OCR Feature #4 The King and I


The King & I - 1952 - Best musical - Another Rodgers & Hammerstein masterpiece. Listening to the original cast, it sounds as grand as it’s supposed to be with that glorious score, a commanding king by Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrende as Anna Leonowens portraying a teacher torn between duty, fighting for her rights and love for the king. I may sound ignorant but these early recordings have a distinct classic sound to them in the way Ms. Lawrence performed her “Getting to Know You” and “Hello Young Lovers”. I would have loved to see this in person with a mostly non Asian cast that was probably the norm during that era. It is worth noting that @baayork Lee is princess Ying yao Lak in this production where she later on been an original cast of A Chorus Line as Connie Wong. The musical cuts in this version are just the major songs. The love songs I Have Dreamed and We Kiss in a Shadow are beautifully performed by Doretta Morrow as Tuptim and Larry Douglas as Lun Tha. Dorothy Sarnoff as Lady Thiang gave a wonderful operatic sound for her song “Something Wonderful”. It must have been wonderful to witness Yul as the king. I have only seen this a long time ago in the film version. However, I am really grateful that they are captured in cast recordings that take us back to shows of the glorious past. 

#bravo #R&H #thekingandI #rodgersandhammerstein #musical #theater #broadway #classic #OCR #originalcastrecording #shallwedance


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