It was the perfect timing; my husband Sumit had his birthday on Monday and then we had tickets for Camelot at our favorite theatre: Drury Oak Lane
Now, I have seen a fair number of shows at this gorgeous theatre, but somehow Camelot fell short. The sets, production set up left a lot to be desired for. Considering this was set up in the ‘King Arthur’, to me it felt very plain, very ‘non-grand’.
The music scores however were fabulous. They were perfectly timed and well delivered! The cast and the crew were impeccable. I loved Lancelot, I think he had the grandeur and the ‘make-me-weak-in-the-knees’ quality about him. The lovely song ‘I would leave you..’ was so simple and romantic. And me celebrating Sumit’s birthday there made it all the more special.
I think ‘Merlin’ was astounding. The screen presence, the delivery of dialogues, the worries were so well depicted.
Ken Clark, as King Arthur. Well my first impression was, hmm, wait; he is The king? But I must say, by the end of Act 1, I was mesmerized. It was such a powerful close and an awe-inspiring presence on stage.
I have not seen the original Camelot production, but from what I gather it is fairly long. This production, the first half and the second half were disproportionate time wise. Act 1 was a decent 75 minutes plus, however after the interval, it was very short and it felt that the play suddenly ended. However I do understand it is hard to compress such a grand production; I wish Act 2 could continue to build on the ‘grandeur’ of ‘King Arthur’
Overall, I did enjoy the production. Mixing a celebration with a lovely theatre evening is always good. And with kids peacefully sleeping at home, I did enjoy my evening out.
