The Lincoln Center Theatre production of The King and I, which opened on Broadway in 2015 and garnered Tony Awards for Kelli O’Hara and Ruthie Ann Miles, then transferred to London’s West End where it was filmed for a limited-time cinematic release by Trafalgar Releasing in November 2018, will be coming to the streaming service BroadwayHD. The filmed version captures original Anna (O’Hara), King (Ken Watanabe), and Lady Thiang (Miles) in Bartlet Sher’s celebrated staging. The King and I debuts on BroadwayHD on December 20.
The filmed stage version, which saw success, topping the highest box office record for a stage play or musical, was released in cinemas in 2018. Supported by a company of over 50 dazzling performers, this production of The King and I features a time-honored scored by Rodgers and Hammerstein which includes “Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Getting to Know You,” “Hello, Young Lovers,” “A Puzzlement,” and “Shall We Dance.”
“Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna, a British schoolteacher whom the King brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children.” The original Broadway production starred Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner, opening at the St. James Theatre on March 29, 1951. The production was choreographed by Jerome Robbins whose ballet “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” breathtakingly stopped the show. The King and I won Best Musical at the Tony Awards.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. He maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.