure to meet each and every one of you, and I'm so glad that I can now match names to faces!

An amazing night, an amazing afternoon, an amazing journey with an amazing man. Today was the best and I truly think it can never be topped. There will, of course, be more great things in the future. But this?? This was the best. I am so proud to be his fan.

What a night to be a Clayfan!!

Here are my stream of conscience comments -
I thought the audience was great, applauding loudly not only for Clay, but for each new character who appeared. People clapped and sang enthusiastically to the songs (when appropriate) which was fun!

Lots of kisses and attention from and to the girls in Camelot. Clay was very into shimmying!!

Hannah sang a snippet of Invisible during her skat in Camelot, to great applause

LOTS of tongue in the slo-mo ride

Knights of Ni - long version of Morning Train into made up verses. VERY funny. When he first comes across the Knights of Ni he did the longest, drawn out 'shat the pants' that i have seen.

ok - someone already described his big solo. When the piano came out, I read his look and motion as "just you wait". Quite the tunic flip. The bottle dance had some great tongue and expressionsimage Clay egged on the extra long applause at the end of the solo with encouragement from the king, but after a couple of kneel downs, he went into a real humble, fingernail biting, expressive moment while waiting for the king to go on, but then added one more little arm pump as if behind the kings back, to the audience's delight!

He sang quite the bluesy AMEN as Brother Maynard, and the King and knights mimicked it back.

at the end he got 2 bouquets, and the stage girl who came out was motioning for someone else to come from off stage, but the curtain came down before anyone else came on.

Earlier I saw both the fruit bouquet and Clay's bouquets being delivered - both were amazing!!

I thought the roof was the most perfect way to end the perfect night - something unexpected, everyone could see, and he was able to say "thank you" in sign a couple of times. Beautiful.