The King & I

The King & I is an evening-length work incorporating 3 trained dancers and 5 Elvis Impersonators (yes, five!). Loosely structured on Elvis’ last concert, the dance utilizes text, props, Elvis-inspired moves, and even some singing, to ask the question: Just what does Elvis Presley have to do with you and me, anyway?

For Choreographer Allison Orr, this dance sprang from a moment of unexpected emotional connection: “When I visited Graceland many years ago I found myself crying at the end of tour. Ever since then, I knew I had to make a dance about the King.”

In August of '07, Forklift marked the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death with a revised and expanded version of The King & I. Playing to nearly sold-out audiences and selling over 700 tickets, critics, dance lovers, and Elvis fanatics just couldn't get enough of The King & I.

"From the very first number, the choreography impresses, " writes Iris Brooks from The Austin Chronicle. She continues, "Using many of Elvis' signature moves and gestures, Orr creates a vocabulary that is at once familiar, infectious, and almost miraculously underivative." She concludes, "The King & I is to be commended for making accessible an art form that too often runs to the esoteric and by doing so with total integrity. That Allison Orr could accomplish this with a subject as burdened by cliché as Elvis Presley is testament to the boundless potential of a thoughtful and original mind."

Read the full review from The Austin Chronicle

Read a review from The Austin American Statesman

View TWO cover stories about Forklift and The King & I: XL and The Austin Chronicle.

Forklift is eager to tour The King & I and plans are in the works for performances around the state. Interested in booking The King & I? Contact Artistic Director Allison Orr at

Photo features dancers Theresa Hardy, Ann Berman and Allison Orr and Elvis Tribute Artist Donnie Roberts. Photo taken by Randal Ford.