As soon as I was old enough to appreciate the world of Musical Theatre, there were several musicals that made it on to my list of favourites, the King & I was one of them. I took great delight in watching, with eyes wide open, Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner dancing the fast-paced polka, across the celluloid screen. Fast forward to 2018 when I was lucky enough to see Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe do the same polka, this time live, across the stage of the London Palladium. It was just wonderful, as is the touring production, currently resident at The Congress Theatre, Eastbourne.
The King & I is based on the true story of Anna Leonowens, a young widow who travels by boat, accompanied by her young son Louis, to the palace of the King of Siam, who has engaged her to be the schoolteacher for his many children, produced by his many wives. Anna and the King soon lock horns as Anna is very strong willed and the King is, well, the King – and used to being obeyed. Not only does Anna teach the children about the outside world, but she unwittingly teaches the King a thing or two along the way.
We know that we are in for a treat as soon we hear the opening strains of the overture. Not many shows have overtures these days, so a feeling of excitement and anticipation envelopes us as soon as we hear the first notes. Huge thanks to the Musical Director, Christopher Munday, and his orchestra for giving us so much pleasure. As the curtain opens for the first scene, we see a sampan with Anna, (beautifully played at this performance by Maria Coyne), together with her son Louis (played by a rather endearing Charlie McGuire) and Captain Orton (Sam Jenkins-Shaw), standing on the bow.
The boat has just arrived in the port of Bangkok, and, beneath the bow of the sampan, we are greeted by the noisy hustle and bustle of port life, including fighting and squabbling. There is plenty of dry ice covering not only the stage, but the audience as well, making it really feel as though we are there in the port with them.
The scenery, although minimal, is cleverly crafted. In some productions, there are far too many changes of scenery which can be very distracting. There is certainly no chance of that happening here. The backdrop remains the same throughout which is a white wall topped with rounded turrets and is only hidden by a black curtain when necessary. There are eight floor to ceiling, square pillars, coloured maroon and intricately decorated with gold filigree situated over the stage, that form ‘the palace’ with beautiful glass chandeliers hanging from ‘the ceiling’ – creating a perfect palace setting.
When Darren Lee, as the pivotal character of ‘the King’ appears, the temptation is to sit bolt upright as we really feel like we are in the presence of royalty! It is wonderful seeing Darren’s portrayal of the King as he takes us along on an emotional journey and certainly takes command of the stage in every scene.
There are a few ‘outside’ scenes which take place in the palace garden. This is simply portrayed by several strings of white orchid flowers in rows, descending in front of the black curtains – which is both very effective and beautiful. Special mention must be made for the lighting department. As I mentioned previously, there is only a white back drop and the effective use of coloured lighting on the backdrop is superb.
The supporting company includes Cezarah Bonner (Lady Thiang), Marienellla Phillips (Tuptim), Dean John-Wilson (Lun Tha), Kok-Hwa Lie (Kralahome) and Caleb Lagayan (Prince Chulalongkorn) who all work well together and really bring the raw emotion of the piece to the stage.
The costumes are, as you would expect, very exotic and colourful, there are various shades of purples, gold, orange, all warm hues, but what is very interesting is that, when the children are in their colourful clothing, Anna wears a dress in a subdued colour and vice versa.
There are so many well-known songs in this musical that it is very difficult to refrain from singing along, but one thing is for certain, we are seeing ‘Something Wonderful’.
***** Five stars