Live From Lincoln Center: Camelot, airs this Thursday on PBS — Page 9

What the hell happened to "Fie on Goodness?"

All in all, a very mixed bag. The moments that I enjoyed Byrne were few and far between. Richard Burton was no singer, but he still sounds great on the OBC. And I can't imagine the Arthur Byrne presented as being able to lead a country. He was constantly looking like he was falling apart at the seams.

I'm surprised nobody has commented on Marin's two (at least) lyrics flubs. I distinctly heard her mess up in "Lusty Month of May" and "Take Me to the Fair." It seems like I know the Camelot score better than she does.

Is there a rule in the licensing of the show that says you cannot have a
good singer as Arthur? (I saw Goulet play Arthur here in Toronto back in
1993 prior to taking the show to New York. Sang well. His acting was...
Robert Goulet-ish. (I recall watching him listen to others on stage singing
and he was bouncing on his heels in time to the music. Not quite correct
for a King,) Byrne was in the general vicinity of the notes, but the man
ain't got rhythm!

My parents saw the world premiere in Toronto, Oct 1, 1960. (I was 10 months
old, so not allowed to go!) The just remember it was long and that they
didn't get home until well after midnight. Still they bought the album when
it came out, so I guess they liked the score. I grew up with that album, so
those performances are burned into my brain. No one else ever sounds correct
in those roles.

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I just got done watching this in PBS-HD (yay HD!) in Seattle.

Now I've never actually sat and listened to the cast recording, nor ever watched a version of it (the Michael York tour came through Seattle, but I kinda wasn't in the mood to catch it). I was a little confused by the plot points, so I had to drag out my cast album to follow along.

I thought Mazzie and Nathan Gunn were very good. I liked Mazzie in Passion, but then lost interest in her for everything else she did afterward. It was nice to rediscover her again. Nathan Gunn was excellent, and all night I wondered what he would sound like singing "Some Enchanted Evening". Maybe when Paulo Szot leaves...

After I got over the nasty rejected "Taboo" costume on Mordrid, I thought he did a pretty good job. Christopher Lloyd I thught was excellent (though for some reason, my sister and I both thought he had died). I liked Fran in her cameo. The backup knights were good (angry Marc Kudish!!!) It was a pleasant surprise to find out Merlin was Stacey Keach (I didn't make the connection until they announced his name at the end).

I think the only weak link here (besides costumes, set of blocks, direction, etc.) was Byrne. I wanted to like his bumbling Arthur, but after a while, it was hard to distinguish if that was how he was directed, or if he really was unsure of the next line/lyric, and it got annoying for me.

My only major gripe was that PBS kept cutting out. Sometimes for long sections, and sometimes just a second or two. I nearly yelled at the TV. Hopefully they will correct the feed for the repeat early Saturday morning here.

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Updated On: 5/9/08 at 02:12 AM

I have just come home from a party here in Holly-wood where we had bad fried chicken and watched "Camelot." We were actually looking forward to this morceaux d'merde, so it was a depressing night indeed. It was perhaps the single most excruciating show I have ever seen. When did it switch to "Dead From Lincoln Center?" Byrne was TERRIBLE. HIDEOUS. He was either one bar ahead or somehow TWO bars behind the orchestra in every song (which inand of itself is an accomplishment that should not be overlooked). I saw Harris butcher the revival following Burton and even when he was phoning in his performance, at least it was in time and key.

The costumes were Calvin Klein meets Klingon warrior and what was with the Chinese rhythmic gymnasts?

Obviously, great troopers like Keach and Lloyd and - I can't believe I'm saying this, Dresher, were dependable foils, but my god I was considering regicide for two and a half hours.

And did Mordred just come over from the last performance at OMFUG?

It was pointed out that Miss Mazie's mouth is enormous, but at least sweet sounds sprang forth.

I saw the very first performance of "Camelot" at the O'Keeffe (sorry, Frontrowcenter) and I believe "Fie On Goodness" was there but it was excised before Broadway. It definitely is not in the Tams Witmark version I directed in 1974.

Terrible TV show. Off to wash the bad taste out of my mouth and take plenty 'o Pepto.

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Yes, if there was one brief shining moment it was Rishi who showed plenty of potential. Unlike his co stars.

I also noticed that Lonny cut Arthur's new speech short at the very end. In the tour that whole bit about people questing once again for right and justice ended with Arthur saying "...and an end to war." which had half the audince on their feet a few seconds prior to the finale.

