In the following article, Erlanger examines the differences between the original Broadway production o/The King and I and the 1996 revival of the play, illustrating how the later production places more emphasis upon historical and cultural accuracy. Erlanger provides historical background for the play.

The new $5.5 Million Broadway revival of The King and I, the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that Yul Brynner built a carrer on, lavishes enormous attention and money on constructing a sumptuous and remarkably authentic stage version of Thailand in the last century.

But the concentration on esthetic authenticity begs the question of whether the show, which opens on Thursday at the Neil Simon Theater and stars Donna Murphy and Lou Diamond Phillips, reflects a historical authenticity. The team of Australian designers involved has labored mightily to create the look of a Thailand that never existed.

The King and I, after all, is aromantic...