The King and I 1996 revival

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 7:16am

Did anyone get to see the 1996 revival of The King and I which starred Donna Murphy? I've been listening to the cast recording and was wondering how it fared up live?

[Huss417]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 7:51am

I really liked this production. It was visually stunning to look at. Saw Murphy and then Paige in London.

Updated On: 3/4/12 at 07:51 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 7:59am

Murphy was wonderful, as was Lou Diamond Phillips. The actress who played Tuptim was incredible and should have won the Tony. The production was visually stunning. I also saw it with Faith Prince, who was less than ideal.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 9:38am

I saw it, and yes, it sounded great. Murphy is such a great actress that her singing always suffers by comparison, but she acted the hell out of it and sounded fine. Phillips was pretty exciting, offering a completely different take on the role than Yul Brynner. And it looked great too, with TONS of gold everywhere, all the time. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about it was the strict racial casting policy. If you didn't have at least some Asian ancestry, you were not cast in the ensemble, period. At least that's my recollection of it. In the wake of "Miss Saigon," that was perhaps an obvious choice for a production to make, but it had never been done like that before on Broadway, I believe. It changed everyone's impression of the entire work.

[Almira]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 9:41am

Lavish production values.

Murphy was oddly intense and a touch sullen.

Phillips really tried but he wasn't strong enough of an presence/actor to own the role.

Tuptim had a glorious voice ( almost too trained) but was a flat as an actress. I think she was an opera singer... and it showed.

Rest of cast was serviceable.

I remember Mary Rodgers saying that the Australian production (upon which the Broadway was based) was the best KING AND I she'd had seen, adding that she had seen the original. Of course this got me excited. I was also excited to see the emphasis restored to Anna rather than the King.

On the whole the production was a bit self-conscious. Before the show started they had cast members around the proscenium burning incense and meditating. And not matter how they tried, the couldn't get away from KING AND I inherently being a pretty "safe" show.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 10:37am

Very memorable, lovable, sumptuous, beautifully performed, and exquisitely designed. One can hope for and imagine other fine revivals of this show, other great Annas and Kings, but this pairing and this production will remain very special. Of course Murphy was expected to shine, but that Phillips could rebrand the King so magnificently and prove to be a formidable stage presence made this a very exciting show.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 10:43am

Really enjoyed the production. Visually stunning, as others have said.

Missed Donna Murphy, but her understudy, Barbara McCullogh, was wonderful. Lou Diamond Phillips was also excellent.

I enjoyed the way this production shifted the focus back to Anna.

Mind you, I was about 13 when I saw this production. Updated On: 3/4/12 at 10:43 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 12:30pm

Anyone have pictures or videos that show the set?

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 2:41pm

I saw the national tour with Maureen McGovern... was that based on this revival?

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 3:19pm

Yes, that was the national tour of the Broadway production. How was McGovern?

Also, correct me if I'm misremembering, but wasn't Arnold Schwarzenegger rumored at one time to be under consideration for The King (as a replacement for Phillips)?

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 3:40pm

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about it was the strict racial casting policy. If you didn't have at least some Asian ancestry, you were not cast in the ensemble, period.

For the record, Paul, Yul Brynner was enforcing the strict racial casting policy in his tours and Broadway revivals as far back as the mid-1970s. Which was a little funny because his own Asian provenance seems to have been in large part self-created mythology. Still, it was the right thing to do, which is about the only nice thing I have to say about Yul Brynner.

I remember Julie Hughes from Theatre Now stalking elementary schools in lower Manhattan, looking for Asian children. Nowadays, she'd probably be arrested. LOL.

Updated On: 3/4/12 at 03:40 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 3:42pm

A gorgeous production in every way. The cast was magnificent. It would be a difficult task to attempt to revive it again as it would be nearly impossible to improve on that revival. I saw it again on tour with Hayley Mills and she was okay, but on Broadway, it was clearly Murphy's show. I saw another tour of a different production with Sandy Duncan and Martin Vidnovic that was visually stunning, but the performances and direction were quite disappointing.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 3:47pm

Sandy Duncan!?!?!?!?! (shudder) Get out!