For the most part, I really enjoyed this version of Camelot. The show is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I've never understand why so many people dislike it. I contrast it with its' opposite: South Pacific, which I don't like very much at all. It seems that most people like one and not the other.

My biggest problem was that I wished they had cast an Arthur who could actually sing. Both Richards, Burton and Harris, gave terrific vocal performances.

Marin Mazzie & Nathan Gunn had amazing chemistry. Stacy Keach was particularly good as Merlin. I liked the staging very much, but I understood it was a semi-staged version, so I reacted accordingly.

They may have cleaned up the sound problems others mentioned as it wasn't the case on the tape delay version I watched.

And I'm sorry if I offend others, but Marin Mazzie was not pitchy or flat - she sang gloriously!

Can anyone tell me who possessed that beautiful voice who sang "Follow Me"?

As for Mordred and Morgan La Fey: I enjoyed them enough and didn't hate their scenes the way so many others did.

I now want to see the movie again, and listen to the various recordings of this glorious score!

Along with the many other reservations I had about Byrne's dreadful performance, he was useful for reminding us how MUSICAL Burton and Harris were, despite not being "singers" per se.

One of Byrne's very worst acting moments: At the end, Guenevere says that so often in the past, she's been able to look into Arthur's eyes and find forgiveness. But now they won't be together, and she won't see it. Then she has the line "Oh Arthur; I see what I wanted to see!" This line pretty much requires that Arthur at least BE LOOKING AT HER. She is the one love of his entire life, he will never see her again, but Mr. Byrne couldn't be bothered to LOOK HER IN THE EYES to give her the required motivation for her next line! Unfathomable.

What the role of Arthur needs is what it had originally: A young, classically-trained actor. Someone who has cut his teeth on Shakespeare. Mr. Byrne may have given some good performances in the past, on film and even on stage, but even when he was the right age (which would have been the early 1980s) I don't think he would have been a particularly compelling Arthur. Now? Forget it, grandpa.

With productions like this, it's no wonder Camelot has such a bad reputation.

Updated On: 5/9/08 at 08:18 AM

"Then she has the line "Oh Arthur; I see what I wanted to see!" "


I hate the addition of this line to the script. Originally after she says the line about looking is his eyes for forgiveness the direction has her looking in his eyes and seeing the forgiveness and that understanding is shown in her expression and his. The drama is in that and in the beautiful music playing underneath it. Nowadays, they think the audience is too stupid to get it so they add that line, which in my view ruins the true wonder of the moment.

did anyone happen to rip this show for DVD? and if so, could you PLEASE make me a copy? i am sad i missed it!

A debacle. I'm sorry, Ms. Mazzie was wrong from the start. Her decision to use an Iowa accent -- really, it wandered all over the midwest for no clear reason -- was inexcusable. These are British characters, and with Byrne at least on the right continent and Gunn employing French, why did she Americanize this woman? It must be said: she and Byrne are too old. This is not a show about two middle aged people, even in act two. Mazzie acted the role as a 40ish Nellie Forbush, and then sang it like the Queen in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS. It never came together. And Byrne's decision to talk the part made no sense, because clearly he had Burton's notes. Who let him work against the rhythm?! Why? Ghastly. He worked hard, but a 55ish Arthur doesn't sell the first act material.

We needed maybe Hugh Jackman and Audra McDonald to lift it. We didn't get anything close.

Everything else but Nathan and the three knights from Broadway was ghastly. Putting Steggert in Rocky Horror by way of early Chastity Bono was the penultimate error. The biggie came last and loudest: Ms. Dresher and her big candy bar from Times Square. The final bit of product placement turned a cheese fest into a chocolate covered t--d.

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Frontrowcentre2 wrote:

"Both songs were back in the show for the 1964 London production, and Take Me To the Fair made it into the movie."

The 1964 London production cut "I Loved You Once In Silence" as well as a vocal section of "The Lusty Month of May" and used all new dance music arranged by Trude Rittman. The 1980 production with Burton, who was frail and had a useless arm so he looked like Richard III playing Arthur, cut sections of "Fie On Goodness," so it was no longer complete.

Last night's dreadful broadcast cut about half of "The Persuasion" and all of "The Jousts."

It's too bad that someone like John Yap has never recorded a complete CAMELOT; as an appendix, he could record the London variants as well as the 1960 Toronto-cut "The Quest"; I believe the scores are in archive at Tams-Witmark.

"Mordred and the Angry Inch."

Too funny, when my roommate came home late that is just how I described Steggert's Modred, looking as if he was in a prodution of "Hedwig."

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