The King And I And Albert Too

A massive new in-the-round production of Rogers and Hammersteins 'The King And I' will play the Royal Albert Hall in London from mid June for 3 weeks and 20 performances. June 12th -20th.
Maria Friedman has now been confirmed as Anna with Daniel Dae Kim as The King. Other major parts are to be being announced very soon.
Jeremy Sams directs the production that has Gareth Valentine as MD

Updated On: 12/11/08 at 10:09 AM

I cant wait personally !

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One thing is is that it will look stunning in that space!

'Showboat' was indeed done there in the same kind of staging and was supposed to have be stunning getting great reviews.
Many operas and ballets have been performed in-the-round there also.

That production of Show Boat looks stunning Mama! Thanks for the picture! I am warming to the idea of King and I...although i still don't like the show itself.

'Madam Butterfly'
The arena of the RAH was transformed into a Japanese water garden.

woah! that sounds beautiful!
ive never heard of these productions being done at the ROH!
it seems like a great space to work with, from a creatice point of view. I've always loved staging shows in the round, something that most west end venues can't accomodate, unfortunately.

or here!

Thanks for the pictures Mama, I do not do opera, thats for the 'toffs'.

Showboat looks amazing, in the round, one slight hitch those, how are they going to do the safety curtain?

Mental Note: Never let Mama become a Theatre Mananger

If King & I is anything as gorgeous as those other productions look then I'm VERY excited! Maria Friedman as Anna? That is just inpired catsing *BIGBIGBIGSMILES* Yay! :)

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I saw Showboat at the RAH and absolutely loved it.

Phantom of London.

I used to think the same as you that opera's only for toffs, I was afraid of it, thinking I wouldn't understand it. Then, out of curiosity more than anything, I saw Baz Luhrman's La Boheme on Broadway as I wanted to see the source material for Rent. I was completely blown away by it.

I've since seen quite a few operas, mostly by the ENO but a few at Covent Garden and I've come to realise that opera is really only musical theatre but usually done with a bigger budget so allowing itself bigger casts and sets.

I've often been disappointed with west end musicals recently (e.g. Marguerite, Gone With The Wind) but the operas I've seen have generally been much more satisfying (e.g. Salome, Madam Butterfly, Pagliacci). I'm convinced that's where the artistic risks are being taken at the moment.