Camelot at Barrington Stage Company
Utopian Message for Hard Times
By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 04, 2025
Camelot
Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Directed by Alan Paul
Original Choreography by Michele Lynch
Choreographed and Recreated by Brandon Bieber
Music Director: Darren R. Cohen
Scenic Design by Lee Savage
Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind
Sound Design by Ken Travis
Original Costume Design by Ana Kuzmanic
Remounting Costume Design by Lia Wallfish
Cast: Ken Wulf Clark, Arthur; Ali Ewoldt, Guenevere; Emmett O’Hanlon, Lancelot; Danny Kornfeld, Mordred; Dakin Matthews, Merlyn/King Pellinore; The Child Mekhi McClain and Ensemble
Barrington Stage Company
Boyd-Quinson Theatre
June 25-July 19
Camelot with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics and a book by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the legend of King Arthur. It was adapted from the 1958 novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White.
The original 1960 production, directed by Moss Hart with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Philip J. Lang, ran on Broadway for 873 performances, winning four Tony Awards. It starred Richard Burton as Arthur, Julie Andrews as Guenevere, and Robert Goulet as Lancelot.
It followed by four years their masterpiece My Fair Lady. Loewe was reluctant to take on the project which encountered many challenges. It would prove to be their last and less successful collaboration. There were a few more projects and adaptations but no major new works.
The show premiered in Toronto where it ran for four and a half hours. "Only Tristan and Isolde equaled it as a bladder endurance contest,” Lerner later said. Noël Coward is supposed to have remarked that the show was "longer than the Götterdämmerung ... and not nearly as funny!" Soon afterwards, Lerner whose wife had recently departed, was hospitalized for three weeks with a bleeding ulcer. Then director Moss Hart suffered a second heart attack. He died a year later. Lerner stepped in as temporary director for the rest of the out-of-town run.
The show opened on Broadway to mixed reviews. It got a boost from an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
A week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Jackie Kennedy was interviewed by Theodore H. White for Life Magazine. She stated that the show's original cast recording had been a favorite of her husband’s particularly lines in the final number: "Don't let it be forgot/ That once there was a spot/ For one brief, shining moment/ That was known as Camelot” adding "There'll be great presidents again... but there'll never be another Camelot."
American’s came to view Camelot, and its democratic idealism, as a signifier for the abbreviated Kennedy presidency. There has never been a more physically attractive and charming first couple. Comparison to the current administration, a point of artistic director Alan Paul’s production, could not be more outré.
He originally directed Camelot in 2018 for Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. It has been trimmed to fit the dimensions and capabilities of Barrington Stage. Notably, he has overcome the limitations of this lesser work by Lerner and Loewe with at times energetic staging, stunning costumes, and brilliant casting. We cannot imagine a better Arthur than the wonderfully versatile and nuanced Ken Wulf Clark. He embodied the idealism and naiveté of Arthur and the play revolves around him.
As Guenevere, Ali Ewoldt is stunningly lithe and attractive with a strong and clear voice. She falters, however, in the demands of the role of transitioning from coquette, but faithful wife, to the lover of the errant French knight Lancelot. It is their infidelity, despite allegiance to and love of Arthur that will split the Round Table.
Emmett O’Hanlon embodies everything possible in a fabulous Lancelot. The French accent gets tedious but his soaring baritone rocked the house with the iconic “If Ever I Should Leave You.” The director takes the actor’s shirt off to display a buff bod and six pack abs. In every sense the knight is a hunk which the wavering Guenevere gradually succumbs to. She will be condemned to burn at the stake for that infidelity but, apparently, it was worth it. Escaping execution she will spend the rest of her life in a convent.
The drab, clunky and enervating set by Lee Savage did nothing to evoke the magical aura of the mythic Camelot. We first encounter Arthur, literally, up an abstracted, post modernist tree. In this ersatz forest he calls on the wizzard and spiritual advisor Merlyn for guidance. He is wonderfully played by Dakin Matthews who doubles as the weary warrior and adventurer, the ramshackle Penninore.
While grooming the young ruler it seems that Merlyn had the power to transform Arthur into various creatures. As a hawk he soared above and absorbed the kingdom. Merlyn, who sees both past and future, is implored to provide some guidance for what lay ahead. While waiting for the arrival of his bride from France he asks Merlyn if she is pretty.
Without introduction she arrived under the tree where they awkwardly interact. She has misgiving and a reluctance to give up her maidenly freedom to a stranger expressed in “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood.”
Is it love at first sight we ask? In a duet they share their dream of a utopia in “Camelot.” The Round Table will be peopled by knights who pledge to bring social justice and the rule of law to the land. Lancelot has been lured by that altruistic vision.
Initially, Guenevere finds him obnoxiously arrogant. He nails that attitude with “C’est Moi.” Indeed. She is not amused.
He must prove himself against four knights that she has manipulated into challenging him in a tournament. The staging of this is annoying and preposterous. With outthrust lances Lancelot and his opponents confront each other from awkward towers on opposite sides of the stage. His triumph is less than credible. Similarly, hand-to-hand clashes are cartoonish and absurd. There is no weight to their armor and it is all just too ridiculous for words.
Paul is better served by pageantry. The beautifully costumed Guenevere and her maidens are enchantingly delightful in “The Lusty Month of May.” Their movement activates the gossamer, flowing fabrics.
The first act is long and at times needlessly sluggish. By contrast, the shorter second act accelerates to a blur. The infusion of energy comes with the introduction of the smarmy, villainous worm, Mordred (Danny Kornfeld) the bastard, in every sense, son of Arthur.
Invited by Arthur to train as a knight the bastard detests the notion. He denounces chivalry and soldiering with the hilarious “The Seven Deadly Virtues.” He plots to destroy Arthur and the Round Table which he describes as a triangle of Arthur, Lancelot and Guenevere.
Just what gives with the royal couple? They have no children but obviously Arthur is potent. In an arranged marriage they obviously lack passion but are seemingly compatible. Fate has thrown them together but they speculate on the unencumbered life of commoners in the amusing “What Do Other Folk Do.”
The lovers assume that Arthur is unaware of their tryst and believe that they have done nothing wrong. We witness Arthur observing their enthralling gaze upon one another. Everyone at court knows what’s going on, seemingly all but the cuckolded Arthur. Mordred hatches a scheme to catch them in the act during which she is arrested though Lancelot escapes.
The evil Mordred brings delicious mischief to a play which, until his arrival, has been all too goody goody. The stage is electrified by his schemes. He appeals to the raw instinct of knights who are basically thugs and bullies fed up with doing the right thing. He and the knights romp through the hilarious “Fie On Goodness” which is utterly thrilling. It appealed to that basic instinct in all of us that is inherently badass. Why are villains inherently more enthralling than heroes? Why is Darth Vader so much more interesting than the bland Luke Skywalker?
Camelot, like the Kennedy administration, was too good and pure to last. But in the final scene we are given an olive branch of hope for the future. The inspiring young Mekhi McClain plays a stowaway who wants to join the Round Table. Arthur is intrigued as are we. Their encounter is wonderfully played and leaves us with spirit and hope. In these dark times that’s the best way to end an evening of theatre.