Two roles driven by star power

The kingdom of Thailand looks like a stage set: steep roofs with delicate finials, gleaming gold Buddhas several stories high, Thai dancers with 6-inch brass fingernails doing classical dance.

So "The King and I" is a natural theatrical event, and it's Rodgers and Hammerstein's most elaborate and complex musical.

Village Theatre opens the production Friday at the Everett Performing Arts Center with a cast of 30 actors, 27 of whom are of Pacific Rim heritage. Michael Lee, who plays the king, is of Korean descent, and other ethnicities include Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino.

"In musical theater, there are not a lot of roles written for [people of] the Pacific Rim culture," said Steve Tomkins, co-director with Kathryn Van Meter. "There are two: 'The King and I' and 'Miss Saigon.' And so it was very important to me to make that a part of this project."

Where Yul Brynner and Rudolf Nureyev had done the role of the king, Tomkins said with the success of such Village Theatre productions as "Making Tracks" and "The Wedding Banquet," "I was convinced we could assemble a high caliber of talent in the cast; they would be of the appropriate ethnic mix."

"For me, it was looking back at the amount of talent in the Asian community. It seemed ludicrous to approach this without finding the right people."

While Michael K. Lee was playing to acclaim as the lead in "The Who's Tommy," Tomkins was thinking about this new role for Lee.

"The king is a very interesting character; there's a lot of weight that goes with that," said Tomkins. "To find the humanity in this man, to make him likable, to find things that motivate him, was exciting. He was a progressive leader, he had the insight to understand he needed to make connections with the West."

Thailand is still considered a kingdom, and the California-size country is unique among Southeast Asian nations in that it was never colonized — an indirect plot point in "The King and I" as the reform-minded king tries to stave off British designs on the region.

Running alongside the world events, "It's a show about a man and a woman," said Tomkins. "In both of their characters, there were elements of the strengths and weaknesses of each sex. What breaks his heart is pride. Male pride and female stubbornness are the biggest character traits of these people.

"In 'The King and I,' you have two roles driven by star power," he added. "It's a huge, massive production, with the two characters in the center."

Beth DeVries is compelling as Anna, singing such classic songs as "Whistle a Happy Tune," "Hello, Young Lovers," "Getting to Know You" and "Shall We Dance?" while wearing dresses that add more than 25 pounds of weight, with hoop skirts that served as a Victorian gentlewoman's symbolic protection.

This is Tomkins' 15th season with Village Theatre, and even as he plans the theater's next production, Elton John's "Aida," he said "The King and I" is one of the "most glorious shows I've ever done."

He lauds his production team's devotion to researching the "immense wealth of material" available about life in Siam, circa 1860. Robert A. Dahlstrom's set references the intricate Thai architecture, and his designs range from the Thai coastline as glimpsed from the English ship to a 15-foot-tall palace Buddha.

Melanie Burgess designed the costumes — the women's sarongs, the men's penangs and court costumes of the mid-19th century. Seamstress/draper Esther Garcia reduced the nearly 8-foot-long rectangles of material required for the two styles by half, theatrically rigged to be able to step into quickly in the case of the men, and to allow for movement in the case of the king's six wives. The king's nine children, played by 11 actors from the Kidstage youth-theater program, are masterpieces in miniature, ranging in age from 6 to 14.

For the East-West themes of the story, "We wanted Siam to feel a hot-color palette — warm reds and golds and oranges," said Burgess. "Anna coming into this, the British-Western take on that, would be cool and conservative. That's why Anna and [her son] Louis come in khaki colors and blues."

When Anna dances with the king in her orange ball gown, the bold choice of color was "because we felt in the dynamics of the story, at that point in time, the king has given a little bit to her — her house, other things she wanted, and a little bit of her acceptance of the world of Siam."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com