Last weekend, I saw THE KING AND I performed live at the
Theatre Guild. After returning from Siam (now Thailand) I watched it with
different eyes. This production has been banned there!
Anna Leonowens was NOT fictional, but an actual person. She
wasn’t the fetching, fair-haired woman with the mellifluous singing voice
portrayed on stage and screen. However the real Anna Leonowens didn’t need to
whistle a happy tune for bravery. By nature she was a forceful personality.
I’ve always liked the film version with Deborah Kerr &
Yul Brenner. Even the one with Jody Foster was good, I thought. Also I enjoyed the weekly half hour TV
version that aired decades ago. Unfortunately, it didn’t last a full season.
However I can understand why the production is banned in
Thailand. The Thais feel there are too many creative liberties here and they
have a point.
There was absolutely no romantic chemistry between Anna and
King Mongkut. This is pure Hollywood hooey! Also the Thais feel that Anna
herself exaggerated her influence on both him and the young Prince
Chulalongkom. Both were their own man
and didn’t require some foreign woman telling them how to think. However, Anna
as woman of strong convictions and being teacher to the young prince must have
had some degree of influence on both. Who’s to say for sure how much? She and
Prince Chulalongkom corresponded for years after Anna left Siam.
Anna Leonowens brought 2 children with her to the King’s
palace in Siam. Her daughter was written out of the stage play. Anna had given
birth to 4 children in all. The elder 2 died in infancy.
Anna had been born in India, her grandmother was
Anglo-Indian. The Thais looked down on Indians same as the British. So Anna
went to great lengths to camouflage her mixed race heritage. During this period
in history that was a wise move, especially for an impoverished widow with 2
children to feed & clothe.
Besides being an educator and writer, Anna co-founded the
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She was also a social activist. Anna
Leonowens was a genuine heroine in reality, far more so than in the fictional
version of her life.
I enjoyed the Theatre Guild’s live production. The singing,
dancing, & acting were top quality and highly entertaining as usual. Plus
the sets and costumes made me feel as if I was back in Thailand.
But as I watched Anna in her tight corset and long sleeves
flouncing around in that long hoop skirt with layered petticoats, I was struck
with disbelief! If she dressed like that
in Thailand, she would have melted in her own sweat! I’ll venture a guess the
real Anna packed away that corset along with the rest of her British clothes
and went native.
FUN FACT: Anna Leonowens’ great- grand nephew was a
famous actor! A man named William Pratt, we know him by his stage name, Boris
Karloff!
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