Even though I don't go to the theatre these days because of the walker, I wished the Camelot revival a lot of success. I think three things killed it for me - the director Bartlett Sher who has no gift for whimsy or comedy in my book, Aaron Sorkin's serious political viewpoint, and the "woke" attitude destroying revivals of period musicals. I was lucky to see the original 1960 production in its first national tour. I remember little about it now beyond the glorious scenery and costumes, but I've read the libretto several times, Lerner's revised libretto for London, and his unfortunate screenplay, which got some things right and blew others to hell. By the time of the screenplay, he had removed all magic from the show except for Nimue's enchantment of Merlin at the end of scene one. Given the fact that the show credits T.H. White's wonderful epic, as opposed to the public domain Mallory or Tennyson, little remained of White's Once and Future King, or the loads of magic in the book, beyond the rogram credit.
A lot of folk hate Morgan le Fey's comedy in Act Two, but I've always found it a hoot. It and "What Do the simple Folk Do?," which has been shortened in the new production, are the only moments of lightness in the second act before the tragedy of Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot speeds to its conclusion.
