| Camelot last night | |
| Posted by: BillEadie 09:13 am EDT 05/31/23 | |
|
|
|
| For its current revival of “Camelot,” Lincoln Center Theater has made minimal revisions to the score but major revisions to the book. The score revisions work well. The book revisions work less well. The score revisions involve cutting one song sung by a character who also has been cut and reassigning “I Loved You Once in Silence” from Guenevere (Phillipa Soo) to Lancelot du Lac (Jordan Donica). I would have enjoyed that song if sung by either character. Aaron Sorkin’s new book has received mixed reviews, and I will merely speculate why: Alan Jay Lerner’s original book was thoroughly rooted in its time (early 1960s), when Christianity was a taken-for-granted in the US populace. Mr. Sorkin has eliminated the magic with which Merlyn (Dakin Matthews) was imbued (and which appeared in T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King”) and substituted overt Christian devotion (characters crossing themselves) in its place. Doing so reduces Merlyn to a wise old man (and allows Mr. Matthews to play Pellinore, another wise old man, as well). The Christians tend to be French, while the nonbelievers such as King Arthur (Andrew Burnap) tend to be British. I suppose that Mr. Sorkin wanted to set up a British-French conflict, but that’s a guess, as the production doesn’t make much of any national rivalries. Interestingly, Mr. Sorkin states in an interview published in the elaborated program (which I highly recommend contributing a dollar to obtain) that there are no dances in “Camelot,” while Bartlett Sher’s production credits a choreographer (Bryon Easley), as well as dance captains. Also interestingly, the program thanks Gregory Maguire (Wicked, another beneficiary of Mr. White’s original) for his financial support. Despite the problems, I’m glad that I saw “Camelot.” I’m also glad that I walked back to my hotel, which allowed me to stretch my legs and breathe deeply after a long sit. Today’s menu: “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Funny Girl.” Hoping for a Lea Michele performance tonight. Bill |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: Their high school canceled an LGBTQ play. These teens put it on anyway. - mikem 11:09 pm EDT 05/31/23 |
| Next: | I checked out when - dramedy 03:12 pm EDT 05/31/23 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.042919 seconds.