Margaret Landon News

The national tour of the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival of THE KING AND I, now brightening the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester, is a perfectly respectable production. The timeless and soaring Rodgers and Hammerstein score is beautifully sung and impeccably played by the 16-piece orchestra, and design elements (especially Catherine Zuber's elegant period costumes) effectively juxtapose the traditions of 1860s Siam against the encroaching modernization of the. But something is off balance in this Bartlett Sher directed re-visioning. The women, not the King, rule.

Sumptuously designed and opulently mounted, the visual aesthetic for the Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I (a year-and-a-half into its national tour and now ensconced at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center for an eight-performance run through Sunday, February 4) is breathtakingly gorgeous, representative of the golden age of the Broadway musical. Add to those physical attributes the sublime performances of an ideally cast ensemble of multi-talented actors - including Laura Michelle Kelly as Anna Leonowens, Jose Llana as the King of Siam and Joan Amedilla as Lady Thiang - under the focused and imaginative direction of Bartlett Sher, whose revivals of some of the best-known masterpieces to be found in the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon have cemented his placement in the firmament occupied by the legends of musical theater, and you have a classic show rendered in such a way that audiences respond and react as if they are seeing the much-beloved and time-honored work for the very first time.

THE KING AND I is bringing more than a great show to Omaha. Jose Llana, who stars as the King of Siam, says, 'I think it's healthy to have conversation, especially in this political climate, when the country is so divided to tell a story about a world leader extending a hand of friendship to a person from another country. That's the story we're telling and the message that we're trying to convey.'

THE KING & I is an award winning musical that has enthralled audiences for many years. From its Broadway Premiere in 1951, Rogers and Hammerstein's adaptation of Margaret Landon's novel, Anna and the King of Siam, and through many revivals and an award winning movie, it has been enjoyed by generation after generation. As the current tour returns to the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas, BWW had a chance to chat with Heather Botts who will be playing the role of Anna while Laura Michelle Kelly is taking a few weeks off.

Kavin plays Lun Tha, who is Tuptim's secret lover. Tuptim is of course a young slave girl brought to the King of Siam as a gift from the king of Burma. Lun Tha escorts her to the Siamese king's court. The pair hide their love, until Anna finds out and Tuptim and Lun Tha go on the run.

Oh how delightful it was to hear a spectacular overture before a Broadway musical. When is the last time you heard one? We heard snippets of great music to come such as 'Something Wonderful', Whistle a Happy Tune', 'Shall We Dance' and 'Hello Young Lovers' all played by the talented orchestra (the massive 15 pieces) under the baton of Gerard Steichen.

This 1952 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical, is based on "Anna and the King of Siam," a 1944 novel by Margaret Landon.  Anna is a widowed British schoolteacher brought to Siam to tutor the King's many children. When she arrives, though she enjoys an instant connection to the students, she struggles with cultural differences and with the headstrong King. Through her kindness and persistence, Anna eventually connects with the King, helping to fuel mutual feelings of social understanding and cultural acceptance and openness.    

BWW Review: THE KING & I National Tour at Durham Performing Arts Center

The National Tour of the Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's THE KING AND I brings its parade of adorable children, a pair of star-crossed lovers, an imperial ruler, and a strong-willed, warm-hearted educator to the Boston Opera House through April 23rd. One of the grande dames of the 1950s, THE KING AND I retains its exalted place in the R & H pantheon, thanks to the artistry of Director Bartlett Sher, a songbird by the name of Laura Michelle Kelly, and a flawed King of Siam for our times, Jose Llana.

Opening tonight on Broadway, Come From Away spotlights the town of Gander, Newfoundland, which became the temporary home of over 6,000 passengers whose planes were rerouted during the 9/11 attacks. In its dramatization of real-life figures such as Beverley Bass, a stranded pilot portrayed by Jenn Colella, and Claude Elliott, the Gander mayor brought to life by Joel Hatch, the musical provides a historical recount of the week following 9/11, heavily inspired by true stories of the compassion and camaraderie that came about in Gander.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's comic, poignant romance, THE KING AND I, is the latest musical presented by Rockdale Musical Society.

THE KING AND I and Feminism and Racism and Rodgers and Hammerstein walk into a bar…

The Applause Libretto Library Applause Books has selected, and continues to select, the most important and the most popular musicals, including The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, Cinderella, Avenue Q, The Last Five Years, Memphis, and more. Visit applausebooks.com for the complete list. Perfect for reading like novels, the Applause Libretto Library has revived the tradition of publishing great Broadway musicals in editions intended to be read and savored.

A friend referred to The King and I as a war horse, an old chestnut, for it has surely surpassed time as an enduring musical classic, but upon seeing it again, one realizes just how potent, vibrant and topical a piece it truly is. Musicals of such depth and perspective with a keen eye to the future seem to be a thing of the past. Yes, it's a love story at the core, an unlikely one, but with many, many more levels. It entails issues of race, slavery, the urgency for a king of a tiny uncivilized kingdom to change his primitive, barbaric ways, and for his children to receive a truthful education as he embarks on assimilating 19th century Siam to western culture and civilization...and to repeat, it's a bigger-than-life love story that has become eternally revered not only for its music but for its intolerance of bigotry of any type. In this 2015 Broadway revival, currently onstage at the Hollywood Pantages Theater, nothing is lost; every gorgeous detail is present, and the story of Anna and The King is radiantly performed through January 21, 2017. In short, this production is a stunner.

On the heels of the national tour of Lincoln Center's Tony Award-winning Broadway revival sweeping the country now, educators and students will be whistling a happy tune when R&H Theatricals, a division of Rodgers & Hammerstein, an Imagem Company, releases Getting To Know... The King and I; it was announced today by Rodgers & Hammerstein president Ted Chapin and iTheatrics founder and CEO Timothy Allen McDonald.

The dynamic between its new stars gives the hit revival new dramatic textures.

Gettysburg Community Theatre, the non-profit 501c3 organization located in the original Elks Lodge building at 49 York Street within the first block of Lincoln Square in historic downtown Gettysburg, presents an all-youth cast production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic musical The King And I with special permission from the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in NYC. The production is performed at GCT Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm, weekends, beginning today April 15, and continues through May 1, 2016. Tickets can be ordered online at www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org or by calling 717-334-2692.

Gettysburg Community Theatre, the non-profit 501c3 organization located in the original Elks Lodge building at 49 York Street within the first block of Lincoln Square in historic downtown Gettysburg, presents an all-youth cast production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic musical The King And I with special permission from the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in NYC. The production will perform at GCT Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm, weekends April 15-May 1, 2016. Tickets can be ordered online at www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org or by calling 717-334-2692.

Today in 1951, The King and I opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 1246 performances. The King and I is the fifth musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The story deals with the experiences of the British schoolteacher, who is hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict through much of the play, as well as by a love that neither is able to express.

Regularly an ensemble member, Sanders filled in for Kelli O'Hara three times during the star's vacation.