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Coming Soon! |
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November 8-23, 2008 Music by: Richard Rodgers |
About the ShowEast versus West makes for a dramatic, richly textured and ultimately uplifting tale of enormous fascination. It is 1862 in Siam when an English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having been hired by the King of Siam to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. The King is considered to be a barbarian by the great colonial powers in the West, in part because Siamese culture encompasses polygamy and slavery. Instead of a barbaric dictator, however, Anna discovers a thoughtful, charismatic, and complex leader, laboring to bring his country into the modern age. The King seeks Anna's assistance in changing the minds of the European governments, while struggling to reconcile the pressures of modern international diplomacy and his country's ancient traditions and values. Anna and the King grow to understand and respect one another's character and humanity, while recognizing their differences in culture. Along with the dazzling score, the incomparable Jerome Robbins ballet, "The Small House of Uncle Thomas," is one of the all-time marvels of the musical stage. The King and I premiered on Broadway in 1951 starring the incomparable Yul Brynner as the King, and Gertrude Lawrence as Anna. Lawrence was already a theater legend by this time, and had persuaded Rodgers and Hammerstein to write and produce a musical version of the story of Anna Leonowens and the King of Siam, which had been made into a play and a film. But Lawrence's health was failing due to liver cancer. She was hospitalized after playing Anna for one-and-a-half years, and died three weeks after her final performance. Lawrence was buried in the gown she wore on stage as Anna. Lawrence lived to see her final effort triumph, however, as The King and I won the 1952 Tony Award for Best Musical, with Lawrence also winning for Best Actress and Brynner winning for Best Featured Actor. Yul Brynner was forever tied to the role of the King of Siam after his Tony-award winning performance in the original production. Brynner was already losing his hair during the rehearsals, and the hairdresser suggested he shave his head. The look became Brynner's trademark, and he kept it the rest of his life. Brynner reprised his role as the King in a Broadway revival in 1977 and again in 1985, as well as the 1956 film version, playing opposite Deborah Kerr. Brynner won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the film. Brynner was estimated to have played the King in over 4,600 performances during his career, both on and off Broadway. Like Gertrude Lawrence in the original production, Brynner took The King and I to the grave. He died of lung cancer in 1985, shortly after the closing of the 1984 revival production. The King and I was based on an earlier play and film that told the story of Anna Leonowens, an English schoolmistress who was hired as a tutor by the court of the Siamese King Mongkut Rama IV, who was the basis for The King. The story was drawn from Anna's diaries and memoirs, but later historians cast considerable doubt on Anna's reliability and accuracy. In reality, King Mongkut was a highly-educated and cultured ruler who introduced many modern reforms in government and society long before Anna came to his court. Indeed, Anna's version of the story and portrayal of King Mongkut were regarded as inaccurate to the point of being offensive by the people of Thailand (the modern name for Siam). In fact, for many years The King and I was banned in Thailand due to the perceived insult to their revered King. |
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