Nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Decca Broadway/Universal Music Classics will release the 2015 Broadway cast recording of the Lincoln Center Theater production revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's original classic, The King and I.
Available digitally June 2 and out in stores June 9, the critically-acclaimed musical features Kelli O'Hara as Anna Leonowens and Ken Watanabe as the King of Siam. Aside from being nominated for Best Musical, the production has been nominated for a slew of others including: Best Musical Revival, Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Watanabe), Best Leading Actress In a Musical (O'Hara), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Ruthie Ann Miles), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Michael Yeargan), Best Costume Design of a Musical (Catherine Zuber), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Donald Holder), Best Direction of a Musical (Bartlett Sher) and Best Choreography (Christopher Gattelli).
Of course, O'Hara is one of our greatest reinterpreters of musical standards. And The King, himself, is embodied by the commanding Ken Watanabe. Press around the city are giving it rave reviews: "Grand & glorious," said Time Out New York
The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "A landmark production and a shot of purest rapture. I never wanted it to end," and New York Magazine calls it "an astonishing achievement."
The story, set in 1860s Bangkok, Thailand recounts the unconventional relationship that emerges between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher, whom the King brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children. A truly magnificent performance and hailed as one of R&H's best, the score features such great classics as "Getting To Know You," "Hello Young Lovers," "Shall We Dance," "I Have Dreamed" and "Something Wonderful."
Classicalites, you'll want to get to know this disc, indeed.
