King and I, The Lyrics
- Overture
- I Whistle a Happy Tune
- My Lord and Master
- March of the Siamese Children
- Hello, Young Lovers
- Puzzlement
- Getting to Know You
- Garden Rendezvous
- We Kiss in a Shadow
- I Have Dreamed
- Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?
- Something Wonderful
- Temple Scene
- Banquet Scene
- Western People Funny
- Song of the King
- Shall We Dance?
- I Whistle a Happy Tune (Reprise)
- Letter
- Finale
The musical was based on the book "Anna and the King of Siam", of authorship of M. Landon, the basis of which, in turn, was a story of a woman Anna, who lived in the late nineteenth century. The play was created based on the book and the first film that appeared in 1946. Music for the play was written by Richard Rodgers, and the lyrics – by Oscar Hammerstein. Budget of musical was decent, more than 350 thousand dollars, which at that time made it the most expensive work of these two authors.
Opening of the performance on Broadway was March 1951 at the site of St. James Theatre. The authors expected great response from the press and the public, but could not guess what the reaction would be. Not to say that the play was very popular, but it definitely had a success. Perhaps not as loud and clear as the film that was made after, but it helped to recoup its creation.
A problem in the way of the team was the sudden illness that was found at the performer A. G. Lawrence. It turned out that the woman was dying of liver cancer. That has not stopped the actress to win a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The fact that she was mentioned in the newspapers in the positive reviews has raised the morale, but, nevertheless, the disease won, and a great actress left the stage once and for all. Her place was taken by her understudy, Constance Carpenter. Y. Brynner, who collected many awards and public recognition, played the role of king, not only in the play but also in the subsequent film adaptation of the musical. In 1952, the original histrionics took Tony for best show.
Revivals of the musical were more than once, it went on tour in the USA and the UK, and the last resurrection of the legendary history occurred in 2015 on Broadway, which also earned Tony Award for Best Revival.
Release date: 1956
Last Update:April, 20th 2016