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The King and I ( Musical)
The multi award-winning Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I returns to tour the UK, following a season at The London Palladium.
The Musical stars the West End’s Annalene Beechey and Broadways Darren Lee. First performed in 1951, the story was based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860’s. The lyricists and playwrights Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rogers turned the memoirs into a show that was first performed in 1951, and was later made into a film.
This production features a company of over 50 West End and Broadway performers and a full-scale orchestra. The show will last approximately 3 hours including the interval.
The Sets
The Play is divided into two Acts.The main action takes place in and around the King’s Palace and gardens in Bangkok, Siam, in the early 1860’s. The sets are minimal, with a long castle wall as a backdrop, and several square decorated columns divide the space. The Garden is represented with hanging strands of leaves and tree columns. Anna’s room is furnished with a bed, chairs and a dressing table. The King’s room contains chairs and couches, and statues of the Buddha. The classroom has two long desks and chairs for the students.
Costumes
The European characters wear a style of clothes from the Victorian era, for example Anna is dressed in hooped wide skirts and dresses, short jackets, and dresses with modest necklines and long or three-quarter length sleeves, and small hats.
The characters from Siam wear clothing appropriate to their social status and the warm climate of the country. Women wear sarongs, long tube like skirts and fitted jackets. Both men and women wear long, billowing silky cloaks and often have bare feet. Men wear pants, and a lower-body silk wrap around garment, tucked between the legs like loose breeches.The men wear jackets, with long sleeves and sashes tied around the waist. Many of the men and all the royal children wear their hair in a bun on the top of their head, and this is decorated with a gold filigree covering.
Some of the actors play more than one role, and are also dancers and perform the chorus for songs. Dancing in Siam is a dramatic art form associated with both entertainment and religious events. The dancing involves graceful movements of arms, torso and hands. The fingers are often curved back, with long metal fingernails sometimes worn for additional effect. The lower body does not move as much as the upper body. Some of the dancers are also acrobats, and perform cartwheels.
THE CAST
Main characters
Anna Leonowens ( Louis’s mother ) is played by Annalene Beechy. When we first meet her she is wearing a full length dark blue dress and jacket, with a large hooped skirt, and a small hat with a brim. She is tall and has her auburn wavy hair held back in ringlets or in a bun. When she first meets the king she wears a turquoise silk hoop skirt with white blouse with close-fitting sleeves. When she is teaching, Anna wears a white hooped dress, and for the ball she wears a pale grey-coloured silk dress, with her shoulders bare. The silk dress shimmers under the coloured lighting as she dances.
The role of the Prime Minister, the Kralahome is performed by KOK-HWA LIE. He is tall with an upright haughty bearing and he wears a voluminous long sleeved brown silk robe over a white shirt and wide trousers.
Sam Jenkins-Shaw plays two roles- he first appears as
Captain Orton, captain of the boat that brings Anna and her son Louis to Bangkok and later in the show as Sir Edward Ramsay, an English Diplomat. He is a tall actor and as the ship’s captain he wears a long dark jacket over a waistcoat and long beige trousers. He wears a black evening suit for the banquet.
Darren Lee plays the King of Siam, Mongkut. As befits a King, he wears several different costumes, many made with gold-trimmed silk fabrics. He first appears wearing a calf length padded blue silk jacket adorned with gold and with a slit at each side over long black trousers and sandals.
TUPTIM from Burma is played by Marienella Phillips. She is tall and first appears in a long flowing pale yellow dress, with her long black hair worn hanging down her back . She wears gold jewellery around her neck.
LUN THA, a young diplomat from Burma, is played by Dean John-Wilson. He first appears wearing a richly embroidered jacket and trousers. Lun Tha is tall and muscular, with dark hair worn in a topknot. Later he wears a maroon sleeveless jacket and loose trousers.
Lady THIANG ( Head wife of the King) is played by Cezarah Bonner.
She is petite and wears a long crimson close-fitting silk dress, with two pleats in the front of the straight skirt, and a length of silk worn over one shoulder. All of the King’s wives wear a similar style of dress to that worn by Lady Thiang.
PHRA ALACK is a translator, and is small and of slight build. He first appears wearing a short brown jacket, a beret and blue trousers.
There are 15 Princes and Princesses- the Royal Children.
The role of Crown Prince CHULALONGKORN is played by Caleb Lagayan. He is a young man of slender build, tall and elegantly dressed and conscious of his role as heir to the throne. He is the son of Lady Thiang.
Princess Ying YAOWALAK is one of the young royal Princesses, and is a favourite of her father the King.
There are 4 actors who play the role of LOUIS ( the son of Anna Leonowens the Governess ) in different performances these are Harry Altoft, Dexter Barry, Max Ivemey and Charlie Maguire.
There is an Ensemble of (19) actors, singers and dancers.
Chi Chan
Daniel Len
Yuki Ozeki
Ria TANAKA
Jeffrey Chekai
Rachel Wang-Hei Lau
Amelia Kinu Muus
Hiromi Toyooka
Quinwen Xue
Emily Grace- Ling
Candy Ma
Kit Pakapom
Jasmine Triadi
Jason Yang- Westland
Prem Rai
Jensen Tud
Cher Tud
Nicolette Ho
Rachel Macdougall
Creatives
Director: Bartlett Sher
Music: Richard Rodgers
Story: Based on novel ‘Anna and the King of Siam by
Margaret Landon.
