[caption id="attachment_14312" align="alignleft" width="160"] Despite their differences, Anna and the King always find each other.[/caption]
What can happen when two worlds collide? They start dancing together
. Hard to imagine in today's political climate, but it is possible in the musical world of "The King and I". The musical transports the audience back to the year 1860 in Siam, today's Thailand. At the king's request, the British teacher Anna travels to Bangkok with her son to teach both his children and his countless wives and concubines. At the time, however, Anna is not yet aware that her task will involve much more. The headstrong king has big plans to establish Siam in the modernizing world. Anna is supposed to help him.
Not an easy task, which is not made any easier by the king and his monarchist ideas. Despite their differences, Anna and the king gradually manage to settle their conflicts in humorous scenes. When he reminds her never to hold her head higher than his, he bends lower and lower with a wink until they are both lying on the floor next to each other, exhausted and smiling. Anna makes friends with the many children and women of Siam just as confidently. They playfully exchange how to greet each other in the West and the East, and Anna teaches them how to drink a cup of tea in England. She also amazes everyone in the royal court with her descriptions. Their eyes grow particularly wide when Anna describes the snow in Switzerland. They can hardly imagine that in winter "icy stars" fall from the sky and whole lakes suddenly become as hard as stone. Only when the king nods in agreement are they convinced.
[caption id="attachment_14313" align="alignright" width="300"] Anna's bond with the king's children is right from the start. They play, dance and learn[/caption].
Despite the romantic scenes between Anna and the King, such as the waltz to the song "Shall We Dance?", you shouldn't expect a typical love story. Unusually for a musical, the focus is not on grand gestures, but on the subtle moments that manage to connect two people despite conflicting differences. "The King and I", directed by renowned director Bartlett Sher, who also adapted "South Pacific" and "My Fair Lady" for Broadway, is one of the longest-running Broadway musical hits of all time. The inspiration for the story, which was first published as a semi-fictional book in 1944, actually came from a real Anna Leonowens who, according to her diaries, traveled to Siam as a teacher to teach the children of the king at the time. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1951 and has since been performed in 14 further productions. The movie "Anna and the King" with Jodie Foster in the leading female role was also a great success in 1999.
With a sensitive touch, director Sher allows the opulent world of Siam to come into its own from the very first moment. The costumes of the 50 actors were each made individually and cost around 800,000 francs in total. The curtain is even embroidered with real gold so that it immediately makes the stage sparkle in the spotlight. Sher made these decisions in order to offer the audience the maximum experience. He also wanted to emphasize the cultural elements in his version. He made a point of completely dispensing with the oriental elements of the earlier versions. He explains: "I wanted to reinterpret the story for our modern times and remove the exotic aspects."
