The King and I is a 1951 musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, which derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. In the 1860s the King of Siam tries to bring Western (occidentale) culture to his country and engages (assume) Anna Leonowens, an attractive English schoolteacher, to teach his royal princes and princesses. She gets to Siam with her son, Louis, and is shocked because she will have to live in the palace. Soon Anna gets (conquista) the King’s children’s affection , but still insists on (insiste) having a a house of her own. Another story takes place in the musical, the love story between Tuptim – another future King’s wife – and Lun Tha. A crisis is developing (sviluppando) in Siam. An agent in Singapore has known that the king is a barbarian. Anna defends the king and when the King tells her that some high-ranking (alto rango) English men and women are coming to visit Siam and to judge him (giudicarlo), Anna suggests that they must be entertained (intrattenuti) with a European dinner and ball, and with all the Siamese princes and princesses wearing (che indossano) European dresses. Meanwhile (nel frattempo) Lun Tha and Tuptim are making plans to run away together . The visit is a great success and Both Anna and the King are joyful. But suddenly Tuptim is brought to the King because captured while trying to escape and Lun Tha has been killed. The King orders that she be whipped (frustata), but Anna fiercely oppose (si oppone). Anna feels that she can’t stay in Siam any longer, and makes preparations to return to England. But the King falls seriously ill (si ammala gravemente). On his death-bed (letto di morte) the King implores her to stay on in Siam, and she Anna cannot find the courage to leave a country, a people and, most of all, the pupils she has come to love. The musical was made into a movie in 1956 by Walter Lang – starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr – and then in 1999 by Andy Tennant starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yan-fat