Camelot
Lerner and Loewe’s 1960 musical, CAMELOT, followed by four years their stunning success, “My Fair Lady.” Musically more adventurous – arguably their best score – “Camelot” was a financial and critical success on Broadway and in London. Idealistic and smart, it imagined (taken from T.H. White’s lovely novel, “The Once and Future King”) King Arthur of the Britons’ desire for a more peaceful and prosperous country, where peasants would stop living in fear of annihilation at the hands of their despotic leaders. His notion of a Round Table, where no one would be above another while sitting, is a quixotic ideal that is more modern-day than ancient-day.
But that ideal of a better society struck a chord fifty years ago and still does. The Moss Hart-directed extravaganza was gorgeous to look at and boasted some stellar singing. Today, budgets being what they are, it’s a very expensive musical to produce, with singers and stars and jousts, etc, and therefore this wonderful piece of theatre is not produced often enough -- or grand enough, for that matter -- when it is done.
This leads us to the Pasadena Playhouse and director David Lee, who made his fame and fortune in television sitcoms. He had the idea – based on other re-imaginings of classic musicals – to create a “black-box” (not applicable in a venerable proscenium theatre) version: cut the number of actor/singers to eight; eschew big sets that need changing or rotating, shrink the emotions that are all out there in dialogue and song, and contract the orchestra.
This black-box, minimalist, ideal worked well for recent re-interpretations of “Cabaret,” and “Sweeney Todd.” You can re-imagine almost anything if enough creativity is applied. And Lee’s about half-way there with this production. Eight actors (three of them leads: Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot), a chorus of….five?....functional, if drab, wooden slats that make up a castle, a meadow, a jousting field, a fighting space and whatever else is demanded from the script. By cutting the book down to just over two hours (from a reputed 4½ hours in its first performance in Toronto), much is squeezed and much left out.
All this re-configuring might work if your casting gave you actors who were capable of passion of any kind. The attractive cast mostly has strong voices and most gave good approximations of energy and belief, but the muting of said passions hurt the overall feel of the production.
Shannon Stoeke as Arthur had neither voice nor presence needed to make this stalwart and caring character come alive; he sang passably, was charming, and came close to what was needed, but essentially was flat throughout. Shannon Warne as Guenevere turned in the strongest acting of the trio with a beautiful speaking and singing voice and she expressed the character’s shifting moods well. Doug Carpenter, as Lancelot, sang beautifully and is blessed with solid leading-man looks and physic (shown off well by director Lee), but was wooden throughout. Lancelot’s a tough guy to care about: full of self-awareness about his virtue and his looks, but he does steal another man’s wife. The tragedy should lie in betraying his friendship with Arthur, but his acting couldn’t take him far enough. Gorgeous voice, however.
The one actor of the remaining five who stood out consistently was Will Bradley in the cut-down role of Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son who finally brings down the ideal of Camelot. The lad was focused and always present. The others, also strong, were Seth Daly, Zachary Ford, Richard R. Segall and Andrew Ross Wynn.
If you’ve never seen it before, you will find joy in it. If you are aware of what works when presented large, you might be disappointed, but the music will send you out happily humming a glorious score.
Through February 7th, 2010, at the Pasadena Playhouse. Tickets: 626.356.7529.