SHE’s known to millions as Trixie Franklin, the no-nonsense nurse who brings a touch of Sixties glamour to Poplar in BBC1’s hugely popular drama Call the Midwife.
But this spring, actress Helen George is in crinoline skirts, playing governess Anna Leonowens in the multi Tony-winning production of The King and I.
Heading to Bradford’s Alhambra in April, the lavish production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s much-loved musical features a cast of more than 50, headed by Helen and Broadway star Darren Lee as the King of Siam.
A compelling romance from the golden age of musicals, The King and I has one of musical theatre’s finest scores, including Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, and Shall We Dance.
Set in 1860s Bangkok, it’s the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between a British schoolteacher brought to Siam by a modernist King, in an imperialistic world, to teach his many wives and children.
The show opens on the deck of a ship as it snakes up river at dusk, heading for a glimmering royal palace in 19th-century Siam.
“I had been wanting to do a musical for a while,” says Helen. “I was waiting for the right one to come along and just couldn’t say no. It’s such a classical musical theatre part.
“I was blown away when I saw Bartlett Sher’s staging of this wonderful show. Anna is such a strong, passionate and
determined character.”
Helen’s first job after drama college was in the ensemble of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman in White in 2004.
Her other musical theatre credits include Company and Love Never Dies. In 2015 she competed on Strictly Come Dancing - so how’s she finding The King and I’s sweeping polka showstopper, Shall We Dance? “When we do this incredible dance I wear this incredible dress,” says Helen. “I’m as big as a house. In the rehearsal room everybody has had to get out of the way. I lift up the skirt and drag scripts and tea cups with me along the way.
“It weighs 10lbs and it’s uncomfortable, but this was the life of a Victorian woman.”
The role of the domineering King of Siam will always carry the memory of Yul Brynner, who played him in the 1956 Oscar-winning film, opposite Deborah Kerr, and clung on to the role on stage for 34 years and 4,600 performances.
Darren Lee has made the role his own since he first played it on Broadway in 2016. Darren, who trained as a dancer, says the show “wasn’t on his radar” but adds: “Growing up as an Asian American performer you know that there is this role, and it sits within the top five to 10 shows of classic musicals,” says Darren.
It also represents a wonderful opportunity to see a parade of talented young performers dressed to the nines in beautiful costumes. The King’s large brood of children is played on this tour by 18 actors aged seven to 13.
Underlying the main story is the poignant romance of Tuptim, one of the King’s wives, and Lun Tha, the man she is really in love with.
“I went to see the show when I was seven or eight, growing up in Birmingham,” says Helen. “I haven’t gone back and watched the film because I need to find Anna myself. I hadn’t realised how many songs she sings.”
Anna - the ‘I’ of the title - gets most of the best tunes. The King has just one number on his own. Composed with Brynner’s limited singing abilities in mind, A Puzzlement is a high-speed patter song in which the King tries to work out how to reconcile tradition and modernity. Darren compares it the songs written for Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady:
“The show was crafted to maximise that person’s acting ability without exposing him too much as a singer,” he says. “A Puzzlement doesn’t melodically do a lot so you have to be able to deliver it like a monologue. But it allows you to express a wide range of emotion.”
The reason he sings it goes to the heart of The King and I. Siam, which became Thailand just two years before the musical’s premiere, was surrounded in the 19th century by countries colonised by Britain or France.
“The King brings Anna to teach his children English because he’s concerned that being a tiny country, it is very easily swallowed up by other countries,” says Darren.
Adds Helen: “I would argue that it’s completely current. What’s so brilliant about this progressive king is he is passionate about educating his daughters.”
The woman he chooses to teach his children is based on an intriguing figure from the mid-Victorian era. The real Anna Leonowens kept a diary of her time in Siam in the 1860s. Published in 1870, it’s a snapshot of a hidden world emerging into the light. Three quarters of a century later, novelist Margaret Landon used the journal as a source for a fictionalised re-imagination, titled Anna and the King of Siam. It was snapped up by Hollywood producer Darryl F Zanuck and filmed with Rex Harrison.
Then Rodgers and Hammerstein decided to make it into a musical. In South Pacific, they’d tackled the issue of racism head on. The King and I was also about promoting harmony between cultures.
This is particularly apparent in the show-within-a-show in Act 2. To impress visiting diplomats, the king commands Anna to stage a version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book which in the 1860s was a very current commentary on slavery. The scene is a dazzling spectacle, courtesy of Jerome Robins’ original choreography (re-staged by Christopher Gattelli).
In Anna and the King, two worlds collide - geographically, culturally and in terms of gender and wealth. He is the monarch, she the servant. Through compromise on both sides comes genuine respect and love.
* The King and I is at the Alhambra from April 11-15. Call (01274) 432000 or visit bradford-theatres.co.uk
* Helen George will perform on Wednesday to Saturday performances.
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