The show that opened the O'Keefe Centre nearly 47 years ago will be back where it all began for one brief, shining moment this summer. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's beloved musical, Camelot, will be returning to Toronto from June 27-30. Of course, the building where it's playing is now called the Hummingbird Centre, and that's not the only thing that's changed in a half-century.
Camelot has undergone a makeover as well. One of the great theatrical stories in our city's history is that when the world premiere of Camelot opened the new O'Keefe facility on Oct. 1, 1960, the theatre was in better shape than the show, which ran well over four hours.
But it never really got properly whittled down during its Toronto tryout, because director Moss Hart suffered a heart attack and Lerner wound up being hospitalized with bleeding ulcers. I'm not feeling that good, either, quipped Loewe at the time. But at least I'm still standing.
A somewhat shortened version opened in New York two months later to mixed reviews and, although Hart and Lerner continued to work on it, there was a definite feeling that this was one show that never quite achieved its potential. Almost 50 years later, Michael Lerner, son of the original author, was approached by a team of producers who wanted to know if there was any way to reinvent the old show for the 21st century. I said, 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
' But then I realized that it actually was broke and that my father had often spoken of trying to attempt one last rewrite of Camelot. The newest version, which opened in California earlier this year and will be coming to Toronto in two weeks, is, in most ways, like the Camelot audiences know and love. You're up against a classic, Lerner concedes, and a lot of people love it, flaws and all, so you don't want to change it too much.
It's a matter of streamlining some problems that have existed since the first production. One of them is finding a way of reconciling the romantic comedy of the first act, when Arthur and Guenevere fall in love and all seems optimistic, with the dramatic tragedy of the second act, filled with adultery, betrayal, war and death. Lerner's solution was to add an opening scene where the older Arthur, on the eve of his final battle, looks back on how he got to this point in his life - turning the whole show into a giant flashback.
It works well for several reasons, reveals Lerner. We've got the wonderful Michael York playing Arthur and he's a more mature man, so it seems right to meet him playing his older self before going back in time. And it also gives us the feeling of foreboding we need, the sense that no matter how happy things may seem initially, they're not going to work out well in the end.
Another one of Lerner's changes shocked die-hard Camelot purists when it was first announced, but the reaction to it on the road has generally been good. Lerner has moved Lancelot's show-stopping ballad, If Ever I Would Leave You from its original place at the top of Act II, to the scene near the end, just before Lancelot and Guenevere are driven apart forever. It was a matter of marrying the strongest scene with the strongest song, explains Lerner.
Originally, Lancelot stopped the show with this giant ballad and then just vanished for a while. Now, you feel how enormous their passion is for each other just before their relationship is forced to end. Lerner is eager to assure Camelot fans that you won't like this new version any less.
In fact, I think you'll like it more. Time is also on its side. When Camelot first came out, its idealism was seen as a perfect fit for the presidency of the newly elected John F.
But now, in a post-9/11 world, we wanted to show people that amidst all this gloom and doom, one ray of hope will still be remembered, suggests Lerner. If anything, we need Camelot more now than we ever did. Camelot, starring Michael York, will play at the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts from June 27-30.
For tickets and information, go to ticketmaster.ca or call 416-872-2262. The show that opened the O'Keefe Centre nearly 47 years ago will be back where it all began for one brief, shining moment this summer.
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