Opening of the 60th Season at the Lake Worth Playhouse

The Lake Worth Playhouse at 713 Lake Avenue

It wasn't exactly Opening Night. It was the night before Opening Night last night at the historic Lake Worth Playhouse, with the preview performance at 8 p.m. of Rogers & Hammerstein's musical "The King and I."

It started a bit slow, and I suddenly thought what a terrible decision I'd made to come, and with my two-year-old!  But things turned around with a remarkable performance by a young woman named Nathalie Andrade playing Tuptim, who sang beautifully and mournfully about her love for another man (not the king). What is this girl doing here in Lake Worth? She should be singing on stage at La Scala! Really.

By the end of the first act, all of the actors were inhabiting their roles quite nicely -- even charmingly -- and the audience became noticeably interested in the dilemma faced by the King of Siam (played by Bryan Wohlust) and the position of the English governess (played by Katie Angell Thomas) whom he'd hired to come to teach his five dozen children and many wives..or "..those wives who are currently in royal FAVOR" as the king liked to bellow.

My two-year-old son did not blink for almost the entire first act, and into the second act, I realized what a superb decision I had made to come see this show.

Opening night was, Friday, October 5, at 8 p.m. There are two performances Saturday, October 6 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and a 2 p.m. show on Sunday. "The King and I" runs for three weekends, with the last performance on Sunday, October 21. For tickets, go by the box office or call 586-6410.

Click here to see photos of the show, courtesy of the Lake Worth Playhouse.