The King and I

The King and I was the fifth, and one of the most loved, partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammersteinand is derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, Governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s.   The show premiered on March 29, 1951, at Broadway's St James Theatre where it ran for nearly three years, then the fourth longest-running Broadway musical in history, and has had many tours and revivals since and, of course, the 1956 film for which Yul Brynner won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the King.

Tonight Andrea Colton, David Warman, Kristi Chambers and the rest of the hugely talented production and design team delivered a show that had all the elements required to make The King and I a great success which indeed it most certainly was. 

Andrea had obviously given significant time and attention to detail developing characterisation of the principals, supporting roles and the King's children, choreography in both dance and movement (which came to a crescendo in the ‘oriental ballet’ sequence in the second Act) was expertly developed by Kristi. The energy in the musical scoring and underscoring delivered by David and his excellent 10 piece orchestra was judged superbly. 

The 3 key members of the Production Team were ably supported by; Costume Design, which I have to say was some of the best I have seen in many a production on any stage; Makeup which was kept naturalistic and avoided Oriental Cliché;  Set design and lighting which ably supported the action, as did the backstage team who kept the scenes moving at pace and must have had somewhat of a challenge with over 60 performers and dancers in this excellent company. 

Although there are many characters and sub plots in the show, to truly engage an audience the roles of Anna and the King must not only be strong individually, but they must work together sympathetically as they grow and change as the ‘years go by’ on stage.  Zoe Nelson and Davron Hicks (in his debut with WLOS) certainly developed this central core both vocally and, as important, in their acting portrayal of the characters which were both naturalistic and nicely underplayed avoiding the trap of using cliché and overacting.  Vocal and character highlights were ‘Shall we Dance’, ‘A Puzzlement’ and ‘Hello Young Lovers’

The other Principal roles provided great support throughout with; Theresa Stafford who shone as Lady Thiang especially in ‘Something Wonderful’; Oliver Spacy, who captured the uncertainty and confusion of the Prince as he began to understand the impact the mortality of his father would have on his life;Hannah Ashton, who’s Tuptim grew in stature through the night and worked very well with Ashley Booker’s Lun Tha as their relationship developed and came to a climax in ‘I Have Dreamed’ in Act 2. 

Kodi Cunningham, Andrew Darksus, Brandon Stafford, Mathew Dawes, Shalomee Gumise and Graham Berridge all provided great characterisation of their various roles to support the action and overall development of the show, as did the excellent supporting cast of Wives, Priests, Amazons, Royal Children and Dancers (The March of the Siamese Children being a highlight with exactly the right combination of humour and respect.)

Many congratulations to one and all for The King and I – and I look forward to seeing you all again.

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