[69] Variety called it "a bold theatrical operation, an artistic success". Nightclub owner Sammy Fong arrives with an offer for Ta's immigrant father, Master Wang, a very old-fashioned Chinatown elder. Wang's elder son, Wang Ta, woos Linda Tung, but on learning that she has many men in her life, drops her; he later learns she is a nightclub dancer. The team decided to include a song for Sammy Fong to explain to Mei Li that they should not wed. (Chin Yang) Lee", "Hwang and Kwan to Attend Final Benefit Performance of, "Photo Call: Flower Drum Song in San Jose", "Rodgers and Hammerstein score again with, "Original Broadway Cast – Flower Drum Song", I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair, The Sound of Music: Music from the NBC Television Event, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flower_Drum_Song&oldid=1004878824, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, A Hundred Million Miracles – Mei Li, Dr. Li, Wang, Madam Liang and Liu Ma, Chop Suey – Madam Liang, Wang and Ensemble, Gliding Through My Memories – Frankie and Girls, The Other Generation – Madam Liang and Wang, The Other Generation (Reprise) – Wang San and Children, This page was last edited on 4 February 2021, at 21:30. He is led away by childhood friend Helen Chao, a seamstress who fits Linda's costumes for her, and whose love for Ta is unrequited. [94] Although Hischak describes Rodgers as "the greatest waltz composer America has ever seen",[96] Flower Drum Song was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical not to feature one. Four of the New York leads, Hall, Soo, Kenney and Luke, joined the tour. [92], Having decided that record companies were profiting more from the sales of their cast albums than they were, Rodgers and Hammerstein formed their own record company to produce the cast recording for the original production of Flower Drum Song. A young woman grows tired of providing for her family. [32] Shortly after the Boston opening, Fields suffered a heart attack, and, after his release from the hospital, he had to return to New York to recuperate. Written by [31] As early as mid-1961, the musical was licensed for local productions. The audience gave it an enthusiastic response, causing Rodgers to leave his seat repeatedly and race to the back of the theatre, looking for someone to hug. Act I: Wang Ta, a young Chinese-American man living in his father's house in San Francisco's Chinatown, discusses the problems of finding a wife with his aunt, Madam Liang ("You Are Beautiful") before hurrying off on a blind date. [19] They cast Keye Luke, well known as Charlie Chan's Number One Son, as Master Wang. (1961). The Broadway musical was in turn based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese-American author Chin Yang Lee. The dancers discuss their careers and their influences. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. [14], Flower Drum Song came to be seen by some as stereotypical and patronizing towards Asians, and that it was "inauthentic, even offensive in its relentlessly upbeat picture of a big-city Chinatown". [11], Hammerstein, meanwhile, was in Los Angeles at the filming of South Pacific. See how many you recognize now that they're grown up. My only thought was to keep on doing what I was doing, and I saw nothing in the future that could stop me. Brynner, who had gained fame in the team's 1951 hit, The King and I, was an accomplished director. "[29], When rehearsals began in September 1958, Hammerstein was absent, still recuperating from his surgery. [29], The show opened in London's Palace Theatre on March 24, 1960 and ran for 464 performances. [36], Midway through the run, Larry Blyden left the show and was replaced in the role of Sammy Fong by Jack Soo, with Larry Leung assuming the role of Frankie Wing. A talented dancer, he was cast as Wang San, Ta's thoroughly Americanized younger brother. [5] While Oklahoma! [52], The musical proved difficult to produce for amateur and school groups, however, because it requires a cast either Asian or made up as Asian. A cast album for Hwang's revision was released in 2002 featuring strong performances from Lea Salonga as Mei-li and Jose Llana as Wang Ta. Rodgers and Hammerstein shifted the focus of the musical to his son, Wang Ta, who is torn between his Chinese roots and assimilation into American culture. Linda, goaded beyond endurance when Sammy raises his glass to her, dumps a champagne bucket over his head. [14] Chinatown is portrayed as a more gritty and difficult place for new immigrants, and the pursuit of material success is given a more cynical face, especially in Act II. By this time, Hammerstein was in his final illness (he died in August 1960), and none of the three producers accompanied the show on the road. [18], The three producers sought Chinese, or at least Asian, actors to fill the cast, an idea that was, at the time, considered "very risky". 