I approached this evening with mixed feelings. I saw the film with my mum and dad as a seven-year-old when it was first released and I was bored stiff for most of the two and a quarter hours. The songs were good but the plot, what there is of it, left me cold. When I checked the running time to see what bus I might be able to catch home, I was mildly dismayed to find that it was just short of three hours. Still, on the upside, I got to spend another evening in the wonderful Grand Theatre. What a difference sixty-five years makes. Not only did I enjoy the show, act one’s ninety-minute length flashed by.
The musical is based on the true story of Anna Leonowens, an Anglo-Indian widow who was working as a teacher in Singapore in the early 1860s, and who was approached by a representative of King Mongkut of Siam to move to Bangkok to teach his many children, as well as his many wives! The king had been taught at a school which used Western methods and, on acceding to the throne, he wished to transform the country into a more European-style kingdom. Anna also became his advisor on how to do this. They obviously fall in love as time goes by.
There is a subplot concerning Tuptim, a young woman who has been gifted to the King by his Burmese counterpart. She meets and falls in love with Lun Tha, who brought her to Siam and the pair plan to escape.
The show is more procedural than narrative, which is why I probably didn’t appreciate it as a kid, but now I find it really intriguing as we are examining the values of the 1860s through the attitudes of the late 1940s, when the novel was written and the musical created. This means that, by extension, we are also comparing the values of the late 1940s with those we hold now.
There is a lot of emphasis on the exoticism of the Orient, an area alien to most Western people in the 1950s when the film came out. Except for those who were in the region during the Second World War, the movie was probably their first taste of Far Eastern culture, albeit with an Americanised take. Nowadays, tourists nip across to the resorts of Thailand as casually as if they were having a fortnight in Scarborough.
A piece of dialogue which struck me was delivered by the King when he learned that the French had occupied Cambodia. ‘Where will they go next?’ The answer was Indochina, or Vietnam as we know it today, also now the destination of many a holiday maker. They were still occupying it when the show was written, not withdrawing until 1954 when they were beaten by the Viet Minh, later known as the Viet Cong, at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. By sheer coincidence I am writing this on 1st November, 68 years to the day after the Americans deployed troops to train the South Vietnamese Army. I can’t help wondering how this line would have been treated today, if it were included at all.
The second act includes a Siamese style ballet, superbly performed by an incredibly talented group of dancers, based on Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The idea is to show a visiting English Diplomat, Sir Edward Ramsay, who is on a trade mission, that the king was revising his attitude to slavery. This, along with a European dinner, was at the suggestion of Anna, and the ploy worked as the two men shook hands on a deal. I can’t help but think that Rodgers and Hammerstein included this rather lengthy interlude to add a further touch of Eastern mystery as much as to progress the plot.
Although the King doesn’t live to see the changes, his son, Prince Chulalonkorn, who is a stickler for discipline at the beginning, mellows and adopts Anna’s suggestions, which we can only assume he continued with after the story ends.
The one constant throughout the years has been the quality of the songs, most of which are now standards. With one exception, that of Dean John-Wilson as Lun Tha, who sounded a little out of tune in his duet ‘I Have Dreamed’ with Marienella Phillips as Tuptim, the singing was superb. Annalene Beechey as Anna, was brilliant, injecting the right amount of humour into the show, whilst also asserting her will on the king, not seeming to care about any repercussions. Darren Lee, as The King, had a fine, strong voice befitting an authority figure, but one which could be reined back to convey his more mischievous side. There is a running gag which concerns the custom that no one’s head should be higher than that of the King’s, so, when he is in the company of Anna he purposely reclines in his chair or stoops so that she has to crouch down to be below his level. At one point they both end up on the floor.
The acting was top notch by those already mentioned, as well as Cezarah Bonner, Lady Thiang, the King’s Head Wife; Sam Jenkins-Shaw in the double role of Captain Orton, of the ship which brought Anna and her son to Bangkok, and Sir Edward Ramsay; Caleb Lagayan as Prince Chulalongkorn, whose aforementioned transformation was executed to perfection; Kok-Hwa Lie, who played Prime Minister Kralahome, trying to reconcile the initial differences between Anna and the King and advising her on how to handle him. There is a roster of boys playing Louis Leonowens, Anna’s son, due to juvenile working regulations. The children who played the King’s offspring were also amazing, Their every move in perfect synchronisation and one of them delivering quite a long speech.
My only gripe about the production was that the quieter parts of the dialogue were not easily understood, by me at least, and some of the exaggerated accents unintelligible at times, but I am probably being over picky here. The sets were spectacular in both their design and the execution of changing them.
I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by The King and I and would advise you to get along to see it if possible. It also has two overtures, one before each act, played by the incredible orchestra under Musical Director Christopher Mundy. One overture is a treat, but two is spoiling us. The original choreography was by Jerome Robbins with Choreographers Christopher Gattelli and Yuki Ozeki. The Director was Bartlett Sher.
The King and I continues at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday, 4th November. For more information and bookings, please go to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/the-king-and-i-2023/
For details of other shows at Leeds Grand Theatre it is https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/?theatre=leeds-grand-theatre
Feature image provided by Leeds Heritage Theatres. Photographs by Johan Persson
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