CAMELOT Returns to Broadway - Reviews Thread- Page 26

[bellelinus]

Posted: 4/10/23 at 10:10pm

RE: Covid testing, I was also told that (not required routinely if asymptomatic starting last Wednesday) by a friend who works as an orchestra pit musician.

Updated On: 4/11/23 at 10:10 PM

[Shalfoard]

Posted: 4/10/23 at 10:29pm

But i do disagree with the criticism of the removal of all the magic nonsense. Updating the book to be squarely in favor of justice, reason, fairness, science-- it strengthens the parable. It makes the ending pack a punch. It makes everyone more human.

Exactly.  Just like WICKED.

CAMELOT is (or,apparently now, was )about Arthur's attempt to lead England out of the superstitions, ignorance, and barbarity of the Middle Ages.  Hence the magician Merlyn, the nymph Nimue, Morgan le Fay, etc.

 

Updated On: 4/10/23 at 10:29 PM

[TalksAboutBruno]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 10:14am

Saw this late last week. Bartlett Sher's South Pacific is one of my top 10 productions I have seen in NYC. Any big revival of his at Lincoln Center is such a treat. This, however, is not it.

My biggest complaint is that it just doesn't seem to be directed as a musical. Maybe because of the script updates by Sorkin, but the direction calls for the book to do all the heavy lifting. Every musical number seems like an afterthought with a direction to get back to the book as quickly as possible. I didn't realize how starved I was for that musical theater pop until the 30 seconds of choreography in the Month of May number. That was the only time I was drawn to what was happening on the stage.

The acting was fine throughout. Soo was the closest to a standout for me. I can't say I'm fully aboard the Andrew Burnap performance. By the end you see a transformation into the King we all know about. But for the rest of the show, it was a little too wishy washy for me. That lack of machismo threw off the love triangle for me. Neither of the men exuded that heat that this cold production needs.

 

[MCfan2]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 10:36am

PipingHotPiccolo said: "But i do disagree with the criticism of the removal of all the magic nonsense. Updating the book to be squarely in favor of justice, reason, fairness, science-- it strengthens the parable. It makes the ending pack a punch. It makes everyone more human. I applaud Sorkin's effort to drag this tale out of the 1950s on these fronts..."

The book was always strongly and explicitly in favor of justice, reason, and fairness. The only thing that's added there is the science. But there was no "magic good, science bad" content that I can recall. If anything, the magic was there, paradoxically, to remind Arthur that magic is limited and can't be depended on in a major crisis.

[Ensemble1681133217]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 11:27am

The acting was fine throughout. Soo was the closest to a standout for me. I can't say I'm fully aboard the Andrew Burnap performance. By the end you see a transformation into the King we all know about. But for the rest of the show, it was a little too wishy washy for me. That lack of machismo threw off the love triangle for me. Neither of the men exuded that heat that this cold production needs"

This seems to be on purpose - the re writing of Arthur makes him much more of a young unsure king - unable to act on his feelings for Guinevere (which he admits in the end). It is Lancelot for whom the machismo is required. Not Arthur.

[TalksAboutBruno]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 11:49am

Ensemble1681133217 said: "The acting was fine throughout. Soo was the closest to a standout for me. I can't say I'm fully aboard the Andrew Burnap performance. By the end you see a transformation into the King we all know about. But for the rest of the show, it was a little too wishy washy for me. That lack of machismo threw off the love triangle for me. Neither of the men exuded that heat that this cold production needs"

This seems to be on purpose - the re writing of Arthur makes him much more of a young unsure king - unable to act on his feelings for Guinevere (which he admits in the end). It is Lancelot for whom the machismo is required. Not Arthur."

Absolutely. It all felt intentional. My assumption is that this love triangle has worked in previous productions, so I'm trying to figure out why this one fell flat.

[Miranda3]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 6:44pm

I think the chemistry between Lancelot and Guinevere will return when Jordan Donica returns as Lancelot. He has been out sick this past week. 

[SusaninBaltimore]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 6:55pm

Will someone please confirm after or during the show tonight that Jordan Donica has indeed returned?

