Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont 2018 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award Research Award 4-26-2018 An American Myth in the (Re)Making: The Timeless Fantasy Appeal of 'The King and I' Lina Purtscher Scripps Recommended Citation Purtscher, Lina, "An American Myth in the (Re)Making: The imeT less Fantasy Appeal of 'The King and I'" (2018). 2018 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award. 3. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cclura_2018/3 This Seymour Music Award Winner is brought to you for free and open access by the Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in 2018 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 2018 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award Music Award Winner Lina Purtscher Scripps College Reflective Essay Reflective Essay August, 2017. I found myself alone in my empty dorm room, having moved back to Scripps early. I had no friends back on campus yet, and nothing on my schedule. All I had, it seemed, was the infectious soundtrack of the musical The King and I stuck in my head, and a nagging curiosity that refused to leave me. I had seen a revival production of the show on tour the week prior, and still I could not forget its strong affective power, nor the bizarre sense of its relevance, despite the show being over sixty years old. As I went about my room, whistling a happy tune and miming the sweeping polka steps of “Shall We Dance?” I wondered how it was that this dated musical continued to appeal so powerfully to modern audiences.