Long live the "King;" 2 "kings" take over Broadway role

Filipino American Jose Llana will star in The King and I Broadway musical.

ONE KING exits, two will take his place.

As Ken Watanabe leaves the Broadway productionl of "The King and I"  to fulfill a motion picture commitment, two more Asian/American actors will take over the role, originally  made famous by Yul Brynner.

Last night, Broadway vet Jose Llana joined Tony winners Kelli O’Hara and Ruthie Ann Miles (his Imelda from Here Lies Love) to play the role of the King of Siam for a limited 11-week engagement through Sept. 27, in Lincoln Center Theater’s Tony Award-winning revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, based on the book "Anna and the King of Siam."

After Llana's summer stint, Hoon Lee from the television series Banshee will star as the king of Siam.

Jose Llana starred as Philippines' President Marcos in the musical Here Lies Love at the Public Theater, for which he received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. This production is currently on world tour after closing in New York last January.

Jose Llana, left, reunites with Ruthie Ann Miles and Conrad Ricamora,
all three of whom were in the Here Lies Love musical.

Joining the King production  he will be reunited with Here Lies Love castmates Ruthie Ann Miles, who played Imelda Marcos and Conrad Ricamora, who played Ninoy Aquino, Marcos' rival in love and politics.

Llana's other notable Broadway credits include Wonderland, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Flower Drum Song, Rent, Streetcorner Symphony, and the 1996 production of The King and I, in which he made his Broadway debut in the role of Lun Tha at the age of 19. 

His film and television credits include Hitch and “Sex and the City.” He is an advocate for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Broadway Impact for Marriage Equality, and several other charities.

RELATED: Imelda's story is made for theater

Llana's parents immigrated to the U.S. to flee the Philippines dictatorship of strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

"Playing Marcos has been nothing short of life-changing and life-affirming as a Filipino-American," Llana told an interviewer. "I never realized how much I took for granted how my parents educated my sister and me about martial law in the Philippines. The truth is not all Filipino-American kids grow up with any knowledge of it, let alone any Americans do. I’m most proud that our show inspires people to go home and Google or Wikipedia the Philippines or martial law and that they learn a little something more about our history and culture than those damn shoes Imelda hoarded with stolen money."

Hoon Lee will join the cast after he finishes up taping the latest season of the television hit series Banshee, in which he plays the bad-ass Job, a cross-dressing computer hacker. His previous Broadway credits include Urinetown The Musical, Flower Drum Song and Pacific Overtures.

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