1.3K likes. Ask them to accept Ezio Pinza as a Frenchman [in South Pacific], Yul Brynner as Siamese and they are prepared to meet you nine tenths of the way even before the curtain goes up. Wang wants the bar and its "evil spirits" shut down; his sister-in-law informs him that free enterprise cannot be shut down, and the two wonder at the foibles of the younger generation ("The Other Generation"). [44] Geary Street, on which the theatre is located, was decorated with Chinese lanterns, and a marching band of "Chinese girl musicians" played outside. [10] In June 1957, Rodgers checked himself into Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, and he remained there for twelve weeks. [65] Howard Kissel of the New York Daily News termed it "an entertaining, albeit vulgar revival", and Clive Barnes of the New York Post found it no more memorable than the earlier version. [42] After three weeks in Detroit, the show moved to Los Angeles, where the premiere attracted a star-studded audience, including three Scandinavian princesses. Meanwhile, in New York, the three producers were visiting dance schools. Prologue: It finally closed on January 13, 2002. [40][41], Following the closure of the Broadway production, a U.S. national tour began on May 10, 1960 in Detroit. [34] The show received six Tony Award nominations, but won only one Tony (Best Conductor and Musical Director, for Salvatore Dell'Isola). [66] The revival was originally planned for the 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, but to save money he moved it to the nearby 739-seat Mark Taper Forum. An advertisement in New York Chinatown newspapers received one response. [29][92] One critic thought that the 2001 version's orchestrations "boast more Asian accents and a jazzier edge than the original",[14] but another felt that they "pale in comparison" to Bennett's typically lilting sound. Flower Drum Song is a 1961 American musical movie, directed by Henry Koster. Producer Gordon Davidson engaged an all-Asian cast, including Broadway star Lea Salonga as Mei-li. This film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical is filled with memorable song-and-dance numbers showcasing the contrast between Mei Li's traditional family and her growing fascination with American culture. The principal casts of major productions of the musical (and of the film) have been as follows: *Linda Low's singing voice was dubbed by B. J. Baker, and Chao's "Love, Look Away" was dubbed by Marilyn Horne. Mary Rodgers later commented that Randall Duk Kim replaced Tzi Ma as Wang because she had admired Kim's performance as the Kralahome in the 1996 revival of The King and I, but Kim was unavailable for the Los Angeles run. For example, New York Journal American critic John McClain stated, "Flower Drum Song is a big fat Rodgers and Hammerstein hit, and nothing written here will have the slightest effect on the proceeds. Ta intercepts Mei-li at the docks and persuades her to remain in America; Ta leaves Club Chop Suey and the two become street performers as Chao departs for Hong Kong. Sets were designed by Oliver Smith, costumes by Irene Sharaff and lighting by Peggy Clark. Flower Drum Song is just as I remembered it from the BIG screen @ Gruman's Chinese Theater. Don't dismiss it out of hand - it's no "Joy Luck Club" or "Double Happiness" but it's not bad, either. Lee fled war-torn China in the 1940s and came to the United States, where he attended Yale University's playwriting program, graduating in 1947 with an M.F.A. [2] In addition, producers found the show to be thinly plotted, and the songs not integrated as organically with the characters and story, as compared with Rodgers and Hammerstein's most popular musicals. [95] Thomas Hischak, in his The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, notes that the ballets in Oklahoma! It fit into the mainstream narrative at the time of immigrants as resistant to assimilation, which was judged negatively, Feng said. A young woman arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown from Hong Kong with the intention of marrying a rakish nightclub owner, unaware he is involved with one of his singers. ... Hwang felt it necessary to reduce the original, uniquely colorful story into just another backstager with a love triangle and lame jokes. This was nominated for a Grammy,[3][102] though it did not win. The 2002 production also featured Alvin Ing as Chin, Allen Liu as Harvard and Hoon Lee as Chao. Flower Drum Song is clearly progressive for its time (a majority Asian cast in a film from the 1960s?? Dick and Oscar and Joe mined C. Y. Lee's novel for the generational conflict and for the three women who substantiated Ta's honorable search for love. Sammy's special guests storm out, except for Ta, who is so humiliated that he does not know what to do. Hwang's story retains the Chinatown setting and the inter-generational and immigrant themes, and emphasizes the romantic relationships. