All About "Camelot"

Hey, my pal Dave Lavender has a great write-up in today's Herald-Dispatch about this weekend's production of Camelot, which takes the stage for its first show tonight at 8 p.m.

You can read the story right here - or right here:

Over at Huntington City Hall, they've gone ahead and crowned themselves king.

Blow out the torches anti-government grumblers, the royal party is happening on stage upstairs at the stately Jean C. Carlo Stephenson Auditorium where Fifth Avenue Theatre Company presents its version of the classic 1960 musical, Camelot.

Director Eddie Harbert has turned back the clock to the original flavor of the 1960 musical that shows bursts of magic and fun before the storyline slips into sadness.

Directed by Harbert, with music by Mike Campbell, choreography by Coni Anthony and set design by Todd Preston, Camelot opens this weekend with shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 23-24; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 25. The show also runs next weekend.

Tickets are $12 and $10 for children 12 and under.

Harbert, who is now working on his sixth show with Anthony, said that while today's versions of Camelot have been seen through a glass darkly, he's brought back more of the light-hearted fun of the original 1960 Broadway production that became associated with the ideals of the Kennedy administration.

Armed with a cast of 35, and such veterans as Mark Baker (Arthur), Marina Jurica (Guinevere), Danny Ray (Pellinore), Nancy Jackson (Morgan Le Fey) and Chuck Minsker (Sir Lionel), Camelot recaptures some of that vocal magic that helped the original show run for 873 performances on Broadway, win the show four Tony Awards and hold the No. 1 spot on the U.S. album charts for 60 weeks.

"Lately Camelot has been done darkly and very depressing," Harbert said. "It isn't supposed to become tragic until the end. It's really very light-hearted and fun. Marina as Guinevere is full of fun and life, which is the way that Julie Andrews portrayed her in the 1960s version. I felt that Camelot should be a magical, fun place, and so we put an emphasis on the comedy and a put a lot of the magic back into the show."

Harbert said in addition to adding more of the magic, which has been cut from many modern productions of the show, they also added some of the original tunes such as "Take Me to the Fair," because it is so funny.

In addition to comic relief of a dancing Chuck Minsker (as Sir Lionel), Harbert said veteran stage personality Danny Ray, who is usually directing productions these days, is on stage as King Pellinore.

"It's kind of a cameo role because he isn't on stage the whole time but once he comes out it is pretty regularly, and he is the comedy of Camelot," Harbert said.

Based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from T.H. White's novel The Once and Future King, Camelot follows the legend of King Arthur and his perfect kingdom that was shattered because of the tragic passion between Queen Guinevere and the Round Table's bravest knight Lancelot.

That story will unfold in costumes handmade by cast member Jennifer Scott, and on a stage set designed and built by Todd Preston, who is also in the production.

"Half the set is the castle and the other half is the forest with the forest going into the castle with a path going down from a cliff to the ground and another path that leads from the other side," Harbert said. "We have trees that people can climb in and so it is very magical, mystical and regal looking at the same time."

Harbert said it should be a lot of fun revisiting Camelot, which hasn't been done in Huntington since Marshall University performed it about 30 years ago.

"It's very fun and it is a kind of different Camelot," Harbert said. "I think it is the Camelot that many people, and many older people will remember -- that is why I brought it back."

(The lovely photo of Marina is by Mark Webb.)

I started to protest the line in the story about my dacing being 'comic relief,' but not because I disagree - it's because equal credit should go to my fellow knights Ron Short and Erik Weingardt - we're a team, after all!