THE KING & I Reviews- Page 4

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 4:47am

Ken and Kellie ARE real people.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 7:12am

""3.5 out of 4 stars. And it shouldn't be called a rave. She called Ken's "weak performance" a "garbled mess." "
Quick question about how shows are rewarded the Tony in light of this observation.
This show seems to be getting raves, even though one of the leads (portraying perhaps one of the most iconic lead roles in a Broadway show) isn't getting great reviews.
To get the Tony for revival, would the show need to be performing on all cylinders, especially when it comes to the leads?  And if one of the two leads isn't pulling it off, would that hurt its chances?"

Pretty much every single Tony Award-Winning revival within the last few years had something held against them.

Anything Goes-While Sutton Foster got rave reviews, some people still felt she was miscast.

Porgy & Bess-There was that controversy started by Stephen Sondheim because he was so unhappy to hear that they were tampering with the work of Dubose Heyward.

Pippin-There were criticisms against Patina Miller's performance calling her 'mechanical', especially as they recall how Ben Vereen had much more charisma in the role of The Leading Player.

Hedwig & the Angry Inch-While it was a minority opinion, there were people who felt Hedwig really got glammed up for Broadway.

Also keep in mind that theatre critics aren't Tony voters anymore. So therefore, the remaining Tony voters are just going to vote on what they liked most.

[Annetteiago]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 7:34am

"Ken and Kellie ARE real people."

Anna and King of Siam were but not now. Its how Kelli and Ken portrayed them brought them back to life

Updated On: 4/17/15 at 07:34 AM

[Annetteiago]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 7:36am

"""3.5 out of 4 stars. And it shouldn't be called a rave. She called Ken's "weak performance" a "garbled mess." "
Quick question about how shows are rewarded the Tony in light of this observation.
This show seems to be getting raves, even though one of the leads (portraying perhaps one of the most iconic lead roles in a Broadway show) isn't getting great reviews.
To get the Tony for revival, would the show need to be performing on all cylinders, especially when it comes to the leads?  And if one of the two leads isn't pulling it off, would that hurt its chances?"
Pretty much every single Tony Award-Winning revival within the last few years had something held against them.
Anything Goes-While Sutton Foster got rave reviews, some people still felt she was miscast.
Porgy & Bess-There was that controversy started by Stephen Sondheim because he was so unhappy to hear that they were tampering with the work of Dubose Heyward.
Pippin-There were criticisms against Patina Miller's performance calling her 'mechanical', especially as they recall how Ben Vereen had much more charisma in the role of The Leading Player.
Hedwig & the Angry Inch-While it was a minority opinion, there were people who felt Hedwig really got glammed up for Broadway.
Also keep in mind that theatre critics aren't Tony voters anymore. So therefore, the remaining Tony voters are just going to vote on what they liked most."

 

and that is annoying, they also vote on musicals they can earn the most profit on. Spamalot anyone ????

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 8:00am

As Patrick Pacheco often theorizes, he thinks Tony voters often tend to vote for what they most enjoyed.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 8:42am

Can I be honest? I think it's possible that they will give Kelli for the hell of it. Kristin already won a Tony for Charlie Brown (which I don't think it was deserving TBH) and Chita has won two. This is Kelli's 6th Tony nomination after losing 5 Tonys, even though she gave really excellent performances. This woman needs a Tony already. 

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 8:48am

Can we just stop with this "Kelly is overdue" thing? I don't care if she has been nominated 20 times, she didn't deseve to win each time she was nominated and she has fully admitted that the woman who won deserved to win. Let the performance she is giving now speak for itself.  It took Patti Lupone more than 20 years to win her 2nd tony. All this "Poor Kelli doesn't have a tony" is nonsense. I bet she doesn't care half as much as her fans do.  

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 8:51am

Variety is very positive:

"In its heart of hearts, the extraordinarily deep and often underutilized thrust stage of Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater has probably always yearned to host an opera. That’s pretty much what director Bartlett Sher has wrought with his sumptuous revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1951 musical, “The King and I.” Broadway’s darling, Kelli O’Hara, is ravishing as the English governess to the children in the royal household of the King of Siam, played by the powerfully seductive Japanese movie star Ken Watanabe. But the production itself, with its operatic sweep and opulent aesthetic, is the star of its own show."

http://variety.com/2015/legit/reviews/king-and-i-review-broadway-1201474091/

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 10:58am

Tell that to Kristin Chenoweth, who may have gotten a good review this time around but got PANNED for Promises, Promises.

