Any Yul Brynner Fans?

Forgive me if this is a strange question, but I cannot find the answer anywhere. I saw Yul Brynner in "The King and I" in Washington, D.C., and I am trying to figure out what year it was. I've found that he did a Broadway Revival of it in 1985, but there is no mention of the Revival also playing in Washington.

I went to the theater expecting a lack-luster performance -- he had performed the role so many times! -- but I was totally in love with the King by intermission. I've never forgotten it.

I believe it must have been in the 1980s because there were rumors of his illness. My friend pointed out that he did not sing "It's a Puzzlement," which makes me believe it may have been during the Revival period. Does anyone happen to know if the Revival also played in D.C.? Thank you.

Thank you very much. You are probably correct that it was on the national tour in the late 70s. I'm pleased you shared my feeling about his performance. He was exceptional.

Diane

Just an interesting side note, there are theatres around the country where you can still find one dressing room that is painted a certain shade of brown. He had a rider in his contract that his dressing room had to be a specific shade of brown.

Brynner also toured in The King and I in the early 80s in a production that played one and two week stands, but had no intention of coming in to NY. You may have seen that tour. It was referred to as a 'barn tour' because they only played huge 3 and 4 thousand seat theatres.

A friend was an electrician on it and said the first pipe had 32 instruments and 20 were either soft pink or bastard amber. The second pipe had fewer instruments, but about the same ratio of flattering gels.

I also was told that Brynner was actually comparatively easy to get along with so long as you accepted one incontrovertable thing--he was the center of the universe and everything revolved around him.

---

"He was the center of the universe...."

Well, Gertrude Lawrence WAS the center of the universe when "King and I" debuted. "Our Gertie" was beloved by audiences in every english-speaking country and the show was written for her, built around her, carefully pitched to hide her tin ear and probably even lit to make her a goddess onstage. When she died of cancer early into the run of the show, the spotlight switched, as if in a Presidential succession, to Yul. That was Broadway. He was a king when he was king and why should it be any other way (his theory, I suppose, not mine.)

---

Thank you for your responses. I appreciate them all.

Perhaps I did see the "barn tour" because I believe it was in the early 80s.

We saw him in his final tour of "The King and I" and decided to send him a photo as the King and asked for his autograph.
(BTW, the show was indeed written for Gertrude Lawrence, as mentioned above, and her husband wrote in his loving biography of his dearly departed wife, that on her deathbed, she asked the producers to put Yul Brynner's name above the title.) Anyway, some time passed and we did not get the picture back from Mr. Brynner until we came home one day to the sad news that he had passed away. But guess what was waiting for us in the mail? A beautifully autographed photo of Yul Brynner in his most famous role, still prominently displayed in our living room.

Steve18, I'm very glad you found this old thread. Thank you for taking the time to reply. That program fits my recollection.

WOSQ said: "Brynner also toured in The King and I in the early 80s in a production that played one and two week stands, but had no intention of coming in to NY. You may have seen that tour. It was referred to as a 'barn tour' because they only played huge 3 and 4 thousand seat theatres.

A friend was an electrician on it and said the first pipe had 32 instruments and 20 were either soft pink or bastard amber. The second pipe had fewer instruments, but about the same ratio of flattering gels.

I also was told that Brynner was actually comparatively easy to get along with so long as you accepted one incontrovertable thing--he was the center of the universe and everything revolved around him."

 

 

WOSQ  : I am not sure.. but I believe that particular tour did end up back in New York  after all at the Broadway theater.

---

I was lucky enough to see him twice first in 1975 in Odyssey and again in 1979 in king and I. Both in Chicago.

He was the king of Ithaca in the first and the king of Siam in the last.

He was just plain THE KING.