Updated On: 4/11/23 at 06:55 PM

[Harriet Craig]

Posted: 4/11/23 at 11:51pm

SusaninBaltimore said: "Will someone please confirm after or during the show tonight that Jordan Donica has indeed returned?"

Jordan Donica was in the show tonight.

[UWS10023]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 2:55am

I heard front of house is no longer doing covid tests at LCT but masks are still to be worn. The non profits have been more rigid than Broadway houses. City Center dropped their mask mandate. One has to wonder though if theaters will at least require one vaccination a year in the future given 1500 people are still passing away daily in the USA. Probably not given what Biden signed recently.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 7:25am

My, that was dreadfully boring. Dull as dish water, and just as fun.

I didn’t know the show before I saw it last night, and I don’t care to know it better. What’s the point? Championing idealism? Exposing the truth that idealism doesn’t come without bloodshed? That arranged marriages result in misunderstanding and infidelity? I truly couldn’t tell you what this creaky old thing is trying to say.

And Aaron Sorkin’s smug fingerprints are all over this thing: the talking a mile a minute, the repeated use of gentle profanity, the overly modern sensibility of language butting up awkwardly against the rest of the book. I don’t even need to know the show to hear his contributions. The most unforgivable sin is that it’s lifeless.

This was the first time I’ve seen one of Bartlett Sher’s classic revivals and thought “You know? They could have kept this one in the vault.” So disappointed.

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 8:15am

I kinda felt the same way but I still liked it. I just did not realize how long it was! Some people left during intermission because they were falling asleep. Granted, it was an evening performance. I do think Phillipa’s Guinevere was simply stunning and is the true standout of the show. I’m sad that I won’t get to see Jordan Danica‘s performance as Lancelot, but his understudy was magnificent. I have no doubt that the acting in this company is top-of-the-line! In the end, it was worth it, mostly because I cut to meet Phillipa Soo after the performance! She was so friendly to everyone, and took her time at the stage door! I honestly don’t know how the critics are going to review this. I definitely don’t think this will get raves but we will just have to wait and see. 

 

Updated On: 4/12/23 at 08:15 AM

[aislestorm2]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 4:30pm

Sorrowfully, it didn't.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 5:14pm

By contemporary standards, the show seems almost under-composed. Arthur has no decisive 11 o’clock spot  - he doesn’t get Henry’s “Accustomed to her Face” - and the show loses interest in the singing and dancing citizens until “Guinevere.” So a new production that tells the story through book scenes isn’t inconsistent with original intentions. But it perhaps makes the same case: the score can feel muted, merely story adjacent. We’re used to bigger than life characters - Quixote, Jean Val Jean, Evita - voicing operatic emotions through aria like songs. The understatement in this score may be tasteful and commendably well crafted but audiences expect to be thrilled and moved by sung emotion. Particularly as a story gathers steam. The second act probably fails to satisfy that expectation. And the book is still stuck doing the heavy lifting. 

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 5:27pm

The 1967 film version of "Camelot" will be shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) this Sunday, April 16th.

 

 

[UWS10023]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 6:13pm

I think I assumed the production would be more lavish so perhaps others made the same assumption. The production design was darker than I expected on all fronts and that influenced the general tone while hinting at a tragic ending. 

[Shalfoard]

Posted: 4/12/23 at 6:22pm

Auggie27 said: "By contemporary standards, the show seems almost under-composed. Arthur has no decisive 11 o’clock spot - he doesn’t get Henry’s “Accustomed to her Face” - and the show loses interest in the singing and dancing citizens until “Guinevere.”

 

IMHO, Arthur's reprise of "Camelot" is as powerful as "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."  Read in Lerner's memoir how the audience reacted to it during the Chicago tour stop in November 1963.

Of course, I haven't seen this revival.  I did see the revival starring Richard Burton.

