Question RE: 1980 CAMELOT Revival

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 12:51am

I recently discovered this revival with Richard Burton and Christine Ebersole which played the New York State Theater for 6 weeks in 1980. Was this a flop or was it just a limited engagement, because only a little over a year later it was revived again at the Winter Garden with Richard Harris which, again, only ran for around 6 weeks before closing.

I'm just curious if anyone knows why these two full productions were done so close to one another.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 10:17am

I was just looking online and saw a Playbill from this production in New Orleans. Was this a tour that just stopped in NY?

[Jon]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 1:35pm

This was in fact the same production - a long tour which visited NYC twice. Harris came in when Burton's health failed.

The Harris version, with Meg Bussert and Richard Muenz, was broadcast on HBO

The original FORBIDDEN BROADWAY featured an actor impersonating Burtin singing "I Wonder What the King is Drinking Tonight". A year or two later, it bacme "Richard Harris" doing the same song.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 3:21pm

It was a limited run that came back with Richard Harris.

I was just about to move to NYC and was in town looking for an apartment - I was 18. The initial run caused an uproar because the producers of the show had the gall to charge $30 (or $35) for the most expensive seats, a lot higher than any other show. There was a concern that other producers would follow their lead. Who knew how fast that number would be raised.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 10:22pm

Ain't it the truth re ticket prices, Marc!

I remember Burton being incredibly still and boring. Meg Bussart was a charming Guinevere. I certainly didn't go back to see Richard Harris, since I had already hated him in the film.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 10:54pm

I found a souvernir program for this in a thrift shop. I haven't seen the filmed version in a while, but I admit I found it *really* heavy design wise and a bit overly filled with gravitas (like the Logan movie). Then again, it seems that many found the original production too light in terms of design. It's definitely a show that seems near impossible to get the balance right (it doesn't help that it's written as a comedy for the first half or more and then suddenly changes direction).

Wasn't Morgan le Fey and some of the other magical stuff removed similarly to what Lerner did for the movie?

[elmore3003]

Posted: 11/6/11 at 12:27pm

When CAMELOT opened at the State Theatre, the Guenevere was played by Christine Ebersole. It played its limited run and went on tour. Burton was infirm and looked onstage as though he were playing a deformed Richard III instead of King Arthur. My memory is that the set was rather ugly. O)n the tour Burton's health worsened and Richard Harris was brought in with his entourage to replace the musical team. Somewhere in all of this Ebersole was replaced by Bussert.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/6/11 at 12:59pm

You are absolutely right, elmore. I saw Ebersole with Burton, not Bussert. I saw Meg in BRIGADOON and THE MUSIC MAN (w/Dick Van Dyke) and at least a half dozen other shows at stock and dinner theaters in Connecticut. Thanks for the correction.

During the early 1980s, Meg and my friend, Paige O'Hara, were almost always up for the same shows. Meg would usually get the ingenue; Paige would play the soubrette. In my mind, I think I've now inserted Meg into every show of the period. They did BRIGADOON together in Darien before Meg did it on Broadway. At least that's how I recall it now.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 12:27am

I saw this production - and loved seeing Richard Burton on stage in the role.

Still have my Playbill...

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 1:05am

This show has always had problems with its length and writing---correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Moss Hart's health failing at the time so no cuts and revisions were made to the show?

beautiful score and quite a powerful show when done right.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 3:12am

I saw the opening night in 60 at The O'Keeffe Center in Toronto where the show tested before going to New Haven. At the time, Hart, Lerner and Loewe were all in Mount Sinai Hospital with heart problems. I hear Burton was left to finish things off. The show was ponderously long, and as a child, I fell asleep a few times. They cut plenty after that and STILL had a long show.

I saw Burton in the revival and he was, indeed sick. But it was Richard Friggin' Burton and he still delivered the good when necessary.

I saw the Richard Harris version and it was a waste of money. He phoned it in.

The one thing I remember about the production was all the knights lined up onstage in the most shiny chromed armor you have ever seen. It was dazzling.

Updated On: 11/8/11 at 03:12 AM

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 9:05am

That playbill looks like a recycled Man of La Mancha playbill, haha

[allofmylife]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 12:22pm

But worth substantially more.

[daredevil]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 1:38pm

I was lucky enough to see Burton in the original production of Camelot in early April 1961. He was amazing---totally vulnerable, original, sometimes he seemed to be making it up as the show went along. But there was something so sincere, so real about his performance. I remember him standing on the parapet during the "Guenevere" choral number in Act II, crying out "Save her Lance!' like a little child, hoping his mother would be saved from an awful fate. A great performance! Sadly, the revival of 1980, for a limited summer run at the New York State theater, and later a tour, was very dissappointing. Burton only occasionally rose to the level of his performance 19 years earlier. He was also too old for the role at the time; Since the original,producers always seem to cast Arthur with a "mature" lead, when in fact, he goes from about 20 to 34 in the musical. He is really an innocent.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 4:29pm

Thanks, daredevil. Having only seen the 1980 revival, it's nice to hear that Burton was as good as I imagine him to be when listening to the OBC recording.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 6:08pm

I saw the 1980 revival of CAMELOT on the infamous night when Richard Burton was too drunk to continue with the performance. He started the show but was so far behind the orchestra in "I Wonder What The King..." that we all knew something was wrong. Moments after the song was over, someone dressed in a knight's costume walked out and stood in front of Burton with his [the knight's] back to the audience. He walked off and moments later the curtain rang down with an announcement that Burton was "too ill" to continue and that after a 15 minute break, the show would continue with William Parry assuming the role of Arthur.

We stayed for the show and Parry was brilliant. On the drive home, we heard a radio story that full refunds would be given to anyone who mailed their stubs to the box office. We did this and as got our refunds about 10 days later. Not bad for seeing a wonderful performance by William Parry!

The next day the press was filled with stories that Burton had been out drinking with Richard Harris all that afternoon.

[sueb1863]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 7:12pm

With all the movie remakes, they need to remake a movie version of Camelot and do it right. It's a wonderful show and really needs a good film (or TV) treatment.

Why do they only remake good movies and not good stories that simply got bad film treatments??

I saw Harris during the 1986 Camelot tour. He basically just recited the lines and seemed very bored.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 8:16pm

I think Camelot is diffidult to film (just as it seems to be to stage)--trying to find a balance between realistic and so stylized, etc. That said Josh logan, who by all accounts was often a great stage director, has never made a movie I've really liked.

Wasn't that original Toronto preview of Camelot actually over four hours?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 8:27pm

The transitions from dialogue to song in the CAMELOT movie are cringe-worthy. I used to show it to my classes as part of a unit I did on the Arthur legend and there would be audible groans every time the characters broke into song.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 9:00pm

Camelot is an enjoyable show. I have the filmed version with Harris, and Redgrave. Never watched it in full. I also have the filmed stage version of Harris at the Winter Garden from HBO. I couldn't finish watching it either.

I wasn't until I saw the concert version from Lincoln Centre a few years ago with Marin Mazzie, that I watched the whole thing through, and understood the show. I have now been able to go back and watch the HBO version, and watch the whole thing.

If I have to introduce anyone to Camelot, I'd use the OBC, and the Lincoln Centre concert.