Ken Watanabe returning to TKAI — Page 4

This was reported in a January 25th article in the Times ArtsBeat:

Ms. O’Hara and Lincoln Center Theater are in discussions regarding the length of her run and it is yet to be determined if she will perform opposite Mr. Kim, said Philip Rinaldi, a spokesman for Lincoln Center Theater.... The show’s run is open-ended, Mr. Rinaldi said, and the role of the King has not been cast after Mr. Kim’s run.

If she's leaving in mid-April, shouldn't they announce it pretty soon, for the benefit of spring theatergoers?

JK, the official website lists Kings for after April 17, so looks like they'll just cast a replacement.

Ken Watanabe went on tonight in the King & I and gave a powerful performance. His diction no longer seemed to be a problem and he was absolutely magnificent. The orchestra section was completely full so I'm wondering if this was announced somewhere.

"It was not announced, publicly at least. But he should be on for a few days this week. "

Watanabe was originally scheduled to return March 1st, which got changed to March 17th due to his diagnosis of and recovery from stomach cancer. I think he simply decided that he was ready to return earlier than he expected. I don't think he is in just for a few days, I think he's back. As to the orchestra being completely full without a public announcement? He has a huge international following, and there were many people who missed him the first time around. A few private calls here and there can fill a house pretty quickly for someone like him.

"Yea Daniel Dae Kim and Jose Llana are both coming in after Kelli departs. They haven't cast her replacement yet."

I don't know when it was announced (I see you posted in Feb, so you may already know this), but Marin Mazzie is replacing O'Hara in the role of Anna.

Glad Ken was able to return. I was hoping to see Hoon Lee this weekend since he supposedly extended, but I guess that's not going to happen.

Dottie, hoon might still be on this weekend! But if not you'll see Ken who's just as excellent.

...what?

SmoothLover said: "Hoon Lee has not been playing the part for a week and a half. He was taken away in an ambulance a week ago last Sunday so that is probably the reason Ken is going in earlier than expected.

"

How odd that no one mentioned that Hoon was out. He posted a photo on Twitter on March 4.

Updated On: 3/9/16 at 02:08 PM

All I know from an acquaintance who works there is that last week was full of understudies and the understudy for the King was on for many of the shows. Perhaps Hoon did a few of them. I really do no know. I was just taking a guess as to why Ken stepped in earlier. Don't take my word for it however because it is just what I heard, The acquaintance is an usher who has been there for a million years and is always getting into trouble.. But the whole ambulance thing was on ABC TV news. But I think ABC was making much ado about nothing,

UnwoundFantasies said: "SmoothLover is correct. Hoon was injured and an ambulance was involved, this happened Feb 28th. Understudies alternated all last week and Ken is on tonight and tomorrow at least, per understudies twitter. But Hoon should be back on soon-injuries permitting. With Ken taking over full time on March 17th as scheduled.

Thanks for clearing it all up. I hope most importantly that Hoon is doing well because besides being a talent he is a gentleman. And Ken is one to. To me it will be interesting to see show long the show runs. I do not know how important it is for Non Profits to have healthy sized houses. If it makes no difference then I guess it could run for another two years.

"

Wow! That is intense. I did not know that shower glass shattered. I guess I thought it was made out of a plastic material of some sort. Maybe it was a very old shower door. The only thing I knew was that something had happened right before curtain so the start time was delayed for a half an hour. My neighbor heard this while walking her dog over on 65th street. So many actors scrambled into different parts which probably kept the wardrobe department on their toes. And then the whole ambulance thing was on ABC news. Gosh I hope the gashes were not too deep.

Haha, you can't fool us, official King and I twitter account!
https://twitter.com/KingandIBway/status/707913939187699712