Tony winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directs this classic tale of a British schoolteacher's unexpected relationship with the imperious King of Siam.
Five-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific) and Academy Award nominee Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Inception) star in a magnificent new Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved THE KING AND I.
Featuring a cast of more than 50, choreography based on the original by Jerome Robbins, and a score of treasured songs including "Getting to Know You," "I Whistle a Happy Tune" and "Shall We Dance?" in their glorious, original orchestrations, Lincoln Center Theater's new staging of THE KING AND I invites you to get to know this inspiring and enchanting musical classic.
...in a year of bland nostalgic revivals, this grand and glorious production gives you hope in the nonprofit stewardship of our theatrical heritage...let's be frank: Although Hammerstein's characterization of the King has pain and pathos in addition to comic bluster, he speaks a pidgin English that few actors can pull off today. Luckily, the Japanese Watanabe shows a man struggling with a foreign tongue. (His accent can be thick, but that adds authenticity.) The 55-year-old Watanabe also cuts an older figure than Lou Diamond Phillips did in the 1996 revival, which adds gravitas as well as humor to his outbursts and temper tantrums. O'Hara sounds angelic as ever...her silky, shimmering soprano a treasure -- and the role plays to her strengths: wryness, warmth and quiet dignity. Sher directs her and the rest of an exceptionally good cast...with palpable respect for the material and a care to avoid orientalist humbug.
The King and I' holds up incredibly well as a piece of drama. The songs are beautiful, the characters are complex and its themes of democratization, cultural miscommunication and gender inequality are timely. Sher's production, which features a 51-member cast and a 29-piece orchestra, is generally impressive and satisfying...It is very difficult to understand what Watanabe is saying. He has an imposing presence and highly theatrical spirit, but his diction stops the show in its tracks. O'Hara, one of the finest actresses working in musical theater today, delivers a fine, sympathetic performance as the staunch Anna, but it is hardly as captivating as her sexy Nellie. The standout of the production is Ruthie Ann Miles as Lady Thiang, the King's chief wife, who understands him better than anyone else.
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