Thoughts on The King and I, Hoban Dominican High School’s Anna and the King, and Listening to Unmarked 56 Cent Records You Find at Goodwill
Hello, internet.
I’m back.
A while ago, I was in the depths of a Goodwill in Cleveland when I found an unmarked record for 56 cents (specific, but okay). It was strange and cheap and sort of mysterious so I knew I just HAD to have it. The record sat lonely in my bedroom in Cleveland until I received a record player for Christmas (thanks, Santa!).
I was finally able to get the record back to NYC with me, and I’m dying to take a listen to it.
First, let’s talk about the record itself. It’s in a generic white sleeve, and on the front, in pencil (and then meticulously gone over in red pen), it says:
The King and I
Hoban Dominican Hi School
April 1961
And then it lists the names of two girls (students, I’m guessing), which I’ll leave off for privacy reasons.
At first, things seem pretty straight forward here. This is some sort of High School production of the King and I from 1961. Cool. Promises to be great material. For anyone ~unfamiliar~ with the musical The King and I, the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic tells the true (ish) story of Anna Leonowens, an English school teacher who travels to Siam (present day Thailand) to teach English to the children and wives of the King of Siam. Though they initially butt heads, Anna and the King eventually come to a mutual understanding and learn to respect one another. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1951, and had a film adaptation in 1956.
It’s an odd thing to think about because (for better or for worse), high schools STILL do The King and I, but the musical is now 58 years old (in high school speak: ancient). In 1961, this was probably one of the hipper choices that could be presented to you as your musical. This is like a present day high school getting to do Rock of Ages or something (ONLY BECAUSE IT’S TEN YEARS OLD. I promise to never compare Rodgers and Hammerstein to Rock of Ages ever again).
Anyway, back to the mysterious record. When you take it out of its sleeve, the plot thickens.
The center of the record reads:
Anna and the King
April 1961
Choral, Drama, Orchestra
of
Hoban Dominican High School
So there are already some things to unpack here. “Anna and the King”? Anna and the King of Siam is the name of a 1944 novel upon which the musical is based. But what is “Anna and the King?” A typo? Some kind of rights work-around? Maybe this isn’t the musical at all, but rather some sort of dramatic reading of a novel?
The plot thickened once again when I realized, having lived in Cleveland for most of my life, I have never heard of Hoban Dominican High School. A quick google answered my question: it closed in 1971. It also provided an interesting detail.
It was a Catholic all-girls school.
Oh.
But this is all relatively old news for me. I’ve SEEN the record before, I just haven’t ever listened to it. Luckily for me (and hopefully for you!),
that’s all about to change.
Join me for my unfiltered thoughts as I make my way through this Goodwill oddity.
SIDE 1
1. Overture
It begins- and the record’s quality is immediately obvious. It’s crackly. It makes weird warped sounds. It skips a little. And it’s deteriorated enough that the music sounds far off- maybe like you’re listening to it through a wall. Combine all that with the sounds of an average high school band playing the overture to The King and I, and you have the makings of an EXCELLENT record to play outside of your house for trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Truly spooky.
2. Prologue
This is a monologue. Performed by a girl. About how she is the King of Siam. I do not recall this in the musical. Also, the name of Anna’s son is pronounced “LOO-is” instead of “Loo-IE.” Oh, Cleveland.
3. Whistle a Happy Tune
Two girls are singing this song- the introductory dialogue went a little something like “That whistle song of yours is really one to do the trick!!! Why, even on the high seas, you hear my crew singing it!” Uh, what? Usually a duet between Anna and her young son on the boat ride over to meet the King for the first time, I’m not sure what that opening line was about. The boat captain is getting in on this action? Regardless, it’s a little under supported and (again) sounds VERY FAR AWAY. It’s evocative of that Tip Toe Through the Tulips song.
4. My Lord and Master
“He likes you. He is pleased.” was the intro to this one- a great lead-in to the opening line of the song “he is pleased with me!” Two girls are singing it in unison, in a very ambitious (but fairly well executed!) key. It’s worth pointing out that a quick look at the record reveals that these girls are twins. Or at least sisters. They are listed Noreen and Maureen Smith, like some sort of duo act. (Names changed for privacy). So what is going on here? Is Tuptim two people? Two Tuptims? Will one emerge as the superior Tuptim? (As a refresh, the secondary plot to The King and I revolves around Tuptim, a young wife of the King who plans to run away with her lover, Lun Tha. Spoiler(ish): It does not end well for them.)
5. Hello Young Lovers
This song includes choral backing which I’m pretty sure is NOT a thing- but it’s really quite lovely. Nice work, choir teacher at Hoban Dominican in 1961. It turns entirely into a choral number by the time the title chorus of the song starts.
6. Getting to Know You
This track opened with a really great (awful) section of a bunch of presumably not Thai teenage girls doing dialogue with cringe-worthy dialects. Oh, 1961. This is also a choral number. I’m very confused. The record would also have you know that the girl singing the Anna “solos” (this is usually mostly a solo number, but here we are), is the same girl who sang the solos in “Hello, Young Lovers”, but is a DIFFERENT girl than the one who sang Anna in “Whistle a Happy Tune.” I’m perplexed. Are there two Annas? Was “Whistle a Happy Tune” given to a different, unknown character? The boat captain? Someone else? What was up with the two Tuptims? Are there even roles in this? I would say it was a concert version, were it not for all of the LINES leading into songs.
