Broadway and film star Darren Lee will play The King of Siam opposite the previously announced Call The Midwife’s Helen George as Anna Leonowens when the multi–Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of The King and I embarks on its second UK tour early next month.
Lee (Chicago, Guys and Dolls) and George (Company, Love Never Dies) will take on the title roles alongside two of the stars of the production’s London Palladium run, Dean John-Wilson (Aladdin) who will reprise his performance as Lun Tha and Cezarah Bonner (Miss Saigon) who returns as Lady Thiang, the King’s head wife. Marienella Phillips (Carmen) will play Tuptim while Kok-Hwa Lie (2020 UK tour of The King And I) will return to the role of Kralahome, with 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, Kitt Pakapom, Prem Rai, Ria Tanaka, Hiromi Toyooka, Jasmine Triadi, Jensen Tudtud, Qinwen Xue and Jason Yang-Westland.
Harry Altoft, Dexter Barry, Max Ivemey and Charlie McGuire will play Anna’s son Louis with Bethany Campbell, Coco Bridger, Cody Concha, Ethan Fung, Dulcie-Bella Hackley, Caitlin Lau, Khun Cho Lwin, Angelica Quynh An Nguyen, Tenzin Noryang, Sabri Leonel Puci, Niall Rina, Francis Benedict Sarte, Mia Snowdon, Yuen Zhai and Phoebe Zhao-Welsh as the Royal children.
Following on from its record-breaking season at the London Palladium in 2018 and its first record-breaking, UK and international tour in 2019, Bartlett Sher’s acclaimed Broadway production is due to begin its second tour at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre on 4 February 2023.
The tour will then visit Wimbledon, Liverpool, Birmingham, Llandudno, High Wycombe, Bristol, Dartford, Bradford, Southend, Cardiff, Hull, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Stoke-On-Trent, Southampton, Belfast and Dublin. Further UK cities and details of a major international tour will be announced soon.
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 had its debut 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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