SEPTEMBER 15, 2015
A ship sails into a harbor in Bangkok.
In the current Tony Award-winning revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” at Lincoln Center, that ship approaches us from the back of the cavernous stage at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, and it keeps coming and coming. Suddenly the stage begins to expand toward the audience, and the ship keeps coming. The ship soon breaks the fourth wall and keeps coming, extending its masthead over the heads of the audience, finally stopping at the very edge of the stage. The effect is jaw-dropping, and not one word has yet been spoken in the show.
That’s one example of the imaginative approach that director Bartlett Sher has taken to this musical comedy warhorse. Sher has made his reputation by breathing new life into old familiar theatrical staples — “Golden Boy,” “Awake and Sing,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” and his magnificent 2008 revival of R&H’s “South Pacific” in this very theater. Some large Broadway theaters are referred to as barns, but, by comparison, the Beaumont is an airplane hangar, and Sher is alone among contemporary directors in knowing how to fill it, as he does in this exquisite production.
If you’re a little rusty on “The King and I,” here’s what you need to know. In 1862, English schoolteacher Anna Leonowens (Kelli O’Hara) accepts a position to teach the many many children of the King of Siam (Jose Llana). Arriving in Bangkok, Anna must quickly stand up to the intimidating King when he reneges on his promise to provide a house for her and her young son Louis (Jake Lucas). Anna finds an ally in the King’s chief wife Lady Thiang (Tony-winner Ruthie Ann Miles), who is suspicious of a new gift for the King from the King of Burma — Tuptim (Ashley Park), a beautiful slave brought to the palace by messenger Lun Tha (Conrad Ricamora) with whom Tuptim is secretly in love.
One of Sher’s strengths as a director is filling his scenes with multiple narrative lines going on at once. For example, one of the show’s most famous songs, “Getting to Know You,” is usually presented as Anna telling the children about the most satisfying part of her job. It is sentimental and in some productions comes off as a little treacly, but not here. As Anna sings to the children, watch what’s going on in the perimeter of the action. Lady Thiang, whose suspicions about Tuptim’s secret love have only grown, begins to prowl and eye the slave who does her best to keep out of Lady Thiang’s eyeshot. And the King’s heir apparent, eldest son Prince Chulalongkorn (Jon Viktor Corpuz) can only look with disdain on his younger siblings’ immaturity. All this is going while Anna sings about how she’s suddenly all “bright and breezy.” That is Sher’s two-pronged approach, and it works brilliantly here.
It wouldn’t have worked nearly as well, however, without Kelli O’Hara, who has garnered four Tony nominations working with Sher. She finally won the Best Actress Tony (on her sixth nomination) this year for her portrayal of Anna, and it’s easy to see why. One of the premier Broadway stars of her generation, O’Hara not only has a thrilling voice (her last note on “Hello Young Lovers” gave me chills), but she’s a great listener, a vastly underrated skill onstage. Watch her in scenes when she’s not speaking, and her character is always present through listening and reaction. Sometimes it’s a big reaction (her eyerolls when the King says something sexist, for example) that never quite steps over the line into mugging but is still very funny.
Jose Llana (who plays until September 27) is a fine King, authoritative but curious, and he is downright scary near the play’s conclusion as he disciplines Tuptim. Unfortunately he and O’Hara have little romantic chemistry which somewhat dulls the impact of “Shall We Dance?” As dominant as Lady Thiang is in the King’s court, Miles creates a head wife who is nonetheless approachable, a refreshing new take on the character. And Park, as Tuptim, makes the most of her soaring voice, particularly on the beautiful “I Have Dreamed.”
Sher’s next big project will be his new look on the venerable “Fiddler on the Roof” this fall starring much-admired Broadway actor Danny Burstein. Like O’Hara, Burstein is coming into this project with five Tony nominations and no wins. Perhaps Bartlett Sher can be the same lucky charm for Burstein as he was for Kelli O’Hara. We can only hope.
