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Aaron Sorkin is heading back to Broadway for the new production of “Camelot.”
The “Being the Ricardos” director will be reimagining the Lerner & Loewe musical and reviving it at the Lincoln Center Theater.
Preview performances are scheduled to begin previews on Nov. 3, with opening night set for Dec. 8 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Both casting and the design team will be announced at a later time. André Bishop is at the helm as artistic director.
Sorkin, 60, is penning the book and will be reunited with Bartlett Sher, the director of his smash hit, Tony-winning “To Kill A Mockingbird” play.
“It was the fastest I’ve ever said yes to anything,” the Oscar and Emmy winner told the Hollywood Reporter. “The chance to work with Bart again, the chance to work on a musical, the chance to work at Lincoln Center and mostly the chance to work on material that I love were all impossible to resist.”
The “West Wing” creator is writing the play’s new script based on the original story by Alan Jay Lerner, who adapted the idea from the 1958 book “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White.
“Camelot” first hit the stage in 1960 and features an original score by Frederick Loewe. He composed classics from the story such as “If Ever I Would Leave You,” “How to Handle a Woman” and “What Do the Simple Folk Do?”
A 1967 film adaption hit the theaters with Harris returning as Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere and Franco Nero as Lancelot.
The musical follows the traditional folklore of characters King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, and Sir Lancelot. Lincoln Center had expressed that the story is about “the quest for democracy, striving for justice, and the tragic struggle between passion and aspiration, between lovers and kingdoms.”
The first stage production starred legends Richard Burton as Arthur, Julie Andrews as Guenevere, and Robert Goulet as Lancelot and scored four Tony Awards.
A separate 1980 revival occurred with Burton, Christine Ebersole and Richard Muenz starring. One year later, the cast was swapped out with Richard Harris, Meg Bussert and Muenz.
Sorkin also noted to THR that, while he hadn’t seen the play, he read the book several times and repeatedly played the cast album.
The “Social Network” filmmaker wanted to erase any supernatural components from the story. Lincoln Center also previously described the show as being “reimagined for the 21st century.”
“The story takes place in a real place at a real time,” he continued. “Arthur can’t change himself into a hawk and there’s no magic forest. Even the origin story of the sword in the stone gets questioned.”
He also stated, “I like writing about heroes who don’t wear capes and I told Bart that I thought there was a powerful version of this story to be told that could give us a glimpse — ‘for one brief shining moment’ — of who we could be at our best, but the story had to take place in the real world. Bart looked frightened but he told me to go to work.”
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