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the West End and on tour. The character of Madam Liang was changed "from the wise-owl aunt" to a "savvy career woman" in show business. [16] Though the new story was less artistically adventurous than the earlier Rodgers and Hammerstein hits, it was innovative, even daring in its treatment of Asian-Americans, "an ethnic group that had long been harshly caricatured and marginalized in our mainstream pop culture."[14]. I … degree. In the span of a few hours, they wrote the lyrics and music to "Don't Marry Me". According to Hischak, the individual performers do not sing as well as the New York cast; the London recording's strong points are the nightclub numbers. A review in London's The Times compared this production with "the much grander production of Show Boat currently docked at the Albert Hall" and judged that "Flower Drum Song makes the more stimulating experience."[81]. Ta, knowing that Chinese-Americans with college degrees find it hard to get a job befitting their education, plans to go to law school, postponing the likely career struggle by three years. But now, Mei Li wants nothing to do with him, and the Lis leave the Wang home. In 2006, David Lewis compared the original script to Hwang's version: History never completely goes away. The Flower Drum Song is a novel by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee, first published in 1957. Wang also has a severe cough, which he does not wish to have cured, feeling that it gives him authority in his household. [63] Hwang was inexperienced at writing musicals, and the producers hired veteran Robert Longbottom to direct the production and collaborate on the new script, "really a new musical which has a pre-existing score. He vows to marry her after she is falsely accused by the household servants of stealing a clock, though his father forbids it. However, before the picture bride arrives, Ta meets a young woman, May Li, who with her father has recently come to San Francisco. C.Y. It is based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. That show later became a blockbuster movie, and eventually, in 2004, playwright David Henry Huang did a drastic revision of the plot. Nancy Kwan – Linda Low. The show ran for 600 performances. Ok, granted, it's a fluff-and-sparkle R&H songfest, and not one of their best or most famous, but it does have some good commentary - as when the younger brother pops in and out with his completely modern slang...with the more common "generation gap" themes running rampant at this time (early 60's), it's even more interesting...and, as I say, I lived in SF very near Chinatown - it "feels" right, even tho it's an entirely fake set. [97] Although not a formal musical number, the brief "You Be the Rock, I'll Be the Roll", sung and danced by Linda and by Wang San, Ta's Americanized teenage brother, was described by Lewis as "virtually the first self-consciously rock and roll ditty ever sung" in a Broadway musical. The musical, much lighter-hearted than Lee's novel, was profitable on Broadway and was followed by a national tour. The lyrics sing about miracles occurring every day. [93] Hammerstein wrote Mei Li's first act song, "I Am Going to Like It Here", in a Malaysian poetic form called pantoum in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next. In the morning, Mei Li delivers Master Wang's coat for Helen to mend and is distressed to see Ta's dinner jacket there. Sammy drinks from the traditional wedding goblet, then offers the goblet to his new bride. On arrival in the United States, Mei-li goes to the Golden Pearl Theatre in San Francisco's Chinatown, where little-attended Chinese opera is presented by her father's old friend Wang Chi-yang and Wang's foster brother Chin. Select from premium Flower Drum Song of the highest quality. The wedding procession moves down San Francisco's Grant Avenue with the bride, heavily veiled, carried on a sedan chair ("Wedding Parade"). [49] It was less successfully revived by that company five years later; though it still attracted large crowds, local critics complained that Hammerstein's view of Asians was outdated. [64] New orchestrations were by Don Sebesky and music director David Chase. The production, which had been scheduled for a three-week run, closed early. Linda announces that she is leaving for Los Angeles, as Wang's "Sammy Fong" act has effectively taken over the show, and she has received a better offer. In interviews, however, Hammerstein pointed out that he had, when necessary, written songs for previous shows while in rehearsals for them. Two detectives seek a stripper's killer in the Japanese quarter of Los Angeles, but a love triangle threatens their friendship. Color of costumes is bright & clear! After the release of the 1961 film version, the musical was rarely