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 its heart of hearts, the extraordinarily deep and often underutilized thrust stage of Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater has probably always yearned to host an opera. That's pretty much what director Bartlett Sher has wrought with his sumptuous revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 musical, 'The King and I.' Broadway's darling, Kelli O'Hara, is ravishing as the English governess to the children in the royal household of the King of Siam, played by the powerfully seductive Japanese movie star Ken Watanabe. But the production itself, with its operatic sweep and opulent aesthetic, is the star of its own show.
As scenery and the stage floor glide, it's as though the audience is pulled along with Anna toward the gleaming palace and a new life. We're there with her. And just like that, this splendid revival emerges as majestic and intimate simultaneously...O'Hara more than delivers in her sterling star turn. She conveys Anna's feistiness and fair-mindedness in her acting and silky singing...You believe that Anna knows of romance when she sings 'Hello, Young Lovers'...Japanese star Ken Watanabe...gives O'Hara plenty to play off as the proud Siamese monarch...Watanabe's appealing take is looser and lighter. His English is a work in progress, so sometimes his lines and lyrics are blurry. It sort of works for a story of cultural collisions and changing times. O'Hara and Watanabe share warm chemistry, and when Anna and the king clasp each other tight for the joyous 'Shall We Dance?' no words are needed.
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