LYRIC STAGE PRESENTS THE KING AND I
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, II
Based on 'Anna And The King Of Siam' by Margaret Landon
June 19-28, 2009
Following
last season's triumph of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL,
Lyric Stage Founding Producer Steven Jones has reunited director
Cheryl Denson and music director Jay Dias for the world premiere
of the newly restored THE KING AND I, featuring a 35-piece orchestra
playing the original Robert Russell Bennett orchestrations.
Performances are June 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 @ 8:00 PM and June
21 & 28 @ 2:30 PM. Performances are in the Irving Arts Center's
Carpenter Performance Hall, 3333 N. Mac Arthur Blvd,. Irving,
Texas. Tickets, priced from $20-$50, can be Ordered
Online by Clicking Here or by calling the box office
at 972-252-2787.
Bruce Pomahac, Director of Music for The Rodgers & Hammerstein
Organization says, "THE KING AND I is one of the most exciting
and important restorations R & H has ever undertaken. For
four years we've been tracking down and examining the original
Broadway scripts, scores and instrumental parts in order to
put back into the show pieces of the puzzle that have been missing
for over fifty years. To that effect, we are indeed fortunate
to once again be joining forces with producer, Steven Jones,
director, Cheryl Denson and musical director Jay Dias. A restoration
of a Broadway score isn't complete until it is performed, and
Lyric Stage's June production will be the final step in polishing
and perfecting this new edition of one of Rodgers & Hammerstein's
greatest musicals. When the curtain rises in Irving in June,
Lyric Stage's audiences will be seeing and hearing THE KING
AND I as it has not been seen and heard since it opened on Broadway
in 1951."
"The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Lyric
Stage a grant enabling us to assemble a full 35-piece orchestra
so Robert Russell Bennett's orchestrations can be heard as they
were originally written," says Lyric Stage Founding Producer
Steven Jones. "We have a tremendous cast, headed by Luann
Aronson (Christine in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera and
the original Betty Schaeffer in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset
Boulevard at his Sydmonton Festival) as Mrs. Anna and Joe Nemmers,
one of North Texas' finest actors, as the King." Ya Han
Chang is Lady Thiang, Jung Eun Kim is Tup Tim and Adrian Li
Donni is Lun Tha. THE KING AND I ensemble includes Brian Mathis,
Greg Dulcie, Jack VanGorden, Bryse Burris, Edward Andrion, Tom
Timbol, Ben Giddings, Stephen Langton, Thomas Nanthavongdouangsy,
David Lee Staggers, Sergio Antonio Garcia, Souk Burrowns, Jason
Mayfield, Addison Faith Reed, Kelly McCain, Katherine Gentsch,
Molly Welch, Amanda Brown, Angela Moore, Mary McElree, Amy Wells,
Erin Nishimura, Mallory Moser, Elizabeth Judd, Kathryn Frady,
Lauren Godfrey, Pamela Langton, Hani Park, Lucia Welch, Vernecia
Vernon, Rachel Legaspi, Kyle Hughes, Mei Li West, Tyler Rouse,
Lana Staggers, Adrienne Morales, Anthony Carrillo and Ashton
Miramontes. Choreography is by Ann Nieman.
For their first musical based on a true story, Rodgers &
Hammerstein turned to the popular novel Anna and the King of
Siam by Margaret Landon, which was based on the memoirs of Anna
Leonowens, a 19th century Englishwoman who became governess
to the children of the King of Siam. Stage star Gertrude Lawrence
brought the project to the team with the desire to star as Mrs.
Anna.
Casting Gertrude Lawrence as Anna was the easy part. Finding
a King was another story. Noel Coward, Rex Harrison and Alfred
Drake all turned the role down. Mary Martin recommended Yul
Brynner, a young dancer that she had worked with in Lute Song,
for the role. At his audition, Brynner walked out onto the stage
of the St. James Theatre, sat cross-legged on the floor and,
in Richard Rodgers' words, "plunked one whacking chord
on his guitar and began to howl in a strange language that no
one could understand...We had our king."
THE KING AND I opened at Broadway's St. James Theater on March
29, 1951, and ran for three years (1,246 performances). It won
five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and honors for both
of its stars. Ultimately, the musical that was conceived by
one star, and made a star out of another, has transcended its
star vehicle status to live on as a classic in its own right.
Oscar Hammerstein II wrote to his partner, Richard Rodgers in
1956: "I am convinced that this is our best work. I have
a kind of humble feeling of not knowing how we did it. It has
more wisdom as well as heart than any other musical play by
anybody. It will remain 'modern' long after any of our other
plays."
Performances of THE KING AND I are June 19, 20, 25, 26 and
27 @ 8:00 PM and June 21 & 28 @ 2:30 PM. Performances are
in the Irving Arts Center's Carpenter Performance Hall, 3333
N. Mac Arthur Blvd,. Irving, Texas.
Following
last season's triumph of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL,
Lyric Stage Founding Producer Steven Jones has reunited director
Cheryl Denson and music director Jay Dias for the world premiere
of the newly restored THE KING AND I, featuring a 35-piece orchestra
playing the original Robert Russell Bennett orchestrations.
Performances are June 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 @ 8:00 PM and June
21 & 28 @ 2:30 PM. Performances are in the Irving Arts Center's
Carpenter Performance Hall, 3333 N. Mac Arthur Blvd,. Irving,
Texas. Tickets, priced from $20-$50, can be