Broadway comes calling for Tamara Loos' expert advice

King and I cast
Provided
Cornell professor Tamara Loos, front row center, visited the cast and crew of the Broadway revival of “The King and I” to share her expert knowledge on gender and sexuality in 19th-century Siam.

When Tyne Rafaeli, associate director of the Broadway revival of “The King and I,” began her research into 19th-century Siam in preparation for the March 12 opening at Lincoln Center, she almost immediately encountered the name of Tamara Loos, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Loos is an expert in gender and sexuality in 19th-century Siam, and since the Broadway production would be about women and sexual slavery, Rafaeli knew she needed Loos’ help.

Throughout the summer Rafaeli sent Loos questions and ideas, then invited her to New York City to speak with the cast. The presentation Loos prepared, at the directors’ request, addressed questions like who was the king? What were the main points of gender conflict in 19th-century Siam?

Most of the time was spent in an informal give and take, says Loos, “which made it really fun. They were curious about all kinds of things, not just issues related to their role. They were one of the most eager audiences I’ve ever had.”

For the cast and the directors, Loos’ talk fundamentally shifted their understanding of the play. Says Rafaeli: “Over the years, I’ve brought in various experts to talk about different productions, and Tamara’s talk was by far the most significant. … She was able to contextualize the cultural and international politics of the time in a way that completely transformed everybody’s perception of the piece.”

For example, Loos explained polygamy as a political institution – a tributary relationship. And adultery, for the king, wasn’t necessarily about sexual control but about not tarnishing the bloodline to the throne. “It was those kinds of details that allowed us to free ourselves from our Western contemporary judgment on the way in which these people lived, and allowed us a more sophisticated and humane and intellectual understanding of why the culture was what it was,” says Rafaeli.

Notes Loos, “Director Bartlett Sher didn’t want to change the play, but he wanted to be authentic within the parts of the play that could be changed.”

Loos answered many questions about bodily comportment; would people clap, for example, or how would someone approach the king? “In reality, people would remain on their knees in the presence of the king, but the practicality of the stage is that the actors have to get off the stage quickly, which you can’t do on your knees,” Loos says.

Loos also advised the dance choreographer on cultural cues such as how the dancers should position their hands and that they should hold their legs together – not doing so would have been considered offensive in Siam.

Lead Kelli O’Hara had many questions for Loos about the real Anna Leonowens. “It’s a difficult role, playing the part of a white woman who treated Asians as barbaric, especially in a majority Asian or Asian-American cast,” explains Loos. “But the real Anna was part Eurasian who chose to pass as white because imperial racial hierarchies would otherwise make it difficult for her, as a single mother of two, to make a living.”

Most of the scholarship on Anna has been written by white men, notes Loos, who typically treat her with contempt. But while Anna definitely did exaggerate her relationship with King Mongkut and lied about other details to sell her books – in reality, there was no romantic attraction between them – “you can also understand why Anna manipulated her identity,” says Loos.

When not consulting on Broadway, Loos is finishing up a manuscript on a reluctantly rebellious prince whose story reveals the power of gossip, secrets and silence in 19th- and 20th-century Thailand.

Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.

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