produced, as it presented casting issues and fears that Asian-Americans would take offense at how they are portrayed. "[84] Less enthusiastic, however, was the longtime New York Times critic, Brooks Atkinson, who repeatedly described it as merely "pleasant". "[88] On the other hand, both USA Today and Time magazine gave it positive reviews. If you are going to perpetuate one at least give him better jokes. remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. The show's backers lost their entire investment. Flower Drum Song Audio Preview Preparing Enhanced Music Player. Il musical ottenne un buon successo a Broadway e fu successivamente riproposto in una tournée statunitense, nel West End londinese e trasposto nel film di Henry Koster Fior di loto. Flower Drum Song, that rarity among Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, a moderate hit (otherwise, their shows were either smashes like South Pacific or flops like Me & Juliet), also became a moderately successful film in late 1961, three years after its Broadway opening; it just barely ranked among the ten highest-grossing movies of 1962. EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item tags) Want more? [92], Several of the characters are given "I am" songs that introduce them to the audience, allowing the character to express his dreams or desires and for onlookers to establish empathy with the character. Those themes, like it or not, still resonate today. Storyline. No formal audition was held in San Francisco's Chinatown, and the only find was Forbidden City nightclub comedian Goro "Jack" Suzuki (who soon changed his name to Jack Soo), who was cast as Frankie Wing, comedian at Sammy Fong's Celestial Bar. in 1943, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written two musicals in the 1950s that did not do well and sought a new hit to revive their fortunes. Flower Drum Song opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on December 1, 1958, starring Miyoshi Umeki, Pat Suzuki, Larry Blyden, Juanita Hall and Ed Kenney. [31], C.Y. "[83] The New York Daily Mirror termed it, "Another notable work by the outstanding craftsmen of our musical theatre ... a lovely show, an outstanding one in theme and treatment. The movie has been adapted from the 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song, that was written by the music composer Richard Rodgers. alfiehitchie. Kelly felt that the work would not be one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's best, but "as long as I crammed the show brim-full of every joke and gimmick in the book, I could get it to work". Linda Low, for example, expresses her self-confidence with "I Enjoy Being a Girl"; we learn Mei Li's hopes with the quieter "I Am Going to Like It Here". Cast album sales were similar to previous Rodgers and Hammerstein hits. While at the commissary, he met longtime friend, Joe Fields, who mentioned that he was negotiating for the rights to The Flower Drum Song. [30] A number of changes were made to the songs. [104], This article is about the musical. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the West End and on tour. The firm sent the manuscript to an elderly reader for evaluation. They marry anyway. [79], Subsequent productions have favored the Hwang script, although the older version remains available for license[80] and has received occasional revivals, including a 2006 staged concert as part of Ian Marshall Fisher's Lost Musicals series. On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission. had broken new ground in 1943, any new project in the late 1950s would have to compete with modern musicals and techniques, like the brutal realism in West Side Story,[6] and with other Broadway musical hits such as The Music Man, My Fair Lady and The Pajama Game. Flower Drum Song was the eighth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The film was the only Hollywood adaptation of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical to lose money. During the runup to the Broadway opening, the show received mostly positive publicity. I am from San Francisco, and while not of Asian descent, I am familiar with the cultural difficulties of "East vs West" -- and every time I see this movie, I am impressed with how this is handled. You can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. This forced him to hurry his writing, as the production team had hoped to have the show in rehearsal by the start of September; this was postponed by two weeks. [98] Patrick Adiarte, who originated the role of Wang San, however, saw it as "corny stuff ... put in there to get a laugh". This documentary centers around a performance by tap dancers Bunny Briggs, Howard "Sandman" Sims and Chuck Green at a Harlem club backed by a band lead by Lionel Hampton. [2] The show attracted considerable advance sales; even when these were exhausted, sales remained strong and sellouts