The King and I - 1996 Broadway Cast
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Rodgers
Genre:
Opera
Label: TER
Magazine Review Date: 5/1998
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 116
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDTER21214
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (The) King and I |
Richard Rodgers, Composer
Alec McCowen, Sir Edward Ramsay Chorus Christopher Lee, King of Siam Jason Howard, Lun Tha, Baritone John Owen Edwards, Conductor National Symphony Orchestra Richard Rodgers, Composer Sally Burgess, Lady Thiang, Soprano Tinuke Olafimihan, Tuptim Valerie Masterson, Anna Leonowens, Soprano |
Author:
Like their recent Gramophone Award-winning recording of My Fair Lady (12/96), TER’s new version of The King and I scores heavily by including all the musical numbers as well as those scenes where music plays an essential role in the continuity of the drama. So the listener at home enjoys the equivalent of a stall seat at Drury Lane whilst renewing acquaintance with a much-loved piece in a well-nigh flawlessly executed performance.
Rodgers’s rich score, in Robert Russell Bennett’s glowing orchestrations, conducted and paced to perfection by John Owen Edwards and his orchestra, benefits enormously from this approach. Even the version on Philips, with beautifully sung portrayals of Anna and Tuptim from Julie Andrews and Lea Salonga, sounds undernourished in comparison. Try the Act 1 finale, or the pithy timing of Alec McCowen as the British Ambassador in the scene where he escorts Anna into dinner watched by a jealous King. Valerie Masterson, in her first foray into musical comedy, rises magnificently to the challenge, notably in an uncut “Shall I tell you what I think of you?”, drawing on her operatic background as she gives the King a piece of her mind. The role of the King is far smaller, musically speaking, but Christopher Lee suggests more than many the doubts of a monarch’s troubled heart in “A puzzlement”. Although Jason Howard sounds a trifle mature for Tinuke Olafimihan’s Tuptim, their casting on disc as the ill-fated lovers is more successful than has been achieved on other recordings: “We kiss in a shadow”, at a slow tempo, is beautifully judged. Sally Burgess, as Lady Thiang, sings “Something wonderful” with dignity and a breathtaking command of the long phrases of the vocal line.
Handsomely produced, with an authoritative note by Bert Finck of the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization, TER’s new recording now becomes the top recommendation for this fabulous score.AE
Rodgers’s rich score, in Robert Russell Bennett’s glowing orchestrations, conducted and paced to perfection by John Owen Edwards and his orchestra, benefits enormously from this approach. Even the version on Philips, with beautifully sung portrayals of Anna and Tuptim from Julie Andrews and Lea Salonga, sounds undernourished in comparison. Try the Act 1 finale, or the pithy timing of Alec McCowen as the British Ambassador in the scene where he escorts Anna into dinner watched by a jealous King. Valerie Masterson, in her first foray into musical comedy, rises magnificently to the challenge, notably in an uncut “Shall I tell you what I think of you?”, drawing on her operatic background as she gives the King a piece of her mind. The role of the King is far smaller, musically speaking, but Christopher Lee suggests more than many the doubts of a monarch’s troubled heart in “A puzzlement”. Although Jason Howard sounds a trifle mature for Tinuke Olafimihan’s Tuptim, their casting on disc as the ill-fated lovers is more successful than has been achieved on other recordings: “We kiss in a shadow”, at a slow tempo, is beautifully judged. Sally Burgess, as Lady Thiang, sings “Something wonderful” with dignity and a breathtaking command of the long phrases of the vocal line.
Handsomely produced, with an authoritative note by Bert Finck of the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization, TER’s new recording now becomes the top recommendation for this fabulous score.
The King and I - 1996 Broadway Cast
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