Lou Diamond Phillips Lacks Sparkle in ‘Camelot’
By Mary Carole McCauley, The Baltimore Sun
Mar. 27–In the nearly half-century since Camelot was first performed, our national self-image has altered. We no longer are as confident as we were in 1960, that we always use might to serve right.
Perhaps that explains some of my disappointment in the production of Lerner and Loewe’s musical running at the Hippodrome Theatre. But there are other reasons for discontent.
A retooled version by Michael Lerner, the lyricist’s son, robs the story of magic. Even worse, Lou Diamond Phillips delivers an oddly disengaged performance in the pivotal role of King Arthur. In every scene, he is out-acted and out-sung by his less-famous co-stars, Rachel de Benedet (Guenevere) and Matt Bogart (Lancelot).
To be fair, Camelot always has been a problem child. It has never capitalized on its considerable potential, which includes an incessantly hummable score and a plot that’s a potent blend of romance, tragedy and idealism.
Still, trying to squeeze the source material (T.H. White’s magnificent, 700-page novel, The Once and Future King) into a 2 1/2 -hour stage treatment is like pouring 5 pounds of flour into a 2-pound bag; a certain amount is bound to spill over and muck up the floor.
Nonetheless, if Camelot continues to exert a hold on the public imagination, it’s because the story enshrines humanity’s noblest ideals. The story’s core focuses on Arthur’s efforts to harness human aggression in pursuit of justice by founding the Knights of the Round Table. The romantic triangle is compelling because the personal drama mirrors the larger struggle. Arthur’s battle to subdue his jealousy and rage is an example in miniature of the societal changes he hopes to institute.
No scene is more poignant than the one in which the King is forced — by the very system of laws that he created — to sacrifice the lives of the two people he loves most.
I’ve always wondered why Lerner and Loewe’s songs don’t underscore the show’s central themes. For example, an entire (albeit charming) number is devoted to praising the lusty month of May — but there are no tunes about the Round Table or Arthur’s agonized indecision.
Obviously, Michael Lerner can’t rewrite his father’s songs or craft new ones. His revision attempts to redress what he perceives as a jarring disjunction in tone between Camelot’s lightly romantic first act and dark second half.
His solution is to greatly compress the latter. So Guenevere’s trial for infidelity passes in the blink of an eye and mostly off-stage, destroying any trace of pathos.
And Phillips never has been noted for his singing, but no matter — Arthur always has been primarily a role for a skilled actor.
It’s too bad one apparently wasn’t available Tuesday night.
I don’t know what Phillips was thinking about when he was on stage. Maybe he was mentally balancing his checkbook or planning his grocery list. Whatever he was doing, he wasn’t taking the audience on an imaginative journey.
It was only when de Benedet and Bogart sang their haunting duet, “If Ever I Would Leave You,” that there were glimmers of what Camelot could have been.
De Benedet has a regal presence and a soprano as sparkling and clear as the sun glinting off a fast-running stream.
Bogart brought unexpected nuances to the role of the French chevalier — shadings that an audience in 2008 will interpret much differently than an audience in 1960.
Bogart’s Lancelot is humorless, though impressed with his own importance. He is undoubtedly brave, and utterly dedicated to a cause for which he would gladly give his life. By his own admission, he is a fanatic.
>>>If you go Camelot runs at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St., 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays through April 6. $25-$70. Call 410-547-7328 or go to france-merrickpac.com.
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