New Wimbledon Theatre- until 18 February (and touring)
Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert
4****
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I arrives in Wimbledon in a blaze of glory – Broadway triumph, four Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Revival, and a sell-out season at the London Palladium. Intriguing, because the 1956 film (starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner) seems racist and rather weird today. The story of a white English governess taming the spoilt-brat king of Siam, with many cliches and Uncle Tom’s Cabin thrown in, would be too impossibly patronising if it was new today. This production, directed by Bartlett Sher, gets round all that by just being so damn good. Great songs, belted out with oomph and perfect diction, combine with cute kids, beautiful costumes and razor sharp acting to make you sit back, accept the nonsense and enjoy a very classy show.
Governess Anna is played by Helen George (Call the Midwife’s Trixie). She gets a cheer just for walking on stage (no pressure Helen!). Her clipped regal accent wobbled a bit, and she seemed slightly unsettled until the song ‘Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?’, whereupon she soared. Darren Lee is superb as the king, able to make the audience laugh or jump with the twitch of eyebrow. He calls to mind Rex Harrison (the actor the part was originally written for). A convincing chemistry develops between this odd couple. Cezarah Bonner has dignity as the leading royal wife, Lady Thiang, and sang gloriously. Caleb Lagayan was nicely uptight and sensitive as Prince Chulalongkorn, and has a very charming little scene with Harry Altoft as Anna’s son Louis. Marienella Phillips and Dean John-Wilson sang with gusto as the couple in the musical’s sub-plot about doomed lovers. In fact everybody acted, danced and sang with beautiful precision. The ‘Small House of Uncle Tom’ scene is one of those potentially cringey parts of this musical, but the Thai dancing in this production is very beguiling. Special mention must also go to Helen George’s crinoline, which had a comic character all of its own, and also looked amazing when she danced with the king.