February 18, 2010
I loved The King and I. I loved the songs. I think that the King, played by Derrick D. King, was great. Derrick is a big man and can sing very well. His wife and son are played by Kim Snyder and Maceo Cortezz and are great performers and singers. I do like the songs, especially Whistle a Happy Tune and Getting to Know You.
It takes place in Siam. Siam is now Thailand and is a country in Asia. King Mongkut and Anna Leonowens are their real names. Anna was an Englishwoman. She had a son named Louis. Anna got married to Tom and Tom died. Anna and Louis went to Siam and taught the King’s children. The King did stuff pretty harsh. Like at the end, after they danced, the king’s guards came in with a princess who had run away with her boyfriend. The King got a whip and tried to whip her, but he didn’t. Anna got to him. They fell in love and he didn’t want to do that.
To learn more about the real story behind The King and I, click here:
History of the real Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut
The Springfield Symphony, February 13
I loved the symphony. It played Loves Greetings and Tristan And Isolde. Leah Hamilton Jenkins sang El Amor Brujo mezzo soprano. But Leah didn't have a microphone and she sang against the symphony and it was loud. Hachen Zhang plays piano. He performed Beethoven and Mozart and Hayden's music at age 5 in concert. And he studied music at age 3, and he is the youngest person in history to win the Van Cliburn Competition at age 19. He is still performing. He is standing in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's footsteps.
