Cast the leads young! Young, idealistic, vain, mistake-prone, full of youthful zeal and passion, lacking a mature viewpoint. That’s why the loss of Merlin is so critical.
Burton was 34, Goulet a little older, Andrews was about 25.
Laura, who admits she cast an even younger Burton in a fictional Kurt Weill musical…
The last times I saw Camelot Arthur was played by Michael York in his mid 60s (at La Mirada, with Rachel York and James Barbour), and Gabriel Byrne at 58 (in the staged concert for Live from Lincoln Center, with Marin Mazzie and Nathan Gunn, which was a mixed bag at best, and a mistake at worst).
