Clay Aiken Announces Official Biography Contest Winner

Clay Aiken, currently starring in Monty Python’s SPAMALOT, has announced the “Write Clay’s Playbill Biography Contest” winner. The contest offered members of his fan club the chance to write his official Playbill biography.

The contest winner is Jo-Anne Lopez of Carlsbad, CA. Her bio is currently appearing in the SPAMALOT Playbill at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre (225 West 44th Street).

Jo-Anne’s winning bio is below:

Clay Aiken was born southwest of Finland, in Raleigh, NC, a little more than 29 years ago. Although his younger years were spent belting out tunes from atop piles of Sears carpet samples, his mature teenage years saw him cast in musical theater roles such as Singer #2 in his high school production of The Music Man which was met with enough success not  to get him cast in his final high school production. His ego thus bolstered,  he had more than enough incentive to audition for “American Idol” Season 2, the outcome of which (in the prophetic #2 spot) has made him arguably the most beloved  and successful contestant ever to have irritated Simon Cowell.  A best-selling book, UNICEF Ambassadorship and multiple platinum recordings later, six or seven sold-out nationwide tours notwithstanding, and after a first very successful run in Spamalot early this year, Clay is currently finding his second grail, on Broadway, right here at the Shubert.  For his next project, he plans to teach a modern Torah class.

MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, the Tony Award winning musical lovingly ripped-off from the internationally famous comedy team’s most popular motion picture, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is currently playing at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre (225 West 44th St.).

SPAMALOT won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical, the 2005 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, and the 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical.

In addition to Aiken, Michael Siberry and Merle Dandridge play ‘King Arthur’ and ‘Lady of the Lake’ respectively. They are joined by Tom Deckman, Rick Holmes, Bradley Dean, Wally Dunn and David Hibbard.

SPAMALOT features a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, direction by Mike Nichols, choreography by Casey Nicholaw and is based on the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Monty Python creators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with an entirely new score with two songs from the 1975 film and the Python classic “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life” from 1979’s The Life of Brian.

Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, SPAMALOT features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, a killer rabbit and one legless knight.

MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT ticket info: Tickets range from $116.50 - $36.50. Telecharge 212-239- 6200 or www.telecharge.com.

PLAYING SCHEDULE: Tuesday-Saturday at 8 PM, Saturday matinee at 2 PM, and Sunday at 2 PM and 7 PM.

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