Producing a large-scale, well-publicized musical when the very same show is being staged in a major Broadway revival either takes immense bravery or deep pockets. Dallas Summer Musicals’ sumptuous The King and I has both.
While Broadway darling Kelli O’Hara and film star Ken Watanabe are currently in previews for an April opening at Lincoln Center, Rachel York and Alan Ariano are portraying Anna Leonowens and the King of Siam at the Music Hall at Fair Park. It’s clear that DSM president Michael Jenkins spared no expense with this production, as the stage is bejeweled and bedecked with more rhinestones and silk than a beauty pageant.
And it doesn’t just look nice. Led by York (trilling in her best Julie Andrews), who last captured Dallas hearts in the national tour of Anything Goes, the show balances Rodgers and Hammerstein’s almost operatic score with themes of tolerance, learning, and respect. Though it first premiered in 1951 and some of the moments still feel stuck in time (there are more than a few instances of “Was that racist?”), the show has endured thanks to the unending fascination of the somewhat true story of a British woman who traveled (with her young son but sans husband) to Bangkok in the early 1860s to act as educator and governess to the king’s dozens of children.
The exotic locale, gorgeously rendered by set designer Michael Anania and lighting designer Charlie Morrison, offers endless gilded and watercolor tableaux. The Music Hall is a large stage, but never has it felt so vast as when it’s filled with this large cast (a few local children bow and scrape in the procession) and Anna’s iconic swirling dress.
Besides debuting almost concurrently with the Broadway revival, this production also made national news for the negative feedback caused by the original casting of the King. Paul Schoeffler, a Canadian actor, was quickly replaced with Ariano when the professional theater community strongly reacted to Schoeffler’s non-Asian ethnicity. Happily, Ariano delivers a confident performance as the headstrong King, though his voice occasionally sounds nasal in comparison to York’s rich tone.
As the outwardly brave, inwardly terrified Anna, York gracefully leads the show. The struggle to stand up for herself while remaining respectful to the customs and a culture she doesn’t understand shows plainly in her face and body language. And that voice—”Hello, Young Lovers” has never sounded so enchanting.
Also in fine voice is Yoon Jeong Seaong as Tuptim, the pretty but feisty present given to the King from his adversarial country of Burma. She’s in forbidden love with Lun Tha (Devin Ilaw), her guardian for the journey, and fed up with the idea of slavery. The standout ballet “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” is just a tense and thrilling as when Jerome Robbins first choreographed it more than 50 years ago (Bob Richard contributes the show’s original choreography), adding even more layers to the musical’s already complicated racial tapestry.
