Acting!

Acting is one of those things that, unless you see it done badly, you don't often notice. Last night, my wife and a friend went with me to watch a touring production of Camelot, one of my favorite musicals. While everyone in the cast was proficient with the singing (and a couple of standouts) and everyone said the lines, every last one of them was flat and without any emotional context.

Now, you have to know that I own the DVD of the Richard Harris version of Camelot. I've also seen a video of him doing the role on Broadway. I've watched the Richard Burton version. When Camelot came to the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera starring John Cullum (who was starring in Northern Exposure at the time), I went to a matinee.

When Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave are singing "What do the Simple Folk Do?" to each other, you get the sense of their longing to make amends and move closer, and their frustration with not being able to. In last night's production, the most emotional context I got was that the king was angry for some reason, and that was only once during the production of that song.

When Lancelot sings "If Ever I Would Leave You," you should get the feeling like he has loved her from afar for a long time and that the pain of being separated would be terrible for him to go through. And you do, when Franco Nero sings it and even when Robert Goulet does it. Last night's production? Not so much. They were just lines and words... sung well, mind you... but without the right context or emotion.

And, of course, at the very end when Arthur realizes he has won the only battle that matters, the one of history and legend, and he tells Pellinore that "some of them do sparkle!" I usually get goosebumps. Hell, when I watch the Harris version, I often get misty-eyed at that point. It is so heartfelt and sincere when he does it that I am that moved. Last night? First, they had a chorus singing over the top of his lines, which made them very hard to hear and blunted their effect. Second, the guy just couldn't put the emotion into it to make them teary-eye worthy. Oh, he said them loudly, but there is a difference between loudly and filled with emotion, which a lot of people just don't get.

I don't want to rip on the entire production. The woman playing Guinevere had a very nice voice and showed some small signs of decent acting and comedic timing. The man playing Merlin and Pellinore (dual-cast, as the characters don't share scenes) was very good with his lines -- the best in the cast. The young man playing Mordred also spoke his lines with relish and humor. So, there were some bright points. I believe after watching it that the director chose his actors primarily for their singing ability, however, and not for their acting. And it showed, at least last night. Maybe I'm being too harsh and they usually do a better job than that. Maybe they had a long haul to get to SJ and were tired and not quite on. I don't know. What I do know is that, while the audience clapped politely, no one stood up for the cast at the end until after all cast had taken their individual and group bow. And even then, it was a half-hearted standing ovation at best.

Justice Potter Stewart famously said about pornography "I know it when I see it". Well, I know good acting when I see it, too, and last night did not contain much of it.