Okay, I'm not a hugely educated musical theater fan, but I know when I've got good seats. And through a random act of kindness, I ended up in box seats, Pool Circle, at Sunday night's one-night only Hollywood Bowl performance of Camelot. This is as close to the stage as you can get without having to put on chain mail and take a seat at the Round Table. I told my friends who were kind enough to take my wife and me that I'd never had seats this good at a high-school play.
Jeremy Irons played King Arthur with James Barbour in the role of Lancelot. Camelot was Lerner and Loewe's follow-up to the smash hit My Fair Lady. It was first produced for Broadway back in 1960 with Richard Burton, Robert Goulet and Julie Andrews in the starring roles.
I'd never seen Camelot before Sunday but it felt like I had because the story of King Arthur is so familiar and the songs (i.e. "How to Handle a Woman", "If Ever I Would Leave You") have definitely been heard before. I'm not even sure where I've heard them but floating out from the Bowl they sounded almost Top-40 familiar.
John Mauceri conducted four dozen musicians in the Hollywood Bowl orchestra, and they didn't miss a note from where I sat (I've been dying to say that here). Melissa Errico did a killer job as Guenevere, and Paxton Whitehead nearly stole the show as the second banana, Pellinore. The problem all of us in our box had is that Irons is so damn good as Arthur that we could scarcely forgive that bitch Guenevere for thinking about cheating on him with Lancelot -- a Frenchman! (Sorry, didn't mean to inject politics into this.)
Although, I confess, I've always wanted to see Camelot because of its politics. It was, reportedly, President Kennedy's favorite musical and he and Jackie would often listen to the LP soundtrack before turning in for the night. After JFK's death, it was Jackie who gave the "Camelot" name and spin to the entire Kennedy administration in her interviews with William Manchester who wrote Death of a President.
Like I said, I'm not all that competent to judge musicals as a general rule, so my review may not be that spot on. The Los Angeles Times' Daryl H. Miller talked about Irons' "pitch-challenged singing" in his analysis. Compared to Barbour's Lancelot, I'd have to agree. Compared to me, though, you'd describe him as a virtual titan of singing talent. It's all relative. Yet, if Irons is moderate as a singer, he is superb as an actor. He took Arthur elegantly from an insecure boy-king to the self-assured ruler who took such pride in the Round Table.
The entire time I sat in those incredible seats, however, my mind kept wandering away from the music (which was above average), away from the story (which was below average), away from the staging (which was less than the usual school play) to thoughts of how unique this night was. All these talented people, all this effort, all for one night.
Or, as Arthur would describe Camelot, and Jackie would describe her husband's administration -- "one brief, shining moment."
