Ambitious ‘Camelot’ uses magic, romance on musical journey

The stars were shining brightly at Ash Lawn Opera Festival’s “Camelot” on opening night. It is a lavish production that is emotionally and musically riveting — and the audience responded with a very enthusiastic standing ovation.

The fairy-tale romance between Lancelot and Guenevere (drawn from T.H. White’s “Once and Future King”), which drives the story, is juxtaposed against the theme of love as destroyer. Unfortunately, this is a story as ancient as the Arthurian myth — and as modern as yesterday’s news coming from South Carolina and Buenos Aires.

Yet, as the curtain rises, we revisit Camelot as a place of wonder, with Arthur explaining to Guenevere in their first accidental meeting in the woods, each incognito, about his discovery of the sword Excalibur and the subsequent founding of the Round Table. The Round Table is a very bold idea and encapsulates the democratic ideals of equality and compassion.

As the young acolyte to the sorcerer Merlyn, Arthur comes to believe that all things are possible. Jonathan Smucker incarnates Merlyn with a kind of Harry Potterly whimsy and charm, which should delight children of all ages. The idyll becomes complicated after the marriage of King Arthur and Queen Guenevere with the spectacular arrival of the French paladin, Lancelot.

As the plot thickens, we stand dumbstruck and in disbelief that love, the great healer, can become an unwitting ally of the Mordreds of the world, whose only desire is to destroy and obstruct. Mordred, played brashly and with striking impishness by Corey Trahan, raises in-house envy and backbiting to tragic heights at Camelot.

Both his accomplices in evil — Elizabeth Hartnett as Nimue, the sorceress who seduces Merlyn, and Jennie Litster as Morgan le Fey, who seduces Arthur at a critical moment — are magical and enchant the moonlit woods with their lovely but dreaded presences.

The paradise that is lost is a millennial, kaleidoscopic Camelot of all the ages, and consequently its legacy is a kind of glorious heroism and fatalism about life — that good things never last or will not be fulfilled — but are worth striving for. In their most joyous moments in the opening scenes, Arthur and Guenevere are wondrously in love, but later are often tormented by fear — or guilt, like Guenevere and Lancelot — the fear that this new city in the wilderness is both worth fighting for yet very fleeting and that their virtues will not protect them from their flaws.

Add to all of this the songs of Lerner and Loewe, which build to a fevered pitch. So many of our favorite songs are here: “If Ever I Would Leave You,” sung by Christopher Burchett as Sir Lancelot — leaving you in no doubt about where his heart is. He is a baritone to be reckoned with, both in his imposing presence and in his powerful, beautiful voice.

Peter Clark’s King Arthur had a serenity mixed with a genuine tenderness and a vulnerability that I found irresistible in his rendition of “How to Handle a Woman.” He has an exciting, “in-command” voice that is very thrilling.

Katherine Pracht has one of those beautiful soaring mezzo-soprano voices that is rich with a subtle tremolo — and sends you catapulting out of your seat. She is beautiful as Queen Guenevere, and her acting is nuanced and very touching in her relationships with both Arthur and Lancelot. Her facial expressions are tied to her every emotion, so that in the silence of a closing scene, they light up the stage.

The chorus is strong and beautiful. For me, their festive singing of “The Lusty Month of May” and their more dramatic “Guenevere” at the end of the show were heart-thumping show-stoppers. The orchestra provides a rich, luxurious texture that adds infinite power but never upstages the singers.

Scene designer Brian C. Barker, costume designer Anne Grosz and lighting designer Brittany Diliberto worked together to make this lavish production a veritable feast for the eyes. The use of the scrim to transform the castle to the forest primeval was sheer magic as the great wooden beams of the castle became great towering trees.

When stage director Patrick Hansen and music director and conductor Braden Toan and all of these young musicians came together to produce a classic like “Camelot,” there were bound to be fireworks.

theater review

“Camelot”

Ash Lawn Opera

8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; also on July 18 and Aug. 8 and 9

Paramount Theater

$35 and $30; $15 students

http://www.theparamount.net

979-1333