Four years ago, director Bartlett Sher asked Jordan Donica to star in a one-night-only gala performance of Lerner and Loewe鈥檚 Camelot at Lincoln Center Theater. Ever since, he鈥檚 been digging into the character of the dashing Lancelot and will soon turn all his preparation to action in the upcoming revival of the musical at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Donica previously graced the Broadway stage as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera and Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 2018 production of My Fair Lady; on regional stages, he鈥檚 starred as Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in the Angelica tour of Hamilton. As the actor realized mid-conversation, 鈥淚鈥檝e played a lot of French people.鈥� It鈥檚 one of a few coincidences for Donica, who returns to the Vivian Beaumont for his second Lerner and Loewe musical there.
Based on the novel The Once and Future King by T.H. White, Camelot tells the story of the mythical land and the love triangle between King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, and the knight Lancelot du Lac. It's about the mission to improve a society, and the tragic struggles between love and loyalty which catalyze the kingdom's fall. This new Broadway revival will begin previews March 9 and open April 13 with Andrew Burnap and Phillipa Soo leading the cast alongside Donica.
But this Camelot is vastly different from its original because of revisions made to the book by Aaron Sorkin, who has 鈥渁 very specific style and cadence to his work and to his rhythm,鈥� in Donica鈥檚 words. The West Wing scribe is writing a version of the Camelot book that makes the characters more realistic, more human. 鈥淵ou're seeing a man struggle with what he knows, what he thinks he knows, and what he doesn't know,鈥� the actor shares. 鈥淎nd you're seeing someone who is praying for a better world. Lancelot is very aware of the 鈥榚vils鈥� of the world around him. He considers himself a part of that evil, which is a very Catholic viewpoint: the idea of original sin, you're born evil, nothing you do can fix that.鈥� It鈥檚 a deep dive into Lancelot鈥檚 worldview which is a natural move for the actor, who studied religion and philosophy continuously throughout university. How the revised book shifts the whole story鈥檚 tone, for Donica, has created a production that feels more like a new musical rather than a revival.
The development of the characters isn鈥檛 the only way the production is leaning into realism. This new version portrays Camelot not as a fantasy tale or a fable, but a story about real people, with flaws and failures. Here鈥檚 how Donica puts it: 鈥淭he story has evolved into something that is very fantastical and magical, filled with embellishments that make the story that much cooler. If you distill that down to what the reality probably was versus what the story is years later, that's essentially the version that you're going to get from us. You're gonna get the reality of the story.鈥�
It's perhaps not a surprise that the charming Donica has starred on Broadway as some of musical theatre鈥檚 dreamiest lovers. Donica grew up with the music of Lerner and Loewe, having sung numbers from several of their musicals in voice lessons growing up. As Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady, he sang their famous love song 鈥淥n the Street Where You Live,鈥� and will sing another as Lancelot: 鈥淚f Ever I Would Leave You.鈥� His pick for a favorite Lerner and Loewe love song? Brigadoon鈥檚 鈥淐ome to Me, Bend to Me.鈥� But, Lancelot is quite different from Donica鈥檚 previous dreamboat roles, in the actor鈥檚 view. He doesn鈥檛 wear his heart on his sleeve like Raoul or Freddy; as an honorable knight, Lancelot falling in love with the married Guenevere is a violation of his oath. That struggle is what Donica finds so compelling about the role.
鈥淟ancelot is much more reserved in his love, how his love manifests is entirely different than how Raoul鈥檚 love manifests. He's not the type who would come and walk your street every day in the hopes of seeing you,鈥� says Donica. He goes on to explain, 鈥淟ancelot thinks it's embarrassing to be loved. So, there's a lot of psychological play at work with, 鈥極K, well, if it's embarrassing to let others love you, how then do I express love? I know I feel love. But how does that expression manifest if I don't believe I am worthy of love?'鈥�
The actor traces the character鈥檚 mindset back to his religious nature and Lancelot鈥檚 subsequent belief that he isn鈥檛 good鈥攁nd his analysis comes with textual evidence. Pulling from The Once and Future King, Donica shares, 鈥淭here's a line in the book that says in his deepest parts, he was disabled. He loved Arthur and he loves Guenevere, and he hated himself 鈥� That's the seed of toxicity that I'm working with, that's planted deep within Lancelot.鈥� It鈥檚 that self-hatred that drives his ambition to try and become a good person, creating a struggle that Donica finds absent in Raoul and Freddy.
