The King and I - London Palladium / Tour / Dominion

Not all the Olivier voters have seen it yet.  I know someone who's on this year's panel and is going to see the show on September 13th evening performance.

I believe Ruthie Ann Miles will be on then.

I want Patti to win the Olivier, and then for the production to transfer to New York with of course a different Bobbi (probably Idina Menzel or someone equally miserable) and then for Patti to win her third Tony. That's all I want.

Programmes are £5

Yesterday evening, Takao Osawa was on as The King (he is usually The Kralahome) and Kok-Hwa Lie was on as The Kralahome. Both scheduled appearances. I believe it was Takao's first time as The King and Kok-Hwa's first time appearing (he is the standby for both The King and The Kralahome).

Naoki Mori was on as Lady Thiang. and Louis was played by Lewis Fernee. The four names were printed and displayed in the box office, which I've not noticed before.

I managed to get a front row aisle seat from TodayTix, same one I've had before, with a great view, although very close to the percussion, so you can see when one of the band members pulls funny faces to try and put the others off.

It was a good show, but came across as a different show.

The audience was rather restrained and didn't laugh at many of the usual moments. I think it was because Takao didn't play The King for laughs so much. I'm not if he was a bit nervous, but he seemed to come in early with some of his lines and didn't really let the jokes settle. It was nice to be able to make out the words clearly.

He wasn't word perfect, although most people wouldn't notice and everything was covered well. The most major slip, unfortunately, was repeating a line during the Act 1 Finale, then changing it to the correct line (the band covered this very well). This set one of the male ensemble (the priests at the back) off in a fit of giggles, with the guys either side of him also struggling to keep a straight face. Again, most people wouldn't have noticed, but I did struggle to take the rest of the show as seriously as normal.

It is quite easy to pick out which of the male ensemble are bored (eyes darting around etc), so I'm sure they enjoy anything that adds a bit of spontaneity to the performance.

You could sense Takao's relief when the dance scene went perfectly. And he played the final scene really well too. I think he'll settle into the role over the next few weeks.

None of the people cracking the whip managed to get a sound out of it.

Kok-Hwa was very good. Naoki Mori was a highlight as always (I still haven't managed to catch Ruthie). As was Kelli singing "Hello Young Lovers".

The first time I've seen Lewis (as Louis). He was perfectly fine, not the best of the children. Always looks strange seeing the very young guy next to Jon Chew (you can tell he's much older than the part he plays when you're up close).

A phone went off quietly during one of the early slow songs. Somewhere close behind me. During the interval I heard it's owner saying she doesn't know how to turn it off, so she just has the sound on quiet. She said she'd put it further into her bag for the second half (luckily it didn't go off again).

The show ran a few minutes longer than usual. I couldn't quite tell why, as several parts seemed faster (I did pick up on the band speeding up a little during the intro to "Shall We Dance" when Takao sped through his lines), but maybe some other sections played slower with the different cast.

Anyway, I'm not sure I would suggest booking specifically to see this cast combination, but the whole show remains as majestic as ever. I also rather hope that Kok-Hwa Lie gets at least one date as The King. If so, I'd be keen to see him.

I saw the matinee yesterday - front row aisle seat thanks to TodayTix and couldn’t have been better, great legroom and incredible view. The show was stunning. Sher is so refined in his direction, and the set has a wonderful sense of understated extravagance (those vines don’t look good up close though). Kelli is everything I’d hoped for and more - a masterful actress and the voice of an angel. Ken was over the top in the most perfect way and I thought nailed the role (and is a much better singer than I was expecting). I was glad to see that Ruthie was on for the show and thought her performance was also top notch, and her voice is beautiful. All three deserve Olivier noms. I was welling up almost every time Kelli sang and in full-on tears at the finale. I even managed to make friends with the guys sat next to me. A truly special afternoon at the theatre.

Sounds like it - A18, slap bang between the percussion and the double bass? I agree, you get quite cosy with the ushers but otherwise a fab seat. At the matinee they were discussing who’d be on in the evening and how it would be the understudy King’s first scheduled show.

I've still yet to go and see this however I really want to, so I'm thinking of booking tickets today to go in the final week. I know next to nothing about the show so I have a question, will I miss anything by sitting in the back row of the stalls? Or would I be better off going for central row D of the grand circle? I don't want to pay all that much and £30 is roughly what I try to pay for most shows I see. Equally I don't want to leave it and chance the TodayTix rush tickets purely because I'm aiming for the final week and usually they sell out far quicker.

Gosh this was emotional last night.
2nd time seeing it for me - primarily went again because I wanted to see Ruthie as Lady Thiang, but it’s so brilliant that it’s worth a return visit.

I think it’s a great production, of a good musical, with a great score. Kelli is one of, if not the best leading lady I’ve ever watched. Hello Young Lovers is pretty perfect, and she is just a delight to watch. Ken is fine I think, I do really struggle with what he says sometimes, but he’s funny and expressive which helps. Na-Young Jeon is good as Tuptim, and really does sing it well, but Dean-John Wilson is not good. He’s got an ok voice, but apart from that it’s forgettable.

However, Ruthie Ann Miles as Lady Thiang is extraordinary. I saw Naoko a few weeks ago and thought she was great, but this is something else. We all know what’s happened to her, and it makes this role all the more emotional - how she has the strength to play a mother and be surrounded by children on stage I will never know. Aided by a walking stick, she commands that role and every moment she is on stage. She broke in Something Wonderful and properly cracked for a second, which was so heartbreaking to see. It felt like Kelli and Ken were guiding her through it, and the reception she got at the end was thoroughly deserved.

Something happened about 10 mins from the end on the audience too - people running up and down the aisles, ushers calling an ambulance, a woman being escorted out on a trolley. All very dramatic.

If you haven’t seen it, go see it. You really should.

I don’t know how Ruthie Ann Miles is doing it. What an incredible woman, I cannot begin to imagine the strength it must take to get up on stage and perform when she’s suffering so much. Superhuman

When tens of thousands of people lose their partners/children/parents every day and still have to go to work - are we all superman too?

I admire her tenacity to continue after such a tragedy but you don’t really have much of a choice. You just have to keep going...

Grief does not make you superhuman - it makes you a warrior and a survivor.

If she suddenly can’t cope or is overtaken with emotion- she has 2500 staring at her. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have that situation in my work place. The pressure of that must be immense.