7. Puzzlement
OKAY THIS IS REALLY SOMETHING. This is a high school girl singing the song “A Puzzlement.” We should expect that at this point. That is not the weird part. The WEIRD PART is that she is (rather impressively) singing it in the original, man’s key, and A-CAPPELLA. I’m going to hazard a guess at this point and say that it seems like this school may not have had the rights to this show, and could find sheet music to classics like “Whistle a Happy Tune” or “Hello, Young Lovers” but not to a more obscure number like Puzzlement. Rather than cut it, they made a girl sing it with no music. Which is strange. It’s very reminiscent of the videos of Yul Brynner performing the song as a monologue late in his career. (If you’re a nerd like me, I’ve saved you the trouble of having to look for such a performance, and linked it on your right.)
SIDE 2
1. Your Servant
So first of all, I guess “Your Servant” is the new title of “Shall I Tell You What I Think of You.” The lyric “I have to be a slave or concubine” was interestingly changed to “I have to be a slave or singing vine.” What is a singing vine? I guess it’s one thing if you don’t want to have your students singing about concubines in your Catholic school, but, again, what is a singing vine? "(I tried to make sure this wasn’t an expression I was unfamiliar with, but if you google “singing vine,” all you get are Vines of people singing. I should have known.) There might be other lyric changes, but it’s hard to tell, as this poor track skips a lot. This is also a THIRD ANNA (with a great 1960s era Cleveland accent, no less.)
2. We Kiss in a Shadow
This is entirely a choral number, and the people singing this are just listed as “Slaves.” My God.
It’s also worth noting that we are playing rather fast and loose with song order here. This song typically comes after “Getting to Know You”, which in turn usually comes after “A Puzzlement.”
3. Something Wonderful
Another cringe-worthy accent intro, but a nice performance of the song.
4. Prince and Louis
“Louis, my mother is very cross with your mother” this dialogue section begins. The two talk and then (you guessed it!) they launch into an unenthusiastic rendition of the reprise of “A Puzzlement.” With no music. They are less “about it” than the original puzzlement girl, and after singing a-cappella for about 4 lines, they just speak the rest of the lyrics like an interesting slam poem.
5. Western Ideas
This is just an alternate title for “Western People Funny.” There is also a red star next to this track- the girl singing is the girl who owned this record. She crushed the ambitious descant. Get it, Josephine.
6. Siamese Dance
I have NO IDEA WHAT THIS IS. As far as I can tell, it’s not incidental music from anywhere in the actual show. It features heavy use of drums and a strange instrument I can’t identify (some sort of wind instrument? Or maybe a synth? Did they have easy access to those in the 60s? Is it a sitar?) The number, which I’m assuming replaced Small House of Uncle Thomas, has a decidedly Egyptian feel.
7. I Have Dreamed
“I, too, dream of much love for my king, your father.” THAT WAS THE LEAD-IN DIALOGUE! So WHO is singing this??? Lady Thiang? (PLOT REFRESH IF YOU NEED IT: Lady Thiang is the King’s favorite wife (he has many) and the mother of the heir to the throne.) If so, it’s not the same Lady Thiang who sang “Something Wonderful.” Is it someone else? A different character entirely? Who even knows! As a refresh, this song is usually a DUET sung by the secondary couple, the doomed lovers Tuptim and Lun Tha, before they attempt to run away with one another. Hopeful lyrics like “I will love being loved by you” are changed to “I have loved being loved by him.” because apparently it is now about being loved by the King or something. I’m starting to wonder if they just axed the B plot and worked around it, although I’m not sure how that would work. I’m confused. I wish I had been around in 1961 to ask if anyone was following any of this.
8. Finale
A reprise of Getting to Know You, and then-
“I no see you for long time, Mrs. Anna. Now, I die.” recites some high school girl. I wish I were kidding. It’s worth noting that Anna has a couple lines here about returning to England. She does not attempt a British accent. So why were we all attempting painful Thai accents? Anyone want to clarify that for me?
Without Clarifying, they launch into a reprise of Something Wonderful, complete with mournful humming.
9. Epilogue
A startlingly brief monologue about how much the Prince, now new King, misses (or, in her confusing accent “MEESIS”) Anna.
The End.
A wild ride, and, in case you were wondering, a wild ride WITHOUT “SHALL WE DANCE?” HUH? How did they get away with that? Is that not presumably the most famous number from the show? I’m fairly certain it was included in the overture! And what was the objection to it? Was it too risqué for two girls to dance together at Catholic school?
Also, where did any of the lines and monologues come from? Were no parents in the audience like “Hold on. I’ve seen The King and I, and this is… not it.” From a modern day lens it seems so strange, but I’m guessing this kind of thing used to be much more common place. Before the internet, nobody would know if you were doing a right-less version of a musical. It’s not like The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization was going to randomly stumble upon a production of The King and I in the middle of Ohio. Besides, it wasn’t The King and I! It was “Anna and the King!”
A long shot here, but if anyone knows anyone (or just IS anyone) who went to Hoban Dominican Hi (sic) School in 1961, PLEASE let me know. If you were in Anna and the King, or saw it, I would love to hear all the behind-the-scenes details. Otherwise, I’m just going to assume that all the nuns sat in a room, and one nun said “Has anyone seen The King and I?” and another nun said “Yes, five years ago!,” and then they all said “Great! Write down everything you remember on this mimeograph sheet and we’ll hand it to the children!”
In the meantime, if you’re anything like me, you’re in the mood for a more legitimate production of The King and I; featuring all of the songs as written, talented actors of Asian descent, and good British accents when needed. And honestly, you’re also probably in the mood for not every role to be played by a sixteen year old girl. I’ll leave you a taste of that over here.
Until the next time I find a 56 cent record at Goodwill! Tune in soon, for thoughts on a 1960s young adult book series I bought on Etsy!