The multi award-winning Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I returns to tour the UK, following a season at The London Palladium.
The Musical stars the West End’s Annalene Beechey and Broadways Darren Lee. First performed in 1951, the story was based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860’s. The lyricists and playwrights Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rogers turned the memoirs into a show that was first performed in 1951, and was later made into a film.
This production features a company of over 50 West End and Broadway performers and a full-scale orchestra. The show will last approximately 3 hours including the interval.
The Sets
The Play is divided into two Acts.The main action takes place in and around the King’s Palace and gardens in Bangkok, Siam, in the early 1860’s. The sets are minimal, with a long castle wall as a backdrop, and several square decorated columns divide the space. The Garden is represented with hanging strands of leaves and tree columns. Anna’s room is furnished with a bed, chairs and a dressing table. The King’s room contains chairs and couches, and statues of the Buddha. The classroom has two long desks and chairs for the students.
Costumes
The European characters wear a style of clothes from the Victorian era, for example Anna is dressed in hooped wide skirts and dresses, short jackets, and dresses with modest necklines and long or three-quarter length sleeves, and small hats.
The characters from Siam wear clothing appropriate to their social status and the warm climate of the country. Women wear sarongs, long tube like skirts and fitted jackets. Both men and women wear long, billowing silky cloaks and often have bare feet. Men wear pants, and a lower-body silk wrap around garment, tucked between the legs like loose breeches.The men wear jackets, with long sleeves and sashes tied around the waist. Many of the men and all the royal children wear their hair in a bun on the top of their head, and this is decorated with a gold filigree covering.
Some of the actors play more than one role, and are also dancers and perform the chorus for songs. Dancing in Siam is a dramatic art form associated with both entertainment and religious events. The dancing involves graceful movements of arms, torso and hands. The fingers are often curved back, with long metal fingernails sometimes worn for additional effect. The lower body does not move as much as the upper body. Some of the dancers are also acrobats, and perform cartwheels.
THE CAST
Main characters
Anna Leonowens ( Louis’s mother ) is played by Annalene Beechy. When we first meet her she is wearing a full length dark blue dress and jacket, with a large hooped skirt, and a small hat with a brim. She is tall and has her auburn wavy hair held back in ringlets or in a bun. When she first meets the king she wears a turquoise silk hoop skirt with white blouse with close-fitting sleeves. When she is teaching, Anna wears a white hooped dress, and for the ball she wears a pale grey-coloured silk dress, with her shoulders bare. The silk dress shimmers under the coloured lighting as she dances.
The role of the Prime Minister, the Kralahome is performed by KOK-HWA LIE. He is tall with an upright haughty bearing and he wears a voluminous long sleeved brown silk robe over a white shirt and wide trousers.
Sam Jenkins-Shaw plays two roles- he first appears as
Captain Orton, captain of the boat that brings Anna and her son Louis to Bangkok and later in the show as Sir Edward Ramsay, an English Diplomat. He is a tall actor and as the ship’s captain he wears a long dark jacket over a waistcoat and long beige trousers. He wears a black evening suit for the banquet.
Darren Lee plays the King of Siam, Mongkut. As befits a King, he wears several different costumes, many made with gold-trimmed silk fabrics. He first appears wearing a calf length padded blue silk jacket adorned with gold and with a slit at each side over long black trousers and sandals.
TUPTIM from Burma is played by Marienella Phillips. She is tall and first appears in a long flowing pale yellow dress, with her long black hair worn hanging down her back . She wears gold jewellery around her neck.
LUN THA, a young diplomat from Burma, is played by Dean John-Wilson. He first appears wearing a richly embroidered jacket and trousers. Lun Tha is tall and muscular, with dark hair worn in a topknot. Later he wears a maroon sleeveless jacket and loose trousers.
Lady THIANG ( Head wife of the King) is played by Cezarah Bonner.
She is petite and wears a long crimson close-fitting silk dress, with two pleats in the front of the straight skirt, and a length of silk worn over one shoulder. All of the King’s wives wear a similar style of dress to that worn by Lady Thiang.
PHRA ALACK is a translator, and is small and of slight build. He first appears wearing a short brown jacket, a beret and blue trousers.
There are 15 Princes and Princesses- the Royal Children.
The role of Crown Prince CHULALONGKORN is played by Caleb Lagayan. He is a young man of slender build, tall and elegantly dressed and conscious of his role as heir to the throne. He is the son of Lady Thiang.
Princess Ying YAOWALAK is one of the young royal Princesses, and is a favourite of her father the King.
There are 4 actors who play the role of LOUIS ( the son of Anna Leonowens the Governess ) in different performances these are Harry Altoft, Dexter Barry, Max Ivemey and Charlie Maguire.
There is an Ensemble of (19) actors, singers and dancers.
Chi Chan
Daniel Len
Yuki Ozeki
Ria TANAKA
Jeffrey Chekai
Rachel Wang-Hei Lau
Amelia Kinu Muus
Hiromi Toyooka
Quinwen Xue
Emily Grace- Ling
Candy Ma
Kit Pakapom
Jasmine Triadi
Jason Yang- Westland
Prem Rai
Jensen Tud
Cher Tud
Nicolette Ho
Rachel Macdougall
Creatives
Director: Bartlett Sher
Music: Richard Rodgers
Story: Based on novel ‘Anna and the King of Siam by
Margaret Landon.
