A NOT-SO-SHINING `CAMELOT'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

The ``one brief shining moment'' eternally prophesied for Lerner and Loewe's ``Camelot'' still hasn't arrived.

And don't think people aren't still waiting for it. A King Arthur musical born of -- and inspired by -- the Kennedy era, great songs, classic tale, recognizable characters, a sword called Excalibur ... Robert Goulet tours with it every so often. There's not a high school or dinner theater in America that hasn't tried it.

Is the time ripe for a newer, better incarnation? McCoy Rigby Entertainment clearly thinks so. With Michael York heading the cast and a $2 million budget, you'd figure that the producers had another shining city in its sights when it launched its touring revival of ``Camelot'' from the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Next stop: San Jose.)

These are, alas, resources badly deployed. Director Glenn Casale and the Alan Jay Lerner estate have not solved the musical's clunky book, and the production -- as conventionally pretty as it often looks -- is frequently dull and fatally miscast.

York is buyable as a good-hearted statesman thrust upon a throne for which he's not ideally suited, but he's nobody's best choice for a non-thinker.

As Guenevere, Rachel York (no relation to Michael) has no vocal difficulties, and she can weave her way around a ballad (``Before I Gaze at You Again'') or an upbeat flirty number (``Take Me to the Fair'') with equal brio. Rachel York's forte, however, is musical comedy. (Her Reno Sweeney of Reprise's! ``Anything Goes'' positively killed.) Asking her to be the tortured queen -- in love with one man, in lust with another -- is no better a fit than the Michael York/Arthur assignment.

Come to think of it, there's a certain universal discomfort that overhangs Casale's entire endeavor; nearly everybody seems out of place or a step behind. The first act -- an extended set-up during which not much happens -- runs long, while the action-heavy finale passes quickly.

Meanwhile, we're stuck waiting for a downfall that everybody knows is coming. It's ``Titanic: The Musical'' all over again: The iceberg is coming.

I refer, of course, to the Guenevere-Lancelot hook-up. He's ultra-conceited and virtuous to a fault. She's young, lusty and very tempting, and the fate of the kingdom hangs in the balance of their union. These circumstances should be enough to keep an audience pinned and needled for a couple of hours, no?

No. James Barbour has played Lancelot before, and, like Rachel York, he has an amazing voice. In this ``Camelot,'' however, he's saddled with a bizarre French accent and frequently walks around as though his armor's strapped on too tightly.

The overhangs and pre-Raphaelite-inspired decor of John Iacovelli's sets make for some comely scenery, and Marcy Froehlich's costumes have a certain colorful opulence. McCoy Rigby, a theatrical company that has made a cottage industry of ``Peter Pan,'' clearly couldn't resist spiriting Eric Anderson's Merlin out of the action via flight and wires.

In this ``Camelot,'' to paraphrase a lyric, ``That's how conditions are.'' Would that they were better.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

CAMELOT - Two stars

Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Jan. 28.

Tickets: $37.50 to $45. [phone] or visit www.lamiradatheatre.com.

In a nutshell: Snores and sorcery and miscast leads.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Michael York, left, Time Winters, Rachel York and James Barbour resurrect Lerner and Loewe's ``Camelot'' for a national tour with the eventual goal of bringing it to Broadway.