The musical production “Path to Avalon - King Arthur the Musical” made its debut at Centerstage, SM Seaside City Cebu in November 2022. The musical is based on the classic tale of King Arthur and tells the story through music and stage performance.
The following assessment focuses on several elements of the theatrical production, including set and light design, costume design, sound design, staging, blocking and choreography, character development and plot. (Editor’s note: This article was scheduled for earlier publication, but postponed to a later date to accommodate pending articles.)
Set and Light Design
The lighting design was excellent. Unfortunately, other aspects of the production took away from the fantastic scenes and rendered the lighting design ineffective. The set design relied heavily on the LED screen on the stage wall to establish the setting. The set didn’t change throughout the entire duration of the musical either.
Costume Design
While it’s clear that a lot of effort was put into the costumes, there were a few aberrations: Trojan helmets from the 12th century BC to 11th century BC showing up at a production set in the fifth to sixth century, male ensemble members wearing modern black long sleeves with buttons — by the last scene, someone was literally wearing a plain black t-shirt — and Guinevere wearing what looked like a yellow ball gown as her wedding gown instead of something more era-appropriate.
The other costumes were more reminiscent of the musical’s period, particularly the knights’ armor at the end of Act Two, though it must be pointed out that only Arthur, Lancelot and Mordred wore full-body armor.
Sound Design
“Path to Avalon” did fairly well in using sounds and music to establish settings. But in spite of that, key moments in the musical lacked the proper sound design to cement their importance. While the musical did a good job of adding background music, it could have utilized the impact of sound effects to enhance viewer experience. Several performers relied heavily on their microphones and failed to project their voices properly and ensemble scenes fell flat because actors mimed their hoots and jeers instead of vocalizing their reactions.
Staging, Blocking and Choreography
Generally speaking, characters moved onstage with no discernible motivation and fell in unnatural lines and ensemble scenes looked like choir formations because they were often positioned on the risers with no stage business to occupy them. Actions held no motivation behind them and hence, lacked originality and authenticity. For instance, when a group of friends hang out at a bar (or tavern, in this case), they form little groups, talking to each other; they don’t stand in a diagonal line.
There were three numbers that could be classified as “dances” in the production and a solo dance of note was performed during Morgan’s solo, “Mischief,” by her assistant Thomas.
Meanwhile, there were no other choreographed movements. While not all musicals require big dance numbers, there is always an element of dance or creative interpretation throughout the show.
Characters
While there was obviously great talent among the performers in “Path to Avalon,” the production failed to maximize these talents in a way that benefited the show. Ensemble members entered and exited the scene in silence, without purpose. The ensemble showed no character dynamics with one another; it seemed as if the only role they had to play was to fill the stage during a scene.
There were a few notable performances that stood out: Kilgharrah the Dragon’s voice acting was phenomenal on both performance dates; the young actress playing Valaria on Nov. 27 radiated charisma and charm onstage; Nov. 26’s Morgan Le Fay, despite a few issues with lighting, prowled through the stage as if she owned it; and Thomas, Morgan’s assistant, proved to be an excellent dancer.
Plot
Regrettably, the plot of “Path to Avalon” is riddled with holes, lacks conflict and has no discernible climax or rising action. One glaring plot hole, among others, is the way Arthur goes off to war and disappears for a few years. Everyone takes Lord Mordred at his word that Arthur is missing and makes no attempts to look for Arthur. When Mordred claims Guinevere for his own, her father King Leodegrance does not rescue her, but he does appear again upon Arthur’s death. Eventually, word comes around that Arthur is still alive and Mordred leaves Camelot to kill him, but Arthur makes no mention of where he has been the past few years, nor do he and his knights react to how his kingdom thinks he’s dead.
Music
There are plenty of beautiful songs in “Path to Avalon.” These songs have the potential to be even better if they were modified to tell a story, progress the plot and provide ample character development. However, there were also songs that dragged the performance’s runtime and failed to contribute anything to the plot.
Conclusion
“Path to Avalon” is not the first musical that tried bringing the classic Arthurian legend to the stage. Of note are “Camelot” (1960), which opened on Broadway and ran for about three years and continued on with several more adaptations and productions until 2008, though it is set to return to Broadway in 2023; and “Spamalot” (2005), which is described a “highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian legend” and adapted from the 1975 parody film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Each of these adaptations had something it wanted to say: “Camelot” wanted to be a successful adaptation of “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White and focused on King Arthur’s formation of the Knights of the Round Table and the concept of chivalry and honor; and “Spamalot” wanted to parody the original Arthurian legend and mix it up with anachronistic themes.
These adaptations answer a question by one of the greatest composers in musical theatre history, Stephen Sondheim: “Why tell the audience a story they already know unless you dramatize it?”
What did “Path to Avalon” want to say?
Sondheim in his book, “Look, I Made a Hat,” stated that mere desire for form is not a good way to begin writing a drama because the content must dictate the form, not the other way around. “You do have to know what it is that you’re saying in order to keep the piece from flying off in all directions and becoming amorphous.”
Considering that the production company behind “Path to Avalon” is fairly new to the theater scene — with “Avalon” being its first stage production — it is understandable that it is still finding its footing in staging a major theater production.
Moving forward, there’s enough reason to remain optimistic for Alba Music Production’s upcoming production, “Prince of Darkness,” a musical based on the classic novel, “Dracula.”