Flower Drum Song
by Claire J Rottenberg
Although the "Flower Drum Song" did not win any major
Tony awards, the play was a success and it was
nominated for 6 Tony awards, including the award for
Best Musical in 1959. It opened on Broadway on
December 1, 1958 and it closed almost 1-1/2 years
later, after running for 600 performances. The
original Broadway production was directed by Gene
Kelly (his first Broadway direction) with
choreography by Carol Haney (Tony nominee).
Both the Broadway play and the movie version of
"Flower Drum Song" broke ground by having mostly
Asian casts. Although years later the play was
perceived as negative by some in the Asian-American
community, the story can be viewed in its historical
context as a wonderful depiction of the struggles of
two generations trying to come to grips with each
other and the traditions of their conflicting
cultures, similar to the way one can view "Fiddler on
the Roof." A much revised revival of the musical
played on Broadway in 2002.
Four members of the original Broadway cast appeared
in the movie, three recreating their Broadway roles
(Myoshi Umeki as Mei Li, Juanita Hall as Madame
Liang, and Patrick Adiarte as Wang San) and Jack Soo,
taking a lead role in the film as Sammy Wong. The
rest of the actors and actresses in the film version
were of Asian or Asian-American descent. Very gifted
performers were hired for the film, including James
Shigeta who thrilled audiences with his beautiful
singing, good acting and handsome looks, and the
beautiful Nancy Kwanwho
had the chance to demonstrate her dancing talents
in the film. Her singing voice, however, was
dubbed.
The music for "Flower Drum Song" was written by the
successful team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein II. Only one song from the original play
was eliminated from the film - "Like a God" sung by
James Shigeta's character.
The movie version of "Flower Drum Song" is a
wonderful, happy musical with great music, dancing,
singing, and acting. However, it was not a very
successful film and it did not receive any major
Academy Award nominations. It was only released about
a year ago on DVD and it was the last of the Rodgers
and Hammerstein musicals to be available on DVD.
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Flower Drum Song