Etcetera, Etcetera, Etc (King and I)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	King and I
Date:	31/05/02 (216 review reads)
Rating:

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Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.


~*~ The Background ~*~

It was more than 5 decades ago that the original Broadway production of The King And I opened. It was so successful that 20th Century Fox decided to make a film version a few years later featuring some of the original stage stars, including Yul Brynner. Brynner then went on to tour with the show and then settle for long stints in the West End, and on Broadway again, and became widely known as the original and best King. The production currently in Manchester has been all over the world already, and started in Australia in 1996. Between the original, film and current productions, the King and I has been awarded 9 Tony Awards and 4 Academy Awards, not to mention numerous lower profile accolades. More recently, there has been a further film adaptation, Anna And The King.


~*~ The Story ~*~

The story starts with Anna, an English widow arriving in Bangkok with her son. She has been employed by The King of Siam to teach English to his (many) wives and children. She is also supposed to introduce Western values and ideas to her pupils, but this causes some problems with the out dated customs of her new home. Despite some initial problems with her employer, the children convince her to stay on and work with them. The story then takes various twists and turns. The King and Anna’s relationship is a turbulent one until the end, but part way through, their underlying feelings start to show as sparks begin to fly. The path of true love never runs smoothly, however, and things soon begin to go wrong. After some of his slaves escape, Anna confronts the King about why he has them in the 1st place. She convinces him of the barbaricness of the situation, but although he realizes she is right, he knows that by backing down, his reign will be over. Anna, knowing that she has humiliated the King an
d that deep down his feelings probably won’t change anyway, packs up and gets ready to flee Siam. Just as she is about to leave she gets word that the King is unwell and goes to his bedside for a final goodbye.


~*~ The Touring Production ~*~

The King and I is currently on a national tour. It’s been to Edinburgh, and after Manchester will head off to Southampton, Plymouth, Bristol, Oxford and Liverpool, before ending up in Birmingham over Christmas. For exact dates, and to but tickets, have a look at www.kingandi.co.uk.

This was the first musical I’ve seen at the Opera House, having only been to pantomimes with 30 screaming kids in tow before. The venue is nice and grand, but tacky around the edges as so many theatres in the UK are these days. The stage in particular is as tatty as Blackpool Opera House’s, which not only looks run down, but is also hard to dance on :-(

The show last night had everything a musical should have. Their colour scheme was a very royal red and gold, and it wasn’t just the costumes but also the sets which glittered and sparkled all night. If Miss Saigon was sponsored by Ikea, then The King and I is funded by a cardboard factory – although the elephants protruding from the wings for most of the show were bright and tall, they looked a little flimsy too, and I know that if I’d been on stage last night, they wouldn’t have been standing by the end with my habit of, erm, running into scenery and props…. There were quite a few set changes, from the original ship to the palace, class room and bedrooms, but these were swift and well-rehearsed.

The singers were all good, but Princess Tuptin in particular had a fantastic voice which made even the sweet wrapper rustlers behind us shut up and listen. Although the King had 77 children by the end of the show, we only saw 7 of these – the ones whose mothers were deemed good enough for English les
sons from Mrs. Anna. The little kids they used were great performers, even though the youngest looked only to be about 3 or 4 years old. In the part where they are presented to Anna, each got their 5 minutes of fame as they got to show off their character’s character to the audience, and each was rewarded with applause and “aww”s and laughs.

My favourite part had to be The Small Town of Uncle Thomas, the play put on by the wives for the visiting dignitaries. I’m not sure why, but I think a mixture of wonderful dancing, quick, timed chanting and bold but effective make up made this one the number that stole the show for me. It was incredibly well choreographed and thought out, and the time they had obviously put in has paid off.

The songs are good throughout, but in a way these and the story have been done to death because of the film – all the good numbers such as “Getting To Know You” are widely known, and those which are not, aren’t for a reason.


~*~ Cast ~*~

STEFANIE POWERS is perfect as ANNA. Powers has been in more than 25 films, and tons of shows, as well as having had numerous TV roles. In the UK she is probably best known for her role in Hart to Hart. There are not that many leads for more mature women in musicals these days, so I imagine she will be with this production capacity for some time. Her English accent is a bit fake, but is a real contrast with the broken English of the King and his family.

RONOBIR LAHIRI plays THE KING and does so well. American by birth, and a Yale graduate, Lahiri made his theatrical debut in the King and I. He has had bit parts in a number of films, including You’ve got Mail and Stuart Little 2, and has also won awards for his musical scores. In terms of the production, he looks the part and acts the part – he has great comic timing, perfect broken English and really becomes the King.

MADHAY SHARMA is the ev
il KRALAHOME and is wonderful in evoking feelings of hatred from the audience. He’s not that attractive and certainly not that nice, but he can definitely sing. Sharma’s entry in the program is the most detailed by far – he really has done it all: Shakespeare tours, Broadway shows, talking books, films such as East is East and Entrapment, and TV programs such as Holby City and, erm, the Basil Brush Show.

AURA DEVA is TUPTIM, the princess given as a present by the King of Burma (wasn’t that a petrol station chain?). Deva (god name) is thin and gorgeous, especially in the jeweled clothes in which she is dressed, but most importantly she can act and sing incredibly well. She is mainly a theatre performer, and toured with The King and I and Miss Saigon in Germany (performing in German) before moving to the UK to get married.



~*~ What The Press Say ~*~

"A production fit for a King." - The Express

"The sheer sense of spectacle and glamour is irresistible." - The Sunday Times

"Lavishly sumptuous." - The Times

"The palace sets are spectacular, the costumes dazzling and the songs a knockout too… they don't write them like that anymore." - Daily Mirror



~*~ Useful / Strange Facts ~*~

The show is performed in 2 halves, with a 15 minute interval in between. The whole performance took a little less than 3 hours, and included 16 numbers, an overture and two finales (nothing like being greedy).

In Manchester the show is on 6 evenings a week, plus two matinee performances. Tickets range from £6 for student standby seats available on the day of performance, to £28 for front of the circle seats. Be warned though that they have ridiculous booking fees – our tickets were £23 each, but for the pair we ended up paying about £52 when you added on the individual booking fees, and then the extra one they add p
er purchase. On the plus side, you don’t have to pay more for using a credit card, but then I suppose the negative is that you don’t save money by using Switch.

There’s quite a bit of merchandise on sale in the foyer, from £1 badges to £15 + t-shirts. There are 2 sizes of program - £2.50 for A5, and £5 for the much larger souvenir brochure.

Under the crew section in the program, they list a wigs supervisor, a head of wigs, a deputy head of wigs and a wigs assistant. Which reinforced my suspicions that the King isn’t really bald. If he is he had dodgy tidemarks on his head, but I do believe it was just the rim of his plastic cap. If you go and see it, hire the Opera glasses for 50p (or take posh ones belonging to your parents like me) and have a look for yourself.


~*~ The Verdict ~*~

There’s no doubt about it, this performance is spectacular. If I had to choose, I’d say that Miss Saigon was better, but only because I liked the storyline and songs there more. Using the plot and music that come with the show, I don’t think they could have done a better performance last night. I won’t be in a rush to see this show again now I’ve been, but it was a great night with a great cast and great performances. If The King and I is your favourite show of all time, I’d fully recommend it, and if you’re just after a night at the theatre, you could do a lot worse.

Oh and if you see the show, you’ll understand the title, etc, etc.

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