North Coast Repertory's CAMELOT Announces Transfer To Laguna Playhouse

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE has announced the creative team and full casting for one of the most legendary musicals of all time, a transfer production from North Coast Repertory Theatre of Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT, book & lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe, original production directed and staged by Moss Hart, based on The Once and Future King by T.H. White, new orchestrations by Steve Orich, musical direction by Daniel Lincoln, choreography by Jill Gorrie Rovatsos, and directed by Jeffrey B. Moss.  

Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT begins previews on Wednesday, July 24, 2024; will open on Sunday, July 28 at 5:30pm (press opening); and perform through Sunday, August 11 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Dr. in Laguna Beach.

Prepare for an evening of enchantment in Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT, brilliantly adapted for intimate theatres. Written by Lerner & Loewe, this Tony Award-winning fairy-tale musical resounds with such memorable songs as, “I Loved You Once in Silence,” “If Ever I Would Leave You,” and the title song, “Camelot.”             

Based on the King Arthur legend, it features the iconic characters King Arthur, Guenevere, Sir Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. This epic story centers on the quest for democracy, justice, and the tragic struggle between passion, aspiration, and kingdoms.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST 

Alan Jay Lerner (Book and Lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (Composer) wrote some of the American theater's most memorable musicals, including My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon and Gigi. Among their most famous songs are “Almost Like Being in Love,” “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” Lerner was born in New York City in 1918 and attended Choate and Harvard. Loewe was born in Berlin in 1901 to Viennese parents, made his piano debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the age of 13 and came to the United States in 1924. The two met in 1942 at the Lambs Club in New York City when Loewe approached Lerner about collaborating on a show. In 1947, they had their first Broadway hit, Brigadoon, followed in 1951 by a second success with Paint Your Wagon which included such songs as “They Call the Wind Maria,” “I Talk to the Trees” and “Wand'rin' Star.” In 1956, My Fair Lady, with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, opened on Broadway. Often called the "perfect musical," the show ran for 2,717 performances and the cast album sold more than five million copies. Their 1958 film musical, Gigi, won nine Academy awards and, in 1960, came the last great success of their partnership, Camelot, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.  In 1974, Lerner lured Loewe out of retirement to work on their last venture together: a film version of Antoine de St Exupéry's The Little Prince.  Lerner went on to collaborate with other composers including Burton Lane, Leonard Bernstein and Andre Previn. He died in 1986 at the age of 67. Loewe died two years later at the age of 86.

Jeffrey Moss (Director) has staged more than 35 national and international tours including Guys And Dolls,Hello, Dolly!, Man Of La Mancha, The Sound Of Music, Peter Pan, On The 20th Century, The Music Man, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Music Of The Night, Annie, West Side Story, 42nd Street, Annie Get Your Gun, Mame, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Damn Yankees, Saturday Night Fever, An American In Paris, South Pacific, Legally Blonde and Little Women The Musical, and his acclaimed productions of My Fair Lady have played in the United States, Singapore and China. He is the award-winning director of the critically acclaimed New York and London productions of Bock and Harnick's new Rothschild & Sons. In New York, he directed the hit musical Mayor and the Cy Coleman/Neil Simon's Little Me and was the director of the New York and Kennedy Center productions of Some Enchanted Evening, now part of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Library. He has created newly imagined stagings of classic musicals such as Golden Boy(collaborating with Charles Strouse, Lee Adams and Leslie Lee), Rags (collaborating with Charles Strouse, Stephen Schwartz and Joe Stein) and has developed new plays and musicals such as Before the Dream, Passin' It On, The Jazz Club, Mermaids (based on the MGM film) and Charles Strouse's Real Men.

Daniel Lincoln (Musical Director) As pianist/conductor/pit musician (keyboards): Broadway: Wicked, On Your Feet!, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, and The Cher Show; Off-Broadway: Avenue Q, tick tick BOOM!, Under the Bodhi Tree (American Premiere production), Steven Sondheim's Follies (NY City Center Encores!); Tours: Matilda, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz, and The Midtown Men (starring the four original leads from Broadway's Jersey Boys); Broadway Casting - Binder Casting, Tara Rubin CSA, 

Telsey + Co. Former faculty at NYU Tisch and New York Film Academy; current faculty at USC, AMOA, and SMC. As part of the writing team of Lincoln & Schein, original productions include Making Melrose, Fintastic Finn, Grecian Burns, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, and The Remarkable Mister Holmes. Proud AFM Local 802 and Dramatist Guild Member, ASCAP composer.

