Vee Talmadge and Hayley Mills waltz through the ``Shall We Dance?'' number of ``The King and I.'' The national touring production opens at Salt Lake City's Capitol Theatre on Tuesday.

BY NANCY MELICH
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
    Suddenly, Utahns and ``The King and I'' are whistling a common tune. Several, in fact, each bearing the Rodgers and Hammerstein insignia.
    For example, Ogden-born Marie Osmond is heading to Broadway to star as Mrs. Anna.
    Salt Lake City-born Vee Talmadge is heading to the Capitol Theatre -- opening Tuesday night -- to star as the king.
    And last week, Broadway and television star John Cullum, who ruled Siam from the stage at Pioneer Memorial Theatre in 1974, was in the Kingsbury Hall audience applauding Hal Holbrook in ``Mark Twain Tonight!''
    And, as if that were not enough serendipity, how about this: The highest ratings in the country for ABC's Nov. 2 telecast of ``Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella'' (with Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother) were in the Salt Lake City market. New York was second.
    Utahns are not alone in re-connecting with young lovers, beautiful mornings and the fine art of climbing every mountain.
    Trevor Nunn, recently named artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, will guide a production of ``Oklahoma!'' in London next season. On this side of the Atlantic -- and for the first time since 1959 -- ``The Sound of Music'' returns to Broadway Feb. 6, with Rebecca Luker (star of the ``Show Boat'' revival) as Maria.
    New York's renewed interest in ``The King and I'' started Down Under, with Australian producer John Frost and British director Christopher Renshaw (who recently directed the American Conservatory Theatre production in San Francisco of the Broadway-bound ``High Society''.)
    Together they joined with the Australian design team of Brian Thomson (sets), Roger Kirk (costumes) and Nigel Levings (lights), and with British actress Hayley Mills. They toured their innovative project to Australia's major art centers in 1991-92.
    Children's author and composer Mary Rodgers, Richard's daughter, saw the production and phoned home.
    ``You must get down here and see this'' she told Ted Chapin, president and executive director of The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, founded by the team 50 years ago to manage R & H copyrights and supervise productions.
    Chapin did, with other Americans -- namely members of Broadway's hot production team, The Dodgers (whose latest credits include the musical ``Titanic'' and the revival of ``A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'').
    Chapin, speaking from his New York office, said ``Mary Rodgers has those killer Rodgers' ears'' -- she knows when a musical works. Chapin, like many others, remembered Mills from her celluloid years with Disney (starring in such well-known movies as ``Pollyanna,'' ``The Parent Trap'' and ``That Darn Cat''). Chapin wondered about Mills' ability to play such a challenging role as the English teacher in Siam.
    ``It is Mrs. Anna's story,'' said Chapin. ``The king being one of the greatest second leads ever written.''
    Chapin, having been won over by the Australian production, returned to New York and began pounding the pavement to get the show on Broadway. He said among its many attributes is its visual opulence, a ``bold scenic design'' created by Thomson that cannot be underestimated in terms of the show's success.
    He admitted that the show's visual extravagance was dictated somewhat by audiences accustomed to such lavish production values as falling chandeliers and helicopters. But he believes the material holds its own.
    ``As with all Rodgers and Hammerstein's shows, this musical is a story about individual characters and that is why it and the others have lasted.''
    It took four years for this ``King'' to travel 12,000 miles, carrying with it the distinction of being Australia's first theatrical export to Broadway.
    The New York premiere, in April '96, featured Donna Murphy and Lou Diamond Phillips. The production walked away with four Tony awards, including Best Musical revival.
    The tour coming to Salt Lake City Tuesday debuted April 1 in Minneapolis, with Mills returning as Anna and Vee Talmadge portraying the king.
    The marketing campaign puts Mills' name above the title, a change from all those years when the musical was synonymous with the original king, Yul Brynner.
