Theater Review—

Fascinating — And Lengthy — Tales Of The Round Table

By Julie Stern

RIDGEFIELD — Lerner and Loewes’ 1960 musical Camelot, a blend of E.B. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and Sir Thomas Mallory’s tales of King Arthur and his Knights, is a pageantry-laden spectacle that places great demands on both its performers and its audience.

That is, the story of the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle, combined with the Utopian dream and ultimate demise of the legendary Round Table where chivalry prevailed, is so filled with content that the result is about three and a half hours duration (including an intermission judiciously long enough to allow everyone a chance at the restrooms).

Happily, the production at Ridgefield Theater Barn, under the sure-handed direction of Craig David Rosen, is extremely well done. Blessed with a hugely talented cast, whose wonderful voices are matched by genuine dramatic ability, the show is generally fascinating.

Famous as President John Kennedy’s favorite show, the play focuses on Arthur’s dilemma of the conflict between his feelings as a man, and his responsibilities as King.

As a boy, Arthur performed the extraordinary feat of removing the sword, Excalibur, from the stone in which it was embedded, thus proving himself the rightful heir to the throne of England. When the play opens, the youthful king is about to meet the bride who has been chosen for him, the beautiful Guinevere.

Having been groomed by the wizard Merlyn to be wise and thoughtful, Arthur wants to end the existing cycle of war and retaliatory vengeance by bringing all the knights of Britain and France to his castle, Camelot, where they will sit as brothers and equals at a huge round table.

Instead of behaving like pirates and mercenaries, they will be sworn to a code of chivalry, defending the weak, and fighting evil throughout the land. Rather than living by a code of Might Makes Right, they will use their strength to uphold the law in a kingdom governed by reason. In short, his dream is to turn brutish savages into a civilized kingdom.

Aspiring to join this noble brotherhood, young men flock to Camelot from all over, including the dashing and impetuous Frenchman, Lancelot du Lac.  Unfortunately, Lancelot and Guinevere are passionately attracted to one another in the tradition of Courtly Love- a medieval tradition in which members of the noble classes threw themselves into (unconsummated) romances with people other than their spouses.

Thus the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle is the central feature of the plot.

Guinevere and Lancelot imagine that their attachment is their private secret. Arthur knows, and is jealous enough to want to do something about it, but he feels it is more important to preserve the harmony of Camelot and the integrity of his country.

This situation continues for years, until the arrival of the evil Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son, who intends to use the affair to sow chaos in the kingdom in order to overthrow Arthur and seize the throne for himself.

The production is well served by the three principals: Bennett Pologe as Arthur, Amanda B. Goodman as Guinevere, and Michael Constantino as Lancelot. Not only do all three of the have first class singing voices, but in the small confines of the Theater Barn, where every seat is close to the stage, their body language and facial expressions convey so much emotion and tension, that you feel their genuine pain. Guinevere doesn’t want to hurt her husband; Lancelot doesn’t want to betray his friend; and Arthur doesn’t want to allow his personal feelings to inhibit his ability to be a good king. And yet their eyes give it away…

Director Rosen gets nuanced performances from his secondary players as well, particularly Mark Snyder as the cagey Merlyn, Will Jeffries as the scatter-brained Pellinore (accompanied by Poochini Jeffries as his dog, Horrid) and Daniel Bayer as the smirking, simpering  Modred, who strikes an evil bargain with the sinister witch, Morgan Le Fay..

Another tremendous asset is the costume design by Solveig Pflueger, who uses her experience in designing period clothing for Renaissance Faires throughout the Northeast, along with her in depth knowledge of medieval armor and weaponry, to create eye-catching color and authentic detail in dressing her knights and their ladies.

As I said at the beginning, however, this is a very long show. On the ride home we found ourselves discussing ways in which it might be shortened. One thought we had was that they might eliminate the shifting of scenery. The play has 18 scenes, and the various settings are implied by the rearrangement of rudimentary blocks of wood to symbolize indoor furniture and outdoor landscape. That could be left alone and the audience wouldn’t mind.

Another thought was to start at 7:30, or even 7:45, rather than at eight. One member of our party wanted to cut a couple of the 17 musical numbers, but I think they have too much dramatic relevance. I can’t imagine leaving any of them out, but I would like to see half an hour shaved somehow. Perhaps the overture.

Nevertheless, this is a production the Theater Barn can well be proud of. They took Camelot and made sense of it, made you care about the characters, and enjoy the medieval spirit enough to think about exploring one of those Renaissance Faires one day.

(Performances continue Friday and Saturday evenings through June 27. There are Sunday matinees at 5 and on Saturday afternoon show at 2 pm on June 6.

Tickets are $26, $22 for seniors and students, and can be reserved by calling 203-431-9850 or online at RidgefieldTheaterBarn.org.)