From couch to court, Gabriel Byrne charms in 'Camelot'

Bobby Steggert as Arthur's evil bastard son Mordred and the young Rishi Mutalik as Tom of Warwick added their own noteworthy performances.

Although it was considered semi-staged, the production directed by Lonny Price and produced by Thomas Z. Shepard was pretty much what one would expect to see in Broadway theaters about a mile south. The first six rows of seats were removed to extend the stage, which was rounded to accommodate the orchestra, cast and Arthur's egalitarian Round Table. (At one point, the table rose toward a giant golden crown above, a la the Heaviside Layer in "Cats.")

With dramatic lighting by Paul Miller, the darkened Avery Fisher Hall never looked better. The costumes by Tracy Christensen were eye-catching. Josh Prince's choreography was effective, especially the jousting sequence in which five dancers bounced in waves -horselike -while carrying the fighters and catching them as they were felled by Lancelot.

The Tony-winning show, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, first appeared on Broadway a month after John F. Kennedy was elected president.

It became associated with the Kennedy administration after Jacqueline Kennedy revealed following her husband's assassination in 1963 that he had been fond of the musical, particularly Arthur's final lyrics: "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot."

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