(Lyle Buxton as Sir
Lancelot; Steven Stead as King Arthur & Jessica Sole as Queen Guinevere.
Pic by Val Adamson)
Hot on the heels of KicksArt’s delicious The Play that Goes Wrong, is the magical
tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table: Camelot which comes to the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on UKZN campus
from May 18 to June 3, 2018.
Camelot is a
musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe based on the King Arthur legend
as adapted from the epic T H White novel, The
Once and Future King.
One of the most enduring, revisited and familiar of the
legends is that of King Arthur - the legendary fifth century British leader and
brave and fair Knight who led Medieval Britain’s defence against Saxon
invaders. He is known for his Kingdom of Camelot; his magical sword Excalibur;
his beautiful wife Guinevere and his followers known as the Knights of the
Round Table, championed by Sir Lancelot du Lac, who fought for justice and
right.
It features some of Lerner and Loewe’s most beautiful music,
with songs like Camelot, If Ever I Would
Leave You, It’s May and I Loved You
Once in Silence.
Directed by Steven Stead assisted by Mervyn McMurtry, it
stars Steven Stead as King Arthur, Jessica Sole as Queen Guinevere and Lyle
Buxton as Sir Lancelot, and features Peter Court as Merlin / King Pellinor,
Nathan Kruger as the evil Mordred, and Anne-Marie Clulow as the magical wood
nymph, Nimue.
With sumptuous Game of
Thrones-inspired costumes by Terrence Bray, atmospheric sets by Greg King
and choreography by Janine Bennewith, this promises to be a romantic,
swashbuckling spectacle.
Camelot was staged
in 1960 under the direction of writer / director Moss Hart (who also directed
Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady) and
with orchestrations by Philip J Lang and Robert Russell Bennett featuring a
top-notch cast: Lerner and Loewe’s darling from their recent success My Fair Lady, a youthful Julie Andrews
as Guinevere, alongside Richard Burton as Arthur, Robert Goulet as Lancelot in
his first Broadway role, and Roddy McDowall as Mordred.
The production instantly captured the public’s attention and
imagination, and ran on Broadway for 873 performances. Excerpts from this
watershed production made for the Ed
Sullivan Show on TV can still be viewed on YouTube. During its lengthy
Broadway season, it won four Tony Awards, and was the top selling LP for a
record 60 weeks in the USA.
Of course, the quintessential English myth and much-loved
hero found its way across the Atlantic Ocean to open in London in 1964 at the
Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. It soon spawned an array of revivals,
international versions and the iconic 1967 film featuring Richard Harris as
Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere, the dashing Franco Nero as Lancelot and
David Hemmings as Mordred.
KickstArt’s Camelot
comes to the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on UKZN campus from May 18 to June 3,
2018. Tickets R255, R215 and R185 (NB: there are no concession discounts)
Previews R185 throughout on May 18 at 19h30, May 19 at 14h30
and 19h30. The season formally opens on May 20. (Not suitable for children
under eight years old) Booking is through Computicket 0861 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.com.
For schools’ performances, charity fundraisers or block
bookings of 50 or more, contact KickstArt Theatre via email: kickstart@letni.co.za
Posts
