If ever there was a show which personified musical theatre it would undoubtedly be THE KING AND I. The multi award-winning Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical returns to Cardiff this week at the New Theatre, following its critically-acclaimed sold out season at The London Palladium. We should also mention the show sold out here too on its last visit in April.
I think it’s fair to claim the show as the greatest musical from the golden age of musicals – with one of the finest scores ever written including; Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, and Shall We Dance, and featuring a company of 50 world-class performers and a full-scale orchestra. This is a huge production.
Seasoned musical theatre star ANNALENE BEECHEY (The King and I UK & International Tour/ Marguerite/ Wicked/Phantom of the Opera) will reprise the role of Anna Leonowens.
Before the tour pulls into Cardiff this week we put a call in to Annalene (on a very busy train) to find out more about the tour and what attracted her back to this iconic role……
Playing the King of Siam is a performer with a huge heritage of TV, stage and dance behind him. DARREN LEE has quite a resume having started his career as an 11 year old appearing on the first ever Junior Star Search in America. From there, his feet have barely touched the ground.
For those lucky to have tickets during back in April will have seen Darren setting the stage alight with his fabulous protrayal of the King.
Shortly after Star Search he became a series regular on Kid’s Incorporated, a Disney Channel Favourite. Before relocating to New York to pursue a career in theatre. Darren danced with Paula Abdul and Elton John for Diet Coke and appeared on the Annual Academy Awards. He was also in the Academy Award-winning film, Chicago as a dancer. And as a Broadway performer, has been in 11 Broadway shows mostly as a dancer.
We spoke to Darren just before the tour pulled into Cardiff earlier this year, when Helen George was playing Anna. We had a chat about the early days as a child performer, and talked a lot about this tour and the joy of working alongside Helen George. But when a role like the King comes along you simply have to grab it with both hands, which is exactly what Darren did.
Joining Annalene and Darren is DEAN JOHN-WILSON (London Palladium production of The King and I/Aladdin) who will reprise his role as Lun Tha, MARIENELLA PHILLIPS (Henry V/Carmen) who will play Tuptim alongside CEZARAH BONNER who returns as Lady Thiang, the King’s head wife. KOK-HWA LIE (2020 UK Tour of The King And I/ Rent) will play the role of Kralahome, CALEB LAGAYAN (Les Misérables) will play Prince Chulalongkorn, SAM JENKINS-SHAW (The Night Watch/Jane Eyre) takes the role of Captain Orton/Sir Edward Ramsay and MARIA COYNE (Phantom of the Opera/Wicked) will be the Alternate Anna.
We said this is a massive production so let’s give mention to the ensemble which includes Chi Chan, Jeffrey Chekai, Emily Grace-Ling, Cher Nicolette Ho, Rachel Wang-Hei Lau, Daniel Len, Candy Ma, Rachel MacDougall, Amelia Kinu Muus, Yuki Ozeki, Prem Rai, Ria Tanaka, Hiromi Toyooka, Jasmine Triadi, Jensen Tudtud, Qinwen Xue and Jason Yang-Westland. Swings include, Emmanuel Duarte, Samuel How and Rachel Picar. Josh Bortoloso, Fin Goodman, Louis Levy and Charlie McGuire will play Louis, Anna’s son. William Alsina, Alexander Chin, Cody Concha, Joshua Fairbrother, Alana Baharil Koppen, Kanaho Kurihara, Sanna Kurihara, Caitlin Lau, Ruby-Mae Lewis, Khun Cho Lwin, Grace Mugridge, Angelica Quynh An Nguyen, Sabri Leonel Puci, Myles Tullett and Phoebe Zhao-Welsh will play the Royal children.
Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher whom the modernist King, in an imperialistic world, brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children.
Acclaimed Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher directs the production with a creative team including set designer Michael Yeargan, costume designer Catherine Zuber, lighting designer Donald Holder, sound designer Scott Lehrer, orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, dance and incidental music arranged By Trude Rittmann, musical supervisor Stephen Ridley, casting director Serena Hill, children’s casting director Debbie O’Brien and musical director Christopher Mundy.
THE KING AND I really is one of those must-see productions, and with a staging on this scale a visit to the New Theatre in Cardiff should be on your radar. The show runs from Tuesday 21st through to Saturday 25th November. It’s on stage at 7:30pm each evening with a 2:30pm matinee on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tickets range from £26 to £54 with a variety of prices and concessions in between. I can tell you that some of the performances are selling really quickly. You can find out more, and get your tickets HERE.
