Camelot (Where Does an Arab Buy His Wheels?)

Mom loved Robert Goulet and as we were growing up, she frequently played the old 33 rpm disc from the Broadway show "Camelot" on our Victrola to hear him, as Lancelot, sing "If Ever I Would Leave You". I also remembered songs such as "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?" as well as the title tune "Camelot". Those tunes ran through my head when I received an e-mail from Ticketmaster informing me of a 2 for 1 deal for the upcoming engagement of the show in Orlando.

"Camelot" opened in New York in 1960, but that was a few years before I was able to hop a bus on my own and take in whatever show I wanted to see (we lived in New Jersey, about 10 miles outside NYC). In high school and college, I'd write away for tickets to the Ed Sullivan Show and sat in the audience for quite a few of the live broadcasts and would frequent the Broadway shows, buying the half-price tickets at the booth in Times Square.

Be had done the show in high school, and aside from the 3 or 4 songs which were familiar to me, I really did not know that much about it. Our friends, Jeff & Kathy, wanted to see it, so we all did the dinner thing and walked to the theater from the restaurant.

Well, it should have occured to me that this was going to be quite a stretch - after all, Michael York (age 65), playing King Arthur courting the very young and beautiful Guenivere? Dang - this could be a real snore! It was. After an 8 hour day at the old grind and a very satisfying meal under our belts, I woke up several times during the first act with morning mouth. But, it was not necessarily the talent on stage which lulled me to sleep (the cast members who played Guenivere & Lancelot had outstanding voices) - I believe it was the story, a tale of fantasy which was flimsy at best, combined with lackluster staging incorporating a cast of people who strutted around the stage in fancy costumes. The guy in front of me was probably 6'5" tall and had a hairdo that looked like brocolli and as the 'action' moved around the stage, I grew tired of avoiding the visual impairment blocking my view.

As King Arthur, Michael York set about writing the creed for his Knights of the Roundtable preceding each item with a giant step to the front of the stage, punctuating the move with an index finger pointed toward the sky and making his decree - "Proposition - no knight shall sit at the head of the table! Make our table round!" "Proposition - this and that...."

And as the curtain went down after the first act, I turned to the rest of our party - "Proposition - a swift ride home at the intermission!" All raised their hands and voted "Aye". And so ...... off we went. "Anyone for Spamalot ?" "We got our money's worth. It was a 2 for 1 anyway." "Gosh! I wonder how we'd all do at an opera?" "Do you think Don can be in the LazyBoy before the curtain goes up for Act 2?"

...and so we merrily skip through the adoption waiting room ...