The 70-week national touring company of the Tony-winning Christopher Renshaw The King and I opens April 2, in Minneapolis.
The tour stars Hayley Mills, perky child star of 1960s family films including The Trouble With Angels and the pre-Andrew Lloyd Webber movie version of Whistle Down the Wind, as Mrs. Anna. Vee (Victor) Talmadge stars as The King.
Mills originated the role of Mrs. Anna in this production when it has its world premiere in Australia. The role was taken for the Broadway revival by Donna Murphy, who won the 1996 Tony Award as Best Actress in the role.
The production won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Revival, and won Tonys for Best Actress (Donna Murphy), Best Costumes (Roger Kirk) and Best Scenic Design (Brian Thomson). The latter two were members of the original Australian design team.
Along with lighting designer Nigel Levings, the team has remounted the production for this tour. Broadway Choreographer Lar Lubovitch uses passages from Jerome Robbins' original 1951 choreography, and has created some new staging of his own. Mills' other recent stage credits include Dead Guilty and The Card in London, and a tour of Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. In Noel Coward's Fallen Angels . She won a special Oscar for performance in the 1960s film Pollyanna .
Also featured in the cast are Ernest Abuba as the Kralahome, Naomi Itami as Lady Thiang, Luziminda Lor as Tuptim and Timothy Ford Murphy as Lun Tha.
The tour is booked in the following cities through October:
Minneapolis, Orpheum, through April 12
Washington DC, Kennedy Center Opera House, April 16-Mary 18
Baltimore, Mechanic Theatre, May 20-June 1
Seattle, Fifth Avenue Theatre, June 5-29
Dallas, Music Hall, July 8-20
Toronto, Hummingbird Center, July 23-Aug. 17
Montreal, Place des Artes, Aug. 19-24
Green Bay, WI, Weidner Center, Aug. 26-31
Hartford, CT, Bushnell Hall, Sept. 2-7
Indianapolis, IN, Murat Theatre, Sept. 9-14
Nashville, TN, Tennessee PAC, Sept. 16-21
Boston, Wang Center, Sept. 23-Oct. 12
More cities are scheduled to be announced shortly.
