York Theatre Royal – until 18 March. Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
I went to see ‘The King And I’ at the York Theatre Royal by the amateur theatre group York Light Opera, which has a 10 day run until the 18th of March. The classic Roger and Hammerstein Musical set in Siam features a teacher who goes to Bangcok to teach the kings many children.
For me the show wasn’t my cup of tea as it took too long to finish and scene changes were on the longer side which is something a theatre goer I don’t really like.
The set and costume of the show was visually stunning and made great use of the stage at the theatre, with the ballet scene and how they used the river when telling the story of ‘The Small Hose Of Uncle Tom’, this scene of the play was rather funny for the first few parts however it just went on too long and I lost interest in what was happening. The costumes were all rather splendid as the chorus had multiple outfits that were colourful and suited the oriental style to a T. Anna’s outfits were also very good with a big skirting on her dresses and this elegant ballgown for the party. The set also was rather impressive as it filled out stage nicely and no space was wasted and everything looked in place, just when the scenes were changing they took too long and the movement of props were clunky and loud.
One of the best parts about the play was the cast and that includes the chorus of many wives and children, I was rather surprised at how good the children were as my past experience of child actors have never been good ones, and with the amounts of them it made for great comical affect and the scenes where all the wives on stage were defiantly one of the highlights of the play. My favourite scenes was when all the wives were seeing the locket and reacting to it. The leading lady Anna Leonowens played by Emma Dickinson had a delightful voice to listen and the memorably song of getting to know you lives up to the film version by Deborah Kerr. The King Played by John Hall was also good at giving a great performance of the character creating comical affect over anything else, his portrayal was both visually and vocally hilarious with his interaction with Dickinson.
Overall I felt that the show had many great aspects and strong features however in total I didn’t fall head over heels as it took too long for scenes to move along and there were too many song For Anna even though she had an amazing voice. Even though it wasn’t my cup of tea a lot of the audience members enjoyed the show and loved the singing, maybe this is an age thing as most of the audience were in the older age range. If you loved the King and I film in sure that you would love the show and if it was part of your childhood then I’m definite. I wouldn’t say I want my personal opinion to deter you from watching this performance as it was good overall just not my thing.