`Camelot': The `One Brief Shining Moment' Lives On

"Camelot." Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe. Directed by Norb Joerder. Presented by Best of Broadway, at the Paramount Theatre through Sunday. 628-0888 or 292-ARTS.

A great hit on Broadway in 1960, the Lerner-Loewe musical "Camelot" went on to achieve a kind of mythic status - which had as much to do with the lore of John F. Kennedy as with the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

It seems that JFK loved the notion of an idyllic kingdom based on chivalry, "a fleeting wisp of glory called Camelot." After his assassination, it was poignantly remembered that in the White House the young president had often listened to the title song from "Camelot."

Three decades later, "Camelot" doesn't have quite the resonance it once did, and the dramatic patchiness of its book (by Alan Jay Lerner, who also wrote the witty lyrics) is more obvious.

But it still can provide a diverting, melodic evening. And the touring version at the Paramount Theatre this week retains a direct link with that burnished 1960 production: Robert Goulet, who originated the role of Sir Lancelot, has now settled very credibly into the persona of King Arthur.

Choreographed and directed in straightforward fashion by Norbert Joerder, the show also boasts a charming Queen Guenevere in Patricia Kies, whose agile soprano and crisp British diction remind one (not at all unpleasantly) of the original Guenevere, Julie Andrews. And it has a compelling Lancelot in hunky Steve Blanchard, whose looks and nuanced vocal style differ enough from Goulet's to make comparisons unnecessary.

Based loosely on T.H. White's four-volume historical fantasy, "The Once and Future King," the musical cuts to the romantic chase. It scatters a few references to Arthur's enchanted youth guided by the magician Merlin (James Valentine). But the tragic love triangle that develops between the king, his wife and the French knight dominates.

"Camelot" imagines Guenevere as a genteel thrill-seeker who delights in "The Lusty Month of May," and loves men jousting over her. Lancelot goes from arrogant jerk ("C'est Moi") to sensitive lover (with the fine ballad, "If Ever I Would Leave You.") And Arthur is seen as a mellow monarch pondering "How To Handle a Woman" (the lyrics are not as sexist as the title suggests), when he's not busy inventing a civil justice code.

Looking good in his velvet tunics and brocaded robes, Goulet moves a bit stiffly and tends to rattle off his longer, more didactic speeches as if eager to be done with them. (Who can blame him?)

But he has sweet chemistry with Kies, and shares the spotlight unselfishly with the gifted Blanchard, and the hammy Valentine (who doubles as doddering King Pellinore). Plus Goulet brings something to the throne the initial star, Richard Burton, could not: a robust voice uneroded by time and made for musical comedy.

As they did in "My Fair Lady," Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe crafted the score of "Camelot" so a non-singer like Burton could amble through it without embarrassment. But Goulet has the vocal equipment to attack every note with baritone gusto, and the skill to shade each song with emotion. It makes you wish he too had a big, juicy ballad assigned to him.

The sets, supervised by Neil Peter Jampolis, recall Oliver Smith's attractive Broadway design - a wondrous tree studded with lights and fringed with snow, a backdrop of fanciful castles and an array of arches and colorful flags.

The dance routines barely exist, and the late-inning bad guy, Mordred (Kenneth Boys), could be less twerpy.

But for a show that's in the midst of a two-year tour, this "Camelot" does not seem stale. And it has Robert Goulet, wearing a crown he deserved to inherit.