Camelot [Original Broadway Cast Recording] [Bonus Track]

by Camelot / O.b.c.

Overview

Camelot, a musical based on the Arthurian legend, reunited most of the creative talent that produced My Fair Lady, including lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner, composer Frederick Loewe, and leading lady Julie Andrews. Lerner had once again found a story that conformed to his favorite theme, a romantic triangle involving an older man, a younger woman, and an ardent suitor. As with My Fair Lady and his and Loewe's recent movie musical Gigi, the older man was played by a distinguished actor not known for his singing, in this case Richard Burton, who was making his musical comedy debut. Loewe wrote some melodies of limited range for Burton, but he proved to be a much more accomplished singer than his predecessors, Rex Harrison and Louis Jourdan, and certainly Harrison's equal in his articulation and phrasing of the English language. This made his performances of such songs as "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight" and the title song delights. Andrews brought her own beautiful English pronunciations and pure singing to light songs like "The Lusty Month of May" and "Then You May Take Me to the Fair," but she didn't really have a big number. Robert Goulet, making his Broadway debut, did, the show's standout song, "If Ever I Would Leave You," and he wrapped his powerful baritone voice around it. His was a career-making performance. Critics naturally compared Camelot with My Fair Lady and often found it wanting. The criticisms had more to do with the stage production than the score, but it too is not up to the standards of the earlier work. In particular, it often seems that Lerner intends the lyrics to be funnier than they come across as delivered. For example, Goulet as Sir Lancelot is introduced with "C'Est Moi," a boastful song that might have made him more ridiculous than he should be, if the words weren't swamped by Loewe's music. And songs like "The Lusty Month of May" and "Then You May Take Me to the Fair" recall similar and more impressive efforts by earlier Broadway lyricists such as Oscar Hammerstein II ("June Is Bustin' Out All Over") and Lorenz Hart ("To Keep My Love Alive"), respectively. But the performers sell the songs effectively, particularly by the end, when Burton's melancholy reading of the reprise to the title song, with its evocation of "one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot," moistens the eyes of every listener. [Camelot was also released with a bonus track, a reprise of "Camelot Finale."] ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/06/2009
Label:	Masterworks Broadway
UPC:	0886975619825

Tracks

1. Camelot, musical~Act 1. Overture
2. Camelot, musical~Act 1. March (Parade)
3. Camelot, musical~Act 1. I Wonder What The King Is Doing Tonight
4. Camelot, musical~Act 1. The Simple Joys Of Maidenhood
5. Camelot, musical~Act 1. Camelot
6. Camelot, musical~Act 1. Follow Me
7. Camelot, musical~Act 1. C'est Moi
8. Camelot, musical~Act 1. The Lusty Month Of May
9. Camelot, musical~Act 1. Then You May Take Me To The Fair
10. Camelot, musical~Act 1. How To Handle A Woman
11. Camelot, musical~Act 1. Before I Gaze At You Again
12. Camelot, musical~Act 2. If Ever I Would Leave You
13. Camelot, musical~Act 2. The Seven Deadly Virtues
14. Camelot, musical~Act 2. What Do The Simple Folk Do?
15. Camelot, musical~Act 2. Fie On Goodness
16. Camelot, musical~Act 2. I Loved You Once In Silence
17. Camelot, musical~Act 2. Guenevere
18. Camelot, musical~Act 2. Finale. Camelot (Reprise)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Mary Sue Berry   Primary Artist,Vocals
The Orchestra   Primary Artist
The Knights   Primary Artist
John Cullum   Primary Artist,Vocals
Roddy McDowall   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocals
Robert Goulet   Primary Artist,Vocals
Richard Burton   Primary Artist,Vocals
Bruce Yarnell   Primary Artist,Vocals
Ensemble   Primary Artist
Julie Andrews   Primary Artist,Vocals
Robert Daniel Goulet   Vocals
Camelot Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Peter de Vise   Vocals
Paul Huddleston   Vocals,Vocals
Marjorie Smith   Vocals
Leesa Troy   Vocals,Vocals
Virginia Allen   Vocals
Paul Richards   Vocals,Vocals
Me'l Dowd   Vocals,Vocals
Frank Bouley   Vocals,Vocals
Judy Hastings   Vocals,Vocals
Jack Dabdoub   Vocals
Benita James   Vocals,Vocals
Moss Hart   Staging
Joan August   Vocals,Vocals
Richard Kuch   Vocals,Vocals
Michael Clark-Laurence   Vocals,Vocals
Warren Hays   Vocals,Vocals
Larry Mitchell   Vocals,Vocals
Marnell Bruce   Vocals
Murray Goldkind   Vocals,Vocals
Leland Mayforth   Vocals
John Starkweather   Vocals,Vocals
Donald Maloof   Vocals,Vocals
Sheila Swenson   Vocals,Vocals
James Gannon   Vocals,Vocals
Franz Allers   Music Direction,Musical Direction
Michael Kermoyan   Vocals,Vocals
Dorothy White   Vocals,Vocals
Robert Coote   Vocals
Mary Sue Barry   Vocals
Peter De Vise   Vocals
Christina Gillespie   Vocals,Vocals
John Taliaferro   Vocals

Technical Credits

Camelot Pit Orchestra   Performer
Gary Schultz   Reissue Producer
Hanya Holm   Choreographer
Maynard Frank Wolfe   Photography
Mort Goode   Liner Notes
George B. Dale   Liner Notes
Ken Fredette   Art Direction
Marc Kirkeby   Liner Notes
Buddy Graham   Engineer
Joy Gilbert Manfried   Product Manager
Don Hunstein   Photography
Trude Rittman   Choir Arrangement,Dance Arrangement
Camelot Cast Ensemble   Cast,Performer
Frederick Loewe   Composer
Richard King   Reissue Engineer
Alan Jay Lerner   Book,Composer,Lyricist
Fred Plaut   Engineer
Julie Andrews   Performer
Robert Russell Bennett   Orchestration
Goddard Lieberson   Producer,Original Album Producer
Ellen Fitton   Mixing,Mastering,Mixing Engineer,Mastering Engineer
Robert Goulet   Performer
Richard Burton   Performer
Philip J. Lang   Orchestration
Roxanne Slimak   Art Direction
Nancy Sacks   Package Design