Camelot

In dystopic times it’s tempting to discount the thought, but utopias are useful—regardless of how short-lived they sometimes are. Lest we forget, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1960 musical adaptation of The Once and Future King details an epic disaster: the fall of King Arthur and the breakup of his Round Table. Yet most people’s memories of the Tony Award-winning show remain positive. Why? Perhaps because a proof of concept is ultimately more important than the fate of any single prototype. To this day, the Kennedy administration is often cited as an American Camelot. (JFK reportedly loved the soundtrack.) In 2017, the L.A. Times wrote that President Obama “built a new kind of Camelot.” Three finite eras (including the show), all suddenly eclipsed. But the leaders in each had passionate ideas and ideals about creating and improving the future. They all got far enough that the world took note. And in their proofs of concept, each left behind their blueprints, and some hope. In this Burning Coal production, artistic director Jerome Davis leads a cast including Galen Murphy-Hoffman as Arthur, Natalie Reder as Guinevere, and Tyler Graeper as Lancelot; music director Mo Ortbal conducts the band. —Byron Woods