THEATER REVIEW
“Camelot”
Grade: C
Through April 27. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 4 p.m. Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sunday (April 20); 2:30 p.m. Sunday (April 27). $28-$39. Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, www.get.org.
Bottom line: Not very magical or majestic.
Georgia Ensemble Theatre’s last production, a simply sublime staging of “The Great Gatsby” that ranked among the group’s all-time bests, is an act that would be hard enough just to follow, let alone to top.
Call it an unforeseeable victim of circumstance, but coming on the heels of one such dynamic step forward for the Roswell company, artistic director Robert J. Farley’s current “Camelot” feels like two steps back.
(That’s because it doesn’t stand up any better against last season’s “Hello, Dolly!” either. Despite producing many a jukebox-style revue over its 20-plus years, that show marked another impressive stride for Georgia Ensemble: its first traditional “book,” or scripted, musical, which was nicely done on the whole.)
For the record, “Camelot” recounts the medieval legend of King Arthur — his tutelage by the mystical magician Merlyn; his fated ascension to the English throne; his undying love for Queen Guenevere; and her passionate affair with Sir Lancelot, the most chivalrous of Arthur’s anointed Knights of the Round Table.
Farley’s version unfolds at a muddled, meandering pace that essentially stymies the romantic sweep of the story, and his surprisingly drab design scheme minimizes the grandeur of its setting. Although it’s competently acted, sung and danced, there’s no real sense of cohesion or vitality to the show, and far too little in the way of stylistic atmosphere or razzle-dazzle.
The famous score is by Frederick Loewe (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics): “How to Handle a Woman,” “The Lusty Month of May,” “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” and at least a dozen other songs. The music director is Bill Newberry, working with a five-piece band and a cast of 15.
Arthur, the “once and future king,” is played by Bryant Smith, the once and future Jean Valjean from Aurora’s “Les Miserables” (earlier this season and later next season), who tends to overact Arthur’s more emotional scenes. Conversely, Jennifer Alice Acker, recently seen as Desdemona in the Tavern’s “Othello,” somewhat underplays the headstrong Guenevere. In their many musical numbers, however, the co-stars truly excel.
Chris Kayser headlines the supporting cast, serving double duty as a rather bland Merlyn and then hamming it up as the dotty old Lord Pellinore, sort of a cross between Peter Sellers and Tim Conway. Kyle Brumley portrays the villainous Mordred, Arthur’s bastard son. The two actors previously appeared together as doctor and patient in Actor’s Express’ “Equus.”
In more ways than one, the show’s knight in shining armor is the ever-engaging Jeremy Wood, late of the Ensemble’s “Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America,” whose Lancelot comes to the rescue with a singularly saving grace, both dramatically and musically. His big solo, the ballad “If Ever I Would Leave You,” is worth the proverbial price of admission.
Farley’s production is hardly as lush or lavish as the Lerner and Loewe material demands. Next year at this time, he plans to mount the duo’s even more highly sophisticated “My Fair Lady.” It will be a bold undertaking, to be sure — and at least that great “Gatsby” proves the troupe is capable of pulling it off, even if this lackluster “Camelot” ultimately doesn’t.
