Getting to Know You (song) Getting to Know You (song) "Getting to Know You" is a show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I". It was first sung by Gertrude Lawrence in the original Broadway production and later by Marni Nixon who dubbed for Deborah Kerr in the 1956 film adaptation. In the show, Anna, a British schoolteacher who has been hired as a governess, sings the song as she strikes up a warm and affectionate relationship with the children and the wives of the King of Siam. This song is one of the cases during the Rodgers and Hammerstein
Anna Leonowens served at court until 1867, a period of nearly six years, first as a teacher and later as language secretary for the king. Although her position carried great respect and even a degree of political influence, she did not find the terms and conditions of her employment to her satisfaction, and came to be regarded by the king himself as a "difficult woman and more difficult than generality". In 1868, Leonowens was on leave for her health in England and had been negotiating a return to the court on better terms when Mongkut fell ill and died. The king mentioned