TheatreZone time-travels to a new 'Camelot,' with beloved music intact

There probably have been a dozen ways to visit “Camelot,” and its three principals at TheatreZone have been taken totally different methods of transportation to get there.

Robert Koutras — King Arthur — is a Broadway soundtrack devotee and knows the original music. The musical’s Lancelot, Gerritt Vandermeer, was brought up on the books about the Round Table — “I loved it so much I made Mom read me everything in the library." He sparred with his little brother as dueling knights in the back yard.

Whitney Winfield, who plays Queen Guenevere, for whom both men fall, primarily knew young Arthur, from the animated Disney film, “The Sword and the Stone.”

Camelot gets fresh eyes

It makes for diversified approach to the Lerner & Loewe classic that opened Thursday. (For details see the information box with this story.) Further, this is a buffed version that sheds minor characters to focus on its principals, in the knowledge that if a love triangle is dangerous, a royal one can be lethal.

Its leaner story is what attracted Mark Danni, founding artistic director and director for this musical "Camelot," and hardly fits his mission of finding some of the musical genres underrated gems. But he said he's always loved this one in particular and had been looking for a way to tailor it when a new small-cast edition was published.

This "Camelot" is told in a story fashion, as though a traveling show is performing it for the audience. All the props and costume embellishments are in trunks, and the setting is a leafy park.

The season: TheatreZone season has 'Camelot' and 'Bridges of Madison County'

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"But all of the music is still there. It's just that a lot of the superficial stuff has been trimmed down," he said. Nor did TheatreZone skimp on the orchestra. That's a joy to Koutras.

"I grew up in on music. I remember Julie Andrews on the original recording, and Richard Burton, and (Robert) Goulet, of course," he said.

As the beleaguered King Arthur, Koutras even enters singing: "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight," as Arthur sweats out his coming arranged marriage. He envies the peasants who are asking that question, wailing: "You wonder what the king is doing tonight? He's wishing he were in Scotland, fishing, tonight."

Koutras, who just starred in TheatreZone's "Bright Star" as Jimmy Ray Dobbs, has a personal favorite: "How to Handle a Woman," because "lyrically it's beautiful, the melody is beautiful and you're speaking of love.

"I've loved that song forever, and I'm so happy to get to finally sing it a production."

For Vandermeer, a familiar face in TheatreZone musicals ("Home for the Holidays," "Yankee Doodle Dandy"), this is even better than returning to his childhood milieu.

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"Every night we play the sword fighting, and every night I win," he declared, laughing at the regular childhood playtime dispute with his brother: "'This time you die!'" Vandermeer said he was such an inhabitant of the Camelot milieu that the affair, which brought down its kingdom, upset him as a child.

"It broke my heart," Vandermeer recalled. "You want to be rooting for all the characters to win. As a kid you don't recognize the grown-up needs can be difficult to reconcile."

"But I love Lancelot. He's so much fun," he said. Lancelot is both self-assured — to an extreme, as his introduction, "C'Est Moi," indicates — and vulnerable. He sings the show's most achingly beautiful ballad, "If Ever I Should Leave You." It became so popular while "Camelot" was on Broadway that it has been the signature song of Robert Goulet, the original Lancelot, ever since.

"Camelot" has physical challenges you won't find in other musicals. In this production, in particular, the terrified Arthur crawls up and down the stage steps, bemoaning his terror over facing his bride. The tournament fights are tough, too.

"There's a definite danger. There's a danger I'll forget what I'm doing," Vandermeer said.

"We have to replace knights every single night," Koutras joked.

Play's characters exemplify virtue, strength

Whitney Winfield, another TheatreZone veteran ("Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera," "The Mystery of Edwin Drood") loves her character's strength.

"I think that she is super-strong. I love playing strong women. And listening to the sound track and Julie Andrews' interpretation, I gleaned a lot of her character from that soundtrack," she added. "It's sort of hard not to, because she's so expressive in her voice that you know exactly what she's feeling and thinking."

"I think he's such an admirable person," Koutras said of Arthur. "I have such high esteem for him for what he's trying to do, what his dream is for the world is so beautiful."

"He's a bit timeless. Everyone who wants to do good in the world, to make it a better place, resonates with me."

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.

If you go

'Camelot'

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays through March 20; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through March 20

Where: G&L Theatre, The Community School of Naples, 13275 Livingston Road, Naples

Tickets:$50-$85

To buy: theatre.zone or 888-966-3352, ext. 1

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: 'Camelot' is at TheatreZone in Naples through March 20