Theater: Dogging Question of Canine Cast

There are, goodness knows, many more important issues to discuss than a theatrical review. However, I cannot sit idly by and permit such a glaring error as that made by your critic Ray Loynd in his piece on the Whittier-La Mirada Music Theatre Assn.’s “Camelot.” (Times, March 24).

Mr. Loynd writes, “You can be sure there was no dog in the Richard Burton-Julie Andrews Broadway original.” Au contraire, Mr. Loynd. The part of Horrid (his name, not his description) is clearly written into the libretto of the show. Furthermore, if you check the photos in the original cast album (the vinyl version), you will see two wonderful pictures of Robert Coote as King Pellinore with Horrid (an Old English sheep dog, by the by).

I did not have the pleasure of seeing the original, but in every production I have seen, Horrid was a welcome and expected participant. The part has not always been played by an Old English sheep dog, but that, of course, is up to the casting director.

CHARLEE HUTTON

Long Beach