VIDEO: Bartlett Sher Discusses Broadway's CAMELOT, Portrayal of American History in Theater & More

Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher recently sat down with the White House Historical Association to discuss the portrayal of American history in theater. Sher gives insight into his new collaboration with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin of a new version of Camelot on Broadway, and more.

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Sher says the new version of Camelot allows Sorkin "to intersect his ideas and interest in the roundtable and democracy, and the struggles of Arthur to make it a special new place," against the ideas of how to make a musical and how to ramp into songs.

Lincoln Center Theater announced new dates for their upcoming production of Lerner & Loewe's Camelot. Featuring a book by Academy and Emmy Award winning writer Aaron Sorkin, based on the original book by Alan Jay Lerner, and direction by Bartlett Sher, Lerner & Loewe's Camelot will now begin performances on Thursday, March 9, 2023 and open on Thursday, April 13, 2023 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Based on "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White, CAMELOT, Lerner and Loewe's 1960 follow up to My Fair Lady, is a story about the quest for democracy, striving for justice, and the tragic struggle between passion and aspiration, between lovers and kingdoms. This epic and timely tale features the iconic characters King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, and Sir Lancelot as well as the beloved original score with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe which includes "If Ever I Would Leave You," "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" and the title song "Camelot."

Bartlett Sher is the Resident Director of Lincoln Center Theater, where his productions include Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady, J.T. Rogers' Oslo (Tony nomination), Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I (Tony nomination), Golden Boy (Tony nomination), Blood & Gifts, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Tony nomination), South Pacific (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards), Awake and Sing! (Tony nomination), and The Light in the Piazza (Tony nomination).
He directed the recent Broadway productions of Fiddler on the Roof and The Bridges of Madison County (also Williamstown Theatre Festival), as well as New York productions of Prayer for My Enemy and The Butterfly Collection (Playwrights Horizons); Cymbeline (Callaway Award, co-produced with the RSC); Waste (Best Play Obie Award); and Don Juan and Pericles (Theatre for a New Audience).

While Artistic Director of Seattle's Intiman Theatre from 2000-2009, he directed 20 productions including works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Shaw, Wilder, Goldoni, and Kushner, among others.

His work in the opera world include Romeo et Juliet, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Le Comte Ory, L'Elisir d'Amore, Two Boys, Otello (Metropolitan Opera); Faust (Baden Baden); Romeo et Juliette (Salzburg Festival and La Scala); Mourning Becomes Electra (Seattle Opera and New York City Opera), Two Boys (ENO).
He currently serves on the board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.