Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / June 5, 1980, edition 1 / Page 12
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12 The Tar Herl Thursday. June 5, 1980 arts 'Camelot' is successful with good casting choic QS By Laurie Dowling It's not easy to bring Camelot, the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, to the stage. Nearly everyone has been exposed to the tale, be it through storybooks, through the movie Camelot or Walt Disney's The Sword and the Stone. But the Village Dinner Theater not only attempts Lerner and Loewe's adaptation of T.H. White's book, The Once and Future King, they attempt it in th$ limited space of their theater-in-t he-round. And with a delightful cast they are well -rewarded for their pains. theater Camelot is not only about the pomp and glory of the golden age of chivalry, it's also the age-old story of a love triangle. Queen Guenevere, very beautifully portrayed by Elizabeth King, is in love only with King Arthur (Ian Stuart), until the bold knight, Lancelot, enters the scene. Lancelot, played by handsome Sean Hopkins, would turn any woman's head. The three continue along until Mordred, Arthur's illegitimate son, appears and causes a great deal of trouble. The success or failure of Camelot depends upon strong portrayals by the members of the love triangle. Elizabeth King's lovely operatic soprano brings much to the role of Guenevere. King especially shines when the jealous Guenevere is urging the other knights against Lancelot. - Sean Hopkins works very nicely as the eagerly self-righteous Lancelot du Lac. Hopkins is no Robert Goulet, still his rendition of "If Ever I Would Leave You" has the tendency to leave chills. Ian Stuart takes a little time to warm up as Arthur, the man who became king by pulling a sword from what he thought was a war memorial. In his opening scene with Merlin, Stuart does little to convey the youthful king who stf uggles to be a leader. But by the second act, Stuart, who looks a bit too much like Richard Harris, is sufficiently in character for the audience to understand the struggle between the duties of a king and the emotions of a man. The other outstanding cast member is Jerry Rodgers, who portrays both the forgetful Merlin living life backwards, and the wonderfully bumbling King Pellinore. Rodger's Pellinore, typically English even to a monocle, is a joy to 'behold. The plum role of Mordred, who "must marry well, he's so far below everyone else," is given too much of a villainous leer by Dale Kaufman. It's difficult to understand his sway over the others when his villainy is so evident. Technical director Kevin Garbelman deals with the problem of multiple staging (from forest to castle and back again) through use of a simplistic set made of marbled geometric shapes which are at one moment a tree, and at another moment a part of the castle. The set's only distraction is the use of canvas covered rocks which don't fit in with this simplistic idea.- Even though it contains flaws, the Village Dinner Theatre's version of Camelot is a rather successful portrayal of the flowering of knighthood. The credit should go to director Robert Barton for his choice casting and, of course, to Lerner and Loewe's delightful music. Of S "ii""wy"llll : ; ' """ mm"m": -ADf$3.oa ' C MON.-FRI. 7:30 0:30 fclON-FRI 7:1 5 9:1 5 CHILD 1 jg ; X r i' , t, fw -i 3t Ml;- I (Vromthe MADtnan who started it all,, j) 0 "A comedy gone X I totsSly MAD." ft 7:00 9:00 I J Mb SAT. & SUN. J ' m 3-5-7-9 - . i-ii r n - i in ti - rn--'TfflS riLMCU un LUUAIIUN IN THIS GALAXY HOC "ROUGH CUT"-Curt Ryncs4-esy Ann Dcwn 0Mimi nun l.mnr T .. .. - ... -.- - EAST FAMXUN STSIZT V ACAJ BACK BY DEMAND SHOWS AT 3jO 53 7tC3 end fc AnSSFL RH3T JIATOIS CHOW 0?:LY $2X3 WINNER CW lCa?s URE '3 v ; INCLUDING IN - . coliing soon JOHM CELUSH1 AHO DAM AYKROYD AS THE BLUES BROTHERS" r 1 1 i- NOW SHOWING AT THE mi rnm.iW" "-iT.ir-rfnm-iriii :ri .r.. -, . WHO HAS SEEN IT. SIX-TRACK BOLBY STEREO IS UNSELIEVABLE! CARDINAL IN RALEIGH U ( ? LATE SHOW THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 11:45 PM ADMISSION STILL ONLY $1.50 ' ihiMih liUttiliiMli Si $m 1 LATE SHOW THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 12 MID ADMISSION STILL ONLY $1.10 D lOBH) FIVE DAYS ONLY1 SHOWS AT 3:C0 5:10 723 95 ENDS TUESDAY, DOflT KISS IT! THE AMITWILLE 5rA , ggg&tr. j- "BROHCO BILLY5
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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June 5, 1980, edition 1
12
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