Keach in Camelot

Additional casting has been announced for the New York Philharmonic's upcoming production of Camelot.

Newcomers to the starry company include stage and screen star Stacy Keach, who will star in the national tour of Frost/Nixon (coming to TBPAC next season!), as Merlyn, King Arthur's tutor; and Erin Morley, a member of The Metropolitan Opera's Lindermann Young Artist Development Program, as Nimue, the nymph who lures Merlyn into her cave.

Keach and Morley join a cast that includes the previously announced Gabriel Byrne as King Arthur, Marin Mazzie as Guenevere, Christopher Lloyd as Pellinore, Marc Kudisch as Lionel, Christopher Sieber as Dinadan, Will Swenson as Sagramore, Nathan Gunn as Lancelot, Bobby Steggert as Mordred and Fran Drescher as Morgan le Fey.

The semi-staged performances of Lerner & Loewe's Camelot will play Avery Fisher Hall May 7-10.

PBS' Live from Lincoln Center series will broadcast the May 8 performance, which is scheduled to begin at 8 PM ET.

In Camelot, according to press notes, "idealistic King Arthur longs to create a perfectly principled kingdom, but sees his dream undone by a tragic love triangle involving Queen Guenevere and his best friend Lancelot. In this thoroughly engaging production, the medieval monarch's vision — a place where 'violence is not strength, and compassion is not weakness' — speaks to our time and for all time."

Camelot — featuring music by Frederick Loewe and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner — originally opened at Broadway's Majestic Theatre in Dec. 1960, playing 873 performances before closing Jan. 5, 1963. The premiere company included Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet, Robert Coote, John Cullum and Roddy McDowall. The classic Lerner and Loewe score boasts such tunes as "If Ever I Would Leave You," "I Loved You Once in Silence," "Follow Me," "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight" and the title tune.

Stacy Keach has appeared on Broadway in Danton's Death, The Country Wife, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, King Lear, Indians (Tony nomination), Deathtrap, Solitary Confinement and The Kentucky Cycle. The actor won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the TV miniseries "Hemingway," and his numerous screen credits also include "Mike Hammer," "Fat City," "End of the Road" and "Titus."

(edited from material from Playbill.com)

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