    Talmadge, an articulate and gracious man, spoke without animosity, when describing his second-billing status. He comes to the role as a dramatically trained actor with New York and regional theater credits. He has never been in a Disney film or a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
    Mills' name is clearly more recognizable, but there is another reason for the ``I'' of the King to be more prominent this time around.
    ``Chris [Renshaw] took great pains in directing this version to bring back the original balance between the King and Anna,'' said Talmadge.``The show was originally written for Gertrude Lawrence and it was only because of a fluke that Brynner became so identifiable with the role.''
    Noel Coward, Rex Harrison and Alfred Drake were each approached to portray the erudite monarch. Each, for various reasons, turned down the offer.
    Mary Martin suggested the Russian-born Brynner, a former circus acrobat and nightclub entertainer, to be the king. The bald Brynner, then working as a director at CBS, sat cross-legged on the stage at his audition, playing a guitar and singing gypsy songs.
    Brynner originally received below-the-title billing. After receiving a Tony Award for outstanding featured actor, he was elevated to star status.
    Ironically, both stars died while involved with the show: Lawrence in New York in 1952 of hepatitis and Brynner on tour in 1985 of lung cancer. Brynner performed the role 4,525 times.
    Talmadge, after 230 performances, is becoming more appreciative of the complexities in the writing. A produced playwright as well as an actor, Talmadge labels Hammerstein a brilliant playwright who has written a deep and complex script full of wit.
    ``The themes of racism, genderism and multiculturalism were current at the time and remain so today.''
    Chapin said Rodgers and Hammerstein spent a great deal of time talking about their shows before putting pen to paper, but when that time came, the music and words flowed quickly. The exception was ``The King and I,'' which Rodgers said took him over a year to compose.
    Hammerstein considered the ``Shall We Dance?'' number -- which has come to be the most sensual dance in theater history -- the apotheosis of the relationship between Mrs. Anna and the King of Siam, Chapin said. The English schoolteacher is trying to explain the Western idea of the love of one man for one woman. Hammerstein intended it to introduce a new song that would be Anna's attempt to describe a romantic love totally foreign to the King's idea of relations between man and woman.
    ``Anna tries to tell him that this thing that seems so foolish and impossible to him is happening every hour of the day, every day,'' Chapin said. ``At the end of the song, while he does not admit that he is convinced to any degree, it is apparent that the King has found Anna very attractive and somehow can feel this illogical impulse himself, however vaguely.''
    Talmadge, who had never seen a staged version of the musical before being in it, said he rented the video -- after learning his lines. Self-doubt surfaced momentarily, ``How can I ever do this?'' Then he remembered that men other than Brynner have played the role successfully. While he appreciates, and respects that he has stepped into a role made legendary by Brynner, he hopes his interpretation will strike a chord with audiences.
    The most immediate difference is Talmadge's pate -- it isn't bald.
    ``Having long hair was something I wanted to do and when I spoke with Chris, he had the same idea,'' Talmadge said. ``It was one of those cases of synchronicity between actor and director.''
    While his head will not shine like Brynner's, he shares ethnicity with the former king. Talmadge's father was eastern Russian, his mother Polish. His parents, Max and Hannah, both psychologists, graduated from the University of Utah.
    ``I was born [in Salt Lake City], but we moved when I was 2 weeks old because they could not find work.'' The family eventually settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where his widowed mother still lives.
    When ``The King and I'' opened on Broadway in March 1951, Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times told his readers to not expect another ``South Pacific'' or ``Oklahoma!''
    ``This time, Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Hammerstein are not breaking any fresh trails. But they are accomplished artists of song and words in the theater; and `The King and I' is a beautiful and lovable musical play.''
    Et cetera . . .
    The national touring production of ``The King and I'' plays Salt Lake City's Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, opening at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
    The production runs Tuesday through Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Nov. 23 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; then Nov. 24-26 at 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 28 and 29 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; and Nov. 30 at 2 p.m.
    Tickets for this Theater League of Utah presentation are available through ArtTix for $25 to $60.