The King And I

Of the three recent EMI-Angel R&H film soundtrack reissues, I find that this reissue of the King & I soundtrack is the best-executed. The King and I shows a new maturing of the R&H element and this superb 1956 film adaptation more than certainly does it justice. The superb soundtrack presented here includes the complete score, along with some of Alfred Newman's underscoring, and boasts splendid performances by Marni Nixon and Yul Brynner. And of course the orchestra is sumptuous and properly lush, enveloping us in sweltering renditions of some of Rodgers' most heartfelt melodies.I won't reiterate the critic-proof performances here. Other reviewers have covered them elsewhere. Nixon as a voice-dubber is in her element as Anna, and portrays her characterfully. Brynner is in his element as the King, as firm, commanding and authoritative as we've always known him to be. This performance shows him at his best, ripe, fresh and mature. Leona Gordon and Reuben Fuentes shine as the star-crossed lovers Tuptim and Lun Tha, bringing a melancholic quality to their brief numbers. It's really a treat to hear their renditions of the omitted songs My Lord and Master and I Have Dreamed. Rita Moreno as the real Tuptim acquits herself well when narrating the Uncle Tom's Cabin ballet sequence, presented for the first time on an official soundtrack recording. It's good to also hear Terry Saunders as Lady Thiang, in a heartfelt, humane and imploring rendition of Something Wonderful, and she is the icing on the cake of this superb soundtrack recording.This EMI-Angel R&H soundtrack offers an extra benefit in addition to the extra musical sequences. Unlike the companion CDs of Oklahoma and Carousel, it presents the extra material from the original unmixed studio vault masters, except for the Prayer to Buddha and the Uncle Tom's Cabin ballet. This means that this reissue is blessedly free of the extraneous sound effects that plague the Oklahoma and Carousel CDs. I know that the sound effects and little snippets of dialogue drown out the music, but at least these reissues are a start in presenting comprehensive R&H soundtracks worthy of their films. What a pity that none of these R&H soundtrack reissues aren't 2-CD sets, otherwise we would have been able to hear the underscore.In short, this is a superb presentation of a fine R&H film soundtrack.

The King and I is one of the 4 best R&H musicals (others: Oklahoma!, South Pacific & Carousel). This CD contains most of the music included in the film and a couple of songs cut from the film (My Lord & Master, I Have Dreamed, Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?) The stereo sound is expansive highlighting the 20th Century-Fox orchestra conducted by Alfred Newman at the height of his powers. It even includes the complete ballet music, Small House of Uncle Thomas. A few other instrumental interludes are also included. There’s nothing to disappoint in this disc.

Five Stars - why, because this brings back beautiful memories. This was one of the first movies I went to see. It was my introduction to musicals! I remember dancing around to the records (we had them on 45s back in the 1950s) to Shall We Dance in a costume my mother made for me to look like Anna's gown. But to this CD - the price was great, and the CD music quality is excellent. I will always love The King and I, and Yul Brynner will always be THE KING.

I think this is the best of the film soundtrack recordings of the three R&H’s film versions of their stage hits in the ‘50s. Yul Brenner’s performance dominates a big chunk of 50% of the score. The other half is dominated by the brilliant vocal performance of Marni Nixon who dubbed almost all of Deborah Kerr’s singing. In Dixon’s autobiography she writes she and Kerr collaborated very closely to pull off successfully Dixon’s “ghost” singing. Besides having a beautiful voice, Nixon always pulled off dubbing incredibly. She changed her voice to fit the personality of the characters she was singing off camera which is amazing trick to pull off.The remastering here is excellent.

This comment is for those looking for the original, unaugmented soundtrack, as on the original LP and re-issued in 1993. I apologize for these comments' being time-dependent; and I am independently notifying Amazon that it needs to change this listing. In the meantime, however, the reader needs to be aware of the fact that most of the other reviews under this listing refer to a substantially different re-issue, presumably The King and I (1956 Film Soundtrack), which contains additional music, but also foley effects.This is an especially important consideration because at various times a particular reissue may command a very high price because of actual or presumed rarity. At the time of this writing the 1993 re-issue is not as rare as might have been assumed, and the reader should know that it is not necessary at this time to pay an extraordinary price to get the original release of all 3 (King & I, Carousel, & Oklahoma) as re-issued in 1993 version. (I had reconciled myself to the 2001 version, which for the most part gets excellent reviews here in spite of what some consider the intrusions of the foley effects. By fortuitous accident I received the 1993 release.)Unfortunately, I don't know how the prospective buyer can know in advance which version (s)he will receive when clicking under this listing. I hope that by the time most of you read this Amazon will have specified whether this is the 1993 or 2001 re-issue.I am not recommending one re-issue versus another; had I received it, I might well have enjoyed the extra material on the 2001 release. I suggest the customer read the competing opinions on this subject, as found in the reviews scattered among the various R&H soundtrack listings.