The all-time classic musical The King and I, winner of four Tony Awards, is pretty much guaranteed to wow audiences everywhere, and Manchester is no exception. But will the story live up to the spectacle?
After a somewhat slow first half, you could be forgiven for still debating this, but the second half leaves you in no doubt. The show, like the relationship between Anna and the King, grows on you slowly yet surely.
Based on the novel, Anna and the King of Siam, by Margaret Landon, and set in what is now Thailand, in the 1860s, it was always going to be a challenge for Bartlett Sher to modernise the production convincingly. But why would that even be necessary?
