Review
CAMELOT
Reviewed by Jeffrey R Smith of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle
Romanticism, as defined by the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, is “the rehabilitation of everything medieval that had been held in contempt by the Renaissance and Enlightenment.” Furthermore, “romanticism has worked the growth of modern democracy toward a belief in progress and toward ‘liberty, equality and fraternity.’” Romanticism, given that its rise coincided with the industrial revolution, was “a solace and an escape” from the “unlovely works that science, technology and industry were building.”
CAMELOT first opened at the Majestic Theater in December of 1960. Lerner and Loewe, who co-wrote CAMELOT also created BRIGADOON and A ROYAL WEDDING. All three opuses are escapes from the modern world and retreats into a contrived, chimerical romantic world of royalty, chivalry and nobility. However, given the wake-up calls provided by the irreverent tabloid press, the public’s willingness to suspend its sense of disbelief regarding the actual nobility of the nobility has become extremely curtailed.
Thanks to high-resolution photographs and graphically detailed accounts of aristocratic malfeasance and general hanky panky, the “unlovely works” that royalty wreaks on itself are all too apparent. We are no longer naïve enough to enjoy the original script of CAMELOT. The moral bankruptcy of the effete European royalty, blue bloods, sangreale and sangre azul is too well known and clashes too stridently with the saccharine optimism the musical originally expressed. Thanks to Prince Charles, Camilla and people of their ilk, the script of CAMELOT had to be retooled by the children Alan Jay Lerner: Michael and Liza Lerner. Thanks to their revisions, the musical does not chafe on audiences who no longer support the divine right of kings nor their petty self-centered indulgences.
“Wouldn’t it be exciting to have a war fought over you?” Guenevere muses in the first act. In the second act, King Arthur and his army are laying siege to Sir Lancelot’s ancestral home: Joyous Gard: they are attempting to retrieve their unfaithful queen. Currently our country is engaged in a war fomented and grounded on nearly the same whimsical caprices that Guenevere expresses and for which King Arthur obliges her. Why should the “simple folk” as Guenevere calls them, be called upon to sacrifice themselves for the honor of a Queen who has plainly lost her honor. Perhaps in future, more politically correct revisions, Arthur and Lancelot will simply play a game of chess and let the winner take all.
Politics aside, great voices, great acting and great songs rescue CAMELOT from the brink of obsolescence. Michael York stars as Arthur and is absolutely regal in his bearing, his manner and his very British articulation. James Barbour, as Lancelot, is the voice of the show: his rendering of “If Ever I Should Leave You” is second only to the definitive by Robert Goulet. For tickets call the American Musical Theatre of San Jose at 1-888-455-SHOW.
U.S. Naval Aviator and Lieutenant Commander Retired
Math Teacher at Encinal High School A.U.S.D.
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle
Sidewalk Politician and Arm Chair Liberal