Description
Book SynopsisFor centuries, Arthurian legend with its tales of Camelot, romance, and chivalry has captured imaginations throughout Europe and the Americas. This book explores musical adaptations of Arthurian legend as filtered through specific versions of the tale as told by Mark Twain, T.H. White, and Monty Python.
Trade ReviewThe author looks chiefly at dramatic and musical adaptations, and the resulting text not only creates nostalgia for the reader but also affords a serious and careful presentation of the changes that performance requires even of well-known stories * M.H. Kealy, CHOICE Connect, Vol. 59 No. 8 *
...Camelot to Spamalot sheds a fascinating light on the many ways in which a century of popular culture has responded to one of the most enduring of all stories. * Vaughan Edwards, Stage and Cinema *
In a narrative as compelling as the myth itself, Woller's important study reveals how song and dance have been used to adapt and readapt the story of King Arthur into some of the most important and beloved musicals in Broadway and Hollywood history. * Dominic McHugh, Professor in Musicology at the University of Sheffield and author of Loverly: The Life and Times of 'My Fair Lady' *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Part 1: Adapting Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Prelude: Twain as Adapter Chapter 1: Musical Storytelling and Revision in Rodgers and Hart's A Connecticut Yankee Chapter 2: Bing Crosby's Stardom and Legend in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Part 2: Adapting T.H. White's The Once and Future King Chapter 3: Interpretation and Characterization in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot Chapter 4: Naiveté and the Depiction of Arthur's Childhood in Disney's The Sword in the Stone Part 3: Monty Python as Adapters Chapter 5: Parody and the Role of Song in Monty Python and the Holy Grail Chapter 6: Notions of Place, Legend, and Broadway in Monty Python's Spamalot Conclusion Archival Collections Bibliography Index
