Kelli O'Hara Departs King and I on April 17th - Marin Mazzie to step in! — Page 9

I was there on Wednesday night and it was surprisingly empty. I was front row center of the loge and there was hardly anyone in the other sections of the loge. 

 

The performances were great though! Marin was mature and nuanced and Daniel was commanding and charismatic.

Snagged third-row center aisle for tonight. Can't wait to see this again--and with Marin!

I was just thinking that if Lincoln Center does a live broadcast of one of the final performances on the last weekend of King and I for its Live From Lincoln Center series, it could be awkward if Kelli were brought back just so she could appear on the national broadcast. 

When Lincoln Center did this with South Pacific, Kelli just bumped Laura Osnes out of the role. Laura was not that well known yet. With King and I, we would have one star replacing another.

Helle everyone,

I bought a ticket for tonight on TDF only to see afterwards that Marin is out tonight - did not expect that on a Saturday night! Does anyone know how her understudy is?

Thanks so much! Any reports on how Analisa is in the role?

Analisa covered the role during the two weeks between O'Hara's departure and Mazzie's arrival. There's posts about her performance (I think in this thread, actually) and by all accounts, she is excellent. 

I'm still waiting for tickets to come available for mid september. Does anyone know if it's usual for Lct to hold back a new block of tickets for so long? I mean, every other show on broadway (unless it's closing) has open bookings till at least october. I'm starting to worry the show will close september 4th and I'll never be able to see this beautiful revival on Broadway.. Any news pr thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

I heard from a source at brunch today...the K&I is closing in July.

Robbie2 said: "I heard from a source at brunch today...the K&I is closing in July."

What part of July?

 

I saw the matinee today and both Marin and Daniel Dae Kim are excellent. I know I'm in a small minority of people that don't especially care for Kelli O'Hara, but I've never found her to be a particularly engaging performer (though her voice is beautiful). Marin, however, is magnetic. She is so grounded and self-assured and proves to be an equal match for the King over and over again. She is also incredibly warm with the children and Tuptim, and her voice is as gorgeous as ever. Daniel Dae Kim is quite sexy and very funny, and a bit more vulnerable than Ken Watanabe was which I didn't mind at all. 

Marin's strength helped balance the production quite a bit. When I saw the production last year, it felt like Lady Thiang and Tuptim's story because Ruthie Ann Miles and Ashley Park were both doing such beautiful, heartfelt, honest work that wasn't quite being matched. However, this afternoon I felt as engaged with Anna as I did with Lady Thiang and Tuptim, and I found Marin's work with Ashley Park especially touching. I was a little concerned that Marin might read a smidge too old, but she read perfectly and really brought all the layers to Anna that need to be there. I'm so, so glad I got to revisit this production because it's in incredible shape and Marin is pretty much perfect.

I bought a ticket to see this Wednesday night. Can't wait!!!  I was surprised as there was very limited ticket availability. Telecharge only gave me 3 options and all the other seats showed they were unavailable. (I was on my iPad though, and noticed for previous shows for whatever reason, it doesn't always show all available seats like the desktop does.). At any rate I'm very excited. I saw this from the center loge last year with Kelli. It was a great vantage point to take in the gorgeous scenes and set design, but this time I opted for a closer seat in the orchestra. (Row H, house left.). Sounds like Marin's performance is stunning so I'm excited to relatively close for it!!!

qolbinau said: "Slightly off-topic and I know I've said it before, but hearing how easily Marin has replaced Kelli makes me wish that Bridges of Madison Country was more successful so that Marin (and her husband Jason) could have gone in as replacements. I LOVED Kelli in the role, but I think Marin would have turned in a very very fine performance. It feels like a role she was born to play. 

 

"

The very idea of this is making me swoon. I loved Kelli and Steve vocally, but I always felt they read too young. I know that was their goal in casting, but Marin and Jason would've been out of this world!

 

I wonder if Conrad Ricamora will be leaving soon, too. Filming for How to Get Away with Murder starts in July, and since he's been promoted to series regular, it would make sense that he would have a larger presence and be needed more for filming. He missed quite a bit for filming this past year.