Jill Gorrie ROVATSOS (Choreographer) North Coast Rep (Romance Romance, Desperate Measures, The Remarkable Mister Holmes); SDMT (Fiddler on the Roof, Singin' in the Rain, 42nd Street, Damn Yankees, Crazy for You, A Christmas Story, Hairspray (Craig Noel Award); California Center for the Arts (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Big Band Christmas); Moonlight Amphitheatre (Cinderella); SDSU; (Pal Joey, A Little Night Music, I Love a Piano); San Diego's School for Creative and Performing Arts, Mesa College, City College, Grossmont College, Southwestern College. 

Other credits: Oklahoma!, Hello Dolly!, Mambo Italiano (Westchester Broadway Theatre, NY), The People Vs. Mona (Abington Theatre, NYC). Aida, Hairspray, Singin' in the Rain (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina). Grease [International and European Tours-Resident Director/Choreographer). Jill has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The St. James Theatre, on Broadway national tours, international and European tours, numerous regional theatres and in film and television. Education: NYU Tisch School of the Arts (BFA-Dancel, SDSU (MFA- Musical Theatre).

The cast of CAMELOT features (in alphabetical order): Nick Apostolina (Master Harold... and the Boys at Syracuse Stage) as “Squire Dap/Mordred,” Jacob Caltrider (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at North Coast Rep) as “Sir Dinadin,” Jason Heil (Plaid Tidings, Twelfth Night at The Old Globe) as “Merlyn/Sir Gareth ,” Scott Hurst, Jr. (The Hunchback of Notre Dame as “Phoebus”) as “Lionel,” Brian Krinsky (National Tours: Anything Goes as “Billy Crocker,” Beauty and the Beast as “Beast” & “Gaston”) as “Lancelot,” Jered McLenigan (Tartuffe with Lantern Theater) as “Arthur,” Eben Rosenzweig (“Peter” in Peter and The Starcatcher at Moonlight Youth Theatre) as “Tom of Warwick,”  Noah Weibel (Matilda at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts) also as “Tom of Warwick,” Lauren Weinberg (National Tour: Guys & Dolls as Adelaide) as “Guenevere,” and Elias Wygodny (A Midsummer Night's Dream at Theatricum Botanicum) as “Sir Sagramore.”  Cole Fletcher will understudy the roles of “Merlyn,” “Sir Gareth,” “Sir Dinadin,” “Sir Sagramore,” and “Sir Lionel.”

The design team for CAMELOT is as follows: scenic design by Marty Burnett; costume design by Elisa Benzoni; lighting design by Matt Novotny; sound design by Ian Scot; props design by Audrey Casteris; hair and wig design by Peter Herman; fight coordination by Benjamin Cole.  The Production Stage Manager is Phil Gold.                

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT will preview on Wednesday, July 24 at 7:30pm; Thursday, July 25 at 2pm & 7:30pm; Friday, July 26 at 7:30pm; Saturday, July 27 at 2pm & 7:30pm; will open on Sunday, July 28 at 5:30pm (press opening) and perform through Sunday, August 11 at 1pm at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Dr. in Laguna Beach.         

Performances will be Wednesdays through Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 7:30pm; Sundays at 1:00pm & 5:30pm. There will be added performances on Thursday, August 1 at 2:00pm and Tuesday, August 6 at 7:30pm.  There will be no performance on Sunday, August 4 at 5:30pm. There will be a post-show talkback following the Friday, August 2 performance.

Tickets range from $55 - $94 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787). Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229.  Prices subject to change.  

The box office is open Tuesdays - Sundays: 12pm to 4pm; Mondays open 2 hours prior to show time and until 15 minutes after curtain.  Open until showtime on all performance days.

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