"Camelot" Shines

I admit to being a bit skeptical that New Rep’s Camelot could live up to the memories so many people hold of the original. And isn’t the plot a bit dated? I was completely won over. This is a really lovely production, just right for kicking off the holiday season. As with so many of the musicals of the sixties, the comedy and beautiful music are off-set by a very dark undertone. 

The actors playing Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot have a difficult line to walk. They must transition from the idealistic and somewhat silly people they are at the beginning of the play to people with whom we identify and sympathize, people whose tragic dilemmas touch us deeply.

Benjamin Evett gives us a very young at heart Arthur with an immature but ambitious vision of a peaceful and “civilized” society. He has more human frailties than the average king, but a sweetness that appeals to Erica Spyres’ Guinevere , overcoming her silly ambition to be the occasion of knightly combat. Marc Koeck is perfect as the handsome Lancelot who is vain of his virtue and somewhat oblivious to the impression he makes on Arthur and Guinevere. His entrance with “C’est Moi” is a great comic turn.

The show contains more beautiful Lerner and Lowe tunes than I remembered, and the singing of the three principals (and indeed everyone in the cast) is absolutely lovely, pure in tone and unforced, totally without the strained shouting that mars so much musical theater performance. Kudos to the invisible orchestra which manages to sound twice its size and provides perfect accompaniment, not an easy task when you are behind the scenery instead of in an orchestra pit.

The scenery is cleverly suggestive, a particular virtue of staging at New Rep. Costumes, however --especially for the female characters -- and choreography are serviceable but not up to New Rep’s usual very high standards.  (For example, Merlin's costume is really a shame, and gets in the way of the actor's good work.  Same with Guinevere's odd sari-type shawls.)

For those of us who are old enough to remember John F. Kennedy, “Camelot” is always particularly poignant, but even without the bittersweet sauce of those memories, this performance provides a charming and highly entertaining evening in the theater.

 ~ Johanna Ettin, with Shauna Shames