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PRESENTED BY: Denver Center Attractions WHERE: Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets WHEN: Wednesday-Jan. 4. Previews 8 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. Thursday. Opens Thursday. Most shows 8 p.m.; Tues.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees, but times vary. RESERVATIONS: $10-$65. 1-303-893-4100 or 1-303-830-8497. Outside Denver, 1-800-641-1222. Groups, 20 or more, 1-303-446-4829. |
Denver Post Theater Critic
Dec. 8 - When people saw the Tony Award-winning revival of "The King and I'' in New York a couple of seasons ago, they couldn't stop talking about how erotic it was.
Not that there's anything in it that's inappropriate for children, but the magnetism between the king of Siam and Anna the governess is electrically apparent long before the "Shall We Dance?'' moment when he reaches out and clasps his hand around her waist.
That '90s reinterpretation of the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein show (which also won several Tony Awards) is part of director Christopher Renshaw's fresh approach to the musical theater classic.
The musical is based on the diaries of Anna Leonowens, an English widow who moved to 1860s Siam with her young son to become the governess for the king's many children.
Now on national tour starring Hayley Mills and Vee (Victor) Talmadge, "The King and I'' will be presented by Denver Center Attractions at the Buell Theatre Dec. 10- from Wednesday through Jan. 4.
"I read it as a very sexy story,'' Renshaw said. "Thailand (formerly Siam) is a very sexy place.
"I see this as one of the great love stories, and one with lots of sexual energy.
"She's an English romantic and he's a full-blown male animal. She thinks of love in a different way, and he's a man with 150 wives.''
Renshaw has long been fascinated with the history and culture of Thailand. "I first visited there in 1990,'' he said, "and I kept going back. I stayed there for three months once.
"It's such a beautiful place and such a barbarous place.''
During a telephone interview from Salt Lake City where "The King and I'' was winding up a successful engagement, Renshaw dispensed factual tidbits about Thailand that he described as "a land of the free that's never been invaded.''
The tradition-steeped country has some very strict beliefs. The musical is banned there, Renshaw said, "because the people feel the original "Mrs. Anna' didn't represent them truthfully in her diaries.''
"They are Buddhists, and to them the king is almost a god. He is not supposed to be represented on stage.''
However, Renshaw said, "traveled Thais and educated Thais enjoy it.''
For most people "The King and I'' is the only way Thailand is represented in the West.
Renshaw said the king on whom the tale is based "was a highly religious, intelligent and devout man. His son (also depicted in the musical) became the greatest ruler in Thai history and did abolish slavery. He also made tremendous inroads in his nation being both accepted and respected in the West.''
One of the most charming aspects of the musical are the tiny child actors who play the king's multitudinous offspring and are first introduced in "The March of the Siamese Children.''
Asked the secret of his success with the show's children, Renshaw said, "I let them be what they are - themselves - with all their little quirks and individual traits.''
Not only do the children win the affection of every adult in the audience, seeing all these kids on stage as an integral part of the action "is a good way of getting children into theaters,'' Renshaw said.
On the emotional level, he said, "audiences have some understanding of what a different culture this is, and that the West isn't always right,'' something he thought wasn't clearly brought out in the Academy Award-winning 1956 movie that followed the original stage production. "The movie was sort of plastic,'' he said.
"All of us can profit from the culture of the East.
"People go in expecting the opulence (the richly staged musical shines with 30-foot tall jeweled elephants, lavish murals, mirrored tiles and imported fabrics from Thailand and India), but they come out realizing there is more in this piece than they thought.
"The piece has more depth; (it shows) the culture clash, and that there's good and bad in both cultures.
"Your response to the piece is to forget everything that went before,'' Renshaw said of his revival that won four Tony Awards. "The ghost of Yul Brynner (who originated the role of the king and also played it in the movie) was never in my mind. The first thing I tell the actor playing the king is, "Never put your hands on your hips.'‚''
The success of the revival, Renshaw said, "proved there is life for this musical after Yul Brynner.''
"I think it's the best piece Rodgers and Hammerstein ever wrote."