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Operanotes is reprinting this review, written by David Cauthbert of the Times-Pacayune in Louisiana. Congratualtions to New York soprano Melissa Marshall.
'Camelot'
has a lot going for it
26-piece orchestra gives musical muscle
Friday, July 16, 2004
By David Cuthbert
Theater writer
Director Michael Howard's production of "Camelot" for the Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre is splendid, with a magnificent orchestral sound -- coming from 26 musicians conducted by Leonard Raybon -- principal roles superbly sung, the chorus numbers excitingly performed. The Arthur-Guenevere-Lancelot love triangle dominates, but much attention is paid to the Arthurian ideal as the democratic process. And there are lines that resonate with contemporary relevance:
-- "Violence is not strength, and compassion is not weakness."
-- "It's the old, uncivilized days come back again; those dreadful days we all tried to put to sleep forever."
Frederick Loewe's music is gloriously melodic, Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics clever and beautiful, his book talky but literate and amusing, the dialogue slipping effortlessly into song.
For audiences of a certain age, the finale, in which Arthur knights a young boy named Tom ("Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment/ That was known as Camelot") evokes President John F. Kennedy, whose widow said he identified with the passage. It can still make one weep.
Arthur is played with archhumor and humanity by Richard Hutton, boyish and fey in the beginning, wise, battered and mature at the end. His singing is exemplary, and he has great songs: "I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight," "How to Handle a Woman," the title song in two tempos, and his charming duet with Guenevere, "What Do the Simple Folk Do?"
Guenevere is sung by Melissa Marshall with a richly emotive soprano and played with sly sauciness and sincerity. Her "Simple Joys of Maidenhood" has an impudent irony. She sails gaily through "The Lusty Month of May" and displays passionate gravitas with "I Loved You Once in Silence." Visually, she's a storybook Guenevere, with the cascading blonde curls of both Sleeping Beauty and Jeanette MacDonald.
Handsome baritone Chris Carey was born to play Lancelot, entering with a swaggeringly robust "C'est Moi" and later a ravishingly romantic "If Ever I Would Leave You," which ends on an unexpectedly ascending note.
Nigel Columbus displays great flair and showmanship as the evil Mordred, with his gleefully sung "Seven Deadly Virtues" and "Fie on Goodness!" with the male chorus. Nikki Barranger is the cuddly character comic Pellinore, Terri Gervais' Nimue hauntingly purrs "Follow Me" and strapping Victor Borjas is a dream knight.
Michael Bat's moody lighting reveals David Raphel's disintegrating Camelot, and Charlotte Lang's costumes are shimmeringly sexy for Guenevere, butch and leathery for the guys.
One misses "Then You May Take Me to the Fair," which original director Moss Hart cut four months after the show opened, but there's still an awful lot to like in "Camelot."