Take one great king, a beautiful queen and a young, handsome knight who will become their dearest friend and the catalyst for their destruction.
April 29, 2007 (Press Release) --
Add to the mix a wise old wizard, a menacing illegitimate son. Wrap it all up in a glorious musical score and you have "Camelot," the Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Loewe stage musical that would help define an American presidency and make none other than Richard Burton a star of the
musical theater.
A new, slightly darker version of "Camelot" begins a two-week run Tuesday at the LaSalle Bank Theatre. Starring film and television veteran Michael York as King Arthur, Rachel York (no relation) as Guinevere and James Barbour as Lancelot, "Camelot" tells the tale of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. It is also a tale of love, passion, betrayal and forgiveness. The musical became the favorite of John F. Kennedy, even defining the era of his presidency as "one brief shining moment," as goes the show's title tune.
This new production has been slightly tweaked by Lerner's children, Michael (as scriptwriter) and Liza (as co-producer), utilizing their late father's original papers. It looks and sounds like the "Camelot" we are most familiar with, but there are some subtle changes, according to York.
"I guess this production is a bit darker, there's more leather and fur reminiscent of 5th- and 6th-century England," said York during a recent phone interview. "The love story is very adult, and it's handled so beautifully. You end up sympathizing with all three of them because it's so tactfully done, and frankly very real."
"I found this treasure trove of material in my father's papers," Liza Lerner said in a separate interview. "And of all his work, I really wanted to do a national tour of 'Camelot.' Maybe it was the whole Jack Kennedy thing, the whole 'Camelot' White House years that America embraced with such passion that always made this show really stand out in my mind, and made it a favorite musical with audiences."
The only major change, Lerner revealed, is the song "I Loved You Once in Silence" which has been trimmed (it maybe reinstated by the time the show opens here).
"In my father's [and Loewe's] original London West End production, the song was not in the show. And, in terms of just making more sense, 'If Ever I Would Leave You' has now been moved to the bedroom scene between Lancelot and Guinevere, which is also straight from my father and Fritz's [Frederick Loewe's] London production. So in essence, they are changes that are totally in line with my father's vision for the show."
Most recently, the 65-year-old York has been seen as Basil Exposition in all three "Austin Powers" feature films. Other film credits include Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), the 1972 Oscar-winning "Cabaret" with Liza Minnelli, and as the handsome and boyish D'Artagnan in "The Three Musketeers" (1973) and its sequel "The Four Mu
musical theater.
A new, slightly darker version of "Camelot" begins a two-week run Tuesday at the LaSalle Bank Theatre. Starring film and television veteran Michael York as King Arthur, Rachel York (no relation) as Guinevere and James Barbour as Lancelot, "Camelot" tells the tale of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. It is also a tale of love, passion, betrayal and forgiveness. The musical became the favorite of John F. Kennedy, even defining the era of his presidency as "one brief shining moment," as goes the show's title tune.
This new production has been slightly tweaked by Lerner's children, Michael (as scriptwriter) and Liza (as co-producer), utilizing their late father's original papers. It looks and sounds like the "Camelot" we are most familiar with, but there are some subtle changes, according to York.
"I guess this production is a bit darker, there's more leather and fur reminiscent of 5th- and 6th-century England," said York during a recent phone interview. "The love story is very adult, and it's handled so beautifully. You end up sympathizing with all three of them because it's so tactfully done, and frankly very real."
"I found this treasure trove of material in my father's papers," Liza Lerner said in a separate interview. "And of all his work, I really wanted to do a national tour of 'Camelot.' Maybe it was the whole Jack Kennedy thing, the whole 'Camelot' White House years that America embraced with such passion that always made this show really stand out in my mind, and made it a favorite musical with audiences."
The only major change, Lerner revealed, is the song "I Loved You Once in Silence" which has been trimmed (it maybe reinstated by the time the show opens here).
"In my father's [and Loewe's] original London West End production, the song was not in the show. And, in terms of just making more sense, 'If Ever I Would Leave You' has now been moved to the bedroom scene between Lancelot and Guinevere, which is also straight from my father and Fritz's [Frederick Loewe's] London production. So in essence, they are changes that are totally in line with my father's vision for the show."
Most recently, the 65-year-old York has been seen as Basil Exposition in all three "Austin Powers" feature films. Other film credits include Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), the 1972 Oscar-winning "Cabaret" with Liza Minnelli, and as the handsome and boyish D'Artagnan in "The Three Musketeers" (1973) and its sequel "The Four Mu
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