‘King and I’ overcomes actor’s youth

I had a sense of dread during the opening moments of Signature Productions' "The King and I."

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is about a strong clash of cultural wills between the leader of Siam (Lysander Abadia) and Anna (Melissa Riezler), a very proper British governess. Anna's been imported to teach the children and wives of the king, and she refuses to allow the ruler to treat her as a second-class human being.

Although there's no romantic dialogue between the pair, it's clear by show's end that their relationship has developed into not only friendship but desire.

When we first see the King and Anna together, something here is wrong. Abadia looks about half Riezler's age, and you wonder how director Leslie Fotheringham's production could be about anything more than a middle-aged woman trying to mother a stubborn boy.

But what's more surprising is that for most of the time, due to the expert performances, we don't care.

It doesn't take long for Abadia to demonstrate a manliness that goes beyond his apparent age. The actor communicates the steely determination of a man used to being feared. When he does doubt -- when his image of himself in the world begins to crumble -- it's as if one of the faces on Mount Rushmore is about to crash to the ground. Abadia also demonstrates the right kind of singing voice for the gruff King: enjoyably musical, but not smooth and pretty.

Riezler gives her Anna the lyricism of an unaffected, bold soprano, as well as girlishness mixed with aristocracy. When her self-righteousness begins to fade, you feel as if the wind has been knocked out of the British Empire.

This show obviously couldn't work without two domineering adults in the lead roles, and Abadia, Riezler and the director pull it off beautifully and unexpectedly. The nearly 30 other roles are either well-sung or well-acted, and very often both. The rented sets and costumes complement Michelle Harvey's frequently breathtaking lighting.

The only major stumble is Fotheringham's decision to not use live instrumentals. On opening night, the sound occasionally blacked out so that we were plagued with brief patches of silence. That's the drawback of using "dead" music: It sometimes sounds dead.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.