TWITTER WATCH: THE KING AND I Understudy Ann Sanders Becomes Broadway's First Asian-American Anna

2015-16 may be turning out to be the most racially diverse season in Broadway history, but this week a hit revival from the previous season joined in on the celebration.

THE KING AND I, a show that certainly helps make Broadway's beautiful mosaic a good deal more beautiful, made a little history on Tuesday night and at Wednesday's matinee and evening performances when Kelli O'Hara's understudy, Ann Sanders, became the first Asian-American to ever play the lead role of Anna Leonowens on Broadway.

Sanders is regularly part of the ensemble in the Lincoln Center production, understudying both of show's Tony-winning women, O'Hara and Ruthie Ann Miles' Lady Thiang. She made her Broadway debut in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, understudying the lead role of Belle and eventually taking over as a replacement.

From there, she understudied Christmas Eve in AVENUE Q before once again taking over as a replacement, and has since taken understudy assignments in the original Broadway companies of LEAP OF FAITH and IF/THEN.

Cast-mate Ashley Park, who plays the ingénue role of Tuptim, made sure the historic event was documented on her Twitter feed, making note that four of the musical's leading roles were played by Korean-American actors that day: herself, Sanders, Miles and Hoon Lee, who plays the King.

Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, won four 2015 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical. The production is directed by Bartlett Sher, and features a cast of 51, currently one of the largest casts performing on Broadway. One of Rodgers & Hammerstein's finest works, The King and I boasts a score which features such beloved classics as "Getting To Know You," "Hello Young Lovers," "Shall We Dance," "I Have Dreamed," and "Something Wonderful." Set in 1860's 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.

Lincoln Center Theater is one of New York's favorite not-for-profit theaters, with productions at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont, Mitzi E. Newhouse, and Claire Tow Theaters, as well as other theaters on and off Broadway, as well as touring productions nationally and around the world, TV and film projects, and original cast recordings. Notable recent productions include the award-winning The Coast of Utopia, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, War Horse, Other Desert Cities, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. In addition to The King and I, LCT is currently producing The Royale at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Her Requiem at the Claire Tow Theater, and A View from the Bridge on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater. LCT3 is Lincoln Center Theater's programming initiative devoted to producing the work of new artists and developing new audiences.