The King and I: stage vs screen

Walter Lang's 1956 film of The King and I stars Yul Brynner as King Mongkut, repeating his stage role, and Deborah Kerr as Anna Leonowens, with Rita Moreno as Tuptim. It adapts the 1951 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, which drew on Margaret Landon's 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam. Brynner won the Oscar for Best Actor, and the film won five Oscars in all. These are the main changes from the stage show.

Stage

Broadway musical (1951)

Screen

The King and I (1956), directed by Walter Lang

1. Deborah Kerr replaces Gertrude Lawrence

The show was written for Gertrude Lawrence, who played Anna on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Actress; she died in 1952 during the run. For the film, Maureen O'Hara was first cast, but Richard Rodgers did not agree to it and Yul Brynner pressed for Deborah Kerr. Kerr earned an Oscar nomination, and Marni Nixon sang Anna's songs for her.

2. Three recorded songs were cut

Tuptim's "My Lord and Master," Anna's angry solo "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?," and "I Have Dreamed," the duet for Tuptim and Lun Tha, were all recorded for the film and appear on its soundtrack album, but none made the final cut. "I Have Dreamed" is heard only as orchestral underscoring, as is "Western People Funny," the wives' song about their confining new European gowns.

3. Reprises and "Song of the King" are trimmed

None of the stage reprises survive on screen, so Anna loses her reprises of "Hello, Young Lovers" and "I Whistle a Happy Tune." The first half of "Song of the King" becomes spoken dialogue, with only some of the words sung by Brynner, although the soundtrack album keeps the song as written. "Shall We Dance?" stays, sung by Brynner and by Marni Nixon for Kerr.

4. Tuptim and Lun Tha are dubbed

Rita Moreno's singing as Tuptim was dubbed by Leona Gordon, and Carlos Rivas's singing as Lun Tha by Reuben Fuentes, so the couple's duet "We Kiss in a Shadow" is sung by other voices. Several stage performers did carry their roles to the screen: Brynner, Terry Saunders as Lady Thiang, Martin Benson as the Kralahome, and Patrick Adiarte as Prince Chulalongkorn.

5. The British visit gets a new ambassador

On stage, the envoy sent to judge whether the King is a barbarian is Sir Edward Ramsay himself, an old flame of Anna's. The film adds a new character, the British ambassador Sir John Hay, played by Alan Mowbray, and demotes Geoffrey Toone's Sir Edward to the ambassador's aide. In both versions Anna persuades the King to receive the visitors in European style, with a banquet and Tuptim's play.

6. The ending stays close, with a sung finale

In both versions Anna is packed and ready to sail when she learns the King is dying. He presses his ring on her and persuades her to stay, and Prince Chulalongkorn ends the custom of bowing low before the King. On stage the prince brings Anna the King's letter, while in the film Lady Thiang hands it to her. The stage show ends with orchestral underscoring only; the film closes with an off-screen chorus singing "Something Wonderful."

7. Tuptim escapes during the ballet

Both versions keep "The Small House of Uncle Thomas," Tuptim's narrated retelling of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Siamese dance style, with Jerome Robbins's stage choreography. In it Buddha freezes a river to save the runaway Eliza, then melts it to drown the slave-owning king who hunts her. On stage, Lun Tha tells Tuptim to be ready to flee after the performance. In the film, she slips out to run away with him while the ballet is still playing.

8. A widescreen spectacle that Thailand banned

The film was shot in 55mm CinemaScope 55 but released in standard 35mm CinemaScope, and runs 133 minutes. Irene Sharaff's costumes and the art direction won Oscars, as did Brynner, the film's score, and its sound. Because of its portrayal of King Mongkut, the film was banned in Thailand.

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