Interview: THE KING AND I's Ann Sanders On Becoming Broadway's First Asian Anna

As reported on BroadwayWorld, a bit of theatre history was made this week when understudy Ann Sanders, became the first Asian-American to ever play the lead role of Anna Leonowens in any Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic, THE KING AND I, filling in for the vacationing Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara.

Regularly an ensemble member in the Lincoln Center production, Sanders made her Broadway debut understudying another role not usually associated with Asian performers, Belle in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and eventually took over the part. She next appeared as Christmas Eve in AVENUE Q.

When the excitement of playing a starring role on Broadway subsided a bit, Sanders was kind enough to share her thoughts on the experience.

How much advance notice did you have before your first performance?

"About a month ago we started talking about the possibility of me going on for Anna during the week of Kelli's vacation. We wanted to make sure all the costumes, shoes, wigs etc, etc, etc (hahaha) were in place. Once that was solidified, it was confirmed that I would go on for three shows, Tuesday night, Wednesday Matinee and Wednesday night. I was definitely nervous but I also had such peace and gratitude for the whole opportunity. This is in part due to the people at THE KING AND I. I could feel them cheering me on, literally having my back... I may have tripped on that hoop skirt a couple of times the first night : ) There are none better than these people."

Having an Anna of Asian descent is obviously something not addressed in the musical's script. When playing the role, is there an extra layer of unspoken issues that arise for you and Hoon Lee (who plays the King), given that the characters now share a racial background?

"The musical is based on Margaret Landon's novel "Anna and the King of Siam," and whom she thought Anna was... We are playing that which is written. For me the conflict between them is cultural not racial... the ideas of East vs. West... I love what the King says in the schoolroom. 'If they will know only what they see why do we have schoolroom?' They are trying to learn from each other, respect the differences, the traditions."

The real-life Anna grew up in India and was of mixed Indian and white British parentage. Do the facts of the real-life Anna feed your interpretation of what Hammerstein wrote?

"There were times growing up when I didn't quite feel like I fit in. Being of mixed race (My mother was Korean and my father was Polish), I remember being teased from both sides. Sometimes, we like to place people in boxes... Actually, a funny story about my parents is that one year my dad took me to register for school and checked off the box that said I was white, the next year my mom took me and checked off the box that said I was Asian. The school called and said well, we need to label this... which one is she? And true to who my mother was... she said 'She's BOTH... you need a new box!' and hung up on them."

"It feeds into my interpretation in naming where I believe Anna's great understanding and compassion came from and why she had such true humility to all groups. She was constantly aware of people who were marginalized and saw all the resources she had as belonging to the community."

When you played Belle in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, were you aware of any especially positive or especially negative reactions to having an Asian woman playing the role? Have you noticed much change in attitudes toward this kind of casting?

"I remember coming out of the stage door at the Lunt-Fontanne theatre one day and seeing a little Asian girl dressed up from head to toe in the yellow ball gown Belle wears in the show. She immediately ran up to me and hugged me so tightly... I'll never forget... the thing is, I believe she would have done that to whomever was playing Belle that day... Caucasian, Black, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Mixed Race... children don't focus on the exterior, they see the essence of the person... their qualities, they notice how they treat others, how their life experiences inform what they say and what they do. My hope is that we all remember this when we think about casting.

In the collage below, Ann Sanders takes a curtain call with Hoon Lee and the full company of THE KING AND I.

Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, won four 2015 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical. The production is directed by Bartlett Sher, and features a cast of 51, currently one of the largest casts performing on Broadway. One of Rodgers & Hammerstein's finest works, The King and I boasts a score which features such beloved classics as "Getting To Know You," "Hello Young Lovers," "Shall We Dance," "I Have Dreamed," and "Something Wonderful." Set in 1860's Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher, whom the imperious King brings to Siam to tutor his many wives and children.

Lincoln Center Theater is one of New York's favorite not-for-profit theaters, with productions at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont, Mitzi E. Newhouse, and Claire Tow Theaters, as well as other theaters on and off Broadway, as well as touring productions nationally and around the world, TV and film projects, and original cast recordings. Notable recent productions include the award-winning The Coast of Utopia, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, War Horse, Other Desert Cities, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. In addition to The King and I, LCT is currently producing The Royale at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Her Requiem at the Claire Tow Theater, and A View from the Bridge on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater. LCT3 is Lincoln Center Theater's programming initiative devoted to producing the work of new artists and developing new audiences.