The King and I is Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical set in 1860s Siam, based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, an outspoken English widow hired by the King of Siam to tutor his many children and wives in Western learning and manners. Anna's independence and forthright manner repeatedly clash with the King's authoritarian, if often surprisingly playful, rule, and the two develop a relationship built on mutual respect, intellectual sparring, and, ultimately, unspoken affection, even as neither will fully concede to the other's worldview. Their culture-crossing battle of wills plays out against the King's efforts to modernize his kingdom and resist colonial encroachment from Western powers, with Anna's influence subtly shaping his more enlightened impulses. A tragic subplot involving a young concubine's forbidden love adds a darker note of oppression and consequence beneath the musical's opulence. The score, including "Getting to Know You," "Shall We Dance?," and "Something Wonderful," is among Rodgers and Hammerstein's most sumptuous, and the show's exploration of cross-cultural respect, despite its dated aspects, has kept it a landmark of the musical theater canon.

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