The King and I

Short overview of the musical ‘The King and I’ The King and I was originally a stage musical, produced in 1951 with the first film version produced in 1956 with the Award-Winning Yul Brynner & Deborah Kerr in the leading roles. The book took inspiration from the memoirs of a lady called Anna Leonowens, from the UK who spent several years living among the Siamese Royal Family, teaching English to the royal wives and children. She lived in the palace and taught King Mongkut’s wives and children, later also working as a language secretary. Anna introduced Western ideals and culture to the household, which annoyed the King and so many difficulties and struggles needed to be overcome making for a strong and powerful story, incorporating the closeness between Anna and the main royal wife Lady Thiang, along with tensions between the King and Anna and also highlighting the relationships between Siam and Europe. The King and I musical is a wonderful story with an excellent script and melodic songs such a ‘Hello Young Lovers’, ‘Getting to Know You’, ‘We Kiss in a Shadow’, ‘Something Wonderful’ and the memorable ‘Shall we Dance?’. This is a must-see show for all the family to enjoy from 13th – 15th October with performances at 7.15pm and a Saturday Matinee at 2.15pm at the Playhouse, Halifax performed by the energetic cast of Stage Door Studio Theatre Workshop.