Return to Spamalot, September 10, 2006
I wanted to bring my mom to New York for the first time, for her first Broadway Show ever, and also to meet Harry. She has been a fan since I started this website pretty much. I planned our trip around Harry's birthday on the 10th, but I bought Harry and Dawn gifts for their 28th wedding anniversary coming up on the 19th. I tend to forget it every year in favor of Harry's birthday, and I was hoping Dawn would be there so I could give them their gifts together (a ceramic mouse couple proposing marriage for him, and a set of Beanie Babies lovebirds for her.) The cool part is that they had invited us to eat with them at Sardi's, THE famous theatre restaurant, which features Harry's caricature among many other famous Broadway stars on the walls. You may have seen it in movies like The Muppets Take Manhattan.
We flew out on the 9th, bought tickets for the matinee on the 10th, and flew home on the 11th. Even though it was the 5th anniverary of the 9/11 attacks, we found security surprisingly easy to get through. It was in fact harder to get out of the city than it was to get in, which seems kind of reversed. In any case, thank God, nothing bad happened. The first night we went to visit with Patti at the Planet Hollywood on Times Square. We had a great time with her, and then it was time to get to bed for the big show the next day.
Sunday morning was the big Broadway on Broadway show in Times Square. Mom and I had planned to go see it, but since we were new to the city, and kind of hungry that morning, and since we knew we would see him later anyway, we decided to miss the show, as we didn't know when in the show Harry and the Spam crew would appear. My feet don't allow me to stand for longer than a few minutes, much less four hours, much as we dearly would have loved to see it. Instead we ate at Junior's, which was right down the street and where we could hear the noise of the crowd.
Then it was time for the show! We were very excited to find an interview with Harry in the newest Playbill; the ones Maribel and I got in April didn't have that. We nabbed a bunch for friends. Then the show itself. It was Mom's first B-way show, and she had a blast. She just loved seeing him! She kept going, "I can't believe we're going to talk to him, he's up on stage and he's so huge!!" That's pretty much exactly the way I felt the first time I saw him.
Once the show was over, we went out looking for the stage door. We waited a while and suddenly there he was! I called out to him and he came over and gave me a hug over the fence, and he stepped aside to sign stuff for the other people first, and then he motioned for us to follow him across the street to the restaurant. He was dressed in a peach kind of colored suit, and he was using a black umbrella as a cane. He was wearing his flip flops and there was a bandage around his right foot. The fact is, he says that his ankle is really, really starting to bother him. He's gone to several doctors, just like I had to. What's so sad about this is there was one point in the show where he came out to start a scene, and he kind of faltered just a little and pulled a "Oww, that hurt" face. And this is how good an actor he is; I thought he was kidding, and so did probably everyone in there. But he wasn't dancing much in this one, not even during his table dance.
We got into Sardi's, and the entire ground floor was shut down. Harry went "Uh oh, what's happening here?" They told us the upper floor was still open.... upstairs. Groan. We all hobbled up there. We went and got the seat by the window, over looking the theater (right next to his caricature!) And he was just so sweet and kind, he was so nice to Mom and he hugged her and just really made her feel special.
Dawn came along a few moments later, and she hugged us both too, and she was so sweet too. Mom said later on that she just felt so comfortable with her, Dawn just talked like we're all friends, normal people just having a chat. We all sat down, and we ordered our food. I gave them their gifts, and Dawn just loved the Beanie Birds! I was glad I hadn't given her something she already had. And Harry loved the mice too!
We had ordered food, but it began to look like it would take longer than it should be. We were worried because Harry had said he wanted to take a nap before the next show, and between seeing us and the long time the food was taking, it looked like he wouldn't get to. Dawn told us (and this had to have happened just recently, after we started the letter writing thing) that Harry's had his foot looked at by several doctors, and after he finishes up in Oct, he thinks he may just take off a long sabbatical, just so they can get in there and see what they can do for his foot. He said it's pretty painful on some days, sometimes it seizes right up and he can't even move it. :( I know what that's like. And here's the thing--he's still dancing on it!! Here he's doing two shows a day, running all over the stage, all the while in this awful pain. I sure wouldn't be able to do that.
We had a good long talk with him and Dawn, about every day things, growing up; Dawn asked me a lot of stuff about my job and where I live in Virginia (since her family is here), and she was just so cute. I think she really liked my mom. Mom is pretty much from the South, she lived there long enough, so they're both kind of southern girls. Dawn told us that the luck we had coming into the city virtually trouble-free was a fluke; at nearly every flight she's been on, there's been insane amounts of delays and reschedules. In fact, during one delay, she said someone was calling out to her, and it turned out to be Gary Busey (whose son Jake appeared in Dawn's last feature film, Christmas With The Kranks). He then proceeded to rock the wagon they were sitting on, back and forth-- kind of sounded like we ought to be surprised he wasn't detained by airport security! ;)
I had wanted to buy Harry dinner on his birthday, but he wouldn't let me. He insisted on paying again, and then at the end of the meal, Dawn had the waiters bring out a slice of strawberry cake for him! We all sang happy birthday to him! And then he told us all to have a bite, I think because he was full from the pasta he'd been eating. Then we all got up to leave, and this time we were able to find the elevator. It was so adorable; when we were in there Harry leaned over to Dawn and said, "Thank you for the cake" and they kissed. Awww!! :)
They walked with us back to the theatre. All of us hugged, and he just held on to me, and thanked me again for coming out there. He always says to me, "Be good," just like he's my dad, hee hee!! And he hugged my Mom and she told him she loved him, and he was just so sweet to her. I'm so happy she had a good time!!
Harry's final performance in Spamalot will be October 29th. Get out there and see him while you still can. And let's all hope they're able to do something for his feet!
See more photos from our trip here!