THIS Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is stuffed with songs that you go in humming and an emotional cross-culture love story. How can it possibly fail given a production as sumptuous and lovingly crafted as this latest touring show?

The musical is based on the story of an English widow, Anna Leonowens, who travelled with her young son to Bangkok to teach the children in the royal household.

There, she and her boss, the despotic King of Siam, learned to appreciate each other's culture and company in between such songs as I Whistle A Happy Tune, Getting To Know You, Shall We Dance and Hello Young Lovers.

All that plus countless adorable children, glittering costumes and a tear-jerking finale that won't leave a dry eye in the house.

Stephen Rayne's glittering production ticks all the right boxes, even if it can't do anything to disguise the fact that the second act, with its Uncle Tom's Cabin ballet and the king's sudden illness for dramatic purposes, goes round in circles looking for an ending to please everyone.

Kevin Gray faces the tough challenge of blotting out Yul Brynner's definitive portrayal of the King, but manages to make the role his own with neat comic timing and a refusal to settle for easy sentimentality.

The "I" of the title, Anna, becomes a slightly looser Englishwoman than the prim widow we usually see in the hands of Elizabeth Renihan, who sings sweetly and engages in a battle of the sexes with the monarch with vigour.

* Until Saturday. Tickets 0870 606 3595. At Sunderland Empire, October 4-15. Box office: 0870 602 1130.

Published: 31/03/2005