Have you read the review you're referencing? It's about as qualified a criticism as is possible. Brantley went as far as to admit his love for Chenoweth and blame her failure in the role on everything from her being too talented to poor costuming.

"As for Ms. Chenoweth, dearly though I love her, this hyper-talented star was not meant to play Fran, and you sense that she knows it. Fran is a vulnerable waif; Ms. Chenoweth is a diva who can’t help taking charge of any stage. She is also unwisely made up and coiffed to resemble Angie Dickinson (the former Mrs. Burt Bacharach, as it happens) at her 1960s peak of hard-sheen attractiveness. This gal is nobody’s doormat..."

Updated On: 4/17/15 at 10:58 AM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 11:19am

I understand, but that does not a good review make.  And your claim was that he automatically gushes over blonde leading ladies no matter what, which he didn't.  He could have said "well, she isn't a natural fit for the role, but she's still AMAZING in this."  He didn't.

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 11:23am

He said her talent was amazing in general

Updated On: 4/17/15 at 11:23 AM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 12:03pm

That doesn't make it a good review. Saying someone is talented is very different than saying that person is good in a role. For example, did Mary Louise Parker's talent spare her from bad reviews in Hedda Gabler? No.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 12:06pm

There's a difference between "not a good review" and the extreme of a "pan," which is what you said initially. When I said Brantley fetishized blonde leading ladies, I didn't mean he "gushes over blonde leading ladies no matter what." What I meant was that he has his favorites and always finds ways to hype them in any given circumstance, which the Chenoweth review proves. Even when he's critiquing her performance, he's still contextualizing it with excessive praise and placing the blame on her admitted failure in the role elsewhere.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 12:13pm

"When I said Brantley fetishized blonde leading ladies, I didn't mean he "gushes over blonde leading ladies no matter what.""

Fair enough.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 2:20pm

I thought that Ben Brantley is gay?

[Huss417]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 2:58pm

Seeing this tomorrow and so looking forward to seeing it. I loved the last revival but wasn't a fan of the Yul Brenner farewell tour.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 11:11pm

I'll bet that PalJoey will write a wonderful review after tonight, just like the one he wrote for ON THE TOWN.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 1:27am

…I look forward to PalJoey's review.

I was with him tonight.  In a word:  perfect.

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 1:37am

Hopefully it won't be like his West Side Story review.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 8:53am

It would be nothing like my West Side Story review. What Bartlett Sher has done for Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest musical drama is nothing short of a gift to their legacy and a blessing for those of us who have the wisdom and the luck to purchase a ticket.

I'm still too overcome to go into details, but let me just say the length is not a problem--it could have gone on for several hours more. Kelli O'Hara is not "bland" or "meh" or any of the other ludicrous words to that effect that have been used about her performance in the Previews thread. She is luminous and delivers both the beauty and grace and vulnerability of the part as written and the fierce determination of the historical character and the character as written in the novel, film and libretto

Ken Watanabe delivers a dynamic, forceful and charming performance. The criticisms of his accent or diction are a tsunami in a teacup. As SonofRobbie remarked "The few times you couldn't understand his diction didn't matter because at every moment, you knew exactly what he was playing and what his intention was."

The design and direction, the costumes and choreography, the lighting and the glorious 29-piece orchestra playing that score--THAT SCORE!--all make for one of the finest evenings in the theater I have ever had.

More to come.

Updated On: 4/18/15 at 08:53 AM

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 8:59am

Okay Pal Joey, What should win? King and I or On The Town?

[South Florida]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 9:04am

Wow PJ.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 10:38am

The design and direction, the costumes and choreography, the lighting and the glorious 29-piece orchestra playing that score--THAT SCORE!--all make for one of the finest evenings in the theater I have ever had.

Amen.  

Updated On: 4/18/15 at 10:38 AM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 12:07pm

Wonderful to hear that PalJoey, it seems that Bartlett Sher has made another beautifully executed revival of a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic for the second time in a row. What did you think of the featured players (Ruthie, Ashley, Conrad etc)? Did Christopher Gattelli respect the original choreography of Jerome Robbins in a way that the meh revival of WEST SIDE STORY failed to do?

After this and the upcoming FIDDLER, LCT needs to get Sher to talk about doing a production of FOLLIES. A FOLLIES production with the crew that worked on SOUTH PACIFIC and THE KING AND I would be a dream come true for me (and maybe for all of us).

Updated On: 4/18/15 at 12:07 PM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/18/15 at 12:36pm

I agree with everything Pal Joey wrote. I saw the third preview. This is truly a majestic production.