A castle full of colourful characters join in the fun, including precocious princesses, a talking dragon - and not forgetting Merlin and his magic mirror! When young squire Watt Cobblers is expelled from Knight School, he reluctantly becomes Merlin's new apprentice. But trouble is never far away, and soon Camelot Castle collapses into chaos. Merlin has lost Excalibur, King Arthur's daughters have been kidnapped and his brave knights have turned into chickens. Watt and his new found friends Dusty Dragon and wayward Princess Alice set off on the biggest quest of their lives. But can our unlikely heroes rescue the princesses, save Excalibur and defeat the evil Black Knight? The answers are found in this magical production, where everyone is guaranteed to sing a lot, dance a lot and laugh a lot... at Camelot!
"What A Knight!" brings together a thrilling story, side-splitting script and a score full of contagiously catchy songs to give you a spectacular show that will be a sure hit with both cast and audience. With parts for between 26 and 60 children, plus unlimited chorus parts, this show will suit any size cast.
'What A Knight' is packed full of witty one liners; even the names of the characters will get you chuckling. Lester Lugabout enters and sets the scene, followed by the ensemble singing 'The Castle Of Camelot'. Moving swiftly into action, the royal family and courtiers prepare for the kings birthday celebrations; this scene allows the characters to introduce themselves... 'King Arthur Ain't 'Arf A Bad King!' follows. The audience are then transported to Kitty's Kitchen where the two guards are sent to taste the food in preparation for the banquet. Jake the Jolly Jester and Watt Cobbler make an appearance and the audience sympathise with Kitty Cobblers son as he describes his failed attempts at becoming a knight (this is shown in a flashback scene.) Following this is a comical scene between Kitty and her son as Watt fails miserably at helping his mother to cook the all-important scones.
Merlin the Magic Magician enters, trying desperately to find something which leaves the audience bemused and inquisitive; Watt reappears and Kitty presents her son with a book for his birthday present 'How to be a Hero' (unsurprisingly Watt cannot hide his disappointment!) On the other side of the stage, Princess Alice, who is also failing at becoming a princess is presented with a book and as they sing a duet either side of the stage, 'How To Be Me' the audience predict a friendship emerging!
We then move to another castle, eerie and dingy, in which the Black Knight and his Army discuss a plan to kidnap the princesses to hold them ransom in return for Excalibur-the sword that will pronounce the Black Knight king. The audience are transported back to Camelot castle (a friendlier environment!) and Watt begins as an apprentice for Merlin the Magician in which the audience witness a comical interaction between the two. His first job involves labeling bottles of potions and the audience have a funny feeling he is going to get it wrong... Watt encounters Princess Alice and her pet, Dusty the Dragon and Merlin reveals his worries with the three of them; he has shrunk Excalibur in order to hide it from the Black Knight but has lost it! 'One Of A Kind' follows.
A flirtatious scene between the princesses and knights follow and soon after, the princesses are captured. (The knights jump at the chance to save them!) This puts Merlin under even more pressure to find Excalibur; 'We're On A Quest' follows and provides a contrast to the Black Knights castle in which the Black Knight uses Marvin the Mirror to reveal King Arthur's strategy to rescue his daughters.
In the following scene, Watt discovers that instead of taking the strength potion, the knights who have gone to save the princesses took the animal potion. A Reprise of 'We're On A Quest' follows. At the Black Knights castle, the knights drink the potion which leaves Alice, Watt and Dusty the Dragon to successfully defeat the Black Knights army and set the prisoners free. However, in a sudden twist of plot, the Black Knight returns to Camelot but is defeated by Alice and Watt in a surprising manner! All ends happily as Excalibur is found (in an unexpected place...) and Watt finds that his book really did come in useful... 'What A Knight' ends the show.
Note: With this cast reduction there will be occasions when a line or two may need to be reallocated, amended or deleted to compensate for the removal of characters such as Princess Almira, Lords Dent and Dorking, and the Squires.
