Camelot

Camelot, the follow up to Lerner and Loewe's smash hit My Fair Lady, is based on T.H. White's novel The Once and Future King. The novel--which deals with the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table--actually consists of four books, and the rights to the first of these books (The Sword and the Stone) had already been purchased by Disney. So Lerner and Loewe acquired the rights to the last three books and focused on Arthur's later years and the love triangle between King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, and Sir Lancelot. Camelot proved to be another huge success for Lerner and Loewe. It opened at the Majestic Theatre on December 3, 1960 and closed January 5, 1963 after a run of 873 performances. Richard Burton made his musical debut as King Arthur and Robert Goulet made his New York debut as Lancelot. Julie Andrews, a personal friend of T.H. White's played the role of Guenevere. The 1967 screen version featured Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero.