The King and I
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50 free The King and I trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The King and I opened on Broadway in 1951 and has rarely been off the stage since. Rodgers and Hammerstein took the story of a British schoolteacher at the court of Siam in the 1860s and turned it into one of their best-loved scores, and Yul Brynner made the King so completely his own that he was still playing the part more than thirty years later. This quiz covers the whole story of the show. There are questions on the plot and characters, the songs and who sings them, the original production and its major revivals, and the 1956 film with its casting, its dubbing and its awards. A further group looks at the real Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut, whose lives were stranger than the musical lets on. It is written for anyone who loves the film or has seen the show on stage, with a few harder questions for Broadway devotees. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so it works equally well for a film night, a theatre group or a quiet test of your own memory.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The King and I, which lively dance does Anna teach the King during the song Shall We Dance?
Polka
Polka is the dance, and when the King takes Anna by the waist it voices a love neither can speak aloud. The film version ranked 54th on AFI's list of the top 100 movie songs.
Q 02Which country banned the 1956 film The King and I for its portrayal of the real King Mongkut?
Thailand
Thailand banned both the film and the stage musical in 1956, and most later screen versions too. The real Mongkut was a scholar who kept his kingdom independent as European empires closed in.
Q 03Which trademark look did Yul Brynner adopt, against his wishes, for The King and I on stage?
A shaved head
A shaved head became his trademark for life, yet he refused at first, sure he would look terrible. He gave in during the out-of-town tryouts and darkened his scalp with makeup.
Q 04Which US president politely declined elephants from Mongkut, the real monarch of The King and I?
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln replied in 1862 that America's climate did not suit elephants and that steam engines already did the hauling. The offer had been addressed to his predecessor, who left office before it arrived.
Q 05Which ghost singer for several Hollywood stars sang Anna's songs in the 1956 film The King and I?
Marni Nixon
Marni Nixon was paid $10,000 and recorded side by side with the film's star so that speech could slide into song. She later sang for Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.
Q 06In The King and I, which American novel, lent by Anna, does Tuptim turn into a ballet?
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin becomes a Siamese-style dance in which a runaway slave is saved and her royal pursuer drowns. Its blunt message against slavery displeases the King, to whom Tuptim was given as a gift.
Q 07In The King and I, which promise in Anna's contract does the King break, fuelling a long quarrel?
A house of her own
A house of her own is what Anna was promised, and she teaches the royal children proverbs and songs about home life to needle him. The King finally swears to provide it on the eve of the British visit.
Q 08Which American actress played Anna opposite Chow Yun-fat in the 1999 drama Anna and the King?
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster starred in a version shot mostly in Malaysia. Like the musical before it, the film was refused a release in the kingdom it depicts.
Q 09King Mongkut, the real ruler behind The King and I, spent 27 years as what before taking the throne?
A Buddhist monk
A Buddhist monk for 27 years, Mongkut left the monastery in 1851 to take the crown at 47. In those decades he studied Western languages, mathematics and astronomy.
Q 10In The King and I, which insulting label does the King try to disprove with a European banquet?
Barbarian
Barbarian is the word reaching London, where some want his kingdom made a British protectorate. So Anna and the royal wives stay up all night preparing to greet the envoy in European gowns.
Q 11In The King and I, Anna and her son Louis arrive by ship in which capital city to meet the King?
Bangkok
Bangkok moved mostly by boat in the 1860s, which is why the real Mongkut wanted his children's teacher lodged within walking distance of the palace.
Q 12In The King and I, Tuptim arrives as a gift to the King, escorted by Lun Tha, from which country?
Burma
The king of Burma sends Tuptim as a present, and the scholar who delivers her is the man she loves. Their secret meetings give the show its soaring love duets, since Anna and the King never sing of romance outright.
Q 13In The King and I, which crown prince ends the custom of kowtowing as his dying father looks on?
Chulalongkorn
Q 21Which Scottish-born star played Anna in the 1956 film The King and I at Yul Brynner's urging?
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr earned the third of her six Best Actress nominations as Anna and never won a competitive Oscar. The Academy made amends with an honorary award in 1994.
Q 22Which future star of West Side Story played the runaway Tuptim in the 1956 film The King and I?
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno, a studio contract player, was invited only to test for the part and impressed the producers enough to win it. Her singing was dubbed, though she narrates the ballet herself.
Q 23Which director of the 1945 musical State Fair went on to make the 1956 film The King and I?
Walter Lang
Chulalongkorn was a real pupil of Anna Leonowens and went on to reign for 42 years. As king he abolished prostration at court in 1873 and then, step by step, slavery itself.
Q 14In The King and I, which gift from the King does Anna hand back after he tries to whip Tuptim?
A ring
A ring is his thanks for the banquet's success, and Anna sends it back through the Kralahome once the King takes up the whip. She accepts it again at his deathbed.
Q 15In The King and I, the stern Kralahome who meets Anna's ship holds which office at court?
Prime minister
Prime minister is the Kralahome's rank. His only solo was cut during the out-of-town tryouts, and the actor, left without a note to sing, walked out of the show.
Q 16Which song opens The King and I, as Anna and her son hide their fear on reaching Siam?
I Whistle a Happy Tune
I Whistle a Happy Tune sets up Anna in a single number: afraid, but determined not to show it. She reprises it alone late in the second act.
Q 17In The King and I, which ballad does Lady Thiang sing to win Anna's sympathy for the King?
Something Wonderful
Something Wonderful asks Anna to accept a flawed man for what he is, and it is the last music heard as he dies. In the film an unseen chorus sings it over the final scene.
Q 18Which song in The King and I, about Anna's late husband, took Hammerstein five weeks to write?
Hello, Young Lovers
Hello, Young Lovers was the lyric Hammerstein thought his best, and he waited four days for Richard Rodgers to react. The verdict, tossed in at the end of a phone call, was that it was fine.
Q 19Which number is the King's only solo in The King and I, sung as he frets about changing times?
A Puzzlement
A Puzzlement keeps the clipped, article-free speech Hammerstein invented for the King, even set to music. In his final Broadway run in 1985, Yul Brynner was unable to sing it because of what was announced as a throat infection.
Q 20Which song in The King and I reuses a melody Richard Rodgers cut from South Pacific?
Getting to Know You
Getting to Know You began as a melody for the heroine of South Pacific, who was given a different song instead. Hammerstein wrote new words when the first act needed a number for Anna and the children.
Walter Lang was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for it and lost to George Stevens for Giant. He had been turning out colourful musicals for the same studio since the 1940s.
Q 24Which Hollywood studio released the 1956 film The King and I months after its version of Carousel?
20th Century-Fox
20th Century-Fox gave it a gala Hollywood premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where the guests included a great-grandson of the real King Mongkut.
Q 25Which screenwriter, later a Hitchcock collaborator, adapted The King and I for the 1956 film?
Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman kept close to the stage script and won the Writers Guild award for the year's best written musical. Three years later he wrote North by Northwest.
Q 26The King and I and Carousel were the only films shot in which short-lived widescreen process?
CinemaScope 55
CinemaScope 55 used film 55 mm wide, yet neither picture was released that way: both went out as ordinary 35 mm prints. The original large negatives were finally restored in 2005.
Q 27Which film beat The King and I, Giant and The Ten Commandments to Best Picture for 1956?
Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days took Best Picture, though the two films tied for the most wins of the night with five Oscars each. All five nominees that year were large-scale epics shot in colour.
Q 28The star of the 1956 film The King and I lost the Best Actress Oscar but won at which awards?
Golden Globes
The Golden Globes also named the film the year's best musical or comedy. At the Oscars she lost to Ingrid Bergman, whose character in Anastasia happened to be called Anna too.
Q 29Which costume designer won a Tony and then an Oscar for dressing The King and I on stage and screen?
Irene Sharaff
Irene Sharaff built Anna's stage gowns on such a scale that they weighed 75 pounds apiece. Her use of silks from the country where the story is set started a trend in fashion and interior decoration.
Q 30Which Irish-born star was cast as Anna in the 1956 film The King and I until its composer objected?
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara lost the part when Richard Rodgers would not agree to her casting. Singer Dinah Shore was also considered before the film's leading man got the co-star he wanted.