NRTG Review   |
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Grand Island Record |
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March
23, 2000, pg. 6 |
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In the Spotlight — Camelot |
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By Doug Smith |
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The musical "Camelot"
carries a heavy burden of lost innocence, betrayal and bloodshed. To
lighten the load there is the character of Pellinore, King Arthur's
good-hearted old chum whom years have both addled and informed. |
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Bachelor Pellinore often
manages to distill wisdom into a few words: "The chain of wedlock is so
heavy it takes two to carry it." He is a literary cousin, at least, to
"Hamlet's" Polonius, with just a touch of Don Quixote in the DNA. |
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For Niagara Falls Little
Theatre, the task of giving dimension to what the script calls "this
cartoon of a man" has fallen to Grand Islander John Study. What a wondrous
sketch he is. With his rheumatic twitches and snorts, his imperial mocking
of Lancelot's accent and precision entrances and exits, Study doesn't
exactly steal the show, but he sure does polish it. |
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His Pellinore echoes
something of a Great Gilded Gildersleeve, demonstrating not so much that a
good man can be silly, but that a silly man can be good. A proper Pellinore
can distract the "Camelot" crowd from absurdities less intentional. |
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It's not the "legal laws"
about climate, which sort of put Arthur in league with King Canute, the one
who beckoned the seas to cease. That's all kind of merry, helping establish
the show's four-season anthem "If Ever I Would Leave You." |
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But when the Queen goes
to the stake, knights dismember each other for the sake of her honor and the
chorus is rhyming "Will the King burn Guenevere?" it does put credibility on
the rack. |
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Christopher Critelli and
Karen B. Scofield bring majestic voices to the lead roles and there's a
haunting transition by Cara Pellow as the spirit Nimue. There are seats at
the Roundtable for Islanders John Quackenbush and Sam Santospirito, the
latter also responsible for the scenic design, which effectively makes major
players of silhouettes and primary colors. |
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Islander Dawn Marcolini
Newton's choreography achieves noble effects, especially when the royal
Ladies recoil as Lancelot curdles the cream of their gladiators. |
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Directors Bob Kazeangin
and Al Piccirillo conduct a leisurely and intimate three-hour tour. They
take time to smell "Camelot's" flowers and performances such as that of John
Study give them a unique fragrance. In more ways than one, Long Live the
King. |
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Rating: Three Records out of five. |
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