There was a lot working against this production from the get-go.
First, Camelot is just not a particularly compelling or exciting property to begin with, especially compared to the likes of My Fair Lady, The King and I, and South Pacific.
Second, allowing the wordy, tedious Aaron Sorkin to take a deep dive into the book after he eviscerated To Kill a Mockingbird was just taking a boring show to start with and making it even more difficult and annoying to sit through.
Finally, losing several members of the creative team that often make a Bart Sher revival so fabulous (Catherine Zuber, Donald Holder, Ted Sperling...) just spelled that this wasn't going to be another magical Sher revival.
And so, onto the next on a lot of things. First, let's hope Pippa Soo doesn't stray far from Broadway again. She turned in three incredible stage performances this past season and I hope we continue to get more of her. Second, let's hope Aaron Sorkin strays as far from Broadway as possible. Third, let's see if Bart can reassemble his dream team for his next big musical revival, which I personally think should be The Sound of Music. They clearly had a synergy that worked for them for several productions. Finally, I hope LCT can pick itself up and carve out a path for the future that isn't just more dusty Golden Age musicals. I think it might be time to look toward the later generations beyond the 1950s and consider reviving shows from the '60s and '70s. Imagine LCT taking a whack at some of the Sondheim greats. I doubt we'll get another Woods revival for quite some time, but could you imagine how epic it would be on the Beaumont stage? How wonderful A Little Night Music would be with Bart at the helm? So many great properties out there to revive on this stage, with this director, and his OG team.
This production was a swing and a miss, but hopefully it will serve as a lesson learned.
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