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Broadway Balances America brought to you by
Broadway Across America, bringing the best of Broadway to
a city near you.
Time now for another installment of Broadway
Balances America, our series that takes you behind the scenes
of some of most beloved broadway musicals as they travel across
the country and into your local theaters.
The tony award winning revival, Rodgers & Hammerstein's
"The King and I!" tells the story of a schoolteacher who
travels from England to Siam to serve as governess to the king's
many children.
East meets West as their worlds collide in this
stunning new production.
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From screen to stage this Rodgers and Hammerstein
classic has been beautifully re-imagined and based on the
1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam, by Margaret Landon.
It carries us away to a foreign
land full of dazzling song and dance and features strong female
characters who realize the possibility of change.
And it really is this kind of strange
mid-19th century story about King in a kingdom that's in
transition.
It's changing from a more traditional culture to a
modern culture.
He's beseeched by outsiders, the English, the
French, the whoever trying to take over his country, and he
feels he has to kind of modernize his country so he
hires the schoolteacher to teach all the children English and
educate them.
So you have the schoolteacher from England,
meeting the great King of Siam, and you begin a story between
the two of them.
And what a story it is!
Broadway star, Laura Michelle Kelly, plays Anna
the strong willed schoolteacher.
So Anna leaves her home to come to this crazy conflict ridden
country to change the lives of all of these people so she's
coming out of it with a very strong mind and she knows what
she wants and what she is doing and what she wants to say.
And Lady Thaing has her own opinions
herself about how things should be run and she almost is in
opposite mind to Anna.
She's very strong and I love that you
know celebrating two powerful female roles and her support for
the king is in one way is as equally important but very
different from Anna's.
(music) Joan Almedilla plays the King's
head wife, Lady Thiang.
I believe Lady Thiang she is a
puppet master not in a manipulative way.
She has a system.
She works systematically.
Her moves are calculated and also if it was an
orchestra she is the conductor and she knows when something is
off in the palace and she fixes it and she knows when and how to
deal with Mrs Anna because the king likes to be challenged and
Mrs Anna challenges the king and because of that it makes the
king a better person.
(music) And the King in the middle of
these dynamic ladies, is played by Jose Llana.
One of the biggest things in the show is
empathy.
You know how can you bridge a gap is by maybe putting
yourself in the shoes of a person you feel like you have in
conflict with but I think once Anna and the King and even Lady
Thaing as well they're able to form these friendships because
they see the other side and maybe they can empathize with
them.
That's where those friendships are formed and then
we all really want the same thing.
We all wants safety, we all want love, we all want
community and I think that's where the friendship really
becomes strengthened in the story.
(music) The
story and show in this grand new
production are truly opulent.
This was such a big production in New York.
Are you bringing this same excitement on the
road?
I think that the quality of it in a more intimate
surrounding actually makes it feel more luxurious and richer
than it did in New York.
This is a very general, one of the
general sets.
It all takes place basically with in the surround
of the royal palace of Siam.
The palace was actually surrounded
by a white wall with these pickets on the top of it so we
decided that with all of the gold it was nice to have the
purity of the white wall at the back.
It's always there.
As for the tony award winning
costumes...
This is one of the largest shows I have ever worked
on.
There are over 350 costumes in the show and they're all
custom-made, specifically built for the actor, there are silks
and satins and linen and beading and it's just huge.
When people come to see the King and I they
expect a certain production value.
Anna has seven big lavish dresses.
The king has seven or eight different looks.
Designed by Tony Award winner Katherine
Zubber who won her sixth Tony for this production.
It's a very royal look and when the king
first enters the top of the stage and all you see is this
beautiful robe reflecting.
This is the iconic ball gown for Anna
when she goes to dance with the King.
It is made of 25 yards of silk satin just in the skirt
alone.
The bodice itself is built as a corset and it's on
top of a corset.
Each of the beaded fringe are all hand done.
The whole dress weighs about 40 pounds.
So there is one, two, three, four layers that go into
the dress.
(music) Just as there
are many layers to the story...
It's funny, from the first scene when she comes in and we meet
the king is thrown off balance because he's not used to a women
kind of standing up to him the way that she does.
And for the rest of the show it becomes this
kind of challenging kind of balance of power she constantly
proves her intelligence to him and that she has the ability to
help him if he allows her.
And I think through that they form
this friendship.
And there's a little flirtation involved in
there too and I think the flirtation and the possibilities
of exchanging ideas and having a little fun while they're doing
it.
Is there a favorite moment in the play, is there a favorite
song that you have?
I mean "Shall We Dance" is probably
engrained in my mind from the very first moment I watched it
in the movies from when I was growing up.
To have that moment on stage is amazing.
When the king and Anna first accidentally
they collide.
The first time they've ever had an intimacy or
even been alone to connect like that.
And that's as close as they get to a kiss.
It's powerful, it's a powerful moment
and that's one of my favorites.
It is really about the possibility of change.
You know the King learns from her, and
she learns from the King, and it's a very sophisticated
relationship between the two of them.
The North American Tour of Rodgers and Hammersteins the
King and I is coming soon to a theater near you.
Check out Broadway Across America,
Broadway Balances America or you could always go to our website
the balancing act.com for all of the show information, tour dates
and more!
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