THE KING AND I to Head to the West End with Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe June 2018!

Looks like the West End will be getting to know Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, Lincoln Center Theater's production of THE KING AND I, directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, will officially begin previews at the London Palladium on June 21, 2018. Tickets go on sale at 10 AM Friday, November 17.

The multi Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I will transfer from Broadway to London next summer following a critically acclaimed 16 month run at New York's Lincoln Center Theater and an unprecedented continuing record-breaking sold out USA tour.

Opening at the world famous London Palladium in June 2018, the show will star the two original Lincoln Center Theater lead actors: Broadway Musical Royalty Kelli O'Hara, who will reprise her Tony Award-winning role of Anna Leonowens, together with film star, Oscar and Tony nominee (for his role on The King and I) Ken Watanabe, who will star in the title role of The King of Siam. Both will be making their West End debuts, following their acclaimed performances on Broadway.

Acclaimed Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher will once again direct the production, hot on the heels of his work on The Lincoln Center Theater's World Premiere of J.T. Rogers' smash hit play Oslo, which opened on Broadway and then transferred via the National Theatre to London's Harold Pinter Theatre in October this year to rave reviews. He, along with the celebrated creative team behind the award winning production of South Pacific, will reunite to bring this majestic production to life at the Palladium.

With music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, THE KING AND I - which won four Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical - will open its European Premiere at the London Palladium. The production will open 21 June 2018 (Press Night on 3 July 2018) for a limited engagement, booking until 4August 2018.

One of Rodgers & Hammerstein's finest works, this masterpiece boasts a score featuring such beloved classics as Getting To Know You, Hello Young Lovers, Shall We Dance, I Have Dreamed, and Something Wonderful. Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher, whom the imperious King brings to Siam to tutor his many wives and children.

CAST

KELLI O'HARA won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Lincoln Center Theatre's production of The King & I. Kelli has also been nominated for Tony Awards for previous Broadway performances in The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It and The Pajama Game. Additional Broadway credits include The Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula, and Jekyll & Hyde. Off-Broadway: Far From Heaven, King Lear, Bells Are Ringing, My Life With Albertin, Beauty and The Light in the Piazza Film/TV: Sex and the City 2, Scorsese's The Key to Reserva, Blood Brothers, Alexander Hamilton, Numb3rs and Masters of Sex. Recordings: Her recordings include Always and Wonders of the World on Ghostlight Records. Kelli has most recently completed filming the upcoming motion picture Independents directed by Greg Naughton. Kelli is currently starring in New York City Center's concert presentation ofBrigadoon and is set to star in Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate in 2019.

KEN WATANABE's Japanese theatre credits include Dialogue with Horowitz, Hamlet, Shitayamannen-cho monogatari, The Lion in Winter, and The Royal Hunt of the Sun. For his work in film, Watanabe received Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for The Last Samurai. His film credits also includeInception, Letters from Iwo Jima, Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins, Godzilla, The Sea of Trees, Transformers. He has just completed work on the upcoming films Isle of Dogs, Bel Canto and Godzilla: King of Monsters.

CREATIVE TEAM

BARTLETT SHER won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics' Circle Awards for his direction of the Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein'sSouth Pacific. He most recently directed the world premiere of J.T. Rogers' play Oslo which opened on Broadway in July 2016 and has since transferred to London. His other theatre credits include; Fiddler On The Roof, Golden Boy, Blood & Gifts, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Awake and Sing!, and The Light in the Piazza. His other Broadway and off-Broadway credits include The Bridges of Madison County, Prayer for My Enemy, The Butterfly Collection, Cymbeline, Waste, Don Juan and Pericles. He directed the operas Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Le Comte Ory, L'Elisir d'Amore (Metropolitan Opera);Romeo et Juliette (Salzburg Festival and La Scala); Mourning Becomes Electra (Seattle Opera and New York City Opera); and Two Boys (Met and ENO). He was the Artistic Director of Seattle's Intiman Theatre and was also a Resident Director of Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre.

