THE KING AND I - new release
Hello young (and old) lovers, shall we dance? ‘The King and I’ is perhaps the least performed of the major Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway canon (yes I do know about the flops like Allegro). The King and I came pouring out of those genius heads in between Carousel and Sound of Music. It is in many ways the most romantic of the series, rather old-fashioned in its musical language.
On the new release by Jay Records, the overture is sumptuous and gorgeously orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett. The tunes flit from Siam inspired (or an approximation of it) to classic Rodgers’ melodies that will earworm into your head for days. Much is made of the oft forgotten ‘Something Wonderful’ which gets buried in the welter of other memorable songs.
Anna is sung here by the British soprano Valerie Masterson. Her opening number, ‘Whistle a Happy Tune’ is cleverly presaged by the sounds of the sea. She is after all an English lady on a Victorian vessel about to land in far-off Siam. Masterson has all the cut-glass of voice of a Julie Andrews but is a little too operatic in tone for my liking.
One of the great strengths of a Jay Records recording is its attention to the full score of a musical theatre piece. So next up on the album is ‘Vignettes and Dances’. You won’t hear these in the Yul Brynner movie (1956) but they add sharp pinch of spice to this tasty offering. Yes, there is cultural appropriation here and the sweeping melodies are a 1950s American’s view of Bangkok. But in these dances, there is a real depth, something of Copeland but with an original Rodgers’ take. It is also something wonderful to hear songs cut from the film. ‘My Lord and Master’ sung with youthful clarity by Tinuke Olafimihan would be the hit of any lesser musical but here it was just ‘another’ great piece. Anna’s ‘Hello Young Lovers’ brought a tear to the eyes.
As for the King, here it is none other than film star Christopher Lee. Migrating from Hammer to Hammerstein. It is not an entirely happy journey. He is more actor than singer..that’s fine – but his mannered accent does tend to jar a bit. It’s as if the King of Siam was educated at the Perse, Eton and Trinity. He may have been but if so, thus falls the whole premise of a far-off monarch who finds English ways so alien. It’s a puzzlement.
Though Lee is a bit of a misfit here this album is far from a horror show. There is a lot of charm and old-world sweetness in the score. Much of it does sound like more like Viennese operetta than one set east of Aden but it is genuinely uplifting to hear these timeless songs in a version that leaves nothing on the cutting room floor.
All that said, if I were giving a star rating to this recording, I couldn’t ‘give it 5’. My reservation here is that the studio recording lacks a certain theatrical bite. Though the recording balance and quality of sounds is excellent, there is a slight Music for Pleasure quality to the performance. It reminded me of the theatre music albums I used to buy from monthly record clubs in the 1970s: Fiddler on the Roof sung by Warren Mitchell or South Pacific starring Peggy Mount. The singers were perfectly in tune and achieved all the right notes in the right order, but you couldn’t image them strutting their stuff on Shaftesbury Avenue.
On the major plus side, the choral ballet ‘The House of Uncle Thomas’ is given full weight and sounds thrilling. The king’s many children act out their cultural understanding of the classic American tale ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’. It is an audacious addition by lyricist Hammerstein but it still sounds fresh and darkly dramatic with plenty of loud gong action. For me it was the highlight of the album.
Jay Records have done us R&H devotees a good turn by reviving this recording and giving a good old polish. For this old diehard, nothing can replace the original Broadway recording made by Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner. The bald truth is that Christopher Lee can’t match the latter’s depth of character. But there is still plenty here to love, happy tunes to whistle and a reminder that this great musical is certainly worth getting to know.
www.jayrecords.com
