Saw this on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised. I think my partner summed it up best: This is the best production we can hope to see of an otherwise bad musical.
Curtain was 7:00 and we left the theatre at 10:00 on the dot. The show does not feel long at all, though it does lack a certain spark/liveliness in moments of little action (the chess scene in Act II in particular).
What Sorkin was able to do with the book works. The dialogue is fresh, and the sardonic reframing of I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight and What Do the Simple Folk Do? works wonders. Some complained about Guenevere referring to the show’s title number as a song about the weather, but I thought it felt very much in keeping with her character and the directorial take on the show. Played straight and earnestly, the show wouldn’t work with today’s audiences. We freely critique politicians and the upper class in a way that we didn’t a mere 50 years ago. As is touched upon in the final scene, this production hones in on the humanity behind the myth. What we remember and pass on is legend, but the production wants to show us three dimensional people behind the tales. The idealism of Camelot is in how it is remembered, not in how it is portrayed.
That being said, the show sorely needs structural overhaul. The intercut Fie On Goodness sequence is staged to beautiful effect, and gives the show a sense of motion that it’s otherwise entirely lacking. The plotting is still as nonexistent as it was in its original form. I wish Sorkin had given us more to care about in the Arthur/Guenevere/Lancelot relationships. The tension between the three of them was muddled when it needs to be the driving force behind the show. Spending a little more time showing Arthur/Guenevere falling in love, and then Guenevere falling in love with Lancelot would’ve helped Sorkin to earn the touching final scene he has written between Arthur and Guenevere. I also felt Lancelot’s two ballads came out of nowhere. Could Sorkin have augmented the scenes to better emotionally launch Lance into romantic displays of balladry? I think so.
It’s amusing to me that people criticize the modern-ness of Sorkin’s book but have no issue with how the score does not suit the setting. Very little about the score evokes a time period other than the mid-20th Century. Patter songs stuffed with witticisms never conjure up the grandeur of Camelot, or any idea of the Dark Ages. The style if perfectly suited to Pygmalion/My Fair Lady but here it does not work. I’m reminded of the mastery of The King and I, and how Rodgers uses Eastern musical influence to enhance his usual pop music sound, and ground the piece firmly in its setting.
Performance-wise, I found Soo to be the strongest of the leads, even if she did blow through a joke or two. I absolutely loved Donica in My Fair Lady and Into the Woods but here was disappointed. Perhaps it is the physical restraint that limited the colors he could play with here, but his voice was still a highlight. Burnap was fine. He lands every single joke, but could’ve done more to grow into the role of King as the show progresses. I wish we’d had more time with Dakin Matthews as Merlin (I didn’t find his death jarring or off-putting as some). Marilee Talkington was a highlight for me. She has big Gillian Anderson energy and though she has little to do here, I’d love to see her in any number of roles. I’m glad I was forewarned about the child actor. Sorry to say but I’ve never seen a worse child performance in a show of this caliber. A lot of the gravitas of the final scene was blown because of the kid’s inability to keep up.
This got long, but I must say: This was my partner’s first visit to Lincoln Center, and first Sher revival. He was absolutely blown away by the direction and production value, and I’m glad I could see things through his eyes since many of us feel Sher hasn’t done anything massively innovative in nearly a decade. While he may have his same bag of visual tricks he trots out for every production, he truly is a master of beautiful stage pictures, and the blocking he does on the Beaumont’s thrust is unparalleled. The most thrilling moment of the night for me was the tail end of the overture, one of the only moments where Loewe musically captures the feel of Arthur’s court through fanfare and bombast. As trumpets soar, cloaked knights enter from below the rear of the stage, moving at an ethereal tempo. It’s a repeat Sher staging moment, but one that never fails to thrill. The characters seem to rise out of nowhere, appearing like visions of the past through the mists of time. Merlin may here be stripped of his powers, but Sher works his own magic with every show he touches.
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
