Leslie Denniston ends her return run as Anna in the Muny's 1999 production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I with Richard Muenz as the King of Siam, Nat Chandler as Lun Tha and Stephanie Park as Tuptim. The St. Louis theatre in Forest Park began hosting the classic musical July 5.

Denniston, who played Anna in the Muny's 1994 production of King and I, last appeared at the Muny in the world premiere of Three Coins in the Fountain. She performed on Broadway in City of Angels as Bobbi/Gabby and on TV as Maeve Stoddard on "Guiding Light." Muenz's Broadway credits include The Most Happy Fella, Camelot, Chess and High Society. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the New York City Opera production of The Pajama Game.

Chandler most recently performed on Broadway as the standby for Sir Percival Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Other roles include Lun Tha in The King and I with Yul Brynner, and Raoul in the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera. Park originated the role of Stewardess Robinson in Broadway's Titanic and played a royal wife opposite Lou Diamond Phillips in The King And I.

New York opera singer Reveka Mavrovitis reprises her role as Lady Thiang for the Muny. Having made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 1995-96 season with Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Mavrovitis has recently sung Rosette in Manon and Tisbe in La Cenerentola at the New York Metropolitan opera house.

Tickets for The King and I are $33-$7 and are available by calling (314) 534-1111. The Muny is located on the web at http://www.muny.com. -- By Christine Ehren