CAMELOT (2023) - Reviews

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 8:50pm

Three stars from TimeOut

Lerner and Loewe's musical returns to Broadway in a disenchanted revival.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/camelot-musical-broadway-review-aaron-sorkin

"For all the changes this Camelot attempts, its most traditional aspect comes out on top: Loewe’s music, which is faithfully and beautifully served by a luxurious orchestra of 30 pieces, including six violins. But the production is essentially dispassionate, and there is only so much one can be swept up by the strings. (In the most misguided of his edits, Sorkin sabotages the central love triangle at the finale.) This musical is nearly three hours long, and despite occasional gestures toward liveliness—a maypole dance, an extended sword fight—you can’t help feeling the length. It moves like a funeral procession for itself."

Updated On: 4/13/23 at 08:50 PM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:01pm

I predict raves for Soo and probably the other two leads as well.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:08pm

Theatermania:

Review: A Lusty Camelot, With Shades of The West Wing, From Aaron Sorkin

Sorkin rewrites Lerner and Loewe’s oft-derided musical for a sumptuous production at Lincoln Center Theater.

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-a-lusty-camelot-with-shades-of-the-west-wing-from-aaron-sorkin_1698073/

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:15pm

TotallyEffed said: "I predict raves for Soo and probably the other two leads as well."

Not sure about Burnap, but I agree Soo will (and should) receive raves. But given the acclaim for Parade and Sweeney, I think the response to this will be comparably muted.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:20pm

AMNY:

Review | Cracks in the round table at ‘Camelot’

"The idea of Sorkin revising “Camelot” was intriguing and promising. After all, “The West Wing” was marked by a similar kind of political idealism, and Sorkin’s recent stage adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” was well-received. Unfortunately, his new book (which removes all magical elements, turns Morgan Le Fey as a scientist, and questions how Arthur could have pulled the sword from the stone) is too clumsy and self-conscious in its attempt to draw contemporary parallels and critical viewpoints. Sorkin has also seriously disrupted the integration of the songs and dialogue."

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/theater/cracks-in-the-round-table-at-camelot/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:27pm

2 stars x 2 from NY Stage Review:

Camelot: Lerner-Loewe Revisal Not Charismatic Spot

https://nystagereview.com/2023/04/13/camelot-lerner-loewe-revisal-not-charismatic-spot/

Camelot: Revival Offers One, and Only One, Brief Shining Moment

https://nystagereview.com/2023/04/13/camelot-revival-offers-one-and-only-one-brief-shining-moment/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:30pm

Deadline:

‘Camelot’ Broadway Review: Aaron Sorkin Leaves The Magic To His Cast

https://deadline.com/2023/04/camelot-broadway-review-aaron-sorkin-phillipa-soo-lincoln-center-theater-1235323423/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:32pm

NY Daily News:

BROADWAY REVIEW: A chilly Lincoln Center ‘Camelot,’ shorn of love, sex and belief

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-camelot-broadway-review-chris-jones-20230414-dabflhnag5ggbp5m2hg2rek3le-story.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:33pm

NY Times:

Jesse Green:

Review: In a Sorkinized ‘Camelot,’ That’s How Conditions Are. Alas.

A revival of the 1960 musical with the famously great score and infamously bad book gets a gorgeous makeover that makes no difference.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/theater/review-camelot.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:34pm

Theatrely:

Again, cast and not much else.

"If this Camelot is a bit confused on whether it wants to be a majestic golden age musical or a gritty take on the shaky foundations of a monarchical ménage à trois, it pulls through on the strength of its cast, which tightly brings the work’s brief shining moment into glorious light."

https://www.theatrely.com/post/the-gleaming-promise-of-camelot-review

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:34pm

Daily Beast:

Review: ‘Camelot’ on Broadway Is a Magic-Free, Dull Dud

 

SWORD PLAY

This Broadway revival of “Camelot” is lost on a cavernous stage, its characters mired in a tension-free love triangle while listlessly pondering questions of fairness and justice.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/review-camelot-on-broadway-is-a-magic-free-dull-dud

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:35pm

B+ from Entertainment Weekly:

Camelot review: Aaron Sorkin's updated Broadway revival is a royal delight

https://ew.com/theater/camelot-review-aaron-sorkin-revival-phillipa-soo-andrew-burnap-jordan-donica/

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:35pm

The Wrap:

‘Camelot’ Broadway Review: With Aaron Sorkin, What’s Love Got to Do With It?

The Oscar winner’s new book for this musical revival throws up a few romantic roadblocks

https://www.thewrap.com/camelot-broadway-review-musical-aaron-sorkin/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:37pm

Washington Post:

‘Camelot’ gets the Aaron Sorkin treatment, with no happily-ever-aftering

The 1960 musical, starring Phillipa Soo and Andrew Burnap, lacks the exuberant spirit the show craves

https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2023/04/13/camelot-sher-soo-aaron-sorkin/

"NEW YORK — At the best of times, “Camelot” can be a tuneful slog. Alas, the gloomy revival by Lincoln Center Theater — complete with a killjoy Aaron Sorkin rewrite — isn’t one of those times.

The nearly three-hour musical lumbers through the tale of King Arthur (Andrew Burnap) and Queen Guenevere (Phillipa Soo) as if the template here isn’t Arthurian legend but Ingmar Bergman’s “Scenes from a Marriage.”

