Robert Jones's set and costumes, and Gareth Valentine's conducting of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra add to the atmosphere of visual and aural opulence. From Depression-era darling Shirley Temple to the infectiously adorable Macaulay Culkin of 'Home Alone' fame, these talented tykes routinely deliver box office gold, and they are some of. The former is blessedly staged without the usual cuteness, and the latter is well choreographed by Susan Kikuchi, who reminds us that the dance interlude possesses a strong political charge with its civil war story of desperate lovers fleeing a despotic slave owner. And the arena only comes into its own for The March of the Siamese Children and the second-act ballet based on Uncle Tom's Cabin. People think of The King and I as a 'big' show, but the best numbers are solos or duets. The young renegade lovers are beautifully played by Ethan Le Phong and Yanle Zhong I just wish their two big numbers, We Kiss in a Shadow and I Have Dreamed, could have been delivered in a friendlier space. Maria Friedman - kitted out in a crinolined ballgown that looks like a golden tent - sings immaculately and suggests a growing affection for Daniel Dae Kim's admirably burly, intransigent monarch. But the evening's strength lies in the quality of the singing. In a telltale remark, Richard Rodgers wrote: 'Western audiences are not attuned to the sounds of tinkling bells, high nasal strings and percussive gongs.' Maybe not but Benjamin Britten in The Prince of the Pagodas and Stephen Sondheim in Pacific Overtures proved that the true artist can explore and incorporate eastern musical idioms.Īdmittedly, audiences know most of the songs by heart, which is just as well given the arena's acoustic variability. And the governess's lack of curiosity about Siamese life is paralleled by that of the show's creators. The attempt by Mrs Anna Leonowens to impose Victorian values on the household of the feudal Siamese King smacks of imperial condescension. Of all Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals, this one seems the most dated. The film quickly became the second-highest grossing. After a successful West End debut, 20th Century Fox released the motion picture version of The King and I in 1956 with Deborah Kerr as Anna and Yul Brynner recreating his role as The King. Even from a good seat, the characters are distant, and in the more intimate moments one feels as if one were watching table-tennis in the Colosseum. The show ran for three years, racking up 1,246 performances and five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. But although the musical values of Jeremy Sams's production are high, the scale seems wrong. Now comes a lavish staging of The King and I in the circular arena of the Albert Hall. At one end of the park we have a hi-tech Peter Pan. B ig spectacles are all the rage in Kensington.

The king and i musical racr