The King and I for Playhouse

Broadway hit for Playhouse – October 2019

The Tony Award-winning production of The King And I has been announced for a major UK tour, with booking already open for the Edinburgh Playhouse where it arrives for 15 performances in October 2019.

The UK tour kicks off in Manchester in April, going to Dublin in May and Sunderland in June. Headlining on the tour will be Jose Llana, reprising his Broadway performance as The King and, fresh from the West End, Annalene Beechey as Anna.

Annalene Beechey and Jose Llana

The Lincoln Center Theater’s production transferred to London’s Palladium in June 2018 and has just crowned a triumphant run there with the cinema release of the live production of the show becoming the biggest live event in cinemas of 2018.

Bartlett Sher, who directed the Broadway revival, will helm the touring production with the same creative team that was behind the Palladium production.

The production will also play the Glasgow King’s with booking already open for dates in January 2020. After Edinburgh, it will tour to Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Bristol, Woking and Southampton.

The musical is based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, the English schoolteacher who became governess to the children of the King of Siam in the early 1860s, and is the fifth musical collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II.

Whistle a Happy Tune

Set in 1860s Bangkok, The King And I tells of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King and Anna, whom the modernist King, in an imperialistic world, brought to Siam to teach his many wives and children.

The score of what is regarded by many as the greatest musical from the golden age of musicals, includes Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You and Shall We Dance. The production features a company of over 50 and full scale orchestra.

Producer Howard Panter says: “The response from London audiences to this multi award-winning production of The King and I was unprecedented.

“This really is musical theatre at its very best, so we are thrilled that we can now share this wondrous production with theatre lovers up and down the country next year.”

Listing

The King and I
Playhouse, 18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014
Wednesday 16 – Saturday 26 October 2019
Mon – Sat Eve: 7.30pm; Weds 23, Thurs & Sat Mats: 2.30pm.

Tickets and details: Book here.

ENDS

Tags: Annalene Beechey, Bartlett Sher, Jose Llana, News, Playhouse, Production News, Rodgers and Hammerstein, The King And I