The King and I – Lowry Theatre, Salford
Book/Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Music: Richard Rodgers
Director: Paul Kerryson
Reviewer: Zara Ellis
[Rating 3.5]
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s masterpiece ‘The King and I’ comes to the Lowry theatre in Salford this month for five days only. The production is centred on Anna, a British governess who comes to the country of Siam, to teach the kings children who are desperate to learn more about the world outside the palace. This new production originates from the Curve Theatre in Leicester and is directed by Paul Kerryson.
Ramon Tikaram portrayed the character of the king of Siam and gave a pleasant performance overall. Tikaram’s performance occasionally lacked lustre at times and in some parts of the show seemed to lose the audience’s attention. Although he met the role of the king to look at, in his acting and singing there was unfortunately more to be desired.
The production value was pleasurable to the eyes. The costumes used in the show were very beautiful, and the colours chosen were vivid and had a lot of detail in them to keep in theme with the location. The props in the show were of high quality; two impressive large Buddhas were constantly on stage to again reinforce the location of the show and set the scene a lot more clearly.
This evening was enjoyable despite obvious faults in the show like projector screens not being closed properly, but it still seemed that the whole feeling of the show was a little bit amateur. The leading lady Josefina Gabrielle had all the qualities of a west end leading lady and sadly, it seemed that she alone held the production together with her talent. She reminded me immensely of an early career Julie Andrews, with her natural tones and character actress appeal. I enjoyed her performance the most out of the evening and in the future I would very much like to see her in other musical roles like ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘The Sound of Music’.
The beautiful score of the show was replicated superbly and the singing in the show I could not fault. The cast had excellent voices and especially Gabrielle whose voice was extremely pleasing to listen to. Predicated songs like ‘Shall We Dance’ ‘Whistle a Happy Tune’ and ‘Getting to Know You’ brought a sumptuous sound to the theatre and reinforced how beautiful the music is from The King and I. The show is packed full of dancing and when scenes of dancing come along, it seemed to light up the stage and bring to life the actors and boost the interest of the musical. The oriental dancing from the female cast was especially impressive and kept my attention throughout. The detailed costumes were very authentic and were very striking to look at.
The musical appeared to be a little slow and boring in parts, but as to be expected it was the opening night for this new production, which with another performance the errors in the show will probably be ironed out. A good production suitable for all the family of any age.
Photo: Catherine Ashmore
Runs until Saturday 25th February
Tags: Josefina Gabrielle, Lowry Theatre, Musical, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Kerryson, Ramon Tikaram, Richard Rodgers, Salford, The King and I
