So King and I has a run just about half as long as South Pacific, which ended its run six years ago. Over 500 performances and previews for TK&I versus over 1000 for SP. Same theater, same creative, same full orchestra, same star, same reviews, same Tonys.
Hard to account for this. It's true that the South Pacific revival was being billed as the first revival ever on Broadway, while the fine Donna Murphy/Lou Diamond Phillips production of TK&I was "only" twenty years ago.
I have this theory that the "Golden Era" Broadway book musicals may lose some of their popularity as the generation that created them, Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation," has checked out and the Baby Boomers, who grew up to the music of those Broadway classics, makes the next exit.
Will anyone care to hear Billy Bigelow's feverish reaction to the news that he will be a father in the six or seven minute "Soliloquy" when they can indulge in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and "American Psycho"?