Re: Reminder CAMELOT Live!

What I want to know is: Did Keach say "Hillary" for "Mallory" on
purpose, to get a laugh (which he didn't), or was he confused? Anyway,
since he has no songs and vanishes from the show in scene 2, it's not
exactly a stretch for anybody.

I hated Gabriel Byrne's voice. Hated it in Coast of Utopia too. Just
wanted him not to be there, singing, speaking, dancing, whatever.
Pronouncing the words of his songs on the proper beat might have
helped.

Marin Mazzie sang better than I'd expected. You don't want Reneigh
Fleming in this role (I don't want her in any role) because she'd jazz
it up in her new trademark style that no one else gets. I am delighted
Reneigh has found the perfect role, cultural talk-show host, and I
hope she keeps at it for years and stops singing.

Nathan Gunn was excellent in a part he can at last do justice to
without taking off his ****rt to make people not notice his dull
singing. I think he should have been a Broadway baritone from the
first, but they no longer write the shows Pinza and Reardon could make
their own, so he had to go assault opera instead. The accent was cute,
and appropriate for the character (after all).

Chris Lloyd was surprisingly pleasant as Pellinore.

Mordred and Morgan were from some other show I've never seen and
annoyed hell out of me, but they had small parts, happily.

The show is not good. It got snowed out of the Tonys because it was
the year of Gypsy and Fiorello, and the Tonys were right -- Gypsy and
Fiorello beat it to a pulp on every call but glittery costumes and
sets. And in Gypsy and Fiorello, they're supposed to be frowsy. Some
of Lerner's lyrics are rather good, but too many of them are
intolerably pretentious or dim. (Lusty Month of May is unforgivable;
so is Camelot the song.)

I'm glad someone here made it to La Fille du Regiment, undoubtedly the
wittiest, freshest, most MUSICAL comedy in New York these days. Florez
is a national (of Peru) treasure. Dessay is annoying in serious roles
but delightful when tossing off coloratura and ironing long underwear
at the same time, or advancing on the enemy while sitting on the
parlor floor in long skirts. Felicity Palmer did a star comic turn.
And this is a wonderful, wonderful score.

Catch it on PBS on June 26 (I believe).

Jean Coeur de Lapin