The King and I – large scale and opulent production of a classic musical (Grand Opera House until Saturday 24 June)

The King and I is perhaps the most opulent production to have graced the stage of the Grand Opera House in recent years. A cast of thirty (including a team of children) plus eleven in the orchestra pit bring the gilded royal palace set to life in this classic musical from Rodgers and Hammerstein.

A widowed teacher and her son arrive in Bangkok by boat to tutor the King of Siam’s children and wives. The monarch demands deference from everyone around him. However, Anna stands up to the autocrat, challenging his lack of follow-through on promises he made when she was first contracted. The visiting King of Burma leaves behind a slave girl Tuptim as a gift for the King of Siam. There is much that Anna finds objectionable and contrary to her worldview. However, she develops an at first grudging then wholehearted respect for the King’s plans for modernisation in the face of colonial takeover, and helps him impress a visiting British envoy to dispel the understanding that the King is a barbarian.

Musically, The King and I is stuffed full with hummable melodies like I Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, and Shall We Dance? First staged in 1951, and with a story that’s set in 1862, the musical’s pedigree brings with it the baggage of vastly changed sensibilities and more nuanced reflections on cross-cultural storytelling that have developed over the subsequent decades. The musical is penned by two white Americans, and sits on a bulging shelf of musical theatre and opera that is set in and fascinated by East Asia. That could be problematic … and yet, this production seems to proactively address some of the potential issues. The casting is sensitive and showcases performers whose talents aren’t always included in other touring productions.

There’s a knowing clash of cultures throughout The King and I. Anna’s western values are at odds with the ways of Siam. Yet there’s also space – particularly in the second Act play-within-a-play Small House of Uncle Thomas which is beautifully narrated by Marienella Phillips – for an eastern analysis of odd western ways. Cultural gaffes and send-ups run in both directions. Anna is much less judgemental – less of a ‘white saviour’ – than her character might have become in other musicals or plays.

In fact, Anna’s constantly renegotiated relationship with the King is one of the threads that runs through the three-hour production. Director Barlett Sher ensures that the externally tough King has room to display a hint of a softer side from early in the first act, making his later U-turns more believable than other productions I’ve seen. One unexpected result is that Shall We Dance? ends up a much less clichéd moment – losing the normal oomph that can make it an 11 o’clock number – as the relationship between Anna (Annalene Beechey) and the King (Darren Lee) hasn’t been built up to a full scale love in.

Lady Thiang, the chief wife of the King, is played by Cezarah Bonner and thrills with her singing in Something Wonderful and Western People Funny. Tuptim’s duets with her Burmese lover (Marienella Phillips and Dean John-Wilson) are beautiful. Blink and you might mistake the tone and tenor of Anna for the Sound of Music’s Maria von Trapp, a character brought to life by the same creative partnership eight years after The King and I.

Overall, The King and I is a rich spectacle. Catherine Zuber’s sumptuous costumes nail the geography and the period. Watching a ruler privately questioning his capacity to lead is an interesting concept in a 21st century political sphere brimming with confident presidents and prime ministers. So too is his differentiation between (useful) ‘lies’ and (actual) ‘false lies’! Dealing with succession feels quite contemporary too. Et cetera et cetera …

Performances of The King and I continue at the Grand Opera House until Saturday 24 June, after which the production will move to Dublin.

Photo credit: Johan Persson

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