Ken Watanabe is The King of Siam in THE KING AND I- Page 4

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 12:47am

"Sherie Renee Scott may very well be Mexican, but in reality she is also a blonde white girl:) There are lots of white Mexicans."

100% Agree. We stereotype all Mexicans as the people we see cleaning our houses, or selling food on the corners in carts, etc, but in reality, there are all forms. My family is Mexican in everyway but most look as white as a Nebraskan Farm boy....most are all blond, blue with tone bodies, but yet speak so much more Spanish than I ever will.

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 3:09am

Anyone know when tickets go on sale?

[skylight2]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 3:31am

On a related note about the casting, did anyone have a problem with Lou Diamond Phillips in the last revival? I think he's half-Filipino.

Updated On: 7/1/14 at 03:31 AM

[SweetLips]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 4:37am

Posted a new avatar showing an all Thai version I saw of Miss Saigon in Bangkok. It was all sort of OK until the American wife [Thai] made her entrance. I mean he COULD have married a Vietamese/Thai but the confrontation between the two women lost all impact as they were both the same race[I think].

[Fan123]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 4:49am

Jingjo2, I'm curious, do you happen to be familiar with / have an opinion on how authentically Thai the 1996 Broadway production was? I didn't see it myself, and wouldn't know how authentic it was if I did, but according to this book chapter, director Christopher Renshaw tried to bring some authentic Thai elements to the show back then. (If interested, see the section titled 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T'.)

http://www.newlinetheatre.com/kingandichapter.html



ETA I - I forgot until a moment ago that that refers to the same production and director (and King, Lou Diamond Phillips) that's currently being revived in Australia.

http://thekingandimusical.com.au/people/christopher-renshaw/
http://thekingandimusical.com.au/people/lou-diamond-phillips/


ETA II - The Lou Diamond Phillips casting in Australia is actually news as of today, as Jason Scott Lee pulled out due to injury. Too bad for Lee, but another interesting bit of King casting news.

http://thekingandimusical.com.au/lou-diamond-phillips-news/

BTW, Ken Watanbe sounds like a great choice IMO.






Updated On: 7/1/14 at 04:49 AM

[StephieElise]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 8:49am

Unfortunately Lou Diamond Phillips won't do his first show until July 10...meaning those of us going before then (i.e. ME) are stuck with the understudy who is about 25 (compared to Lisa McCune's 43) and making his professional debut. Now, I get that stuff happens and I have seen some wonderful understudies in my time, but it's quite disappointing when this is one of the few Australian shows being sold using star names and they didn't cast an appropriate understudy.

[theCucumberSandwich]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 10:10am

Maybe you should see the show before you judge? Mr. Fung is doing a wonderful job with the role.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 11:16am

Anyone here see the 90's revival?

I saw it and LOVED it. Gorgeous production and stunning performances. It was the first time I'd seen the role of Anna played with a more realistic approach to emotional depth. I was mesmerized. And during the March of the Siamese Children, I just burst into uncontrollable tears (as did the fellow sitting next to me). I later saw the tour with Hayley Mills and it was fine, but the direction was lacking the attention to detail.

Then I saw that more recent new tour production with Sandy Duncan and Martin Vidnovic. Gorgeous sets and costumes, but everything else was AWFUL. I don't know how they could let Sandy go on performing Anna with that crazy half-Cockney accent. And Vidnovic was giving a wooden theme park performance. I'd love to see this new revival just to erase that from my memory.

So. I am thai. And I think Ken Watanabe is perfect for the part.

Newintown has already decided how Asians should be cast, so the opinion of someone racially relevant to the discussion is unnecessary. It is important that white Americans feel shamed. Watanabe was clearly forced to accept this offensive casting under the duress of white Americans, so we will never get a true opinion from him. And companies like Takarazuka get a pass because racially pure casting should only be required of white American directors (well, all white Americans, really). On behalf of our country and my race, I deeply apologize you are forced to endure this production that you foolishly admit you would be happy to see. How could you possibly know better without newintown to speak for all races that are minorities in America?

[newintown]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 12:09pm

Oh, Matt, you are an utterly dreary little person with a truly bizarre obsessional vendetta. I've written absolutely nothing about "how Asians should be cast," and I think you're aware of that. It would be awfully nice if you could learn to refrain from bitchily twisting the things I write to suit your own petty little purposes.

It would also be terrific if you could come up with your own ideas, rather than leeching onto everything I write like some chancred remora.


Updated On: 7/1/14 at 12:09 PM

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 1:48pm

Are you two auditioning for the American version of Vicious?

