Camelot at the McPherson Opera House opens Thursday

By JUDD WEIL 
Hutch Post

MCPHERSON, Kan. —  StageDoor43 Productions brings the musical Arthurian tale, Camelot, to the stage of the McPherson Opera House this weekend.  

From March 23 to March 26, people can enjoy the legend of King Arthur as told by the just as legendary partnership of Lerner and Loewe. 

“With this Camelot version, one of the things that StageDoor43 does is we really bring shows that our family friendly and that has content that is appropriate to all ages that everyone can come and enjoy,” said Kevin Samuelson, director and producer of the show. “Camelot is one of those shows. It's generational.” 

Camelot is an adaptation from the 1958 novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White. 

“We have a whole up-and-coming base on potential actors that don't know the story of Camelot, which is the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Guinevere and Lancelot,” Samuelson said. “This is a show that really condenses the story and tells it from the beginning and the end.”  

Samuelson is very proud of what StageDoor43 Productions sets out to do.   

“Our mission is basically to provide live theatre opportunities for basically rural communities that may not have otherwise have access to live theatre or, in the case of what we're doing with the McPherson Opera House, to support the community with their live theater,” Samuelson said. “It's just another opportunity for people to see the importance of live theatre in in their in their towns.” 

For Samuelson, a retired performer himself, performing at the McPherson Opera House is a labor of love. 

“I was brought to the McPherson Opera House about nine years ago to do a one-man show and I absolutely fell in love with the Opera House itself,” Samuelson said. “The fact that it was a historical venue that had been rescued from the brink, if you saw the pictures before it was ready to collapse in on itself, but the community rallied and spent lots of money to refurbish the Opera House and bring it back to its original state, which is unusual.” 

The McPherson Opera House is one of the few opera houses on the original Orpheum Circuit from the early 1900s that is still in existence today.  

A lot of those historical opera houses fell into disrepair or were the unfortunate victims of COVID-19. 

“The McPherson Opera House has been able to survive with an excellent board of directors and an executive director who really put a lot of work into keeping it open,” Samuelson said. “The mission and the venue itself, I just kind of adopted them, so I make sure that in the schedule we make sure that we have one time a year that we take the show to the McPherson Opera House.”

All of the proceeds earned from any show done at the McPherson Opera House, goes directly back to the Opera House to maintain it so they can bring other shows into the community to support live theatre. 

Camelot at the McPherson Opera House is set to be a lively show of romance and action with something for everyone to enjoy.  

“There's jousting, there's fighting, there's swords, there's all sorts of entertainment value other than the love story between Guenevere and Lancelot,” Samuelson said.  

StageDoor43 took into account how cerebral the Arthurian mythos can be.  

“What we've done with this show is actually a condensed version,” Samuelson explained. “We don't get into the background of Merlin and Nimue and some of that. We focus really on the story of Arthur's meeting Guenevere, Guenevere meeting Lancelot, the story that revolves around the three of them, to the point of creation of the round table.” 

According to Samuelson, the cast for Camelot is relatively small compared to other shows put on by StageDoor43 Productions.

“Our casts are usually in the hundreds,” Samuelson. “This cast is running about 35.”  

In addition to the principals who are professional, Stage43 auditioned local people area like Hutchinson and McPherson as well as surrounding towns.  

On stage will be child cast members which is not usual for a production of Camelot. 

“The average age is a bit younger than people might expect, other than the principals, and that's what's really going to be fun about the show, is seeing that it is multi-generational, and for a number of the actors on stage, this is their first time on stage,” Samuelson said. “Anybody that wants to appear on a stage, they ought to take an opportunity, even if it's just a walk on part, just to have an opportunity to know what it feels like.” 

The principal cast for the show includes two people from the Wichita Grand Opera.  

Reece Ruhl from the Wichita State University Opera Program and the Wichita Grand Opera will be playing Lancelot.  

Erin Wright from the Wichita Grand Opera will be playing Lady Clarinda. 

The other two members of the principal cast are local from McPherson. 

Brandt Busse is playing King Arthur.  

Alyson Holman is playing Guenevere.  

“It's kind of nice having local plus outside of the community but then we bring in these people that are from the Wichita Grand Opera and Wichita State University, and then they spend that time mentoring the performers and give them you know a little extra training to support what they're learning in their music education classes,” Samuelson said. “But it also gives them a little extra support from somebody that's been on the stage and has some experience.” 

Performances for Camelot are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.  

General tickets are $20 to $30 while student tickets are $10, and are available at mcphersonoperahouse.org. People can also buy tickets the day of the show or call the box office at (620) 241-1952.

StageDoor43 Productions’ next show will be a dinner-theatre performance in Hutchinson in October called the Masquerade Ball.  

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