The King and I, plus Us.

My cousins bought me and mom "The King and I" tickets at the Pantages Theatre as their Christmas present to us.  It was one of the better Christmas present I have received.  Well I did not know it then before seeing the live show.  I saw the movie version with Yul Brenner and it was just OK in my book.  Well I did not care for the casting of the movie to begin with.  Yul Brenner for the King of Siam?  Rita Moreno as TupTim?  Terry Saunders for Lady Thiang?  I mean they are not even Asians!  The only Asian was Prince Chulalongkorn.  They cast anybody who was not blond and blue eyes as Thais in that movie.

So I was very pleased to see real Asians playing Asian roles in the revival of "The King and I" in theatre.  Jose Llana as King of Siam was funny with a good powerful voice.  Love his rendition of "A Puzzlement".  Laura Michelle Kelly was Anna Leonowens was perfect.  To begin with, she is really English so she did not have to fake the accent.  Singing was superb as well.  The rest of the cast gave good performances very apropos to their roles.  Although I must mention Anthony Chan as Prince Chulalongkorn was kind of overacting.

I especially like "The Small House of Uncle Thomas" number.  It was just superbly entertaining.   Also liked "Shall We Dance", "Getting to Know You" and "I Whistle a Happy Tune" numbers.  I think the success of the numbers has to do with the set design and the way it seamlessly flow from one scene to another.  It did not feel awkward and forced.

I watch the movie version just before seeing it in theatre and I find them very similar. The dialogue and the scenes were almost the same so it may have helped me enjoy the Theatre version because of familiarity.

I enjoyed this show and I will give it a 4.25 out of 5 stars.