All the songs in this show are pretty irresistible, including “A Puzzlement,” a kind of Siamese rap soliloquy in which we hear the king torn between his inheritance of Eastern despotism and the Western humanism he’s drawn to. The shadow of Yul Brynner’s legendary performance hangs over this and everything that Phillips does. But Phillips, known more for his movies ( “La Bamba”), gives a brave and attractive performance. Murphy (1994 Tony winner for “Passion”) is an outstanding singing actress, but her Anna hasn’t yet reached the mysterious stage of emotional ignition that makes a great performance. But she does splendid justice to her songs, including “Hello, Young Lovers.” The gorgeous “supporting” songs have never been better: Taewon Kim stops the show with “Something Wonderful.” Jerome Robbins’s ballet “Small House of Uncle Thomas” is done with a witty delicacy of movement. Walt Disney never created anything as cosmically cute as the March of the Siamese Children. The staging by Christopher Renshaw and Lar Lubovich (musical numbers) seizes the essence of R and H, a fusion of romance and realism that’s both a conflict and an embrace.
