ENTERTAINMENT : Critics Dethrone Nureyev’s ‘King’

Boston reviewers today said Rudolf Nureyev’s king in “The King and I” should be dethroned.

The ballet dancer made his musical stage debut at Boston’s Wang Center Tuesday night in the role that Yul Brynner made famous, winning applause for his mock clumsiness in a dance lesson with the English governess Anna. But his singing was described as raspy and barely understandable. The Boston Globe went so far as to say Nureyev’s performance was “lamespoken” and worthy of “rotten fruit.” Nureyev, however, had already declared himself immune to bad reviews. At a news conference before the performance, he had said, “If you don’t like me, I’m not going to jump out a window.”