Streamlined ‘Camelot’ at Starlight Theatre is an epic in miniature

The touring company of “Camelot” that opened Tuesday night at Starlight Theatre has a number of strong performances to recommend it, but at the end of the day, it is unavoidably spectacle on the cheap.

Director Michael McFadden revised the show to shorten its running time, cut songs and characters and rearranged the order of the music, which he chose to have performed by a small ensemble rather than a full orchestra. In other words, he stripped away much of the pageantry we associate with this vintage show and focused on the intimate love story between Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot.

Nothing wrong with that idea, even if every one of McFadden’s decisions had the effect of cutting costs. Even so, it strikes me as an honorable effort to breathe new life into a “classic” everyone has seen. But there’s a problem: The vast Starlight stage makes it a venue that needs and demands pageantry. It’s physically equipped to handle spectacle. So this production, although visually striking in some respects, seems sadly undernourished.

Kevin Depinet’s scenic design is dominated by what appears to be an enormous metal sculpture made up of wide strips of material that arch over the main stage. This “tree” never goes away and is the dominant scenic element. Paul Tazewell’s costumes are inventive and classy-looking. And Craig Cassidy’s lighting works hard to bring a sense of spatial dynamics to what often is a virtually empty stage.

The non-Equity cast is anchored by Adam Grabau as Arthur. Grabau brings requisite charisma to the role and demonstrates a fine singing voice. As any actor would, he is challenged in the second act to make Arthur’s whiny disillusionment about the loss of his naive vision of a happy kingdom palatable.

His Guenevere is Mary McNulty, a strong presence and excellent singer with an acute sense of comic timing. McNulty, by the way, is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Music, according to her bio.

Tim Rogan makes a strapping Lancelot in a performance that is commanding, athletic and, at times, impressively nuanced. Mordred, who doesn’t appear until the second act, livens up the show considerably, thanks to a broad, inventive performance by Kasidy Devlin. Mark Poppleton doubles as Merlin and Pellinore; as Pellinore, he’s fun to watch, but comes across far too bombastic as Merlin.

The funny thing about “Camelot” is that it always feels too long. Even this version, which is roughly an hour shorter than any standard production, falls into an inexorable plodding pace toward the end. By that point, we’ve probably seen enough of Arthur’s anguish and a voice in our collective head keeps repeating: “Get on with it.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 1:03 AM with the headline "Streamlined ‘Camelot’ at Starlight Theatre is an epic in miniature."