The King and I

Shall we dance? We shall — especially since Bartlett Sher’s rapturously reviewed production of The King and I will be landing for a week at the Majestic, starting October 17. San Antonio patrons with long-ish memories will recall Sher’s breakout production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific (2008), a Lincoln Center mounting that eventually made it to the Alamo City. Sher’s version of that warhorse walked the fine line between tradition and innovation, especially with its surprisingly dark twist to the reprise of “Honey Bun,” still one of the most affecting stage pictures I’ve seen in all my years of theater-going. The King and I tackles some of South Pacific’s main themes — the collision of cultures, the persistence of racism, the goddamn imperfection of man — but weds it to a girl-meets-king tale, as British governess Anna travels to Siam to tutor the gaggle of (adorable) royal offspring. For this tour, Laura Michelle Kelly and Jose Llana take over the roles made famous by Deborah Kerr and Yul Brenner in the film. We don’t often get tours of this caliber on the road: missing this production would be a … puzzlement (heh).