Classic tale of monarch, tutor to come alive in ‘The King and I’ in Flatwoods
FLATWOODS – Flatwoods Productions will present the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The King and I” for four performances this Saturday and Sunday and Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 24-25. An optional dinner theater will be held on Saturday, Sept. 24. The Saturday performances are at 8 p.m. with the Sunday performances and matinees at 2 p.m.
The shows will be held at the Curfew Grange building in Flatwoods across from the cemetery. It is located at the corner of Route 201 south and Buena Vista Road, Flatwoods.
Ticket prices for adults and children are available at the door for all performances.
On Saturday Sept. 24, there will be the dinner option for an additional cost
Dinner will include salad, stuffed chicken breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, bread, butter, beverage and dessert.
Dinner is served beginning at 6 p.m. and reservations are necessary. Groups of any size are welcome. Call 724-785-6896 for more details.
“The King and I,” the tender-hearted account of the relationship between a domineering 19th century Asian monarch and the widowed English governess he hires to tutor his children, was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first show written expressly for a star.
However, Yul Brynner, who originated the role of the Siamese king and has become forever identified as it through numerous revivals, was not the instigator of the project.
The star was Gertrude Lawrence, who had read Margaret Landon’s book “Anna and the King of Siam” and had seen the 1946 film with Irene Dunn and Rex Harrison. She suggested it to Cole Porter, who declined it, and Rodgers and Hammerstein took up the creative reins.
For the role of the King, they approached Rex Harrison, Alfred Drake, Noel Coward and all were unavailable or not interested.
Mary Martin suggested Yul Brynner with whom she had worked on a musical entitled “Lute Song.”
He came to the audition, sat down, crossed his legs, plunked one whacking chord on a guitar and began to howl in a strange language that no one could understand.
He looked savage, he sounded savage and they had found their King.
While working out of town, they dropped several heavy ballads and added, “Getting to Know You,” which was reworked from a rejected song in “South Pacific.”
Gertrude Lawrence kept going flat while singing, and Jerome Robbins was a new comer working in the “Small House” ballet.
Many people told them not to go into New York with the show but they happily ignored all the advice, and it went on to have the fourth longest run of any Broadway show in the 1950s.
Yul Brynner won both the Tony Award for best actor in a musical for the stage version and later best actor in a movie when the film debuted in 1956. He returned to the role many times during his lifetime.
In 1977, he returned to the role in a touring version with Constance Towers and ran for 696 performances. In 1984 another tour brought him back to Broadway, and he received a special Tony Award in 1985 for having played the King 4,525 times.
He even appeared in the role for a short-lived CBS series titled “Anna and the King,” which ran for 13 episodes in 1972, with Samantha Eggar as the TV Anna.
Not surprisingly, the actor died while on tour with the show in 1985.