Actors and roles are ethnically matched in Segerstrom Center’s version of ‘The King and I’

By Eric Althoff

March 1, 2018 1:45 PM PT

Growing up in South Korea, actress Q Lim saw productions of “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats” featuring Korean actors.

Half a world away, American audiences of “The King and I” — the Rodgers and Hammerstein show about British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens’ friendship with King Mongkut of Siam — typically beheld renditions of the musical without a single actor of Asian heritage.

For Lim, the roadshow version of “The King and I” that is now playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through March 11 allows her to be part of an ensemble where the actors and characters they portray are ethnically matched.

“All the Asian characters are played by Asian people, which is phenomenal,” said Lim, who portrays Tuptim, one of the king’s many wives. “It’s an honor for us to be able to play the roles that we look like finally, and we had a director willing to cast Asians for all these Asian roles, which is correct.”

Filipino-American actor Jose Llana stars as King Mongkut, with English actress Laura Michelle Kelly as Anna. Lim portrays the rebellious Tuptim, who will defy convention — to say nothing of her king and husband — in her love for Lun Tha, played by Kavin Panmeechao, the cast’s only Thai actor.

“The show is about two cultures working together,” Lim said of the musical, which became an Oscar-winning 1956 film starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. “It’s dynamic and it’s simple in a way, [with] very moving and beautiful music.”

“The King and I” offers audiences Broadway staples such as “Hello, Young Lovers,” “Getting to Know You” and “Something Wonderful.”

Lim said director Bartlett Sher’s insistence on casting Asian actors is part of a consciousness-raising effort across the theater industry.

“Even though it’s an Asian show, the fact that it’s all Asian people playing all the Asian roles is very important to us,” Lim said. “It’s an honor, and we feel very hopeful for what’s going to happen in the future.”

Lim’s parents were supportive of her decision to become a professional actress in a culture that highly values formal education.

“In Korea, when you’re 19 you’re supposed to choose a university,” she said. “My parents always encouraged me [to pursue] what my heart wants. They were the ones who inspired me to do what I really want, which is theater.”

Despite lacking formal training, Lim did pursue her dream, both in South Korea and later in the United States.

In addition to a previous turn as Tuptim at Lincoln Center in New York, Lim has appeared in other musicals including “The Fantasticks,” “Miss Saigon” and “Disenchanted.” She dreams of one day tackling the title role in “Cinderella” and Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera.”

And despite “The King and I” taking place in the 1860s, Lim believes the show raises questions about gender issues that remain relevant.

“The [play] shows three strong women — Anna, Tuptim and [the king’s chief wife] Lady Thiang (Joan Almedilla). Lady Thiang follows the rules, and Mrs. Anna is defying and teaching the king how women are equal,” Lim said. “And Tuptim is [caught] in that world.

“These are things we still face every day in 2018.”

That cultural clash between the king, who has multiple wives from whom he demands absolute loyalty, and the Western modernism espoused by Anna and also adopted by Tuptim, makes “The King and I” a contemporary story as much as a period piece, Lim said.

“When I watched it for the first time at Lincoln Center before I joined the cast, it made me understand how important it is to understand each other, and how beautiful it is when that understanding really happens,” she said. “So I think in that sense, the show is very important.”

Lim said she hopes that Sher’s specific casting for “The King and I” will open doors for Asian actors in the future.

“I can [continue hoping] I have a place in theater and can play these roles in the future,” Lim said. “That there’s a possibility for me to do what I love.”