THE KING AND I Revival Still Seeking a Leading Lady?

This past April, Ted Chapin, head of the Rodgers & Hammerstein organization, announced that the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The King and I would be returning to Broadway in 2015 through Lincoln Center Theatre. Since then, a Lincoln Center representative has confirmed this news, the company has announced that Tony winner Bartlett Sher will direct the revival, and rumors that Kelli O'Hara (recently nominated for her fifth Tony Award for her work in THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY) will lead the production in the role of Anna have spread rapidly.

In fact, rumors about O'Hara leading this revival have been going around for over two years since Michael Riedel said that Lincoln Center "wants the Beaumont for its next big production - a revival of The King and I starring Kelli O'Hara."

However, the company recently posted an audition notice with a character breakdown that included the role of Anna, implying that they are still searching for a leading lady.

Though many have assumed that O'Hara appearing as Anna in this production next spring was inevitable, it is impossible to know for certain yet.

Click here to see the audition notice!

The King and I is a musical, the fifth by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical's plot relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict through much of the piece, as well as by a love that neither can admit. The musical premiered on March 29, 1951, at Broadway's St. James Theatre. It ran nearly three years, then the fourth longest-running Broadway musical in history, and has had many tours and revivals.