Ken Watanabe and Kelli O’Hara in The King and I. Picture: Paul Kolnik
The multi Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I will transfer from Broadway to London next summer following a critically acclaimed 16-month run at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater and a record-breaking sold out USA tour.
Opening at the London Palladium in June 2018, the show will star the two original Lincoln Center Theater lead actors: Kelli O’Hara, who will reprise her Tony Award-winning role of Anna Leonowens, together with Tony nominee (for his role in The King and I) Ken Watanabe, who will star in the title role of The King of Siam. Both will be making their West End debuts.
Kelli O’Hara won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Lincoln Center Theatre’s production of The King and I.
O’Hara has also been nominated for Tony Awards for previous Broadway performances in The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It and The Pajama Game. Additional Broadway credits include The Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde.
Ken Watanabe’s Japanese theatre credits include Dialogue with Horowitz, Hamlet, Shitayamannen-cho monogatari, The Lion in Winter and The Royal Hunt of the Sun. For his work in film, Watanabe received Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for The Last Samurai. His film credits also include Inception, Letters from Iwo Jima, Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins, Godzilla, The Sea of Trees and Transformers.
Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher will once again direct the production, hot on the heels of his work on the Lincoln Center Theater’s world premiere of J.T. Rogers’ hit play Oslo, which opened on Broadway and then transferred via the National Theatre to London’s Harold Pinter Theatre in October this year.
He, along with the creative team behind the award-winning production of South Pacific, will reunite to bring this production to life at the Palladium.
The creative team includes: choreographer Christopher Gattelli, set designer Michael Yeargan, costumer designer Catherine Zuber, lighting designer Donald Holder, sound designer Scott Lehrer, musical supervisor Ted Sperling and musical director Stephen Ridley.
With music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, The King and I – which won four Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical – will open its European premiere at the London Palladium.
The production will open 21 June 2018 (press night is on 3 July 2018) for a limited engagement, booking until 4 August 2018.
One of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s finest works, the piece boasts a score featuring such beloved classics as ‘Getting to Know You’, ‘Hello Young Lovers’, ‘Shall We Dance’, ‘I Have Dreamed’ and ‘Something Wonderful’.
Tickets go on sale on 17 November at 10am.
Readers may also be interested in:
The King and I – Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, New York – Review
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.