“Don’t let it be forgot,
That there once was a spot,
For one brief shining moment
That was known as Camelot.”

CONSIDERING that my own close relationship with theatre in Guyana places me in a position where it would be awkward to review plays put on at the National Cultural Centre, the Theatre Guild, and other stages in the country (most often because the plays are almost always connected to someone in my own theatre family), I try to always seize the opportunities to write about productions that are far removed from me. Whenever I travel out of the country, I always make it a point to do some research on the theatre scene of the particular city I am visiting and, quite often, I am led to some astounding productions of the kind that are not usually seen back home.

The musical, for example, is a rarity on the Guyanese stage, and, therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed heading out to see Washington D.C.’s very own Shakespeare Theatre Company – noted for its productions of Shakespeare’s plays as well as other works written by classic playwrights, including Tennessee Williams, George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen, etc. – and its production of “Camelot,” a musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Lowe, the duo behind that other famous stage musical: “My Fair Lady.”

“Camelot” focuses primarily on the legendary King Arthur, with particular emphasis on his founding of the Knights of the Round Table and the illicit relationship between Arthur’s wife, Guenevere, and his friend and favourite knight, Lancelot du Lac. The original production premiered on Broadway in 1960 and starred Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.

This staging of the musical, directed by Alan Paul, brings with it, in a swirl of emotions and a crescendo of colourful voices, all the pomp, humour, and charm that one would expect from a story that is based on the legend of King Arthur. The king himself is played by actor, Ken Clark, in a lead role that requires him to sing, dance, spar, emote, climb, and cry – and yet, never once, does Clark’s performance ever give any indication that the actor has bitten off more than he can chew. He handles the performance with the kind of grace and beauty that befits royalty.

His growth from a cheery young Arthur, climbing a giant silver tree to steal a look at Guenevere, his wife-to-be, into the mature king who seeks a land of peace by creating the Round Table, and then into the older king about to lose his wife, his friend, his kingdom, and even his ill-begotten son in one stroke, are all phases of Arthur’s life that Clark conveys in a way that never lets the audience forget that while he is a king and a myth, he is also a man. It is mostly Arthur that the audience is left grieving for at the end of the play, and Clark’s soulful performance and skillful singing has a lot to do with that.

Playing against Arthur is Alexandra Silber as Guenevere. Silber is beautiful, but this does not detract from her winsome performance of a role that is not easy to navigate since a crux of its resonance with the audience has to do with the actress’ ability to convince us that she loves her husband as much as she loves Lancelot. Somehow, Silber manages to do just this – not an easy task, but one which she accomplishes by the end of the play, giving us a show of a performance that left me wondering whether she was better at acting, singing, or dancing, before I just gave up altogether and decided that the woman was as adept at each of the three major skills she called upon while playing Guenevere.

Nick Fitzer is perfectly cast as the winsome, slightly vain, but mostly honourable, Lancelot du Lac. His flirty smirk and chiseled body made him physically perfect for the role, but ultimately it is the actor’s comic timing, his strong chemistry with Clark and Silber, and his understanding of the motivations and conflictions within the mind and heart of the character that makes him a success. Furthermore, of the three lead actors, I think Fitzer had my personal favourite singing voice – rich and filled with an emotion-inflected bravado, the kind of voice that puts in your mind images of silver armour and dragons and swords and haunted forests. His rendition of ‘C’est Mois’ is the song I came out of the theatre humming.

Special commendation needs to be awarded to Floyd King whose performance of the old and senile, yet surprisingly wise, King Pellinore, was a delight and a masterclass in comic acting. All the other actors were perfectly cast and those in the ensemble, essaying multiple roles with finesse, were a joy to watch.
The costumes, including everything from armour to capes and a myriad of medieval dresses, by Ana Kuzmanic were to a wonder to behold, detailed, and lending to the fusion of colours that brought the magic of Camelot to the stage.

The set pieces were also quite creative and served to impart the idea that many set pieces are not necessarily a necessity to a play as most scenes had a single dominant set piece that created the overall atmosphere that was needed for the entire scene. Good examples of this include the giant silver tree that Arthur lounges in while talking to Merlin, the hanging gardens of pink blooms that served to herald the beginning of Spring, and the scarlet foliage that was scattered on the stage, signaling the passing of time, foreshadowing the fall that is to come, and representing blood, but also symbolising the pervasive, ever-present love of Guenevere and Lancelot in each of the thousands of red leaves that swirl around on the stage.

Other critics (such as Peter Marks in his review of the play for “The Washington Post”) have already written about the production’s relationship with past and modern American politics. It is hard to watch the play and observe the girls in the ensemble in dresses that highlight the different colours of the #Pride rainbow, or the moment two men touch each other’s faces lovingly, or even listen to Arthur talk about wanting to become a noble leader and have peace across the land, and hearing him reminisce about Merlin turning him into a hawk that flew high into the sky and watched as the borders that separated the countries disappear from the view high above, and not think about the current administration in America and their policies.

It is interesting that the musical, written in the fifties, can be touched in such a subtle manner so as to reflect and address, in small but meaningful ways, the things that truly matter in today’s world.