Thank you Bartlett Sher, the Director of “The King and I”

by Bill Corden

I hope this production travels to Vancouver sometime in the future, it was absolutely fabulous as a production on TV.

Rodgers and Hammerstein ……. what can you say about talent like that?

You can only say that you’re lucky enough to have been on the earth to listen to the lyrical and musical masterpieces that they produced.

Almost every song can stand alone and bring you to tears (as they do in South Pacific). But when those songs are delivered by such ineffable talent and supported by incredible dancing and set design, you are left just gasping for breath in admiration.

How they find these actors and performers is a “puzzlement” to me, just like the ways of the world were a puzzlement to the King of Siam…… but somehow they DO find them and they sparkle like diamonds.

The kids are just so endearingly cute, Lady Thiang, the principal wife, so incredibly beautiful and elegant, that they all could just walk across the stage and bring the house down.

To have this presence and to be able to sing like birds and dance like butterflies is to send you to heaven.

Each and every supporting performance builds a beautiful story that lets the two stars, Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe shine like the tropical sun on top of it all. Their interpretation of the lyrics and the emotions they convey is just nothing short of ecstasy.

I would pay any amount of money to see the show live if it ever came to Vancouver, even if it was a touring cast. As it is, I am so happy that the people at PBS were able to pull this broadcast off. Three hours of my life where I was totally removed from myself.