Camelot

Washington -- On a rainy, tempestuous winter night, a week after cradling her slain husband in her lap in Dallas, Jacqueline Kennedy summoned a trusted journalist friend to her home in Hyannisport, "obsessed," to use her word, with the notion that her husband be remembered as a hero.With the clarity and political canny of a master spin artist, the 34-year-old widow spoke to the writer, Theodore H. White, for four hours, urging him to tell the world -- via Life magazine -- that Kennedy was truly "a man of magic," that his presidency was truly special, that the era was, to use the words she borrowed from a recent Broadway musical, "one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot."

The opening of Lerner and Loewe's classic musical "Camelot" last weekend marked Pasadena Theatre Company's arrival at its home in the Chesapeake Center for the Creative Arts, a state-of-the-art facility that easily accommodates this large-scale production. I'd rank "Camelot" - an ideal choice for the Brooklyn Park's center's first extended run - as the biggest and best show the company has mounted in the past five years. With its 45-member cast and 14-piece orchestra, creative staging and dazzling special effects, the Pasadena troupe uses all that the 900-seat theater offers in sound, lighting and stage space flexibility.

CAMELOT -- Acorn / $29.99 With a new revival of Lerner and Loewe's Arthurian musical, Camelot, scheduled to play the Hippodrome Theatre next season, the release of the DVD version of the 1981 Broadway revival seemed like a good way to become reacquainted with this sumptuous work. Originally broadcast on HBO in 1983, this DVD is essentially an archival recording of the stage production that starred Richard Harris, re-creating his 1967 movie role. The liner notes by Harris' co-star, Meg Bussert, explain that the taping was done over several days and included some re-staging specifically for the cameras.

IT RANKS AS the celebrity auction of the century. Collectors were stunned by the frenzy to purchase something -- at any price -- from the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Bids soared into orbit, unrelated to an item's intrinsic value: Over $1 million for golf clubs and bags; $211,000 for a triple strand of fake pearls; $574,000 for a walnut cigar humidor; $442,000 for one of many rocking chairs owned by John F. Kennedy; $90,000 for a $500 saddle; $85,000 for JFK Jr.'s rocking horse; $65,000 for a $300 putter; $9,200 for two wicker baskets; $2,000 for a $30 reproduced etching.

Golf pro George Jakovics has found his "Camelot" in Crofton."I feel like I've been reborn," said the 54-year-old Jakovics, who is beginning a new career with the same enthusiasm he had when he turned pro after graduating from Towson High in Baltimore County back in 1957.After 21 years at Chartwell Golf and Country Club, where he builtthe club into one of the top clubs in the East, the Latvian native is starting over at Walden Golf Club in Crofton.And unlike the "decisions by committee" procedure at Chartwell, Jakovics is in completecontrol at Walden and intends to make everyone feel at home by extending lunch invitations to every member within the next year.

Lou Diamond Phillips is no ordinary King Arthur. On stage Camelot runs at Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St., through April 6: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays. $25-$70. 410-547-7328 or france-merrickpac.com.

FRANKLIN CENTER, Pa. -- Alongside the dolls, model cars, commemorative ingots and other collectible bijoux, such as "Faberge eggs," that are its stock-in-trade, the Franklin Mint Museum will offer visitors a look at some actual historical objects over the next six weeks -- memorabilia from the lives of President John F. Kennedy and his family."

Although Friday's performance of Camelot was canceled by 7 inches of snow - beyond the "legal limit" in the mythical kingdom - J. Ernest Green's Annapolis Chorale and soloists brought the classic musical to life Saturday for a capacity audience at Maryland Hall. Lerner and Loewe's Camelot was the chorale's fifth annual "Broadway in Concert" production. Earlier concerts explored Damon Runyon's New York in Guys and Dolls, the Scottish Highlands of Brigadoon, the Russian village of Fiddler on the Roof and the Yorkshire moors of The Secret Garden.

Camelot was an instant hit when it opened on Broadway in 1960, boasting a tuneful score by Frederick Loewe set to the witty lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner. Almost 50 years later, this musical retains much of its luster, as shown by Pasadena Theatre Company's current production of the classic tale of King Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. It benefits from the efforts of co-directors Chuck Dick and Beverly Van Joolen, music director Tom Jackson and the skills of 35 local performers and behind-the-scenes craftsmen and technicians.

The opening of Lerner and Loewe's classic musical "Camelot" last weekend marked Pasadena Theatre Company's arrival at its home in the Chesapeake Center for the Creative Arts, a state-of-the-art facility that easily accommodates this large-scale production. I'd rank "Camelot" - an ideal choice for the Brooklyn Park's center's first extended run - as the biggest and best show the company has mounted in the past five years. With its 45-member cast and 14-piece orchestra, creative staging and dazzling special effects, the Pasadena troupe uses all that the 900-seat theater offers in sound, lighting and stage space flexibility.