My Variety Review: "Camelot" at Lincoln Center

In Aaron Sorkin’s revised script for Lincoln Center Theater’s new Broadway production of “Camelot,” the magic is missing — in more ways than one.

The declared aim of the stage, TV and film writer (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The West Wing,” “The Social Network”) was to eliminate the fantastical elements in the 1960 musical and prune its cumbersome book, based on T.H. White’s books of King Arthur and the tales of the knights of the round table. Sorkin makes his version more about human aspirations, choices and failings — plus a little politics — rather than potions, prophecies and sorcery.

But in its place Sorkin and the veteran director Bartlett Sher (“South Pacific,” “The King and I”) jettison much of the fun, too. What remains is a cooler “Camelot,” with its own head-scratching dramaturgy. In making the three central characters — King Arthur (Andrew Burnap), Queen Guenevere (Phillipa Soo) and Sir Lancelot (Jordan Donica) — all tied up in emotional knots yet strangely aloof, the production’s creative team also deprives the show of much of its heart, joy and romance.

ven the cherished title song — in which Arthur gently woos a reluctant Guenevere in their first extended meet-cute scene — is the subject of mocking. Soo’s Guenevere here seems only mildly won over by Arthur, and it’s an attitude that prevails for most of the show.

Though this production’s humorless Lancelot professes his profound love for the queen, it’s hardly reciprocal. It seems their singular tryst becomes for her more of a one-knight stand, and it hardly solves the problematic issue of an audience’s divided feelings towards the character.

A Tony Award winner for “The Inheritance,” Burnap creates an inherently likable and boyish Arthur, tossing off asides with natural ease and nicely tapping into his commoner-to-king insecurities. This Arthur is unmoored following the death of Merlin (Dakin Matthews, a delight), here presented as wizened advisor rather than advising wizard. (Matthews is double cast as befuddled royal advisor Pellinore, a character that remains a bit of a mess but is at least amusing throughout.)

Without Merlin to guide him, it’s clear that Arthur is an emotionally awkward monarch who has no clue how to talk to a woman — much how to less handle one, to quote the Act I song. Burnap at least sings “How to Handle a Woman” touchingly, even if it feels begrudgingly retained and shortened.

But pity Arthur, who….[CONTINUED]