Michael York will not be in CAMELOT the Fall — Page 2

I just saw Camelot in Chicago and I thought it was really well done. I had never seen it on stage before, but the movie is a favorite of mine.

I thought Rachel York was worth the price of admission alone. James Barbour was okay, but he lost his French accent halfway through the show and turned British. . which I found really odd.

I didn't think Michael York was as bad as everyone is making him out to be. I thought it was ridiculous that the pit was 3x louder than he was. . what I could hear of him was just fine. Arthur is a role that doesn't lose much when it is speak-sung.

But yeah. . I hope Rachel York stays with the show, she's the one you're paying to see, even though her name isn't on the marquee.

~Jacob.

Grrr....

Well here's it again:

Now I kind of wish that I had seen it in Detroit rather than waiting for it to come to East Lansing (November). Although I'm rather happy that I don't have to see Michael York after reading the terrible reviews.

(It shows up when I hit "reply to this message"!)

sanda... Yes, James was very specific that he would be leaving after Pittsburgh. He is getting married in August then plans to 'produce theatre'. I specifically asked if he had anything else he would be doing after Camelot, he said no, I'm all done on the stage. Although I think that some of it may be the legal troubles that have befallen him lately as well.

I saw this in Detroit. Camelot is probably my least favorite of the "classic" shows. I didn't find anything special in Michael York's performance to recommend it. James Barbour's singing is the highlight of this show. I didn't find him a good actor (and I agree his accent kept changing), but he just took over the stage when he sang. Rachel certainly had the best overall performance, she sings wonderfully, but her character's best song "The simple joys of maidenhood" is a mediocre show tune.

I hope Rachel stays with the show. I would love to see her when the tour comes to Louisville, KY this fall.

So - I have two sets of tickets for Camelot. One weekend after another. Is this a repeat type of show or am I better of "gifting" my tickets?

For the record, I love Camelot.

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Why don't you just go the first weekend and see if you like it enough to return? Then you still have enough time to get rid of them if you decide to.

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According to her website, Rachel is staying with the show through July 22nd.

That would indicate she'll be leaving at the end of the Pittsburgh stop along with James Barbour.

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"Jim isn't giving up his stage career, I don't think. I saw his name on a cast list for 1776 in Sacramento. He is playing Rutledge. "

melody2, could you provide the link to me? That's awsome. I always want Jim to play 1.Lancelot, 2.Javert, 3. Rutledge.

I caught Camelot in Fort Lauderdale last night. I saw it once before on stage with Richard Harris and Meg Bussert.

First off, the acoustics in the Broward Center were abominable. I could not hear anything that James Barbour said but magically when he sang, I heard every word.
Hmm. That's a problem. I didn't think his Lancelot was much to look at and therefore did not undersand Guinivere's lust and fascinationion with him. It did not seem organic or believable by any stretch of the imagination.

Michael York did fine. He is a noted FILM actor and the problem if any ( and I don't think there is that much problem with him as others seem to ascertain) is that he
is an internal actor (film) in an external medium (theatre) He did fine. He does lack the masculinity of say a Richard Burton or a Richard Harris but he brought his own Michael York boyish charm to the role. I did have trouble hearing him at times, but I felt it was the microphone system or the acoustics in the theatre as I had trouble hearing others as well. I don't think his age is a problem as some people have pointed out because on stage he looks no more than 45.

Rachel York did fair best in the proceedings. She overcame the challenged
acoustical system and I heard almost every word but even that took some doing on the listener's ear.

There was chemisty missing between the three leads. They all seem to be acting in their own show; going through the motions but not really connecting to eachother.
That is a director problem and an actor ego problem.

The scenery by John Iacovelli was far superior to the Richard Harris of years gone by. I thought the scenery quite extraordinary and really did it's best to transport you to the middle ages and get the right feeling. Iacovelli is the star of the show. Kudos to the set designer.

And now the problems. Lerner and Loew's score is gorgeous however I think some pruing of "Follow Me" and even some other ballads which do nothing to futher the plot needs to be gone. The biggest problem is that the book to Camelot is downright choppy, uninvolving, and talky. The introductions of Pellinore and Mordrid seem to come out of nowhere and you don't quite understand how Guinivere falls for Lancelot or who the hell Pellinore is or why Mordrid is so set upon destroying King Arthur and the Round Table. These characters as plots points seem arbitrary and make the audience fill in too many of the blanks. Confounding these inherent problems with the book are the acoustics and microphone system in the auditorium.

It is just not a very good show and it dragsalot. I found it to be talky and choppy and univolving in the Richard Harris production as well and I always figured the movie ruined what was probably great on stage: in retrospect in many ways the movie improved upon the stage production with it's jousting tournaments and May Day Celebration. (Although God knows in that production I wished they used a real singer instead of Vanessa Redgrave--oh Hollywood)

I believe Glen Cassale did a fine job with the staging and the set and a very bad book of a musical. Directors are only as good as their material. His major fault is not making the main characters relate to eachother on an organic level. And yes, that is a major fault but a major problem when stars are involved. I do think the sound design needs plenty of work. People all around me were complaining they could not hear and we were in the 4th row.

I also think the death of theatre are these massive structures like the Broward Center designed to seat thousands of people. You are amplified to such a degree that the dialogue is inaudible and it doesn't seem like its coming out of the actors mouths.

Camelot got mixed reviews when it openned initially but ran on its star power and
it's dubbing as a great musical by John F Kennedy. Talkalot, Dragalot, Singalot
whatever you call it, the book needs a major overhaul.

He easily gave the worst performance I've ever seen in an equity show. Ms. York, on the other hand, was simply stunning.

Hmm, did Rachel start out the tour with blonde hair(wig?), did she just change it back to blonde, or is that just a weird picture that makes her hair/wig look blonde? I was staring at it, and like...something about her is different than in Philly...

And I'm sorry, but saying the 3 leads have no chemistry because of each actor's ego is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

And I'm sure many would agree that Michael is acting in his own show, some though slight less would argue the same about Barbour, but that is just not true about Rachel. In her interactions with Pellinore and the 3 knights in Take Me To The Fair, if nothing else, it is clear she is very much assimilated into that show with the rest of the cast.

If her leading man happens to be in his own bubble/show, there's really only so much she can do...

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Sorry to pass along bad news, but from what I know, The divine Ms. York will not be continuing her contract once the tour starts up again. Hopefully she will be headed back to broadway

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Updated On: 6/14/07 at 10:35 PM