 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 8:35am

It may have been moved up here, but the reprise of "Camelot" is the show's end, its profoundly moving coda to the story; it's not a true eleven o'clock spot. Certainly not (to me) the missing number in which the protagonist wrestles with the primary obstacle in the story, or a personal turning point. "Accustomed to her Face" has layers of emotional power, because Higgins's vulnerability, its reveal long absent, is tapped fully. But greater than that, he's at a crossroads about this baffling woman. What she means to him, how unexpectedly he finds himself responding to triggers he didn't believe himself capable of acknowledging. That heart stopping "And yet..." gives his unbidden self-examination such resonance. . 

To land on two more recent examples, "Hurricane" in Hamilton and "Edges of the World" in Fun Home, neither the final song but both plot-driven crescendos in which a main character confronts demons or decisions in front of us in song. Alexander, his entire life leads to writing "his way out." Bruce, everything closing in on a suicide.  In a musical about a king who loses his kingdom, it always seemed odd to me that Arthur wasn't given such a moment in song as everything is crumbling. The second act offers him no such turning point. And we get to "Guinevere," in which the narration takes over. No show is bound by rules, but even the non-singing character of Desiree got "Send in the Clowns" when her life was falling apart. If the show were written today, surely he'd get a "Clowns" or "Face."  

Updated On: 4/13/23 at 08:35 AM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:41am

I think my biggest problem with the staging was that the actors just looked so lost up there. It either needed about 5 more ensemble members, or less depth to the stage. Moments like “The Lusty Month of May” should feel like a sudden awakening of not just the show, but of the stage as a whole. The Maypole comes down and after a brief dance around it, everyone mostly sticks to the lip of the stage and there’s just a big cavernous nothing - so that when the dancing and merriment starts, it all feels small.

Similarly, when Guinevere tells Arthur to pace, he’s got ALLLLLLLLL this space, but he just walks in circles around a tiny area carpet. There’s no sense of the depth and breadth of the Beaumont stage, only that it’s there. But it eats all the tension up.

I kept thinking of The Light in the Piazza, the moment when we’re left with just a scrim, no more set pieces, and Clara runs from upstage all the way downstage, and we get the full picture of just how large this stage was all along. Or South Pacific, when all of the soldiers marched up to the beach. Or Anna and the King waltzing through the entirety of the space. The closest we get here is Arthur and Guinevere walking out in their capes for the knighting of Lancelot, and it’s like “That’s all we get? Flowy capes?”

I don’t need big sets, but if you’re directing a show in the Beaumont, you’ve got some big shoes to fill. Literally. And with this production of Camelot, it feels a size too big.

[broadway86]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:52am

Saw it last night, full cast was in aside from one ensemble member. Outstanding performances by Burnap, Soo, and Donica. Beautifully sung and orchestrated, very impressive sword choreography, the costumes and rear projections were astounding. The acting of Burnap and Soo in particular was what stuck with me the most, they were just fantastic and affecting from start to finish.

But I have to agree that the production is on the anemic side when competing with the vastness of the Beaumont. Lancelot's entrance is one of the few instances where the depth is used to its advantage. I thought it was wonderful overall, but might've been better served on a smaller stage.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 11:22am

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Video-Watch-Highlights-from-CAMELOT-on-Broadway--Opens-Tonight-20230413

 

Updated On: 4/13/23 at 11:22 AM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 12:09pm

Obviously this production trims "The Lusty Month of May". I've done two productions of the show and in both instances when the number was over everyone felt it was June. Oh, and all those "tra-la's" !!!!!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 12:49pm

I don't know what to predict for the reviews. 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 1:02pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I don't know what to predict for the reviews."

Same here - usually I have a pretty strong inkling/prediction of what the reviews will be, but with this one, I just don't know. I, personally, LOVED this production, but I would not be surprised if the critics don't warm to it.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 1:24pm

Highland Guy said: "The 1967 film version of "Camelot" will be shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) this Sunday, April 16th.
 

Ah yes! The film that turned “The Lusty Month of May” into one giant hippie love-in in the woods. At least they spared us those God awful “Tra-las”!!

"

 

Updated On: 4/13/23 at 01:24 PM