CAMELOT (2023) - Reviews — Page 2

Brutal. Might be easy to get comps soon enough.

This review bloodbath was NOT on my bingo card. I know that audience reviews I have heard so far have been lukewarm but not so much that I expected so many negative reviews from publications.

EDSOSLO858 said: "DTLI Consensus:Fie on Sorkin! A new book only further exposesCamelot’s flaws, beautifully sung as it may be.

7 mixed, 4 negative (including the NYT), 3 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/camelot/"

Wow. This is probably the most evenly mixed show of the season. Really spread out.

Seeing this next Saturday - these reviews really lower my expectations. Yikes.

These reviews, however correct, are SAVAGE

I think DANCIN‘ may have just snuck itself into the Best Revival race

It's funny: I don't disagree with almost anything negative that a critic said, yet I didn't walk out of the theatre saying I disliked it either.

Well these reviews were rough. It seems like the Sher Lincoln Center productions are diminishing returns. South Pacific to The King & I to My Fair Lady to Camelot have all gotten progressively less acclaim.

I was pretty sure it was already a Parade vs. Sweeney showdown for Revival even before this but that's definitely true now. Into the Woods will get nominated but I don't see it winning. Now, the question is - does Camelot still get in or will it be Dancin'? I still think Camelot for now but I guess we'll see.

So Camelot had a famously unwieldy and disappointing libretto. Nonetheless the show grew to mythic proportions thanks to its score and the Kennedy connection. Sixty years later, it gets a new unwieldy and disappointing libretto.

It’s now occurring to me that the Camelot I want to see is either a new show on the Arthur storyline that isn’t Lerner and Loewe’s… or a Shuffle Along style meta musical about Camelot, “Camelot” and the Kennedy era.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "BCfitasafiddle said: "It's funny: I don't disagree with almost anything negative that a critic said, yet I didn't walk out of the theatre saying I disliked it either."

Excellently worded. I think that's the score, the performances, the overall story, andsome of the directorial choices."

Add me to this, as well. I saw the show again last night and we walked out talking about certain performances and how beautiful the score sounded with that orchestra. These reviews are interesting because like was mentioned, the show has a myth around it that it’s this incredible musical, one of the best and it never has been.


So what I DID walk out of this show respecting in Sorkin’s rewrites is that he tried something. Was it completely effective, no. But for a show that has a book so plagued with issues the fact that he attempted it and still couldn’t really fix it should now lay to rest the idea that it *can* be fixed. That said, I still enjoyed a LOT of what he redid here. I do wonder if Lincoln Center did the show exactly as it was on its original opening night if the reviews would still be as mixed, citing the issues it’s always had. In any event, as I’ve said before it’s truly one of my all-time favorite Broadway scores so just getting to hear it with those voices and that orchestra made the evening more than worthwhile for me.

Updated On: 4/13/23 at 11:46 PM

I predicted that the reviews would focus on Sorkin. The chance you take when someone famous does a rewrite. At least the reviewers were kind to the performers who give decent performances.

Is there a reason he chose to rewrite it? Seems like he didn’t understand the mechanics of musical theater - which I’m sure is harder too working with composers you can’t collaborate with.

blaxx said: "ElephantLoveMedley said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "DTLI Consensus:Fie on Sorkin! A new book only further exposesCamelot’s flaws, beautifully sung as it may be.

7 mixed, 4 negative (including the NYT), 3 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/camelot/"

Wow. This is probably the most evenly mixed show of the season. Really spread out."

There is nothing even or spread out about these pans."

The "mixed" reviews emphasize positives like, "The large orchestra is quite good" and revelations that Phillipa Soo and Jordan Donica can sing well. But most of the rest blasts Aaron Sorkin's book mercilessly for replacing a weak book with an incoherent and boring one. The main Camelot thread on this board had mixed reviews, with pans along with praise and comments that, even if critical, made me curious to see the revival. The published reviews, with a few exceptions, don't do that at all.

Updated On: 4/14/23 at 03:29 AM