There’s something at once elegiac yet hopeful in watching 75-year-old Jonathan Farwell portray the cruel king of Siam in the timeless musical “The King & I.”
Here is this despot, as capable of slicing a man’s neck as an apple, still somehow seeking enlightenment.
This 1860s king is unafraid of knowledge, even if the lessons are as unsettling as Columbus informing Europeans the Earth is not flat. He summons a British schoolteacher to educate his 67 children, who learn their country is neither the biggest nor mightiest nation, as they had assumed – but rather a speck on the map. But facts only humble rather than threaten this contradictory king, a man tormented by uncertainty but unafraid of new ideas.
Set against a world stage dotted with thugs and bullies, this 55-year-old musical somehow makes one wonder how different things might be if the world’s most powerful men weren’t also the most insecure, and so unwilling to be wrong. In the midst of a war when “we” don’t know “them” any better today than when the whole ugly thing began, one sees the heroism in quiet contemplation. Imagine that: an introspective barbarian – with a lit fuse.
It feels all the more melancholy seeing this aging king facing both his mortality and humility in the personage of an accomplished actor soaring into his own triumphant twilight.
The Town Hall Arts Center’s large-scale yet intimate new production, despite a few faults, is a charming accomplishment for director Melissa McCarl. No one gets out unimpressed with Elizabeth Welch, a young woman of superlative voice and acting depth. Her classy Anna is only her most recent triumph.
The famous ballet, “Small House of Uncle Thomas,” is particularly well done.
The flip side: The dialects vary from erratic to awful; the costumes, while considerable, are unflattering to some key characters; and the Asian casting, let’s just say, is a predictable boon to Hispanic actors.
In this musical, the love story concerns a concubine and a slave – and while here they have gorgeous voices, there is next to no romantic chemistry.
Any local production of “The King & I” can be expected only to reasonably convey the grandeur and pageantry of the original, and Town Hall does well enough. But the music is canned, and there is no need to mic the principal actors in such a small venue.
Farwell, who understudied for Yul Brynner on Broadway, has a guttural voice that needs no assistance, and the audience particularly deserves to hear Welch whistle – and sing – her happy tune without filter.
| “The King & I”
MUSICAL|Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, 2450 W. Main St.|Written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book)|Starring Jonathan Farwell, Elizabeth Welch and Deb Note-Farwell| THROUGH JUNE 18 |7:30 Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays| 2 hours, 30 minutes| $20-$32 |303-794-2787