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"Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since covered numerous times, most successfully by Love Affair, as well as Town Criers, Rex Smith & Rachel Sweet, Carl Carlton, Sandra Cretu, U2 and Gloria Estefan. The original version of "Everlasting Love" was recorded by Knight in Nashville, with Cason and Gayden aiming to produce it in a Motown style reminiscent of the Four Tops and the Temptations. When released as a single, the song reached No. 13 on the US chart in 1967. Subsequently, the song has reached the US top 40 three times, most successfully as performed by Carl Carlton, peaking at No. 6 in 1974, with more moderate success by the duo Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet (No. 32 in 1981) and Gloria Estefan (No. 27 in 1995).
Debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 30, 1967, "Everlasting Love" had already reached No. 1 in Philadelphia and Detroit by the time of its top 40 debut on October 21, 1967. Cason admitted that the single "drove ... the promotion guys nuts since it hit in one market then several weeks later pop up somewhere else."[4] The track spent its second week at its Hot 100 peak of No. 13 on the chart dated November 25, 1967 then dropped off the Hot 100 over the next three weeks. The R&B chart peak of "Everlasting Love" was No. 14. In its original release, Knight's "Everlasting Love" lost out in the UK to a cover by Love Affair, although Knight's version did spend two weeks at No. 40 UK in January 1968. In the spring of 1974, Knight's "Everlasting Love" had a second UK release to follow up the Top Ten success of the reissue of Knight's "Love on a Mountain Top"; this time the first-named track reached No. 19.
An airplay staple on American oldies radio stations (though less so than the 1974 Carl Carlton version), Knight's "Everlasting Love" has become a "cult favorite" of the beach music scene. In a 2011 interview, Buzz Cason stated that the Robert Knight original of "Everlasting Love" remained Cason's favorite version of the song: "I just think Robert's was the one [version] that had the magic in it."[1]
"Everlasting Love" was recorded by Love Affair in 1967. According to the band's lead vocalist Steve Ellis: "We had two managers, David Wedgebury and John Cokell, who both worked at Decca [and] had access to all the imports on the Monument label. We rehearsed in a factory in Walthamstow and one night they turned up with 'Everlasting Love' by Robert Knight. I loved it and so we set about putting it down on tape."[11] Muff Winwood produced the original Love Affair version of "Everlasting Love" which was recorded at Island Studios and featured the group's actual members: Island Records passed on releasing the track but CBS in-house producer Mike Smith - after failing to interest his regular clients Marmalade in recording the song (which Marmalade deemed "too poppy") - cut a new Love Affair version of "Everlasting Love".
The second Love Affair recording of "Everlasting Love" in fact featured only one member of the group: lead vocalist Steve Ellis who fronted a session ensemble comprising arranger/conductor Keith Mansfield's 40-piece orchestra plus a rhythm section, the session musicians including Peter Ahern (triangle percussion), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Parker (guitar), Russ Stableford (bass), and a chorale comprising Madeline Bell, Kiki Dee, Lesley Duncan, and Kay Garner: the track was recorded in two takes.[12] Mike Smith would eventually attribute the non-utilization of the actual musicians in Love Affair to the need for expediency, arguing that "there just wasn't time for the group to learn the arrangement in time, so we used session musicians",[13] a UK release for the Robert Knight original version being imminent.[10]
Debuting on the UK Top 50 dated January 2, 1968, "Everlasting Love" by the Love Affair rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for a two-week stay that February.[14] The track was also a Top 20 hit in a number of other European countries in 1968.
All of these singles were released by CBS in the label's native United States on its Date Records subsidiary. However, despite their popularity in Europe, none of the Love Affair's singles charted in the US.[16]
Carl Carlton recorded "Everlasting Love" in October 1973 at the Berry Hill (Tenn) studio Creative Workshop, which was owned by Buzz Cason; however, Cason was not involved in the recording of Carlton's version - the singer had himself chosen to record "Everlasting Love", which he knew via the version on David Ruffin's 1969 album My Whole World Ended. Produced by Papa Don Schroeder and Tommy Cogbill, Carlton's cover features Hayward Bishop on drums and percussion, Cogbill on bass, and Reggie Young on guitar. The recording was engineered by Travis Turk. The track features a distinctive countermelody running through most of the song consisting of background vocal harmonies. Brenda Russell is among the background vocalists.
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