were the norm. Crime. [38] Fewer Asian performers were used in London; the West End production starred Yau Shan Tung as Mei Li, Kevin Scott as Ta, George Minami as Wang, Yama Saki as Linda Low, Tim Herbert as Sammy Fong and Ida Shepley as Madam Liang. The reader was found dead in bed, the manuscript beside him with the words "Read this" scrawled on it. Flower Drum Song (subtitled A Jazz Interpretation by the Mastersounds) is an album by The Mastersounds led by vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery with pianist Richie Crabtree, bassist Monk Montgomery and drummer Benny Barth featuring performances of tunes from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical Flower Drum Song recorded in 1958 and released on the World … Despite his irritation at Ta, Wang allows him to marry Mei-li at the club (which now features Ta's Chinese opera one day a week), as the company celebrates how Chinese and American cultures have converged to create this happy moment (Finale: "A Hundred Million Miracles"). Ta can not forget Mei-li, and his uncle Chin (a janitor under the new regime) advises Ta to pursue her ("My Best Love"). The Boston critics thought well of the work, stating that after the show was polished, it was likely to be a hit. [57] A well-attended production in Oakland in 1993 adhered strictly to the 1958 script, though part of the ballet was cut for lack of rehearsal time;[58] a more heavily censored 1996 production in San Mateo also did well at the box office. His sister-in-law, Madam Tang, who takes citizenship classes, is a regular visitor and urges Wang to adopt Western ways. [87], When the national tour of the show visited the city of its setting, most San Francisco reviewers gave the show very positive reviews, though the Oakland Tribune critic described the musical as one "which has little by way of witty dialogue, outstanding songs or vigorous choreography". Lee’s The Flower Drum Song is the bestselling novel upon which Rodgers and Hammerstein, with Joseph Fields, based their musical play Flower Drum Song. Chinese stowaway Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) arrives in San Francisco with her father to meet her fiancé, wealthy nightclub owner Sammy Fong (Jack Soo), in an arranged marriage, but the groom has his eye on his star singer Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). Many lines of dialogue were cut, and producer Fred Van Patten stated that "[w]hat we've done is cut things in the show that Asians said to make white people laugh. "[86] Critic Kenneth Tynan, in The New Yorker magazine, alluded to the show The World of Suzie Wong in dismissing Flower Drum Song with the spoonerism, "a world of woozy song". Ta arrives home to admit that his father was right, Mei Li is the girl for him. It was adapted for a 1961 musical film. [69] The show regularly sold out and was so popular it became the first show at the Taper to extend its scheduled run. Complete your Rodgers & Hammerstein In Association With Joseph Fields collection. "[60] Rodgers' will urged his heirs to do what they believed he would have agreed to (Hammerstein's instructions are unknown), but during her lifetime, his widow Dorothy had refused to countenance major changes in the plays. Sammy offers to sign the contract over to the Wang family: this would free Sammy from the contract and arrange a suitable wife for Ta. Lee sat in the audience on the first night; he later stated that he had been nervous and was "bowled over" by the positive audience reaction. [1] He had hoped to break into playwriting, but instead wrote a novel about Chinatown, The Flower Drum Song (originally titled Grant Avenue). The impetuous Ta asks Linda to marry him. It closed on October 14, 1961 in Cleveland, a month before the film of the musical opened. Ta invites the two into the Wang household, with his father's approval, and he and May Li fall in love. To this day, it remains unclear whether Flower Drum Song broke even, lost money or returned a small profit to producer Ross Hunter. [20] Critics note, in any case, that Asian-Americans "had found few opportunities in mainstream theatre. "Prefabricated success: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, "'Forty Percent Is Luck': An Interview with C. Y. Chinese stowaway Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) arrives in San Francisco with her father to meet her fiancé, wealthy nightclub owner Sammy Fong (Jack Soo), in an arranged marriage, but the groom has his eye on his star singer Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). Nancy Kwan played the character of Linda Low in the movie Flower Drum Song. Hwang's champions are unlikely to fade away, either, in rhetorical defeat. Dashes indicate roles cut from 2002 production. When it was put on the stage, lines and songs that might be offensive were often cut. 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