By Director Jeffrey B. Moss
For sure, Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot sits proudly on all the lists of “GOLDEN AGE MUSICALS.” Along with many others, including their My Fair Lady and Brigadoon, these works hold an esteemed place in the history of the American musical.
For these were more than just the operettas and vaudeville-style entertainments that had preceded the first of this “age,” Oklahoma! These new musicals combined the art of music, lyric and book into moving, dramatic and compelling storytelling. Widely regarded as the greatest period of growth for musical theatre as an art form, the artists of the Golden Age are to thank for the creation and development of musicals as we know them today. And like the great classics they are, these Golden Age musicals are still playing in schools and in theatres across the country and around the world. And often on the street where they had lived: Broadway, where new directors and actors bringcontemporary viewpoints to these now famous musical masterpieces.
Golden indeed. As my dad, a world-class jeweler, used to say “gold is forever ... “
And Camelot certainly has a sheen about it that has not only made its music enduring but its story of King Arthur’s quest for equality and justice for the common man has touched the minds and hearts of audiences across these many years since it premiered in 1960.
Indeed, many of us remember how Camelot and its tragic tale of unfilled promises became the byword of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy years.
So many years later in 2024, our Camelot actors are finding that the show is “speaking” to them; especially when King Arthur is forced to choose between his newly created civility and his own personal needs. And then having to decide if anyone, even he, is above the law. Sound familiar? Sound topical? Golden indeed.
And the Director hopes this golden musical will speak to you tonight as well. Even if for just “one brief shining moment...”
Welcome to Camelot.
