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.
There's an opulent, almost operatic feel to this production...Five-time Tony Award-nominated O'Hara...gives a warm, loving persona to young widow Anna Leonowens, who must navigate sexism and cultural differences to get along with the capricious king...O'Hara is perfectly suited to her role as a prideful Englishwoman, and sings rapturously throughout the show, especially on her poignant renditions of 'Hello, Young Lovers.' Watanabe...delivers a layered performance despite some difficulties enunciating English...His king is, by turns, mischievous and morose, and generally commanding except for some distractingly childish moments...Watanabe is quite natural in the role, and creates a pleasing chemistry with O'Hara as their characters establish a friendship despite obstacles...If you can accept the king's personality quirks, this production of 'The King and I' is definitely something wonderful.
In a day and age when producers, directors and author's executors think nothing of imposing their so-called artistic vision on Broadway masterworks that were pretty good to begin with, it is heartening to see producers, directors and executors just do the show as written...The production has the epic sweep that the authors intended, along with all those songs. Mr. Sher and his leading players also investigate undercurrents of romance and physical attraction which were not evident in the original production...Sher enhances these undercurrents, and has his actors act on them...That this works so well--and adds an additional color to the tapestry of the show--is due in part to the acting. Ms. O'Hara seems to have been born to play musical theatre heroines like Anna, Nellie Forbush and Julie Jordan; if only people were still writing such roles. Her Anna is young and hot-blooded enough to respond to the emotion, although unable...to act on it. Ken Watanabe, meanwhile, proves to be a strong actor, and sparks fly.
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