The King and I: Siam in Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Ongoing at the Resorts World Performing Arts Theater is one of the most lavishly-produced all-Filipino local productions. It’s the Freddie Santos-directed The King and I. With Leo Valdez and Monique Wilson playing the title roles of King Mongkut of Siam and governess Anna Leonowens; one knows, given the respective pedigrees of these West End luminaries, that quality is going to be stamped all over this production — and on this count, one will not be disappointed.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was first staged in 1951, based on the Margaret Landon book, Anna and the King of Siam, that chronicled the experiences of British Anna Leonowens in the 1860s, when she served as governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam, who was then trying to modernize his feudal kingdom. The clash of cultures, forbidden and doomed love, the roles of the sexes, and how change for the future can be achieved, are just some of the themes of the much-loved musical. After all, when you have the play that has produced such Broadway standards as Hello Young Lovers, Shall We Dance, Getting to Know You, I Have Dreamed and We Kiss in a Shadow, it’s hard to go wrong.

To the credit of the production, it doesn’t just rely on impeccable singing and strong acting performances. The elaborate set design, the ingenious lighting, the wonderful costumes, the intelligent use of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philippine Ballet Theater, and an animatronic elephant, all add up to a night of wonder and enjoyment.

Leo and Monique are naturally in fine form here, and if I had to nominate scene stealers, the winners would be Tanya Manalang and Lorenz Martinez as the doomed lovers Tuptim and Lun Tha, and Gina Respall as Mongkut’s chief wife, Lady Thiang. In the performance I caught, their singing brought down the house. Having last watched Lorenz playing Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, I was caught by surprise by his strong rendition of I Have Dreamed.

After The Sound of Music, Resorts World is fast gaining a reputation of staging topnotch musicals that have strong family appeal. Despite the length of the running time of the musical, there were several children in the audience (and, delightfully, on stage), and I can only hazard a guess as to what may come next at Resorts World... Oliver? In the meantime, we have the visual, and aural, pageantry that is The King and I.