The King and I - London Palladium / Tour / Dominion

Sort of not surprised - the last tour didn't sell super super well, and it was a little soon to bring the same production back out again so not surprised they've gone for a name.

The only singing I've heard of her was on the Cinderella cast recording, and she was singing garbage material so who knows whether she actually can do it...

4m 20secs

Funnily enough, they were actually written to be easy, in a more limited range so that Gertrude Lawrence could sing them. The more vocally demanding songs were written for Tuptim and Lun Tha to make up for it. 

A wonderful show, seen from the front row at Wimbledon on Monday. I've seen this production many times and in several countries, but this was my first time seeing this since the previous tour ended prematurely. I even loved every moment of The Small House of Uncle Thomas.

Maria Coyne is an excellent Anna and a beautiful singer and dancer. Very lucky to have finally seen her in the lead role, having missed out during the last tour. Many of the cast are returners, some looking a bit more weathered than their last runs. I have seen Darren Lee before as the King and he has fabulous diction. Dean John-Wilson has kept himself in shape. Cezarah Bonner continues to be such a perfect Lady Thiang.

This version of the tour has seen a few cost savings, possibly so it can play smaller venues. The ship has a different design, the Bhudda statue is now a board, there are fewer young children (and two of the adult ensemble doing their best to age down) etc. But it all works and the music is as sharp and timeless as ever.

I know some in the audience were disappointed not to see Helen George, especially as I didn't spot a single sign in the building advertising that Maria Coyne was on. I know the audience were won over. I booked before the cast was announced and I did spot the cover date on the ATG website, so it was not a surprise to me. I would go back again later this week, but the Wimbledon run is close to sold out and the remaining seats are outside my price range. But I will certainly catch this at a later venue (if this is not sold out already).

Helen George out already?

Seems odd - surely the local press will be there for the first night in each venue, why would the "name" miss it?

We've booked for this in November. It's advertised as being with a "full orchestra". I'd be interested to know from any attendees on the current leg of the tour what that means. I'd hope 22 musicians......

Yeah, looked today and there are only upper circle seats left. Think I’ll give it the swerve if I have to sit in agony for 3 hours! (Or I could have just booked sooner!)

I wasn’t going to go seeing as I saw it at the palladium but I’ve crumbled and booked for Manc. Selling pretty well given that it’s still some time away.
I wonder if Miss George will deign to show up or whether she’ll have somewhere more important to be

A few thoughts on last night's viewing in Liverpool. I only booked for this a few days ago and got a front row stalls seat for half price and overall, I really thought this was a really good production of this iconic musical and I got more out of this viewing of a Lincoln Theatre production than the My Fair Lady one last year at the London Coliseum.

We had the full cast on last night. With Helen George as Anna, I enjoyed her performance both with the acting and singing and was getting really positive reviews from other patrons at the end of the show. Darren Lee was a really enjoyable king balancing out a wonderful mean and moody performance alongside some nice humour to the character. I can't really fault any of the other cast on last night and really are a joy to watch. Cezarah Bonner as Lady Thiang was a really great Lady Thiang and following on from his recent stint in Hope Mill's "Passion", it was great to see Dean John-Wilson back on stage.

Bringing this wonderful score to life was the job of the 11-piece orchestra. I've got no complaints with the sound here and the sound mixing was spot on in my opinion.

Certainly, there did appear to be a few cost savings in this production as Dr Tom noted. The boat and Buddha in particular were the main ones and even though an obviously older actor was playing the child prince, I really didn't feel this detracted from my enjoyment of the show.

I love the show generally, so I'm happy to see it coming back into London - but I must say I am quite surprised!

Is that the future of the Dominion then? Basically just an additional tour stop for every show going?

Side note - the tour set for this is very underwhelming. Very scaled down. The boat at the opening is now more of a dinghy and those grand Buddha statues are just painted flats.

It's not a terrible shout in fairness. It's such a big venue that unless it gets a show like Wicked or Lion King, nothing can sustain a long run there. Just gladly it isn't the third return of Dirty Dancing this time.