Donna Murphy in THE KING & I

i'm sure Donna put a lot of herself into Fosca, so naturally Fosca's character would seem like it was carried into Anna, but i think think that she puts herslef into each role. I haven't seen the production, but there is such a difference of intonation in her voice between the Passion soundtrack and the King and I Soundtrack that I have to come to the conlcusion (for my own sake) that people think of her Anna as being fosca-like because of her previous fame for the role.

I think so too Isabella. From the very little I recall, I remember a Fosca like Anna at all...just darker and more layered than Anna conventionally is. I'd only seen the movie at that point and at no point was I confused by the "scary weird Anna" on stage.

Ms. Murphy takes everything into consideration. She's very research and exploration oriented. I've never seen her do the same character twice (at least in her film/tv work) so I find it difficult to believe her Anna was like her Fosca.

Sometimes people just get a little flack when they take risks.

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Updated On: 1/1/06 at 12:45 AM

Donna Murphy was great in the role and her singing was the kind that makes you go around chirping that Broadway singers are the best theatre has.

Of particular note was the presence of Randall Duk Kim, the great classicist actor from Hawaii, who played the role of the King's advisor. Director liked him so much he had him onstage much of the time. Deep full rich voice. Does voiceovers for like BBC and other productions. He ran a Shakespeare company with his lady significant other in like Michigan or a nearby state for a number of years.

A cheap-looking (particularly its costumes), poorly-directed production with staging ripped off from MISS SAIGON. Gertrude Lawrence had nothing on Murphy, whose off-pitch singing was intolerable.


Mayella Ewell
Maycomb, Alabama

i think i'm slightly off today because i really don't understand what TheEnchantedHunter meant in the post. i have a feeling that you're on murphy's side but what did you meant about: "A cheap-looking (particularly its costumes), poorly-directed production with staging ripped off from MISS SAIGON." is that what you thought of the production with murphy?

Isabella, EnchantedHunter wasn't pleased with Donna Murphy's singing judging from the comment "Gertrude Lawrence had nothing on Murphy, whose off-pitch singing was intolerable." I like Murphy's singing (on recording) a lot lot more than Gertrude Lawrence's, although the show was written for her back in the 40s. What Donna does with "Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You?" is just far from superb, it's just orgasmic. I don't see how the combination of comedy, melancholy, warmth, and sadness she puts in the song is reminiscent of what she did with Fosca in any way.

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I just saw this thread on a search I did to see if anyone had discussed this issue and I am surprised someone would accuse Donna Murphy of being off-pitch. She was a completely different Anna than Gertrude Lawrence from what I know about the production history of The King and I. Murphy made Anna a darker role yes, but she also explored Anna's sexual tension with the king which no one had done on Broadway before (actually this was more the director's idea which he had tried on an Australian production). I had seen Murphy when I was kind of very young in Passion because my dad is a theater guy and he said he'd die if his son didn't see THE Donna Murphy in THE Broadway show. And when I went to see The King and I, it started with the lady from Passion singing a song titled "I Whistle A Happy Tune," and I was disappointed, by the time she did "Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You?" I was completely absorbed in the story and had forgotten that Anna was played by that woman who did Fosca. She was magnificent, and while I enjoyed Daphne in Rent, I think the Tony belonged to Murphy without a question.