Dallas Summer Musicals is celebrating its 75 anniversary by self-producing the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, The King & I, for the first time in 50 years. The musical had its Texas debut on July 19, 1965 and was produced at the same venue by the late impresario, Tom Hughes, where it received a glowing review by the late John Rosenfield, then the arbiter of all the arts extant in Dallas.
The play relates the story of King Mongkut of Siam (Alan Ariano), labeled by the Western world as a barbarian for his habit of oppressing his many wives as slaves and being overbearing to all who dwelled in his kingdom. Wishing to change this world view he employed the services of the English widow, Anna Leonowens (Rachel York), to instruct his wives and children in worldly ways. She arrives on the ship from Singapore with her pre-teen son, Louis (Aidan Winn). To allay their fears of arriving in a strange new land they sing the uplifting song, “I Whistle a Happy Tune.” Many comedic and dramatic moments clash as the king tries to reconcile his desire to change the world view of himself with the reluctance to change his behavior. Anna exerts her will and stands up to him, and they finally reach a mutual détente aided by the explanation by the king's head wife, Lady Thiang (Tami Swartz), of how the king's mind works and how best to approach him, as she sings “Something Wonderful.”
The sub-plot involves Tuptim (Yoonjeong Seong), a young woman delivered to the king as a gift from the King of Burma. She is brought to King Mongkut by Lun Tha (Devin Ilaw) with whom she is in love. She confides in Anna who understands her plight as Anna sings "Hello Young Lovers." We learn of Tuptim and Lun Tha's planned escape as they sing "We Kiss in a Shadow." Devin Ilaw has a mesmerizing singing style infused with feeling. The most delightful number comes early in act one in “The March of the Siamese Children” as they all parade onto the stage to meet Anna; they are so adorable they put a broad smile on everyone's face. All the children go through their paces flawlessly. As Anna sings “Getting to Know You" to them in the schoolroom scene, their responses are charming, and the choreography is fine-tuned.
Sir Edward Ramsey (Ted Deasy) arrives, along with his colleagues, to check out the King's progress. It seems Anna and Sir Edward were an item prior to her marriage to Tom. The King, having taken Anna's advice to entertain the English diplomats, is ready to present Tuptim's play, a ballet titled, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas”--Tuptim's passive-aggressive adaptation of Uncle Tom's cabin to highlight the evils of slavery. It is unarguably the highlight of the production. The costumes for this number are lavish, and the dancing is spectacular.
As the king lies dying, he anoints Crown Prince Chulalongkorn (Major Curda) to take over. He is initially fearful and reticent but quickly regains his composure and exerts his father's power tempered with the lessons he has been taught by Mrs. Anna, and we know Siam is going in a new direction. I predict that Mr. Curda is also going in a promising direction.
Rachel York is reminiscent of a young Julie Andrews and is in a league of her own in this production. Tami Swartz has a magnificent singing voice and a mesmerizing stage presence as Lady Thiang. Yoonjeong Seong as Tuptim is quite believable as the slave who suffers the indignities of her lot, but her voice, while lovely, is more suited to opera than to the Broadway-style musical.
The major disappointment in this show is the lackluster, totally non-imaginative sets. I saw more lavish scenic design two weeks ago in a small black box theater at the Bath House Cultural Center. The set here gave me the impression that someone was thinking: “if we have enough glorious music and lavish costumes and a star of Rachel York's stature nobody will notice the cheap sets,” that is, for a production of this magnitude.
