Camelot

They Say...

Review by William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

This album by the 1982 London revival cast of the musical Camelot is the fourth major recording of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe's score, following the original Broadway (1960) and London (1964) cast LPs and the movie soundtrack (1967). (There have also been several minor recordings.) It is also the second, following the soundtrack, to feature Richard Harris in the role of King Arthur. By the early '80s, the show had evolved from a work more or less equally featuring three major characters, Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot, into a star vehicle for the actor playing Arthur. Richard Burton, who originated the part in 1960, headed a Broadway revival in 1980, but he gave way to Harris, first on Broadway in 1981, and here from the West End production of the following year. The recording reflects the change in emphasis the show has undergone. There is much more Arthur than on previous albums, and the performers handling Guenevere and Lancelot are less distinguished. Related to the change is a change in performing style. Burton, essentially a non-singer who could carry a tune, gave a lighter, more nuanced performance as Arthur. Harris, more of a singer, on his second go-round is intent on getting across Arthur's kingly manner and dominating the show. There is none of Burton's underplaying here; on the contrary, Harris, if anything, overplays, not hesitating to bellow when it suits him. In so doing, he invests the show with drama, but fans of the original Broadway cast album may find him hammy. Fiona Fullerton as Guenevere has less to do than Julie Andrews did on the first recording (one of Guenevere's songs, "Then You May Take Me to the Fair," was cut from the show after the 1960 Broadway opening, although it appeared on the cast album, and was replaced by the ensemble number "The Jousts," heard here). She is also, not surprisingly, not as gifted a singer as Andrews. (But then, who is?) Robert Meadmore isn't even the same sort of singer that Robert Goulet, the original Broadway Lancelot, was. Goulet was a manly baritone; Meadmore is a middle tenor, which makes his showpiece, "If Ever I Would Leave You," less impressive. And that really leaves things to Harris, who gets an extra track in "Resolution," not really a song but a spoken (and yelled) soliloquy over background music. Other bits of dialogue and the set piece "Entrance/Madrigal" pad the disc out to an hour, the longest cast recording of the show yet. The original Broadway cast album remains the one to own, but Harris fans and musical theater fans interested in the development of the work over time will want to hear this version.