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Drury Lane modernizes beautifully sung 'Camelot'

Before the first note even sounds, audiences filing into Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace should suspect that director-choreographer Alan Souza is not going to serve up their fathers' old “Camelot.”

There's no curtain to reveal the initial forest scene where King Arthur nervously meets his future bride Guenevere. Instead, audiences see a large stylized tree with latticework branches by set designer Kevin Depinet that dominates a mostly bare space.

And that overture that so many Baby Boomers came to love after repeatedly listening to their vinyl original cast albums? It's been cut. In its place is a brief snippet of the title song sung by an ensemble in costumes by designer Maggie Hofmann that would not look out of place in HBO's “Game of Thrones.”

Indeed, musical theater traditionalists who expect a lavish medieval spectacle are in for a bit of a shock with Drury Lane's new and often gritty take on Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1960 classic. While retaining the musical's glorious score, this “Camelot” is more manageable, intimate and emotionally grounded.

Souza doesn't entirely prevail, in part because of Lerner's problematic script, which was adapted from T.H. White's massive Arthurian work “The Once and Future King.” The love triangle involving King Arthur, Queen Guenevere and the Knight Lancelot must compete with philosophizing about a moral society with trial law and the inclusion of the mythical Merlin. Thus, the tale remains clunky with plot mechanics and overdone idealism.

Yet it's refreshing to see Souza and his artistic team taking chances and shaking up expectations about “Camelot.”

One interesting change is how Matt Aument has reorchestrated the score with an appropriate flavor of a band of players you'd find strolling around a Renaissance Faire. And fight choreographer John Tovar brings a level of brutality to the climactic sword-swaying battle sequence that you typically don't see in musicals.

Souza also plays up the sexuality of the characters, particularly with the revealing costumes and masculine choreography of the number “The Lusty Month of May.”

Where Souza's “Camelot” should appease traditionalists is in his casting of vocally assured actors to deliver the songs that audiences love. Leading the list of pure vocal splendor is the booming baritone of imposing Travis Taylor, who gets the biggest round of applause after knocking “If Ever I Would Leave You” out of the park.

Taylor acts the part of super-righteous French knight Lancelot with an upstanding vigor, which makes it easy to see why the lovely and often contrary Guenevere of Christy Altomare would reluctantly fall for him. Altomare also has a wonderful rapport with Ken Clark, who plays King Arthur more in the brainy and sensitive New Age guy mold than the Shakespearean template of actors like Richard Burton and Richard Harris.

Also crucial is actor Jonathan Weir, who brings a deft and grounded comic touch to his dual roles of the all-knowing wizard Merlin and the brusque knight Pellinore. Weir works wonders with a slobbery St. Bernard dog called Horrid, who sits and barks like a trained pro in his one scene-stealing moment.

So despite a few missteps, like Patrick Rooney's disappearing Scottish accent as Arthur's rabble-rouser son Mordred, Souza and Drury Lane make an assured stab at reshaping this Kennedy-era musical for modern-day audiences — and largely succeed.

Ken Clark is King Arthur and Christy Altomare plays his bride Guenevere in Drury Lane Theatre's production of "Camelot," which runs through Sunday, Jan. 4. COURTESY OF BRETT BEINER/DRURY LANE THEATRE
Jonathan Weir stars as Merlin in Drury Lane Theatre's "Camelot," running through Jan. 4 at the Oakbrook Terrace theater. COURTESY OF BRETT BEINER/DRURY LANE THEATRE
Guenevere (Christy Altomare) is torn between her love for one man and her loyalty to another in Drury Lane Theatre's "Camelot." COURTESY OF BRETT BEINER/DRURY LANE THEATRE
Guenevere (Christy Altomare) is torn between her love for one man and her loyalty to another in Drury Lane Theatre's "Camelot." COURTESY OF BRETT BEINER/DRURY LANE THEATRE

“Camelot”

★ ★ ★

<b>Location: </b>Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111 or <a href="http://drurylane.com">drurylane.com</a>

<b>Showtimes:</b> 1:30 p.m. Wednesday (5 and 8:30 p.m. Dec. 31), 1:30 and 8 p.m. Thursday (2:30 p.m. only Nov. 27), 8 p.m. Friday, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 4 (no shows Dec. 24 or 25)

<b>Tickets: </b>$40-$55; lunch and dinner packages also available

<b>Running time: </b>About two hours 25 minutes, with intermission

<b>Parking: </b>Free nearby lots

<b>Rating: </b>For older children and adults; contains sexual situations and stage violence

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