"Those "tra-la-las" on the cast album version get on my nerves, LOL."
If you think LISTENING them is difficult, try singing them. I've done two productions of CAMELOT and singing all those "tra-la-la's" was a pain in the butt. Also, if performed as written and without cuts, "The Lusty Month of May" will have the audience leaving the theater at about dawn.
I agree its an unfair comparison. Andrews is a musical theater thoroughbred while Redgrave's involvement in musicals was dilettantish at best. I do like the way Redgrave mischievously accentuates the "lusty" part of the lyric.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
I just listened to both earlier today, and while I agree Julie is clearly the better vocalist, I also enjoyed the version from the film (especially the orchestration). Camelot is nowhere among my favorite musicals, and so the song has no special meaning to me, but I enjoyed both in different ways. Julie's is better though.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
Maybe I'm not giving her a chance. And I saw the movie only once, when it came out. I love the ocr (London?broadway?). But I just can't tolerate Redgrave's attempt at singing. Such a wonderful opportunity -a Camelot film- missed because of that casting decision. I refuse to even listen to Redgrave now to see if there is some part of her interpretation is even interesting, to say nothing of determining superiority. Occasionally I will hear a Redgrave Camelot song on sirius (why oh why do they decide to play it?) for the few seconds that I hear it before changing the station, I am reminded again how lacking was her singing ability. Again, maybe there is something worthwhile there but I'm not willing to lyakevtje time ook for it.