The King & I

 

The King & I, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2023.

Cast: Annalene Beechey, Darren Lee, Cezarah Bonner, Sam Jenkins-Shaw, Dean John-Wilson,, Kok-Hwa Lie, Marienella Phillips, Marie Coyne, Josh Bortoloso/Fin Goodman/Louis Levy/Charlie McGuire, Chi Chan, Jeffrey Chekai, Emily Grace-Ling, Cher Nicolette Ho, Rachel Wang-Hei Lau, Daniel Len, Candy Ma, Rachel MacDougall, Amelia Kinu Muus, Yuki Ozeki, Kitt Pakapom, Prem Rai, Ria Tanaka, Hiromi Toyooka, Jasmine Triadi, Jensen Tudtud, Qinwen Xue, Jason Yang-Westland, William Alsina/Alexander Chin/Cody Concha/Alana Baharil Koppen/Kanaho Kurihara/Sanna Kurihara/Caitlin Lau/Ruby-Mae Lewis/Khun Cho Lwin/Grace Mugridge/Angelica Quynh an Nguyen/Sabri Leonel Puci/Myles Tullett/Phoebe Zhao-Welsh/James Javier.

Music: Richard Rodgers

Book & lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II

Director: Bartlett Sher

I don't even think I've seen the film with Yul Brynner all the way through so I guess we went to see this because it was a big deal that it was on locally and it was likely to be quite glamorous and there would be tunes we knew. I doubt I was bored and I do remember a nice set, but I'm not sure it was the "must-see" I thought it was.

The Cher Show

 

The Cher Show, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2023.

Cast: Debbie Kurup, Danielle Steers, Millie O'Connell, Lucas Rush, Guy Woolf, Sam Ferriday, Jake Mitchell, Tori Scott, Jordan Anderton, Jasmine Jules Andrews, Carla Bertran, Catherine Cornwall, Áine Curran, Sam Holden, Samantha Ivey, Ingrid Olivia, Aston Newman Hannington, Clayton Rosa, Chay Wills.

Book: Rick Elice

Director: Arlene Phillips

You'd think something involving three versions of Cher - Star, Lady, Babe - and a lot of her songs would be a triumph but I think this was no more than silly and a bit camp. A waste really. Perhaps Arlene isn't the director she thinks she is. Perhaps nobody can say no to Cher despite needing to.