[newintown]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 1:50pm

Boys In The Band II, the Musical.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 1:52pm

Darn, I had my money riding on Audra McDonald as the King.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 2:09pm

The hypocrisy is almost unbearably hilarious. I wonder if I've ever posted anything else on these board over the last 11 years completely unrelated to newintown? I'm sure there's no way to know. I'm just so darn dreary! And little! With not a single original idea! I ONLY leech on to everything newintown writes.

I'd post something dreary and little if I could stop laughing.

[beensince1987]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 2:16pm

Ok Watanabe isn't Thai but Japanese, and some people have problem with that, so Kelli is not English but American. Anyone have problem with that?

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 2:25pm

I've seen productions with American casts that have an Asian play the wife in Miss Saigon. Rather than confuse things, it did two positive things: made it clear that the wife was not a racist in her confrontation with Kim, and make Chris's relation to these two women more complex.

[Jingjo2]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 3:46pm

Random Thoughts, I would love to see Tally Leung as Lun Tha

PalJoey -
Exactly, a lot of the movement were very Balinese and Cambodian as most thai dances (from every regions) are smoother and softer, there should be no sudden movement. What he got right was the way the stories are told, one person telling a story and the dancers reenact. However, the stories told through dances must be based on a thai classical literature (or adaptation) like Ramayana. But, it is understandable as the context of 'uncle' is important to the story. I don't expect to see a thai performance up there but it would be nice to see how they would adapt ballet and thai arts together (without adding balinese movement) and the results should be outstanding as everything will go gently and smooth. I am not a hundred percent sure about this because back then they may do, but we don't paint our face white when perform, it's either your natural face with red lips or a khon mask for characters that are not angels and human (monkeys and giants). So the first moment I saw the thai dance in the movie I thought it was super creepy.

Fan123 -
I'm sorry I have never seen that production but I am interested to see how it was.

Matt -
LOL.

[skylight2]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 8:30am

Any idea until when this will run? Probably limited engagement until June or July?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 9:02am

It will run a long time.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 9:05am

Now and forever!

Like Siamese Cats!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 9:51am

Thanks for responding, Jingjo! I always had a feeling that the only thing that really made Robbins's ballet inauthentic was that he mixed in the other Asian dance traditions that Tuptim would either have no knowledge of or would be considered wrong for her to do. It's almost as if he did too much research, that if he had limited his movement vocabulary to Thai dance only, he would have had a more authentic piece. (But who knows? It might not have been as creative.)

My favorite moment in it is when the silk of the river is pulled tight and becomes ice. I don't think that is especially Thai--silk had been used for stage effects in Europe and America before that.

As far as the white makeup, I think that has to be considered part of the story, because if you accept that Tuptim even knew of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, you kind of have to accept that she also knew of the dozens of play adaptations, all of which would feature actors in blackface.

So it's part of the conceit and brilliance on the part of the creators of the musical to include the ballet in the show that places Asians in a ballet in whiteface/blackface reenacting Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery parable, as a way of one of the characters making a protest against slavery in Thailand and the creators of the show making a protest against racism.

The irony, of course, is that the yellowface casting and the whiteface/blackface ballet, over the past 60 years, have given the musical itself a tinge of unintended racism. Uncle Tom's Cabin itself has gone from seeming ANTI-slavery to seeming like something racist, so the very act of telling the story nowadays seems suspect.

I'm hoping this revival restores to the musical the progressive reputation that Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jerome Robbins and playwright John Van Druten (the original director) intended.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 9:59am

the trouble with "progressive" is that time often turns it into "reactionary." What was considered progressive 60 years ago is seen by many today as quaintly racist, even though at the time, it was unusually forward thinking.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 10:14am

In South Pacific, the progressive intent of the Cable/Liat/Bloody Mary subplot was restored.

I feel confident that Bartlett Sher can restore the progressive intention of The King and I as well.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/2/14 at 6:22pm

PJ, the "silk river" may come from traditional Thai performance; I'm not sure.

But it definitely derives from kabuki.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 4:02pm

I agree PJ, Bartlett Sher has done incredible things for South Pacific so it's a given that he and the same creative team work on The King and I as well. I can't wait for this one! :)

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 2:05am

David Henry Hwang wrote a brilliant play called "Yellow Face" about race-blind casting and about white actors playing Asian roles. A key sequence involves casting "The King and I." I wrote a review about a local DC production of "Yellow Face" several months ago. Here's a link: https://www.broadwayworld.com/washington-dc/article/BWW-Reviews-Theater-Js-YELLOW-FACE-is-Entertaining-and-Thought-Provoking-20140209#.U7jlgPldWSo

BWW Reviews: Theater J's YELLOW FACE is Entertaining and Thought-Provoking