The King and I On Tour
In 1951, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II debuted The King and I, a musical set in 19th-century Siam. It chronicled the budding romance between the King of Siam and widowed Welsh teacher Anna Leonowens, who had traveled to the Asian kingdom to teach the King's children.Â
Boasting songs like the warmly mannered "Getting to Know You," the wistful "We Kiss in a Shadow," and the boisterous "Shall We Dance," The King and I won the 1952 Tony Award for Best Musical and was cemented as one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's signature works. It opened on London's West End in 1953, eventually touring the rest of the world.
Since then, The King and I has delighted audiences the world over, with actors like Eileen Brennan, Sandy Duncan, Angela Lansbury, Daniel Dae Lim, Jason Scott Lee, and Ken Watanabe assuming the roles originated by Tony winners Gertrude Lawrence (Anna) and Yul Brynner (The King).
In 2015, the fourth Broadway revival of The King and I opened at New York's Lincoln Center Theater, boasting intricate set design and loving arrangements of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic score. "The show is both panoramic and personal, balancing dazzling musical set pieces with sung introspective soliloquies," wrote New York Times drama critic Ben Brantley, one of many critics to rave about the production.
Winner of the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, this revival of The King and I is now touring the United States. Director Shelly Butler's guidance is based on the original revival's direction by Bartlett Sher, while Christopher Gattelli's choreography takes its cues from the steps laid down by Broadway titan Jerome Robbins in the original staging. Angela Baumgardner, making her national tour debut, plays Anna, while Pedro Ka'awaloa portrays the titular King.