Run and Tell That: The King and I (US Tour)

Quick Note: Again you guys know I'm horrible at organizing my thoughts and you guys know I can't edit my work to save my life. This review does get a little critical, but I hope it's constructive criticism.

"Joan Almedilla... served up tons of royal sass as the chief wife Lady Thiang."

So I was originally planning on taking my Mom to see The King and I with Marin Mazzie in New York for her birthday (It's in September) however The King and I then announced it's closing notice so I cursed a little and got annoyed. Then The King and I announced it would be going on tour (YAY!!!) So when the tour came to Philadelphia I decided to give my Mom an early Mother's Day present. My journey with The King and I started a long time ago. When I was 5 years old I saw The King and I at the Academy of Music, but it starred Sandy Duncan. I sat in the orchestra both times. Anyway enough storytelling on with the review!

Company

Overall The King and I was a beautiful and gorgeous show, but the directing by Tony Award Winner Bartlett Sher seemed a little wonky at times. Sher's direction wasn't bad at all he directed a brilliant production, but some of the blocking did seem awkward. My favorite direction he did was during the scene change between the streets of Siam to the Palace. I loved how he had the dancers from "The Small House of Uncle Thomas (Ballet)" dance while the scene change was going on instead of just awkward music playing on an empty stage. Speaking of the stage the design elements of this show were breath taking with a trio of Tony Award Winners with set designs by Tony Award Winner Michael Yeargan were gorgeous and completely complemented by Tony Award Winner Donald Holder and his beautiful lighting designs. Then we have Catherine Zuber who won a Tony for her work with The King and I and those beautiful costumes that complimented all of the actors from Anna's English gowns to Lady Thiang's beautiful Siamese dresses. Before we go into specifics on each actor/actress I just have two more things to say 1) When the time came for "The Small House of Uncle Thomas (Ballet)" while it was very good even if "Baby George" disappeared in the middle of it. It is my personal opinion that I don't think a production will ever beat the movie rendition of it. 2) I did have a some troubles in the beginning of hearing some of the actors/actresses, but I'm going to chalk that up to mic issues. Now let's get into the specifics. A sub plot in the show is the romance between Tuptim portrayed by Manna Nichols (Who we'll get to later) and Lun Tha portrayed by Kavin Panmeechao. The chemistry between these two didn't feel authentic and they're

Manna Nichols and Kavin Panmeechao

two scenes together weren't that memorable and they seemed somewhat uncomfortable which made their scenes rather wonky. Next is the very first person to speak is Louis Leonowens portrayed by Graham Montgomery who I don't have any notes on because I forgot to take notes on him. Sorry :/ Next we have Prince Chulalongkorn portrayed by the interesting Anthony Chan who showed a more human side of the Prince. Most of the performers I've seen portrayed the prince as very stand off-ish and almost exactly like The King. I also enjoyed how Chan showed the childish side of the prince. I think it added depth to the character when he has to take over as king from The King. We finally have the second part of that subplot duo Manna Nichols who portrayed a rather interesting Tuptim. Nichols had her moments on stage, but her very first number "My Lord and Master" she seemed as if she was struggling on some of the higher notes. I'm not sure if that was due to the mic issues in the beginning of the show or if maybe she was sick, but other then that she gave a wonderful Tuptim who had quite the set of balls on her. The best performance of the night goes to Joan Almedilla who served up tons of royal sass as the chief wife Lady Thiang. Almedilla gave the most perfect performance of Lady Thiang you knew she was top b*tch the minute she walked on stage. She draws your attention (in a good way) with every movement she makes. (Almedilla would slay as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.) I loved how she portrayed her as a tough no nonsense woman, but still shows that she has a heart especially in her beautiful rendition of "Something Wonderful" and not to mention her great comedic timing (along with the other wives) in "Western People Funny." Joan Almedilla may have been a tough as nails Lady Thiang, but you also got to see how much she cares about The King in her rendition of "Something Wonderful" which again was beautiful. Now onto the titular role (I mean yeah we can consider it that) of The King portrayed by the delicious Jose Llana while many people might say "He's no Yul Brynner" who I will admit

Joan Almedilla

made the role iconic for many reasons. I guarantee you by the end of the night you will realize Jose Llana is no Yul Brynner. I mean that in the best way possible. Llana made the role his own. While Brynner made The King this powerful, scary, threatening man Llana went with a more subtle approach. His King also served up some royal sass, but you could see how much he was struggling with what to do and what would be best for his country. You could see the struggle of him trying to stay as a powerful King that you shouldn't cross, but he also wanted to be approachable and wanted to be more human. You can't compare Llana to Brynner or vice versa because they are two completely different people who portrayed two very different King's. Last, but not least we have the role of Anna Leonowens portrayed by Olivier Award Winner Laura Michelle Kelly while Kelly is a great actress and singer she seemed to lack the night I saw her. I'm going to assume that she was sick, because she sounded a little sick and her understudy did perform the night before I saw her. Her voice in my opinion didn't seem suited for the role of Anna. I believe Anna should have a light, gentle soprano voice such as Kelli O'Hara and Marni Nixon (Who dubbed for Deborah Kerr in the movie.) Again though I'm going to chalk that up to her being sick. It did hurt her performance though specifically in "Hello, Young Lovers" because it sounded a little rough and forceful (Again chalking it up to sickness.) Kelly had great stage chemistry with all of her scene partners especially with Jose Llana as The King. The

Jose Llana and Laura Michelle Kelly

only problem I had acting wise with her was she lacked the spunk that other Anna's have had. I'm mainly referring to the scene where The King is about to punish Tuptim for running away Kelly could have been much more intense. She should have been more stern and her voice could have been a lot stronger. She got drowned out by Nichols' crying and Llana's shouting (I'm not trying to put blame on these two.) I think Kelly's lack of intensity really hurt her performance when it came to the line "You are a barbarian!" that's supposed to shake you right to the core. Anna calls him out and instead of it coming off as this powerful, emotional line it came off as if she was almost scared to say it. Now again I'm chalking this up to Kelly being sick, but her performance did seem to lack because of it. So overall The King and I is a great show. If you can see it I would highly recommend it just to see the sass by Joan Almedilla and Jose Llana. This is certainly a beautiful production of one of the best Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. If you want to see if the show is coming to a city near you just click here. They are currently selling tickets until August of 2018. Thank you guys for reading this I hope you have a wonderful day.

"Shall we dance? On a bright cloud of music shall we fly? Shall we dance? Shall we then say, goodnight and mean goodbye."