- Yul Brenner is one of those unique and irreplaceable performers who epitomized the “It” factor. He was a charismatic, multi-talented, mysterious, thoughtful, independent individual who epitomizes the ideal of “marching to one’s own drum.” Look up his son, Rock. Talk about the acorn not falling far from the tree.
- I regard “The King and I” as the best of the R&H musicals, with Agnes DeMille’s Siamese ballet version of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” perhaps the high point in Broadway creativity. And yet unless there’s a sea-change in U.S. culture and woke fanaticism, the show is destined to fade into obscurity. Why? Because all productions must have all-Asian casts or be accused of “white-washing.” Try finding a competent children’s chorus made up only of Asian Americans. The edict guarantees no amateur, high school or collegiate productions at all, although the show was already too difficult for these settings. Ironically, Brenner was not Asian himself. He is regarded as mostly Russian (he was born in Russia), but there was some Swiss, German, and Mongol in his DNA too. Yul claimed to have Gypsy roots as well: one of his talents was playing Gypsy guitar music.
- “The King and I” is based on the film, “Anna and The King of Siam,” which itself was based on memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. Her book is believed to be substantially fabricated. In 1944 Margaret Landon novelized the autobiography as “Anna and the King of Siam.” If you see the original, 1946 non-musical film Anna and the King of Siam, you will realize that Deborah Kerr copies the film’s star Irene Dunne, down to her voice inflections. Dunne was a major star, and now almost completely forgotten. Rex Harrison plays the King in make-up that would be banned today. In very different portrayal from Brenner’s, he is magnificent.
- Ghost vocalist Marnie Nixon did another one of her amazing uncredited singing performances for Kerr, maybe her best, but choosing among her dubbings of Natalie Wood in “West Side Story,” Kerr, and Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady” is a desperate enterprise.
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