[bk]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 3:49pm

I saw it :)

I thought Mr. Phillips was every bit as good as Mr. Brynner - it surprised the hell out of me. And one of the nicest guys ever. Many stories about Donna, all of which I've just written in my new book :) A total pro, though, and wonderful in the role. But the whole cast was stunning, especially the Tuptim and Jose Llana. And I loved Randall Duk Kim and thanks to me I believe he's the only actor who's played the Kralahome who's been on a recording :).

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 5:01pm

I too, thought the production looked stunning and Murphy (who beat Julie Andrews, I believe. for the TONY after Julie threw a little hissy fit) was thrilling.
The site of Jose Llana's well proportioned bare torso was also a plus,



Updated On: 3/4/12 at 05:01 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 6:07pm

I loved this production, and saw it 9 times. Lou Diamond Phillips got better and better throughout the course of his run. Donna Murphy was magnificent. I also saw it with Faith Prince, but her performance was somewhat inconsistent. I never got to see Marie Osmond in the role, and don't know anyone who did either.

That being said, the '78 Brynner/Towers revival was my second Broadway show, and I didn't really like it at all. I remember having difficulty understanding anything that Yul Brynner said throughout the entire evening. I only recall his etc., etc., etc.'s.

Updated On: 3/4/12 at 06:07 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 6:12pm

Did anyone see Carolee Carmello when she did it at Paper Mill?

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 6:20pm

That being said, the '78 Brynner/Towers revival was my second Broadway show, and I didn't really like it at all. I remember having difficulty understanding anything that Yul Brynner said throughout the entire evening. I really recall his etc., etc., etc.'s.

That was the same production we hosted in Miami Beach a few months before it opened on Broadway. It had become the "Yul Brynner Show" to such an extent that I'm surprised he didn't make poor Connie Towers perform behind a scrim. As it was, he barely looked at her and played everything out front a la Ethel Merman. It's no wonder you couldn't understand his very indulgent performance.

Enjoy him in the film and imagine how good he must have been when he was "supporting" Gertrude Lawrence.

(ETA the above being said, he also sold every ticket for our 3,000 seat barn of a theater. People LOVED him in that role!)

Updated On: 3/4/12 at 06:20 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 6:27pm

I saw this production as well. Loved every thing about it....especially Jose Llana.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 7:01pm

from what I can remember about Maureen McGovern.. she was a great Anna... beautiful voice.. in fact I just remember the national tour being an excellent cast.. especially Tuptim and Lady Thiang who just owned her songs and the audience loved it!

[Tsao5]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 7:05pm

It was vocally and visually quite good. The young lovers and Lady Thiang (who I believe was a Korean opera singer) had fantastic voices, but suffered in the acting department. They sang the hell out of it, but the performance of their songs were a bit cold. Llana was the best of the three and the most natural.

Mr. Phillips was a surprisingly charming king with the exception of a few too many takes to the audience.

Murphy was, well..........Murphy.

Saw the same production in London which, with the exception of a VERY fey king (the actor had taken over the part and played it too goofy and maybe had too much Red Bull or something), found it better than New York in that the young lovers (understudy Stephanie Reese who was SO good........the scene where Tuptim gets whipped had people in tears and the actor who played opposite of her) came from a musical theater background and really put a lot of love and emotion into their scenes. This was missing to a large point in the NY production.

That being said.....I believe in the New York/London production it was the same Lady Thiang from Korea and, as I recall the Broadway Tuptim (who was also Korean) were NOT singing in their native languages. So kudus to them.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 8:20pm

Were there any book changes?

[bk]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 1:48am

I did get to see Marie Osmond - she was not having a good night and was not really up to acting the role.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 9:07am

A lot of these casting choices (Marie Osmond, Sandy Duncan, etc.) seem predicated on the belief that the key to casting Anna is to find someone with a goody-goody rep that the audience associates with children.

The fact is Anna Leonowens is the play's champion of Western-style democratic reforms and becomes the King's primary advisor. Rightly or wrongly, in the play she's even credited with helping to save Thailand from colonial domination.

She is far more than an elementary school teacher (not that there's anything wrong with that) and needs to be more than merely good with children. Like Deborah Kerr, Angela Lansbury was a terrific Anna because one believed she would stand up to a king if she thought him unjust. I imagine Donna Murphy being of that mold.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/5/12 at 11:00am

I also saw the tour with Hayley Mills.

It felt endless and was the first show I ever considered leaving at intermission.