A Beautiful Camelot

The Lerner & Lowe classic, Camelot is one of those shows brimming with great tunes that many people know.  I grew up listening to the original cast recording and it has always been a favorite.  Thankfully New Rep's production did not disappoint with the stellar cast that was assembled for this production.  My favorite is Erica Spyers and her portrayal of Guenevere; I can hardly say enough good things about her in this production.  I've seen her in several roles including appearing in New Rep's Master Class and Marry Me A Little, but in this role she truly shines from when we first hear her clear lovely voice singing of the simple joys of maidenhood.  Benjamin Evett is great as King Arthur and well matched with Spyers.  The two sound great together and have some great chemistry on stage.  Marc Coeck's Lancelot is played a little differently than I've pictured it, but his funny, hammy C'est Moi easily wins over the audience.  The rest of the cast is great with strong voice as solid direction by Russell Garrett.  

Costume designer Rafael Jaen had a grand task of creating many costumes for a large cast, but the results were spectacular.  Each of the many costumes looked great with lovely detail.  While mentioning all that I liked of this production, I must mention the piece that was certainly lacking was the sound and the orchestra.  At the beginning of the performance the orchestra was not fully together and the quality of the sound was rather tinny.  My companion commented to me that because of the sound she initially feared that it was a recorded orchestra, but then realize that they were live.  Such a classic musical with wonderful singers deserve a big strong sounding orchestra to match and hopefully many of the sound issues will be resolved. 

Camelot is not your traditional holiday musical, but it is definitely a treat and even though it clocks in around three hours it is a very enjoyable time.  This is a piece that doesn’t seem to get performed as often as it should, but it is certainly a joy to be able to see it on stage with such a talented cast.

~ Frank Furnari - New Rep Reviewer