Michael York has been in more than 50 films, including "Cabaret," "Murder on the Orient Express," "The Three Musketeers" and the "Austin Powers" movies. He's performed in such Broadway shows as "The Little Prince" and "The Crucible," and he's had a variety of roles on television.
Still, the serious Shakespearean actor has never played role in which he had to sing and dance.
That's why playing King Arthur in the revival of "Camelot," which opens Tuesday at Chicago's LaSalle Bank Theatre, is risky business for him, York said.
"I'll admit that it made me quite nervous in the beginning. I thought I would be expected to burst out in song on stage.
But director Glenn Casale told me that I needn't worry. He said that I could sing-and-speak my part the way Rex Harrison did in 'My Fair Lady,'" said the British-born York.
"The dancing also seemed a problem.
But I was told that it would be okay if I just moved my feet with some semblance of rhythm. If I needed to, I could even shuffle my feet while seated."
Actor Michael York had seen the film version of "Camelot" with Richard Harris but not the stage version, which originally starred Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.
That could be both good and bad.
"Films are never the same as a stage musical, so I couldn't prepare myself for the part by watching a DVD of the movie. But, what I did do was explore some of the sites in England that are considered part of the myth of the 6th century warrior king," said York, who plays King Arthur the "Camelot" revival that opens Tuesday at Chicago's LaSalle Bank Theatre.
"I visited the summit of Tintagel, which overlooks the sea, and is supposed to be Arthur's reputed birthplace. I traveled to Cadbury, which many identify as Camelot. I spent time in Salisbury, where Arthur was thought to have fought his final battle.
And I also went to Glastonbury, where he is said to have been buried."
York said the re-imagined "Camelot" has undergone changes. "The show has been tightened and is not as long as it used to be.
And the placement of some of the songs has been changed. For example, 'If Ever I Would Leave You' used to open Act II, which never made sense. Now, it has been moved further back, where it is so much more meaningful," he said.
Considering the great effort that composers Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe and director Moss Hart went through to mount the show on Broadway in 1960 (all three men became seriously ill during its creation and had great difficulty with the show's tryouts), one wonders whether they would have approved this new adaptation.
"This revision has been done with the blessing of the Lerner estate, (which) owns the rights to it; so it has to be okay. It is Lerner's son, Michael, who has revised his father's book, and daughter, Lisa, the national tour's producer, who came up with this new production," York said.
The epic tale is still the same, though. Based on the T.H.
White novel "The Once and Future King," "Camelot" follows Arthur as he dreams of creating a perfect English society in which knights fight for the right and the world is ruled by law.
"That story is what appealed to me and convinced me I had to play Arthur," York said. "I love Arthur's idealism.
He's a visionary ruler who sees beyond what is to what can be. I love what he stands for when he says: 'violence is not strength; compassion is not weakness.'
"I think 'Camelot' is timeless and for everyone.
We all have a universal desire to hear a story about a champion and hero. That is why the story of 'Camelot,' even now, continues to excite our imagination."
Where: LaSalle Bank Theatre, 18 W.
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