Though it鈥檚 arguable that Camelot will find Donica at his fittest: He鈥檚 put on 15 pounds of muscle, since Lancelot is a sword-wielding knight. He also mentions how he has been getting to know Burnap and Soo as the three, all near each other in age, build that chemistry in what many theatre fans on Twitter are calling 鈥渟exy Camelot.鈥� 鈥淔or the last few months, we've been building a rapport and it's been easier for me now to make choices knowing who I'm going to be working with. They鈥檙e also reading the book, so we all have a language and dialogue with each other that is very centered around our characters,鈥� he says.
As he works through making those decisions, the actor faces a challenge in one song: 鈥淐鈥檈st Moi,鈥� because it鈥檚 usually played as a joke song, which might run counter to Sher鈥檚 serious conception of Camelot. 鈥淭he trap of a song like 鈥楥'est Moi鈥� is to be over the top and to play into the perceived comedy of it all. When, really, it's just a guy saying exactly who he is,鈥� explains Donica. 鈥淚t can sound conceited, but for him, it's just the truth. That is both a blessing and a curse. Exploring both sides of that within the song and within the character of 鈥業've never 鈥榝ailed,鈥� How much pressure does that actually put on someone?鈥�
Donica鈥檚 constant stream of questions to interrogate Lancelot鈥檚 strengths, weaknesses, wants, and motives all reflect an ambitious drive to flesh out his version of the character as much as possible.
As he digs into his character, Donica also keeps focus on what the production as a whole is communicating to theatregoers. He wants the musical to open the audience鈥檚 eyes to their own agency, because at its core, Camelot is about the nature of being human. These are the questions the cast have been asking themselves as rehearsal commences: 鈥淲hat are we doing? How do we end up in the same destructive cycles? What are ways that we can actually communicate and give each other space and time and love?鈥�
These questions guide a Camelot which is more realistic in the very nature of how diverse the cast is, rather than the white-focused story it has frequently been: Donica is Black, Soo is Asian, Marilee Talkington is legally blind, and Anthony Michael Lopez uses a prosthetic, to name a few of the cast members. This diversity has led some on social media to compare this new Camelot to Bridgerton, though Donica doesn鈥檛 quite agree with the comparison. 鈥淚t鈥檚 real people telling a real story, and not in the Bridgerton sense, but in a sense that allows people to reframe and expand what they think they know about history,鈥� Donica says.
The actor鈥檚 emotional investment in that mission carries over into how he believes real art can be created. For Donica, acting should be about getting the right people to play roles that hold up a mirror to humanity, and that the only thing it should be about is the character鈥攏ot race, age, gender, or any other factor which as a society we categorize people by. Identity politics doesn鈥檛 interest Donica. Audiences should be connecting with the characters.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where art is found,鈥� Donica says. 鈥淎t the end of the day, people are people. And people just want honest storytelling. And if you are an honest storyteller, people see people, they don't see anything else. And that's always been my mission in life since I was a kid.鈥� By focusing on the right people, Camelot has a cast with the kind of diversity that makes this formerly mythical story more immediate to today鈥檚 audiences. 鈥淵our average everyday person is also being represented on that stage here. And that is something I'm so proud of personally,鈥� Donica says, before exclaiming with joy, 鈥淥h my god, I'm gonna cry. It's really cool.鈥�
See more photos from Donica's photoshoot with 半岛体育.
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
Jordan Donica
