The King and I by Richard Rodgers, arr. Robert Russell Bennett

The King and I took Broadway by storm in 1951, playing for three years in its initial run and earning numerous Tony Awards. It would go on to many revival and tour productions as well as an acclaimed 1956 film. It was written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (their fifth collaboration) after the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. This novel, in turn, was based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, the real British (sort of) governess to the real King Mongkut of Siam (what we now call Thailand) in the 1860s. The musical and movie tell a dramatized and fictionalized version of their story: Anna arrives in Bangkok to be the teacher to the King’s wives and children, only to find that the King has not delivered on her promised house. She thus battles the King from the first moments of her employment, but the two gradually draw closer despite their differences and develop an implicit love that they dare not acknowledge. The story also features several cute children, an illicit love affair involving the King’s newest wife, and a play within the play based on Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A full accounting of the plot can be found in this detailed Wikipedia article.

The show features numerous famous songs, including “Getting to Know You,” “Whistle a Happy Tune,” and “Shall We Dance.” Thus it has been adapted for wind band many times over. Robert Russell Bennett, who orchestrated many of the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage production, completed his own concert band version in the 1950s. While it is now out of print, it can be found in several band libraries around the world. Here it is in a 2012 performance: