Yesterday brought the opportunity to take in a couple of shows at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. The production the festival has mounted of Camelot is simply stunning. Three strong leads, Brian Vaughn as King Arthur, Christine Williams as Queen Guenevere and Michael Sharon as Lancelot, form the core of this excellent cast.

Finding the right place to start commenting on this production is hard. The staging, cast, choreography, and music were all outstanding. For example the joust scene with most of the cast on stage brings together the excellent talent, music choreography and staging into one crystalline scene. With each pass of the off-stage combatants the company moves in such fluid unison as to completely sell the idea they are indeed watching an event instead of looking into the audience.

Since I first visited the festival in the early 1980's I've seen dozens of plays and a handful of musicals produced by this excellent company. Camelot, however, ranks in the top few productions this elite company has put together.

The festival has been producing the works of Shakespeare since its 1962 inaugural season. In 1989 the festival opened the Randal L. Jones theater for presenting woks from the "Shakespeares of other lands." With the addition of this second theater the company expanded its repertoire to include annual musical productions.