Camelot Musical Marks the End of the Pasadena Playhouse

When a friend offered me the chance to see "Camelot" at the Pasadena Playhouse, I jumped at it. Little did I know that the Pasadena Playhouse, which had been a landmark for decades (founded in 1917, so that's 93 years), would close its doors after this limited run.

I found this shocking and unbelievable, for the theater is such a thing of beauty. And it has such history. It is also designated as a State of California theater, so you would think that this wouldn't happen to it.

Apparently this is not the first time the Playhouse came close to closing its doors. In 1937, it faced bankruptcy but the theater was bought by the Pasadena city government and subleased to a theater group for $1 a year. Unfortunately, that company went bankrupt, too. This time the Playhouse is several million in debt.

I'm glad that Melvin was able to score us tickets so that I didn't miss out on this sad occasion. This was not the very last night, but it was close enough. But perhaps the very fact that there were comp tickets for us was the very problem. We couldn't afford to be paying customers any more than the Pasadena Playhouse could afford for us not to be. Still, we did help them fill the house, and I don't think there were many of us comped that night.

This was a new version of Camelot. Much like my Shakespearean director pared down King Lear when we performed it in the park, the Camelot director pared down the Camelot cast as well... to 8 characters. Recognizing that the heart of the story was the love triangle between King Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot, David Lee went through the script and eliminated everything that didn't add directly to the telling of their story. He also used minimal sets, and in his words "only the most elementary suggestion of costumes." He claims that this allowed him to add back music that is usually cut for time.

In his director's notes, David Lee went on to say. "This led me to see just how simply I could do everything. I found a chair could be a throne, an actor could don a simple vest and call it armor. About this time, too, other elements began to fall into place. When I read about Winchester Castle, where for years a group of locals would gather and re-enact the Arthur legend beneath a replica of the Round Table which still hangs on a wall there, I knew I had found the way to tell the tale here in Pasadena. I also read in Alan Jay Lerner's autobiography of his favorite performance of the show. It was the final run run-thru before it opened on Broadway. It was done with no costumes, no sets, just a group of actors singing these magnificent songs and telling this engaging tale on an almost bare stage. That it was his favorite gives me hope that he would have been pleased with what we are attempting here."

The performance itself was uneven. Some of the actors did better than others. Some sang with more strength than others. Some were weaker voices and less fun to watch.

I admit that it has been a long time since I've seen the musical, even though I know the Arthurian legends well. But it seemed to me that some of my favorite songs were missing and that made me feel disappointed. I can't tell you which ones they were, only that I was anticipating some that weren't delivered.

I do hope that the Pasadena Playhouse can find its way out of its financial woes and that the benefactor whom they were hoping could pledge $5 million does materialize. I would really like it to open its doors again. Its walls have had so many good actors strut their stuff (like Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman) that it would be a travesty not to. And I hope that I can be there on that day.

My further hope is that on that day, we can have a triumphant return of this musical Camelot, since Camelot has for so long, and so many, been a symbol of hope and goodness. It fueled our imaginations during the President John F. Kennedy years and some people even talk about Camelot returning today.

Yet, this musical is about the end of Camelot with the hope that it may live again. And for that, if the Playhouse had to close at the end of a play's run, it is fitting that it is this one.