The King and I (2018)

Even though this filmed recording of The King and I was shot and aired in theaters last year, it was shown on PBS just last month for Great Performances. I missed it when it was in theaters – it’s rough when you have maybe two chances at a showing and they’re often both on week nights when your local cinema has a screen to spare – so I’m glad for the opportunity to have seen it here. The recording is of the recent London production, which saw key members of the 2015 Broadway revival reprising their roles.

When the white British woman Anna Leonowens accepts a job teaching the children of the King of Siam, both of them get more than they bargained for. Anna is appalled by the brash dismissiveness of the tempermental King, and the King doesn’t know what to make of someone who doesn’t servilely acquiesce to his every wish. The two continually challenge one another, and as Anna tries to better acquaint the King with western ways, she finds herself starting to root for his potential.

Any discussion of The King and I has to begin with the racism. This production does make an effort at different points to tone down the usual orientalism – some of the lines about the Siamese characters’ Buddhist beliefs, for example, are treated sincerely rather than as jokes, and it’s sadly notable that there’s no yellowface onstage here. (Seriously, in the 2015 revival, Ken Watanabe became the first Asian actor to play the King in a major production. 2015! What is wrong with people?!) However, softening some of the racist humor and being more appropriate with casting, accents, and costuming only go so far. This is a show with racism baked into the story, and there’s very little in the proceedings to suggest Anna and her British ways aren’t the superior ones. While the show itself makes nods to the contrary, such as in Lady Thiang’s “Western People Funny,” these moments are frequently undermined by the overarching story that keeps Anna in a white savior position. There’s perhaps a production that can subvert this narrative (last year’s much-talked-of “Wokelahoma” revival seems to put a new spin on old material,) but this one isn’t it.

Within that, what else is there to say? This is a very capably-mounted production of an old-fashioned show with some lovely music and some bad politics. The sets are impressive, the costumes are lovely, and the dancing is great. Normally, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” feels interminable to me, but here, it kept my attention. Also, not for nothing, the kids were all precious and the presentation of the princes and princesses was adorable.

Kelly O’Hara always sings beautifully, and her voice is well-suited to the lush Rodgers & Hammerstein score. She plays Anna with both warmth and spark, making you see why Anna intrigues the King even as she infuriates him. I’m not as impressed with Ken Watanabe as the King. To be fair, this show was his musical debut (while O’Hara is a theatre pro,) and the script doesn’t give him much good material to work with, but his performance is just a little too broad for me. (The regrettably-short clips I’ve seen from when Marin Mazzie and Daniel Dae Kim took over on Broadway make me wish I could see more of what Kim did with the role.) Ruthie Ann Miles, meanwhile, is excellent as Lady Thiang. Her singing is gorgeous, and she beautifully navigates Lady Thiang’s difficult position. As for the “young lovers” Tuptim and Lun Tha, Na-Young Jeon and Dean John-Wilson bring lovely voices to thin roles.

Warnings

Thematic elements, brief violence, and racial insensitivity.