HAPPILY EVER AFTERING

 "In short there's simply not, a more congenial spot for happily ever aftering, 
  than here in Camelot."                                                      Alan Jay Lerner

Before he went to Camelot, Griffin told me it would be a boring play. I was surprised. "Boring," I queried? "Yes" he said, "It's a play about a parking lot for camels." Well, didn't I walk into that one!

We were off to the festival theatre in Stratford Ontario to see Camelot yesterday. We packed up the babies and grabbed the old ladies..... and off we all went.  Hailey couldn't go because she was too little. Jeff stayed behind with her. We were NOT allowed to take pictures inside the Festival Theatre......... the set was copyrighted.

The drive to Stratford Ontario from Toronto means leaving the city and driving through farm country on the back roads of highway 7 and 8 from Kitchener, Ontario. It was a beautiful springtime drive. Relaxing and serene. And then there was 10 year old Tim in the back of the SUV........ trying to break the world record for phrase repetition...... "Are we there yet?" We laughed out "Nearly there! " so many times.

The reason we went was because the middle ages is part of the grade four curriculum in Canada and Natasha, Tim and Griffin, who are HUGE Harry Potter fans can't seem to get enough of those dragons, sword fights and magic that was so much a part of this time in history. They all love the mini series "Merlin" as well.

Camelot is a musical play by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music). The play has it's base in the King Arthur legend, adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel,

 The Once and Future King.

In the realm of Camelot, King Arthur has endeavored to create a utopian land of chivalry and civil rule. However, when his beloved Queen Guenevere and Sir Lancelot, his most trusted knight, become passionate for one another, Arthur faces a terrible dilemma that rocks his kingdom to its roots. 

This rendition of the play was directed by Gary Griffin, which very much impressed our Griffin, whose name is actually Griffin Gray.  

In the beginning scene, there was Merlin, played by Brent Carver, who started the play when he walked out on stage holding on to a live hawk. The hawk left Merlin, circled the stage and flew up into the rafters where it disappeared. The hawk and Merlin played to ooooo's and awwww's from the audience. 

The first part of the play had quite a bit of easily understood humor, introductions of characters and the promise of exciting adventures. Tim and Griffin were taken in. Camelot however, is a musical and a love story first and foremost. As the play developed the boys kind of lost interest (the kissing and Maying wasn't their thing), but Natasha (the Lyrical One) who is nearly twelve, plays the violin and has romance in her soul, loved every minute of it! 

The cast included Brent Carver (as Merlin and King Pellinore), Kaylee Harwood (as Guenevere), Jonathan Winsby (as Sir Lancelot) and Geraint Wyn Davies (as King Arthur)

"The show's first tryout was in Toronto, at the O'Keefe Centre in 1960. The curtain came down at twenty minutes to one in the morning; Lerner later noted that "Only Tristan and Isolde equaled it as a bladder endurance contest."[4] The morning papers, though kind, hinted that the show needed much work in order to succeed. Lerner was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer and had to withdraw from preparations for a time. Moss Hart (director) then suffered a heart attack, and Lerner stepped in as temporary director for the rest of the out-of-town run at the behest of Kitty Carlisle Hart. Camelot then moved to Boston, nearly an hour and a half shorter, but still running

                                       very long."                             Wikipedia 

Because the play is SO long to perform, it never was a huge success opening on Broadway, even though the original cast included Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Roddy Mc Dowell and Robert Goulet. To get more audience action, Ed Sullivan agreed to include performances from the play on his Sunday night show during the 1960's. How many times between "the Beatles" sets on the Ed Sullivan Show did we watch performances of Camelot? I seem to remember Robert Goulet on almost every week! And although I never saw the play performed until yesterday, I knew most of the songs, thanks in part to Ed Sullivan.

Poor Jeff was left at the hotel, entertaining Hailey the two year old, expecting us back between 4:30 and 5:00 pm. at the latest. The play didn't get out until 5:30 pm. So we rushed back and were unable to get any real visiting, pictures or shopping done during this visit. I was very glad we didn't have to endure the 1960's rendition that went on for an hour and a half longer. The kids would have been toast!

A final romantic inclusion for this play of course, is the association of Camelot with the years John Kennedy was president. Since no royalty exists in the republic of the United States, prominent political families are sometimes celebrated as a "kind of royalty".  The Kennedy family would be one such family.

The Kennedys' were apparently fond of these words,

"Don't let it be forgot... that once there was a spot,  for one brief, shining moment, 

          that was known as Camelot."                     Alan Jay Lerner

Here is a small excerpt, a token I'm allowed to share at this time from yesterday.  Enjoy!