Anna, The King, and I

For the last three months, I've been living in the skin of one of my favorite musical heroines, Anna Leonowens. Boise Music Week's The King and I opens this Wednesday, and I will be playing the title character (the "I," not the King).

I have been working hard to get back down to what I call my "King and I weight," the weight I was when I portrayed Anna in 2009. I would love to get down to my "Chicago weight," the weight I was as Hunyak. But, alas, I'm no longer in my twenties, and there are no Fosse-style dance moves in Rodgers and Hammerstein to buff me up.

The last time I was in The King and I, the prop master slipped a picture of a chimp in my locket, the same locket that was supposed to hold a photograph of my late husband to which I was supposed to refer, "Oh dear, yes. He was very pretty in face!"

Also during my last stint as Anna, one of the kids in the cast put a remote control fart machine in the principles' dressing room on opening night. We kept wondering who was having digestive problems as we put on our makeup before the show.

At one rehearsal for the 2009 show, the King stepped on my ball gown during "Shall We Dance," ripping the skirt off the bodice. As if I hadn't shown enough skin in that fiasco, I flashed a man whose wife was doing his makeup in my dressing room one night. I was chattering on and on about something completely unrelated to the show. Unaware of my surroundings, I took off my bra, then my spanks. Then I remembered there was a man in my dressing room (who had very chivalrously closed his eyes as soon as the spanks started dropping). I tried to cover myself with my hands while the other women and I ran back and forth in front of the costume rack, screaming in hysteria.

However, I wasn't sure if I would come away from this current production with my typical tales of backstage comedy. After a month or so into rehearsals, I wasn’t nearly as hilarious as usual.

In fact, some of the incidents that occurred throughout the process weren't very funny. After I explained to my husband that I couldn’t break any limbs cross-country skiing over spring break, the King almost blew out his knee jumping off his dais on stage. And I got a head cold, complete with laryngitis about three weeks before opening night. Luckily, I am now fully recovered.

Hilarity eventually ensued though.

My go-to comedic material consisted mainly of: “Wide load comin’ through,” referring to my hoop skirt whenever I walked through a doorway or “Now I know what feeling ‘bright and breezy’ means,” when my bloomers fell off in the middle of a scene.

Of course, as is usually the case, the other cast members were much funnier than I.

One of the King’s wives wore a light-up hula hoop at the beginning of act two the other night. When she prostrated herself in front of the King, it began to blink. And Louis pretended to be a sword swallower with a map pointer one evening.

In Tuptim’s absence, the young man playing Sir Edward Ramsey (who is probably over six-feet tall and sounds a bit like James Bond) filled in, acting opposite the male romantic lead, Lun Tha. Sir Edward was a former student of mine, from kindergarten through fifth grade, and I can still remember when he could hit Tuptim’s soprano-range notes.

I call Sir Edward and Lun Tha “The King’s Posse” because they stand off stage and pantomime “Puzzlement” every time the King sings. The King and his Posse also spent one of our rehearsals acting out “Whistle a Happy Tune” from stage right. They claimed they were trying to get me to break character.

“Ha, ha! You won't distract me. I'm a pro!" I replied.

Then I realized that this sounded like a challenge. So now I am a bit on my guard. No telling what The King’s Posse might do.

Then last night, the directors announced “No practical jokes once we move into the theater!" Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I wonder if The King’s Posse was listening . . .

Headshot for The King and I, Boise Music Week 2012

Boise Music Week's production of The King and I opens Wednesday, May 9 and runs through Saturday, May 12 at the Morrison Center. Please click here for ticket information.

For more The King and I fun, see "The King and I . . . and My Hair."