It is December 3, 1960, the opening night for the musical “Camelot” at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre.
The show will run for 873 performances.
The play tells the story of King Arthur, Queen Guenevere and Lancelot with Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet in the leading roles.
Burton and Andrews were already well-established stars.
But this was Robert Goulet’s Broadway debut.
And he was wonderful.
His critically acclaimed performance as Lancelot launched a five-decade career in show business.
The unforgettable music was written by Frederick Loewe with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.
They were the best in the business and had become famous for composing the music for the 1956 Broadway hit “My Fair Lady.”
Camelot opened first in Toronto.
It was the show’s shake-down cruise.
And there was a problem: the show ran for more than four hours.
So, lots of cutting followed to trim it down to two-and-a-half hours.
After the show opened on Broadway, New York theater reviewers gave it mixed reviews.
But Ed Sullivan, the host of a television variety show, saved the day.
Sullivan asked Lerner and Lowe to create a segment for his TV program featuring a medley of songs from “My Fair Lady.’
But they created a medley of songs from “Camelot” instead.
And, after the Sullivan show’s broadcast, the Camelot box office was swamped with advance ticket orders.
In late November 1963, a week after President Kennedy’s assassination, Jackie Kennedy gave an interview to journalist Theodore White.
She told White that her husband had often listened to the Camelot original cast recording of the show in the evening and the last lines from the title song had been his favorite.
"Don't let it be forgot/ That once there was a spot/ For one brief, shining moment/ That was known as Camelot."
And she drew a parallel between the “brief, shining moment” of Camelot and her husband’s presidency.
After White’s interview was published in December 1963, Kennedy detractors began to question whether Mrs. Kennedy’s Camelot story was true.
‘She has crafted a glittering fairytale in an attempt to burnish her husband’s legacy,’ they would say, calling her ‘shrewd.’
But whether Mrs. Kennedy’s story is true or not doesn’t really matter.
The Camelot metaphor for the Kennedy White House struck a lasting chord with the public.
Millions thought it a good fit.
Soon after the White interview was published, a Camelot touring company had to halt its Chicago performance when the audience broke down in loud sobs after the singing of those final lines.
‘There were sobs and loud wails. Everyone on stage, in the wings, in the pit and in the audience wept without restraint.’
Those among us who still remember that time understand.
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I’ll see you tomorrow.
— Brenda
Photos from the New York Public Library.
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