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Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

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#1

Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/20/07 at 9:48pm

Originally taped for HBO in 1982 is being released on DVD!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000N2HDDC/ref=nosim/talkinbroadway

The cast:

Richard Harris ... King Arthur
Meg Bussert ... Queen Guenevere
Richard Muenz ... Lancelot Du Lac
Barrie Ingham ... King Pellinore
James Valentine ... Merlyn
Richard Backus ... Mordred
William Parry ... Sir Dinadan
Thor Fields ... Tom Of Warwick


Updated On: 2/20/07 at 09:48 PM

#4

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/20/07 at 10:10pm

Not since THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE will so much eye makeup be available on one DVD.

"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
#8

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 12:43am

I remember seeing this on A & E back in the days when A & E was actually devoted to Arts and Entertainment! (They ran CAMELOT, SWEENEY TODD, I DO I DO, A PARTY WITH COMDEN AND GREEN among others.)

It IS better that Josh Logan's ploddig film version but note the pained look of boredom on Harris's face when he enters for his curtain call.

Still I look forward to having it on DVD.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#9

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 12:46am

"Not since THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE will so much eye makeup be available on one DVD."

Ha...about two weeks ago, I was paging through the program from the tour with Harris from around the same time. The thing that really stood out for me was the eyeshadow!
#10

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 12:48am

YAY I swear I could almost weep with joy. Thanks so much for the info..I miss Richard Harris so much.
"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.
#12

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 9:21am

Despite the appearance of King Arthur Minnelli... I remember liking this when it was on HBO.

Admittedly, it's been 25 years, so who knows? I'm anxious to see it again, though.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#15

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 11:35am

Exactly...though HBO Pictures was one of the producers of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, they did not record/film it. There was talk that it might be filmed during it's post-Broadway run in Los Angeles, but that never happened.

No knowledge if it was filmed for the Lincoln Center Archives. If it wasn't, then all that survives is the B-Roll Press Reel for the show, which contains long sequences/clips from the Broadway production.

I do have a DVD of the show given to me by a cast member, but it isn't professionally filmed.




#17

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 1:03pm

I always thought Richard Harris was so damn sexy.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali
#19

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 1:11pm

I saw this at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis in the summer of 1981. At the end of the first act he looked exhausted, but he had no business being on the road in a musical. He'd just gotten out of rehab and should have been home resting. Poor Meg Bussert had nothing to play off, quite clearly Des Heeley had been paid a fortune for the most hideous sets imaginable, and it was torture to sit through.

Furthermore, Tarzan the Ape Man had just been released, where he playe Bo Derek's father, and the reviews were brutal. How he survived this is anyone's guess. I agree, Run, as fast as you can, away from this disaster!
NYC Visitor and Broadway Fan
#20

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 1:29pm

Borstalboy-- you're not the only one. When my darling friend revealed she had lunch with him once I grilled her for hours about every detail..he was one of the few actors she truly liked --- not the least bit pretentious and quite clever-- unlike most of them that she ran into during her years at Miramax and Warner.
Here are some facts that I gathered during my interrogation:
His eyes did in fact twinkle-- YAY. Not a trick of light camera or eye drops. Big relief to me.
He was typical "Wild Irishman"
Very cool and laid back

"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.
#21

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 2:45pm

Meg Bussert gasps for breath like Idina on a bad day.

WHERE ARE THE SIMPLE JOYS OFMAIDENHOOD? (wheeeeeze!)
WHERE ARE ALL THOSE ADORING DARING BOYS? (wheeeeeze!)
#22

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 4:13pm

Wow...does anyone else happen to think, as I do, that Harris as Arthur in this is one of the most spectacularly bad acting jobs ever captured on video or film? The insane line readings! The jarring shifts in vocal dynamics! The spastic body movements! And oh, oh, oh my dear, the make-up and Carol Channing wig!

Not to knock Harris in general; he could certainly be a superlative actor. I guess you could say it takes a great actor to give a performance this extravagantly bad. I'd like to blame the drugs. But for me, his performance is just one big unintentional laugh-fest.
#23

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 4:21pm

I saw Harris do the tour and he was slightly better live. The production on the video is kinda tacky.. but I'll still buy it!

anyway..

I remember reading Harris' take on the role.

He said that Burton approached it as a man BORN to be king. Harris, on the other hand, approached as an ordinary man who had greatness thrust upon him.

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart; and you'll never walk alone.
#25

re: Richard Harris live in CAMELOT being released on DVD

Posted: 2/21/07 at 4:36pm

Harris' Arthur was too effeminate for my taste.
"I'm only 17 and am running on 6 cups of coffee so, forgive me if things that I post seem spastic." ~ Elphaba 43

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