No matter how many The King And I’s you’ve seen, you have almost certainly never seen, nor will you likely ever see one more brilliant than the 2015 Bartlett Sher-directed Broadway revival whose First National Tour has arrived in Costa Mesa to thrill audiences this week and next at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts.

 Despite its status as one of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Five Greatest Hits, the 1952 Best Musical Tony winner, the tale of widowed-with-child Anna Leonowens, schoolteacher to the children of the King of Siam (now Thailand) in the early 1860s, has seemed not to have aged nearly as well as Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, or The Sound Of Music.

Indeed, a recent staging prompted this reviewer to call into question “the creakiness of book writer Hammerstein’s depiction of the Thai people and their centuries-old culture.”

Not so in this magnificent Lincoln Center production, where an astute bit of script-doctoring insures that King Mongkut of Siam and his fellow Siamese are treated with both authenticity and respect, as when the King and his Prime Minister discuss with particular intelligence and political savvy the recent French colonization of Cambodia and its possible effect on their country.

Add to that the fact that there’s not a single performer “playing Asian” on the Segerstrom Center stage and I’m guessing that even Thais who may have found fault with the musical (still banned in their native land) just might end up “whistling a happ(ier) tune” this time round.

Two things are obvious soon after the final notes of The King And I’s glorious overture and its snippets of “Hello, Young Lovers,” “I Whistle A Happy Tune,” “Shall We Dance?” and other R&H classics.

 First, that Michael Yeargan’s scenic design will be as spectacular as scenic designs get. (Just wait till you see the imposing ocean vessel that pulls into Bangkok harbor and the red sky at sunset behind it.)

Second, that director Sher’s vision will be quintessentially fresh and new, as when Anna Leonowens and her son Louis find themselves greeted at the docks by a hoard of Siamese peasants whose foreignness gives the schoolteacher and her 12-year-old more than enough reason to “whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I’m afraid.”

There’s also Sher’s attention to even the minutest detail, particularly evident in a “March of the Royal Siamese Children” that gives each and every royal prince and princess his or her distinct personality quirks and each and every one of them a mother as unique in manner and relationship to her child as their children are one-of-a-kind.

 It’s as joyous as ever to watch Anna charm wives and children with her warm-and-winning “Getting To Know You,” but this time round keep your eye on teenage Prince Chulalongkorn and watch how this musical number also becomes the Crown Prince’s five-minute journey from suspicious to spellbound.

 No matter how many times I’ve seen His Majesty insist that Anna’s head not be even a centimeter higher than his, I can’t ever recall thinking to myself “He’s flirting with her!,” just one reason why by the time the King and Anna dance Act Two’s iconic “one-two-three-and” polka, the sexual/romantic chemistry between them is fit to burst.

 It helps enormously to have a First National Tour blessed with a leading man and lady who are the very definition of perfection.

Laura Michelle Kelly’s Anna is as all-fired glorious (and warm and winning and womanly) as any Anna could hope to be, Jose Llana’s King is as smart and dynamic and conflicted and cute (yes cute) as Kings get, and both Kelly and Llana sing like angels and dance one dazzler of a polka.

Q Lim is simply stunning as Tuptim, with a fierceness and femininity that make it obvious why Kavin Panmeechao’s handsome, passionate Lun Tha should be smitten.

 I’ve never seen a Lady Thiang more magnificent than Joan Almedilla’s (a first wife still as madly in love with the King as she was the day they met and every bit as devoted to her son) or a Kralahome to surpass Brian Rivera’s (with the body of a wrestler and the mind of a scholar) or a Prince Chulalongkorn to match Anthony Chan’s powerful depiction of a young man learning to open both heart and mind.

Darren Lee’s Phra Alack, Rhyees Stump’s Louis, Baylen Thomas’s Captain Orton and Sir Edward Ramsey, and Keira Belle Young’s Princess Ying Yawalak are finely rendered gems as well.

Christopher Gattelli bases his choreography on Jerome Robbins’ original dances, most notably the legendary “The Small House Of Uncle Thomas,” exquisitely performed by Kayla Paige Amistad, (Uncle Thomas), LaMae Caparas (Eliza), Nobutaka Mochimaru, (Angel, George), Yuki Ozeki (Topsy), Julius Sermonia (Simon Of Legree) and Michiko Takemasa (Little Eva), but there’s at least one stunning native-dance sequence that takes place between Anna’s arrival at the docks of Bangkok and the King’s throne room that would appear to be Gattelli’s own.

Songs occasionally cut to shorten The King And I’s entirely reasonable (and fast-moving) two-hour-forty-five minutes running time remain intact, affording Anna the chance to examine her conflicting emotions (“Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You”), allowing Chulalongkorn and Louis to duet their own “A Puzzlement,” and giving Royal Wives more to do than simply look pretty and subservient (“Western People Funny”), and with Gerald Steichen conducting the symphonic King And I orchestra, each and every R&H song (classic or little known) sounds simply divine.

 Ensemble members/swings Andrew Cheng, Michelle Liu Coughlin, Max B. Ehrlich, Nicole Ferguson, Marie Gutierrez, Marina Kondo, Stephanie Lo, Michael Lomeka, Saki Masuda, Kevin Schuering, Marcus Shane, Alicia Shumway, Kelli Youngman, and Jeoffrey Watson merit their own triple-threat kudos as Guards, Monks, Royal Wives, and Townspeople and child performers Jaden D. Amistad, Sydney Chan, Rie Hatanaka, Spencer Donovan Jones, Rylie Sickles, Ryan Stout, Noah Toledo, and CJ Uy are simply adorable. Madeline Trumble is Anna standby.

Donald Holder’s lighting, Scott Lehrer’s sound, Tom Watson’s hair, and wigs, and Catherine Zuber’s costumes are Broadway-caliber every step of the way, with associate director Sari Ketter and associate choreographer Greg Zane insuring that Sher and Gattelli’s vision remains fresh even a year and a half into touring.

Steve Varon is company manager. Peyton Taylor Becker is production stage manager.

If The King And I is your all-time favorite musical, see this The King And I. If you’ve never seen The King And I before, see this The King And I. If you like The King And I but have put it on your list of, “seen that, done that” shows, see this The King And I. Above all, if you’ve ever thought The King And I was dated and/or culturally insensitive, see this The King And I.

You are guaranteed to stand up and cheer.

Segerstrom Center For The Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.
www.scfta.org

–Steven Stanley
February 27, 2018
Photos: Matthew Murphy

Tags: Orange County Theater Review, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Segerstrom Center For The Arts