 

 

Director Bartlett Sher’s lavish production in the Vivian Beaumont Theater boasts some appreciable assets, namely, a gorgeous scenic design by Michael Yeargan that meets the test of grandeur, and an interestingly moody performance by Soo, who sings with angelic authority. Towering Jordan Donica announces his arrival as heartthrob Lancelot with a buoyantly operatic “C’est Moi,” and costume designer Jennifer Moeller wraps Soo in a beguiling closetful of chic frocks.

But Sorkin’s book — an attempt to rectify what always has been “Camelot’s” Achilles’ heel — is what happens when an A student overthinks an assignment...."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:38pm

Vulture:

Camelot Is Back, Achieving a Wisp of Glory

https://www.vulture.com/2023/04/theater-review-camelot-sher-sorkin-lincoln-center.html

"Yet Sorkin falters on — of all things — the dialogue. The characters all sound too much like everyone on Sports Night: relentlessly talky and prone to predictable rhythms of patter, deflating the grandeur of the setting. Sher conjures a beautiful opening tableau of Arthur’s men standing in the snow waiting for Guinevere’s carriage to arrive and then Sorkin provides some annoyingly colloquial banter among them, with one muttering to another, “I have the exact same amount of information that you do!” When Arthur first sings the title song to Guinevere, she makes fun of him for emphasizing the nice climate of a place in England. He says it’s a metaphor. She says she knows what a metaphor is. Etc. Later on, they bicker about his referring to her as a “business partner,” a phrase that punts you right out of the Middle Ages, unless these two are involved in the Hanseatic League. I admit I’ve never been a fan of Sorkin’s ping-pong witticisms, but the problem with the dialogue goes beyond taste. Sorkin mistrusts the audience’s ability to follow a story told in a fanciful tenor, so he keeps puncturing its majesty. Humor that leans against the fourth wall of a show is fine in small amounts. It might even work if Arthur were the only one who kept pointing out that these circumstances are a bit silly while his court remained more serious. But the accumulation of “so … that happened”–style jokes starts destabilizing its load-bearing columns."

Updated On: 4/14/23 at 09:38 PM

[MemorableUserName]

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

Wall Street Journal:

‘Camelot’ Review: Aaron Sorkin’s Round-Table Rewrite

Directed by Bartlett Sher, Lincoln Center Theater’s production of the Lerner and Loewe classic features a self-serious new book by the ‘West Wing’ creator.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/camelot-review-aaron-sorkins-round-table-rewrite-148e37c

"Mr. Sorkin has also turned Guenevere into a feminine power behind the throne (“We’re business partners,” Arthur tells her), making her a primary architect of the Round Table, a new order of knights who will follow the ethos “might for right” (it is she who speaks the phrase, not Arthur as in the original) as opposed to “might is right.” The result is a hollowed-out Arthur, who seems to be apologizing at every turn (for abandoning Morgan, for marrying Guenevere), an eternal sapling who will never grow into a tree. This revised characterization goes some way toward explaining the lack of gravitas in Mr. Burnap’s performance. "

"But while the pleasures of the production, chiefly musical, are abundant, the overall impression is one of a studied self-seriousness that tends to smother, as under a weighted blanket, your excitement. When one of the gently lyrical or abundantly comical songs ends, you may find yourself squirming with impatience, even eyeing the orchestra (guilty) to glean when the next might start."

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:46pm

Wow. These are pretty rough.

[dan94]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:49pm

These are really not good. It doesn't get more crushing than " How many more Golden Age musicals can Sher and Lincoln Center Theater lavish their love on before the project turns into Encores! with elephantiasis?"

Is Dancin' about to get a Best Revival nomination over Camelot? I'll admit I was a lot more entertained at Dancin' even though it had some pretty massive missteps.

Updated On: 4/13/23 at 09:49 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:53pm

there are plenty of pull quotes from these that the ad teams can use, but it certainly seems like the battle will be Parade v Sweeney come June.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:55pm

dan94 said: "These are really not good. It doesn't get more crushing than " How many more Golden Age musicals can Sher and Lincoln Center Theater lavish their love on before the project turns into Encores! with elephantiasis?"
 

The best part is the bit that follows: "Is Kelli O’Hara in “Flahooley” next?

Well, to be honest, I’d be there for that."

 

As would I!

 

 

 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 9:56pm

PipingHotPiccolo said: "there are plenty of pull quotes from these that the ad teams can use, but it certainly seems like the battle will be Parade v Sweeney come June."

Into the Woods might still have a fair shot. I say it’s a three-show race. 

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 10:04pm

Eh, i liked ITW plenty, but it really was largely unstaged, and closed 5 months ago. i *do* think that the Sondheim love is no small thing, and i think Sweeney has the edge (for that reason and given its fully staged revival).  Will find out when nominations are announced and see which way the wind blows.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 10:05pm

That’s an excellently written piece of criticism by Green.

As for the Tonys, I still think it’s a 3way race between Woods, Sweeney, and Parade, probably in that order. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 10:06pm

Variety:

‘Camelot’ Review: Aaron Sorkin’s Rethink of a Beloved Broadway Musical Loses the Magic, in Every Sense of the Word

https://variety.com/2023/legit/reviews/camelot-review-broadway-aaron-sorkin-1235582644/

[pethian]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 10:11pm

MemorableUserName said: "dan94 said: "These are really not good. It doesn't get more crushing than " How many more Golden Age musicals can Sher and Lincoln Center Theater lavish their love on before the project turns into Encores! with elephantiasis?"


The best part is the bit that follows: "Is Kelli O’Hara in “Flahooley” next?

Well, to be honest, I’d be there for that."



As would I!"

 

I'm right behind ya!