The original soundtrack to the 1956 motion picture The King and I was released by Capitol Records in the same year.
Background Deborah Kerr (Anna)'s singing voice is dubbed by Marni Nixon, but her spoken voice can be heard. Yul Brynner (the King) sings himself. Rita Moreno (Tuptim) is dubbed by Leona Gordon.
Chart performance The album reached number one on Billboards Best Selling Pop Albums chart in 1956 and continued charting for several years.
Critical reception In a retrospect review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann praises both the film and its soundtrack, rating the soundtrack album four stars on a scale of five. He notes that the orchestrations were performed by the "large studio orchestra conducted by Alfred Newman" and were therefore expanded as compared to the 1951 Broadway cast album.
CD releases In 1993, the album was expanded for a CD release. In 2001, it was expanded again, receiving about 30 minutes of additional (mostly instrumental) material.
Track listing LP (Capitol W-740)
Credits Only the actors are credited on the LP's labels and cover: Deborah Kerr (Anna), Yul Brynner (the King), Rita Moreno (Tuptim), Terry Saunders (Lady Thiang), Carlos Rivas (Lun Tha) Chorus and orchestra conducted by Alfred Newman
Charts
Weekly charts Charts (1956–1958) Peakpositionscope="row" align="left" US Billboard Best Selling Pop Albums 1
Yearly charts Chart (1957) Position UK Albums (OOC) 1
References