NEW YORK (AP) – The cast on national tour with Lincoln Center’s “The King and I” includes an actor who has played two different roles in the musical on Broadway, a one-time miraculous nanny and an actress who adored the film version as a child because she saw herself.
The Tony Award-winning revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic tale of clashing cultures has hit the road for a 19-city tour starring Jose Llana as the king, Laura Michelle Kelly as Anna and Manna Nichols as Tuptim.
The musical’s story centers on an Englishwoman who travels to Siam in the 1860s to teach the children of the king. The revival won the Tony Award in 2015 starring Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe. Its score by Rodgers and Hammerstein includes “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” ”Getting to Know You” and “Shall We Dance.”
Llana took over from Watanabe as the king on Broadway in two stints and knows the show very well: He made his Broadway debut in a 1996 revival, playing the part of Lun Tha, an envoy from the Prince of Burma.
“This show and ‘The King and I’ in general means a lot to me, personally,” he said. “So many lessons can be learned from how the King and Anna, from two different worlds, find common ground and find a way to live peacefully.”