‘Camelot’ to be performed this weekend in Sparta

The North Star Theater Company (NSTC) presents Lerner & Lowe’s “Camelot: The Small Cast Version” at 8 p.m. Friday, May 19; Saturday, May 20; and Sunday, May 21.

Guest directed by Angela Masi of Basking Ridge, the musical is an interactive experience performed at Schaffer Hall, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 8 Conestoga Trail, Sparta.

Charcuterie boards will be available at your table with a selection of meats, cheeses, crackers, vegetables, candies, etc. Please feel free to bring your favorite beer, wine or soda to enjoy at the performance.

Through the eyes of eight revelers, “Camelot: The Small Cast Version” tells the familiar and timeless tale of the Round Table and the idealistic King Arthur’s vision of a world where might is used in the service of justice.

Hope begins to unravel when his beloved Queen Guenevere falls into tragic love with his greatest knight and best friend, Lancelot, and when Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred arrives in Camelot and begins stirring up dissent among the knights.

Masi said she loves watching people’s faces when she brings up “Camelot.” Either they light up because they have a fond memory connected to it or they sort of smile/grimace with pity because they know the show is long and boring, she said, adding that this production is out to shake up both groups of people.

“This production is getting down in the dirt with who these characters, and especially Arthur, really are. We’re going to be whispering in the audience’s ears, planting our own thoughts for them to accept or rebel against, and maybe even stealing a delicious tapas off of their plates while we’re at it,” she said.

“This is a no-boundaries presentation of a story that is immediately necessary in today’s culture. What is right and what is just and how the two things are not necessarily the same.”

The cast and crew includes Alison Endee (Bedminster) as Guenevere, Sally O’Sullivan (Oak Ridge) as Lancelot, Phil Cocilovo (Montague) as Arthur, Melissa Honeywell (Highland Lakes) and Gavin Birmingham (Andover Township) as Dap and Mordred, Walter Stanek (Byram) as Sir Dinadan, Chris Motto (Newton) as Sir Sagramore, Skylar Tomlin (Franklin) as Sir Lionel, and Solomon Honeywell (Highland Lakes) as Tom.

In the ensemble are Stephen Burke (Secaucus), Isabella Cruz (Vernon), Claire Dempsey (Morristown), Jennifer Gallagher (Weehawken) and Lillian Farrell (Sparta).

Tickets $40 for adults and $35 for students/seniors/military. To buy them online, go to https://northstar.booktix.com

Funding has been made available in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through the State/County Partnership Block Grant Program as administered by the Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council.