greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (09/29/84)
I recently got (on videotape) the 1954 release of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "The King and I" (Yul Brynner/Deborah Kerr/ Rita Moreno, etc.). I've had the Capitol "movie soundtrack" for some years which doesn't match up with the movie itself in several points. Someone might be able to explain this. (1) The overture is completely different, and a more interesting piece on the record than what is played behind the credits in the movie. (2) On the soundtrack, Anna and her son are joined by a chorus for a repeat of "I Whistle a Happy Tune". In the movie, they sing alone on the boat (there are no characters who could constitute a full chorus even around) which is interrupted by the arrival of the King's messengers. (3) One full number, "Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You" (where you can clearly hear the intercutting between Deborah Kerr's spoken lines and Marni Nixon's singing) and its associated scene were missing from the movie. (4) The scene between Anna and the King which precedes the "Shall We Dance" number is completely different. In the movie, the dialogue is completely spoken (with some orchestral accompaniment). In the soundtrack, the King speaks but Anna's lines (whose words match the dialogue in the movie) are sung. I know that it is sometimes the practice (particularly on high-budget films, which this must have been) to have a "sneak preview" after which, based on the reaction of the audience, scenes are cut, rearranged and sometimes even reshot before the "offical" premiere. Can it be that the "soundtrack" recording was prepared from such a preview version and not remade to coincide with the actual movie? I know that in the case of Broadway musicals, the "original cast" album is almost always recorded immediately AFTER the opening, so as to be current with such last-minute changes. Perhaps this was not done with the movie, so that the record could be issued either previous to or simultaneously with the movie release. Another point I find fascinating is who did or didn't actually sing in musical films. I know, for example, in "The King and I" that Marni Nixon sang all of Anna's music, and that the voice of Tuptim's lover was also dubbed. How about Rita Moreno as Tuptim? She was later dubbed by Betty Wand for her singing in "West Side Story" (with Marni Nixon, again, singing for Natalie Wood), but is it her own voice on "The King And I"? Other dubbings I know of include Marni Nixon (who made quite a career out of it) singing for Leslie Caron in "Gigi", and Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady". She can be seen as well as heard as one of the nuns singing "How do you solve a problem like Maria" in "The Sound of Music". In that one, incidentally, she has been wrongly credited (in a biography of Julie Andrews) for singing "Climb Every Mountain" for Peggy Wood. The song was actually sung by Marjorie McKay. One point of curiosity about Julie Andrews herself. In a biography she mentions having some concern over singing a high G in an album of Christmas music with Andre Previn, mentioning that she hadn't sung that high since doing "My Fair Lady" on stage. She had, however, in between done "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music", each of which has her ascend above the G to a high B-flat (in TSOM at the end of "Do Re Mi", transposed down a whole tone from the "broadway" score in which Mary Martin went down an octave at the end rather than going up as Andrews does, in MP while singing a duet with herself in the mirror in "Spoonful of Sugar"). Was she misquoted in the biography, or did someone dub high notes for Julie Andrews in the movies? Does anyone know more about such things? - Greg Paley