Broadway actor Brian Rivera will join the UK tour of the Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of The King and I for a limited four-week run from next month.
Rivera who appeared in the original Lincoln Center production and on the US tour will step into the role of the King of Siam opposite Annalene Beechey (Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera) as Anna Leonowens when the tour reaches the Edinburgh Playhouse (12-16 September). Following Edinburgh the tour will visit the Theatre Royal Plymouth (19-23 September), the New Victoria Theatre in Woking (26-30 September) and the New Theatre in Oxford (3-7 October).
The tour company includes two of the stars of the production’s London Palladium run – Dean John-Wilson (Aladdin) who is reprising his performance as Lun Tha with Cezarah Bonner (Miss Saigon) returning as Lady Thiang, the King’s head wife.
The cast also includes Marienella Phillips (Carmen) as Tuptim with Sam Yo (London Palladium production of The King And I, Anything Goes, UK tour) as Kralahome, Caleb Lagayan (Les Misérables) as Prince Chulalongkorn, Sam Jenkins-Shaw (The Night Watch) as Captain Orton/Sir Edward Ramsay and Maria Coyne (Phantom of the Opera) as the alternate Anna.
The ensemble includes Chi Chan, Jeffrey Chekai, Emily Grace-Ling, Cher Nicolette Ho, Rachel Wang-Hei Lau, Daniel Len, Candy Ma, Rachel MacDougall, Amelia Kinu Muus, Yuki Ozeki, Prem Rai, Ria Tanaka, Hiromi Toyooka, Jasmine Triadi, Jensen Tudtud, Qinwen Xue and Jason Yang-Westland. Swings include Emmanuel Duarte, Samuel How and Rachel Picar.
Josh Bortoloso, Fin Goodman, Louis Levy and Charlie McGuire will play Louis, Anna’s son, with William Alsina, Alexander Chin, Cody Concha, Joshua Fairbrother, Alana Baharil Koppen, Kanaho Kurihara, Sanna Kurihara, Caitlin Lau, Ruby-Mae Lewis, Khun Cho Lwin, Grace Mugridge, Angelica Quynh An Nguyen, Sabri Leonel Puci, Myles Tullett and Phoebe Zhao-Welsh as the Royal children.
After playing a record-breaking season at the London Palladium in 2018 and a record-breaking, UK and international tour in 2019, Bartlett Sher’s acclaimed Broadway production began its second tour at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre in February.
Presented by Howard Panter for the Trafalgar Entertainment Group, GWB Entertainment, BookMyShow, Tokyu Theatre Orb, Tulchin/Bartner and David Lazar in association with KHAM Inc, the production arrived in the UK in 2018 following an acclaimed 16-month Broadway run and a record-breaking US tour.
Director Sher heads the same creative team behind the 2008 award-winning revival of South Pacific and the recent Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady at the London Coliseum.
With music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and widely regarded as one of their finest works, The King and I boasts a score that includes the classics ‘Getting to Know You’, ‘Hello Young Lovers’, ‘Shall We Dance’ and ‘Something Wonderful’.
Loosely based on a true story and set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher, whom the imperious King brings to Siam to tutor his many wives and children.
The musical opened on Broadway in 1951, with veteran actress Gertrude Lawrence as Anna and relatively unknown actor and television director Yul Brynner as The King. Brynner would famously go on to play the role on tour, in the West End and in the hit 1956 film alongside leading lady Deborah Kerr.
Angela Thomas
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