MICHAEL YEARGAN (Set Designer)

LCT: Golden Boy (Tony nom.), Blood and Gifts, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Tony nom.), South Pacific (Tony, Drama Desk awards; Outer Critics Circle nom.), Edward Albee's Seascape and The Light in the Piazza (Tony, DD awards). Broadway: The Ritz, Bad Habits, A Lesson from Aloes and The Road to Meca (Roundabout). Also credits Off-Broadway, regional theatre London, ten productions at the Metropolitan Opera and work at major opera companies throughout the United States, Europe and Australia.

CATHERINE ZUBER (Costume Designer )

LCT: The King and I (Tony Award, OCC Award), South Pacific (Tony Award), The Light in the Piazza (Tony Award), Macbeth, Golden Boy (Tony nom.), Edward Albee's Seascape (Tony nom.). Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof, Gigi, The Royal Family (Tony Award), How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Born Yesterday (Tony nom.), Doubt and The Father. TV: NBC's The Sound of Music Live! And Peter Pan Live!

DONALD HOLDER (Lighting Designer)

Broadway: Fifty productions, two Tony awards (The Lion King and South Pacific) and eleven Tony nominations. Recent projects include The Cherry Orchard, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, The Father, On the Twentieth Century, The Bridges of Madison County, Golden Boy, Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, Ragtime, Movin' Out, Bullets Over Broadway, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Boy From Oz and many others. Television: Smash Seasons 1 and 2 (NBC- Dreamworks). Education: Yale School of Drama.

SCOTT LEHRER (Sound Designer)

Received the first Tony awarded to sound for the Lincoln Centre Theatre revival of South Pacific directed by Bartlett Sher. Recent Broadway: The Front Page Shuffle Along, Fiddler on the Roof, Dames at Sea, The King and I, Living on Love, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Delicate Balance, Love Letters, A Raisin in the Sun, Betrayal, Lucky Guy, Chaplin (Drama Desk), Death of a Salesman (Tony nom.), the revival of Chicago and over 50 City Centre Encores!. Recording projects include the Broadway cast recording of An American in Paris (Grammy nom), Loudon Wainwright III's Grammy-winning High Wide and Handsome, Bebe Neuwirth's Porcelain and Meredith Monk's Mercy.

CHRISTOPER GATTELLI (Choreographer)

LCT: The King and I (Tony Nom.), South Pacific (Tony, OCC noms.), and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Broadway: Newsies (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC Awards for best choreography), Sunday in the Park with George, Casa Valentina, 13, The Ritz, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and High Fidelity. West End: Silence! The Musical, Sunday in the Park with George and Tick Tick... BOOM! Sydney Opera House: My Fair Lady with Julie Andrews. Film: Hail! Caesar. Upcoming: Warpaint, The Spongebob Musical and Frozen on Broadway.

TED SPERLING (Musical Supervisor)

Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, The Light in the Piazza (Tony and Drama Desk Awards), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, Titanic (actor), Kiss of the Spider Woman, How to Succeed..., My Favourite Year, Drood, Sunday in the Park with George. Off Broadway: Red Eye of Love, The Other Josh Cohen, Striking 12 and See What I Wanna See (all as director); A Man of No Importance, Satan Returns, A New Brain, Floyd Collins, Romance in Hard Times (as musical director). Artistic Director of MasterVoices, Principal Conductor of Westchester Philharmonic. Creative Director, the 24 hour musicals.

STEPHEN RIDLEY (UK Musical Director)

As Musical Supervisor: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun and Private Lives (UK Tours). As Musical Director: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and The Sound of Music (Regent's Park), Guys and Dolls(Phoenix Theatre), Urinetown (Guest MD, Apollo), Crazy for You (Novello, Oliver Award for Best Musical Revival), Love Story (Duchess Theatre/Minerva Theatre Chichester), Privates on Parade (Associate MD, Noel Coward), The Music Man (Chichester), The A to Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre), High Society (UK tour), The Secret Garden (WYP), Peter Pan - A Musical Adventure (Birmingham Rep/WYP), The Wizard of Oz (Birmingham Rep/WYP), Mercury Musicals 25th Anniversary Gala (Novello) and The Wind in the Willows (Regent's Park). Stephen recently conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra recording the music for BBC Radio 4's Home Front. Other work includes The Whipping Man (Theatre Royal, Plymouth), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), A Chorus Line and Wizard of Oz (London Palladium).