Upcoming Events
The King and I Dinner Theatre
Lancaster Mennonite High School students will perform the musical, The King and I, during the school’s 33rd annual Arts Festival, Thursday through Saturday, April 26-28. Times are 7:30 nightly and 2 p.m. Saturday.
Dinner theatre:
The school’s annual dinner theatre is set for Saturday evening, April 28. The event will include appetizers at 5 p.m., a full-course dinner at 5:45 catered by Hess’s Barbecue Catering, browsing through the Arts and Crafts Festival, and reserved auditorium seating for the 7:30 performance of The King and I. The meal will include beef brisket and marinated chicken breast.
The dinner theatre also will honor the school’s alumni of the year. Edith Yoder, executive director of Bridge of Hope, has been named Alumna of the Year. She graduated from LMH in 1983. Jessica King, a 1992 graduate, has been named Young Alumna of the Year. She is executive director of ASSETS Lancaster.
Cost for the dinner theatre is $40 each. Tickets will go fast for this popular musical, so send your order and payment today to LMS Dinner Theatre, 2176 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster, Pa., 17602. This is a great event for a group of friends, Sunday School class, etc. To reserve seating for a group, send your entire order together and list names of all persons in your party. For more dinner theatre ticket information contact Deborah Sprunger at sprungerdl@lancastermennonite.org or 299-0436, ext. 701. Registration deadline for the dinner theatre is April 20. Proceeds will benefit the annual fund.
Musical only:
Musical only tickets are $8.00 for students and $10.00 for adults for all performances except Saturday’s matinee when they will be $1.00 less. They can be purchased by calling 299-0436, ext. 340, or by sending payment and a self-addressed envelope to LMS Musical, 2176 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster, Pa., 17602. Reserved tickets need to be claimed at least 30 minutes before the performance. Reservations made now will be confirmed near the end of February.
About the musical:
The King and I takes place in Siam in 1862 when an English widow and missionary, Anna Leonowens, with her young son, arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having been summoned by the Buddhist King to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. The King is largely considered to be a barbarian by those in the West and he seeks Anna’s assistance in changing his image, if not his ways. Their outlooks and perspectives initially collide with each other, and while both keep a firm grip on their respective traditions and values, Anna and the King grow to understand and, eventually respect one another, with the help of the King’s head wife, Lady Thiang. A subplot involves one of the King’s slaves, Tuptim, and her forbidden love to Lun Tha, a messenger from the enemy nation of Burma. This truly unique love story features many well-known songs such as “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Hello, Young Lovers,” Getting To Know You,” “Something Wonderful,” “Shall We Dance,” and of course, the now-famous “Small House of Uncle Thomas Ballet,” as choreographed by Jerome Robbins.