We continue with the Third Elisberg Industries Film Festival with our presentation of the original 1960 cast production of Camelot. I believe there will be two more parts after this,, unless I come across additional clips, which keep popping up. And here’s even more of audio mixed with video performances by the stars recreating their performances. The audio here is of Richard Burton and Julie Andrews from the live onstage production, with a split screen of text. It begins with King Pellinore (Robert Coote) trying to warn Arthur and Guinivere about the problems being caused by Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred – problems Arthur is well-aware of. As Arthur and Guinevere discuss the burdens facing their lives, this is intercut with video of them singing “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” on The Ed Sullivan Show.
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We continue with the Third Elisberg Industries Film Festival with our presentation of the original 1960 cast production of Camelot. The curtain goes up on Act 2, Scene 1. For the most part, this is Robert Goulet as ‘Sir Lancelot’ singing his famous ballad, “If Ever I Would Leave You.” But what makes this special is that includes a verse before the song – in both French and English – that’s not on the cast album. And the song itself is video from The Ed Sullivan Show presentation. Along with dialogue with Julie Andrews as ‘Guinevere’ leading into the song and following. (To hear the earlier episodes in our Film Fest that you might have missed, just scroll back through previous days the past week -- taking the weekend and Monday off.) We continue with the Third Elisberg Industries Film Festival with our presentation of the original 1960 cast production of Camelot. And tonight, we come to the turning point of the show, through Scenes 9-11 of Act 1. For the first two scenes, we have the live onstage-audio and script only – but filled in with wonderful production photos and even some silent film footage of the stage action – as Arthur, sensing Guinevere’s growing interest in Lancelot, tells her and Pellinore that he knows he must knight Lancelot for his actions, bringing a man believed dead back to life. Left alone, Guinevere realizes that she’s falling in love with Lance and she sings “Before I Gaze at You Again,” as Lancelot enters and the two must deal with their growing affection. This leads to the Processional before the knighting ceremony. And then, once again, video from the Ed Sullivan Show is intercut in for the entire knighting ceremony, a scene that culminates in Arthur’s tormented “Proposition” soliloquy of how as a man or King he must address what to do about the two people closest to him who he loves but are betraying him – which ends the First Act. We continue with the Third Elisberg Industries Film Festival with our presentation of the original 1960 cast production of Camelot. This video is Act 1, Scene 5, the live on-stage audio and script only, though no video but many wonderful production photos. It begins with Julie Andrews and cast singing “The Lusty Month of May,” which leads into the bumbling arrival of the whimsical ‘King Pellinore,’ played by Robert Coote (who also had played ‘Col. Pickering’ in Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady), who is a befuddled old acquaintance of when Arthur was a young boy. Queen Guinevere invites him to put aside his unending quest for the moment and spend some time in Camelot. As he goes off to settle in, Arthur comes in to introduce Guinevere to Lancelot (played by Robert Goulet), a meeting that goes poorly for his total, though unintended arrogance. (If you've missed any previous episodes, just scroll down or back if you reach the end of the page.) Curtain up. As the Third Elisberg Industries Film Festival continues, we follow up on the wonderful Camelot reminiscence I posted here yesterday with material that is even better. This today is the start of the treasure trove I mentioned. What we have from this point on is live on-stage audio of the original 1960 Broadway production of Camelot starring Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet. Not the full show, unfortunately, but a lot of it. And all the better, the material is superbly produced, with text from the libretto in split screen so you can follow all the mediocre audio, some of which is hard to make out. Further, much of the live audio is intercut (blended together, as it were) with video footage from the original cast performing in costume on The Ed Sullivan Show. For the selections to come that don’t have any of this Sullivan video footage (though much does), they instead use terrific production photos appropriate for the specific stage moments being performed, or even on occasion have silent film footage of the stage production, as well as other clever material to fill in, like Hirschfield drawings. To put it simply, this is a rare treasure, saving material of a popular culture legend that was believed lost -- and it’s spectacular. Side Note: This appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is itself important to theater history. When Camelot opened, it got positive reviews, but mixed. And was doing only fair at the box office, uncertain how long the show would be able to run. That’s when Ed Sullivan came to the producers and offered to do a full hour tribute to Lerner and Loewe. And as part of that tribute, would let the Camelot producers put on a remarkable 20 minutes from the show. The day after the broadcast, there were lines around the block at the box office. And the show ran for over two years. And has been running in touring companies, community theater, school productions and international performances since – and four revivals on Broadway, including one this year. We start today with two videos which together are most of the first scene from the show. (The second video picks up the action immediately after the first.) This selection has the live audio of Richard Burton and Julie Andrews on stage, the libretto text and the Ed Sullivan Show video footage intercut in. The first video begins with the last verse of Richard Burton singing “I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight” and then Julie Andrews as ‘Guinevere’ arrives, having run away from her coach bringing her to Camelot to marry the king against her wishes. One clarification: this video does not have any video performances, it’s audio and “book” text only. However, there are good photos to go along with it, and some brief film clips with no sound. Which leads directly into the rest of the scene, with audio, libretto and video, which is of the title song – And as they say – The show must go on. And will, because more of this original Broadway cast production of Camelot continues tomorrow. I’ve been posting songs that were performed in the Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building, whose storyline this year centered around putting together a Broadway production of a musical. So, here’s a third number. This one is sung wonderfully by Meryl Streep (she sings two numbers in the series, both gloriously), with a small assistance by Paul Rudd, titled "For the Sake of a Child." In the musical being staged, Streep’s actress character plays a nanny for infant triplets bizarrely suspected of the stage murder, and Rudd’s arrogant movie star character is making his Broadway debut playing the detective. And we see the number being performed in a flashback. A sort of tiny – borderline insignificant “warning” (though it’s not much of one). While it doesn’t even remotely give away anything about the murder mystery that the season is trying to solve, it does “give away” a plot point in the musical within the show -- which honestly isn't a big deal at all – and, to repeat, has absolutely nothing to do with the mystery in the series overall. But if you haven’t watched the third season yet, and plan to and want to know absolutely nothing, then perhaps you’ll want to skip this. Just know that this plot point within the musical is pretty much not even addressed during the season except here, which shows how minor it is, since the TV viewing audience really doesn’t care. The songs for the series were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the stage musical Dear Evan Hansen, and the move musicals La La Land and The Greatest Showman. They augmented their work here by bringing in other accomplished writers to collaborate with them on most of the songs. For Meryl Streep’s song noted above, it was co-written with Sara Bareilles. For this number, they worked with the playwright and composer Michael R. Jackson, whose musical “A Strange Loop” won a Pulitzer and two Tony Awards. By the way, if you missed the two other songs we’ve posted here, you can find the links to them at -- Meryl Streep singing “Look for the Light”. Steve Martin singing “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” But back to the number at hand, here wonderfully is Meryl Streep once again -- along with a tidbit of Paul Rudd. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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