Cameot (Canada Try-Outs)

[gossipguy215]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 7:26pm

Hello! Does anyone know what was different about the show (what was cut before the show came to Broadway) in its four-hour inception. Also, is their any copy of a script or anything from that version I would be able to see (or hear)? I love Julie Andrews and the show, it's one of my favorites :)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 7:31pm

At one point there was a ballet depicting Lancelot gong off on a series of quests. The liner notes of the original cast album (original pressing in gate fold jacket) make reference to this. Part of the excess length could have been due to problems getting the scenes changed. My parents were at the show in Toronto in the fall of 1960 and remember some long delays between scenes.

BTW the try-out was the inaugural production at Toronto's 3,200 seat O'Keefe Centre. (Now known as The Sony Centre.) Toronto was the only city that the pre-Braodway try-out of CAMELOT played in all of Canada.

Updated On: 5/2/13 at 07:31 PM

[Idiot]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 8:05pm

I think this is how 'cameo' should be spelled from now on.

[Justaguy2]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 12:38am

Somewhere I have a program from the Toronto try out. If I find it I will scan it and post it here.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 9:44pm

We saw the show on the opening night of both the musical and the Okeefe Ctr. The place was a barn, but the set was stupendous.

Updated On: 5/6/13 at 09:44 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 9:54pm

Updated On: 5/6/13 at 09:54 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 9:57pm

[allofmylife]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 9:58pm

Hope this has helped.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 10:42am

A script from that engagement would be hard to come by. The script that was published was the one that opened in New York before they did work on it and cut a few songs and at least one character.(The Persuasion and The Lusty Month of May and then bye-bye to Morgan LeFey.)

Alan Lerner wrote a memoir that included quite a bit on Camelot. It is called "The Street Where You Live" or something. Fritz Loewe may have also written one. Their secretary did too. Hers may be called "I Remember It Well".
www.abebooks.com

There are biographies of Moss Hart out there. Camelot gave him a serious heart attack that killed him within a year.

Camelot also split the Lerner and Loewe partnership (Fritz retired.) and gave Fritz Loewe a heart attack. Alan never really had a top drawer success on stage afterwards although he continued to write and had about 6 more shows produced. He also wrote adaptations for film and My Fair Lady is the only unalloyed hit out of about 5 tries.

The son of the man who was their agent/manager told me that one reason L & L wrote such great material was that Moss Hart and the agent knew how to play them off of each other. They would praise the other's work and that the one they were talking to couldn't possibly write something that equalled the other's.

And that is how you can get a My Fair Lady.

But they never really got Camelot right. To the positive is the score, plus a great first scene, last scene of Act One and last scene of Act Two. But then there is all the rest of that talk that gets in the way.

Maybe if Moss Hart had remained healthy, the show could really have gotten fixed right. I'm not the only one who has said that over the last 50-some years.

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 10:49am

Are there any recordings of the song "Face to Face?" Was that song the first act closer or did it still end with Arthur's monologue?

Also, when was "The Seven Deadly Virtues" added?

Camelot's biggest flaw is Mordred. He is an incredibly underdeveloped character, yet he has the power to completely destroys everything Arthur built in his half hour of stage time. I don't get it. And cutting Morgan LaFey is stupid - I always liked The Persuasion, because Camelot needs magic and mysticism, otherwise it's a boring soap opera.

I firmly believe we have yet to see the best of Camelot on Broadway yet.