Anna and the king face off in The King and I at Phoenix Festival Theater - Harford Community College

September 17, 9:06 AMBaltimore Budget Travel ExaminerChris Barsam

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Anna (Gail Bareham) and The King (Douglas Kotula) (photo by Chris Barsam)

Should you see Phoenix Festival Theater’s The King and I during its final weekend at Harford Community College in Bel Air?

Is a puzzlement!

This is the classic Rogers and Hammerstein story of an 1860’s widowed English schoolteacher who ventures to East Asia to teach the children (and currently favored wives) of the king of Siam.  It is a story of a stranger in a strange land, trying to do the best job possible while adapting to unfamiliar circumstances.

Vocally, the show impresses. Schoolteacher Anna (Gail Bareham) brings her A-game as she delivers the well-known I Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, and Hello Young Lovers. The King (Douglas Kotula) is of good voice also, as he demonstrates in A Puzzlement. Perhaps one of the most tender and enjoyable musical numbers is provided by illicit lovers Tuptim (Tiffany R. Wise) and Lun Tha (Joseph Murphy) in We Kiss in a Shadow.

Visually, the show dazzles. Kudos to the set artists. The king’s library is truly a royal space, a place fit for, well, a king. That room is best utilized with dancing choreographed by Bambi Johnson. The children’s number Getting to Know You and the Siamese interpretation of the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin are particularly memorable.

Dramatically, the show frequently tugs at the heartstrings. Bareham’s Anna seems more tough than tender, although her tender side does come out when she considers prematurely leaving Siam - and her beloved school children - behind. She and Kotula’s king enjoy a relationship that ranges from adversarial, to comedic, to something close to romantic.

Practically speaking,  the show may sell out. The opening weekend audiences were very large and enthusiastic. Each audience gave this cast a standing ovation, a fact certainly being shared with many potential patrons of the arts.

Criticisms are few. In a couple of instances a moment of comedy is frustrated by simple things like the lack of a pause in the delivery of a line, or the visual revelation of a punch line before the telling of a joke.

I wanted to laugh more.

Also, the king's look and manner make him believeable and compelling.  But at least initially he should be more unapproachable and authoritarian. For example, he should move more slowly and deliberately and majestically, especially in the early scenes. Then we can better relish the breadth of his character as the plot reveals it.

He is, after all, the king.

For Tickets: 443-412-2211 Performances September 18 at 8pm, September 19 at 3pm and 8pm, September 20 at 3pm. Adults $19, Students, Children $9, Seniors $9 matinee only.  www.harford.edu/cultural   Click here for directions.