re: Lansbury in 'The King and I'

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:18pm

I was wondering if any of the baby boomers on here saw Angie in "The King and I". How was she?
Updated On: 11/1/06 at 12:18 PM

[kooky]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:38pm

No, and I for one resent the old fogies remark.

HOW OLD IS AN OLD FOGY ANYWAY?

I will however be seeing Miss Lansbury on Sunday the 5th for her special benefit show
for the Acting Company. Updated On: 10/30/06 at 12:38 PM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 1:12pm

Although I did see the revival, it was earlier in the run with Yul Brynner and Constance Towers. People I have talked with who did see Angela say she was wonderful as always. Her King was Michael Kermoyan (Brynner's understudy) and several years later he played the King in a summer stock production here and he did an interview for my radio show. He talked in glowing terms about Lansbury and explained that because Brynner was on holiday they needed a "star" for the show. It does seem a role she was born to play.

Now here's someone I would NOT have thought an obvious choice: Betty White. Apparently she played Anna in a summer stock production in the 1960s. I'm sorry - but I can't get my head around the idea of Sue Ann Nivens in the court of Siam.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 1:32pm

Oh...I remember it well. The Uris Theatre.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 1:38pm

Ha! I have that very poster framed in my home!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:33pm

She looks radiant in that picture. I had seen the show a couple weeks before she went in.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:47pm

No, and I for one resent the old fogies remark.

You'll get over it

Oh...I remember it well. The Uris Theatre.

Well? How was she? I can't believe nobody recorded this! What a waste!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:53pm

I vaguely remember the Daily News giving both Angela and her co-star good reviews.

[AugustBurns2]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:58pm

Wow! I didn't know that Angela Lansbury was in the revival of The King and I (even for a very unfortunately short period).

Love that poster!

Thanks for the extra trivia --

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 4:11pm

Old Fogies... One of the reasons quality parents teach respect to those who are older is because someday.. if all goes well, you will be old too.

That said..

THE KING AND I is really Anna's show, the Donna Murphy revival tried to return the spotlight to Anna with mixed success. I would have loved to have seen Lansbury.

I understand that she had some of the legendary Shariff costumes re-designed because she didn't think they were flattering.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 4:13pm

Old Fogies... One of the reasons quality parents teach respect to those who are older is because someday.. if all goes well, you will be old too.

That's just something old people say.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 4:17pm

Ciaron McCarthy, don't worry... "You'll get over it."

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 4:18pm

I was never under it. I can't wait to be an old fogie. You shouldn't take thing so seriously gramps. =)

[Norma D]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 5:18pm

I never knew Angela was in 'The King and I'--one of my all time fave shows!! I second the wish that they had made a recording of her in it!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 5:27pm

Here's an "old fogey" checking in:

Yes, I saw Angela in THE KING AND I. She was marvelous.

"Can I Tell You What I Think Of You?" was performed with more intensity than usual. Her relationship with the children was extremely warm, and when she finally confronted the King (Michael Kermoyan) she was extremely effective. The death scene was very touching.

My greatest memory of the show was sitting in Miss Lansbury's dressing room at thge Uris afterwards and eating the cheesecake she's baked that morning.

What a doll!

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 5:33pm

oooh Ciaron got disssed!
I wish i could have seen her, I am jelous of the fogies!

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 8:24pm

Where did I get dissed? WHERE!? =)

Dollypop is that story true? If so that is pretty damn special. Lansbury bakes?!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 9:16pm

The first time I met Angela was after her GYPSY in London. When she heard I was from the USA, she invited me to join her for "a pint" at the local pub. I helped her on with her raincoat (it was London Fog) and when we walked through the stage door, she introduced me as her "friend from the States". She's a wonderful lady.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 9:38pm

Don't doubt DollyPop.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 10:38pm

.

Updated On: 11/1/06 at 10:38 PM

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 3:37pm

When I saw her halfway through her three-week run, I didn't think she was all that invested in it, it all seemed pretty surface, except for "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?", which was great. Of course, she hadn't had much rehearsal. Later I was told that by the end of the run she was really great.

Unfortunately, the production around her wasn't in great shape, except for Michael Kermoyan, who had alreaady played the King at City Center opposite Consance Towers and probably other places as well. He was awesome and i suspect in many ways better than Brynner. Sacrilege, I know, but he could really sing and his acting brought me to tears (in a good way).

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 3:39pm

That's "Old Faggy" not "Old Fogie" to you, Miss Youth-but-No-Beauty.

Yeah yeah yeah. We all know if you were in a bar you would be all over me. I'm pretty hot and I have a sick body. The old ones loooooove that. =)

Wanna go out?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 3:55pm

.

Updated On: 11/1/06 at 03:55 PM

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 4:12pm

I'll pass. You think you're cute but you're not.

I don't think i'm "cute". I know I am hot. =)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 4:57pm

Hardly.