page_title: The King and I
section_title: Creation
hierarchical_section_title: The King and I / Creation
caption_attribution_description: Richard Rodgers (left) and Oscar Hammerstein II
context_page_description: The King and I is the fifth musical by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel, Anna and the King of Siam, which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical's plot relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict through much of the piece, as well as by a love to which neither can admit. The musical premiered on March 29, 1951, at Broadway's St. James Theatre. It ran for nearly three years, making it the fourth longest-running Broadway musical in history at the time, and has had many tours and revivals.
  In 1950, theatrical attorney Fanny Holtzmann was looking for a part for her client, veteran leading lady Gertrude Lawrence. Holtzmann realized that Landon's book would provide an ideal vehicle and contacted Rodgers and Hammerstein, who were initially reluctant but agreed to write the musical.
context_section_description: In 1950, British actress Gertrude Lawrence's business manager and attorney, Fanny Holtzmann, was looking for a new vehicle for her client when the 1944 Margaret Landon novel Anna and the King of Siam (a fictionalized version of Leonowens' experiences) was sent to her by Landon's agent. According to Rodgers biographer Meryle Secrest, Holtzmann was worried that Lawrence's career was fading. The 51-year-old actress had appeared only in plays, not in musicals, since Lady in the Dark closed in 1943. Holtzmann agreed that a musical based on Anna and the King of Siam would be ideal for her client, who purchased the rights to adapt the novel for the stage.
  Holtzmann initially wanted Cole Porter to write the score, but he declined. She was going to approach Noël Coward next, but happened to meet Dorothy Hammerstein (Oscar's wife) in Manhattan. Holtzmann told Dorothy Hammerstein that she wanted Rodgers and Hammerstein to create a show for Lawrence, and asked her to see that her husband read a book that Holtzmann would send over. In fact, both Dorothy Rodgers and Dorothy Hammerstein had read the novel in 1944 and had urged their husbands to consider it as a possible subject for a musical. Dorothy Hammerstein had known Gertrude Lawrence since 1925, when they had both appeared in André Charlot's London Revue of 1924 on Broadway and on tour in North America.
  Rodgers and Hammerstein had disliked Landon's novel as a basis for a musical when it was published, and their views still held.  It consists of vignettes of life at the Siamese court, interspersed with descriptions of historical events unconnected with each other, except that the King creates most of the difficulties in the episodes, and Anna tries to resolve them. Rodgers and Hammerstein could see no coherent story from which a musical could be made until they saw the 1946 film adaptation, starring Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison, and how the screenplay united the episodes in the novel.  Rodgers and Hammerstein were also concerned about writing a star vehicle.  They had preferred to make stars rather than hire them, and engaging the legendary Gertrude Lawrence would be expensive.  Lawrence's voice was also a worry: her limited vocal range was diminishing with the years, while her tendency to sing flat was increasing.  Lawrence's temperament was another concern: though she could not sing like one, the star was known to be capable of diva-like behavior.  In spite of this, they admired her acting – what Hammerstein called her "magic light",  a compelling presence on stage – and agreed to write the show.  For her part, Lawrence committed to remaining in the show until June 1, 1953, and waived the star's usual veto rights over cast and director, leaving control in the hands of the two authors.
  Hammerstein found his "door in" to the play in Landon's account of a slave in Siam writing about Abraham Lincoln. This would eventually become the narrated dance, "The Small House of Uncle Thomas".  Since a frank expression of romantic feelings between the King and Anna would be inappropriate in view of both parties' upbringing and prevailing social mores, Hammerstein wrote love scenes for a secondary couple, Tuptim, a junior wife of the King, and Lun Tha, a scholar.  In the Landon work, the relationship is between Tuptim and a priest, and is not romantic.  The musical's most radical change from the novel was to have the King die at the end of the musical.  Also, since Lawrence was not primarily a singer, the secondary couple gave Rodgers a chance to write his usual "soaring" romantic melodies.  In an interview for The New York Times, Hammerstein indicated that he wrote the first scene before leaving for London and the West End production of Carousel in mid-1950; he wrote a second scene while in the British capital.
  The pair had to overcome the challenge of how to represent Thai speech and music.  Rodgers, who had experimented with Asian music in his short-lived 1928 musical with Lorenz Hart titled Chee-chee, did not wish to use actual Thai music, which American audiences might not find accessible.
caption: Rodgers (left) and Hammerstein
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