FLOWER DRUM SONG
（フラワー・ドラム・ソング）
Review
The film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway hit, Flower Drum Song is a musical comedy set in San Francisco's Chinatown, concerning old-fashioned Chinese and modern Chinese-Americans clashing over tradition and trying to find romance.
Mei Li(Miyoshi Umeki), a Hong Kong mail-order bride, arrives in San Francisco to meet her husband Sammy Fong(Jack Soo), an Americanized Chinese night-club owner. However, Sammy is already romantically involved with the star attraction of his nightclub show, the sultry singer/dancer Linda Low (Nancy Kwan).
He tries to assign his marriage contract to Wang Ta(James Shigeta), a handsome college student living in Chinatown. Ta, however, has his sights set on Linda as well, while Linda's seamstress Helen Chow(Reiko Sato) secretly pines for Ta. Romantic complications result, but nothing that a little singing and dancing can't resolve to the satisfaction of nearly everyone.
The film has a great brassy, jazzy score and the best choreography of any of R&H's musicals. Some of the more memorable songs include I Enjoy Being a Girl (with Nancy's famous three way mirror scene), Love, Look Away and Don't Marry Me. The film was unusual not only for being the first Hollywood production with an (almost) all-Asian cast, but also for portraying Chinese-Americans as Americans.
James Shigeta is a real heart-throb, Jack Soo has a hilarious deadpan humor, and Miyoshi Umeki is as sweet as can be. Nancy Kwan has great fun in the role of the Chinese-American showgirl with a decidedly modern attitude, and the film is a tremendous showcase for her dance skills.
Music Richard Rodgers
Lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II
Book Oscar Hammerstein II
Joseph A. Fields
Based upon Novel by C.Y. Lee
Nightclub Forbidden City
Productions 1958 Broadway
1960 West End
1961 Film
2002 Broadway revival
2006 London concert
Flower Drum Song is a musical written by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Chinese American author C. Y. Lee. The Broadway production opened in 1958 featuring, for the first time in Broadway history, a mostly Asian cast.
The musical was successful (as the novel had been), garnering six Tony Award nominations and spawning a London production, national tours and a 1961 musical film, but the musical and movie would fall out of favor as the civil rights era re-defined how minorities should be portrayed on film.
Asian American playwright David Henry Hwang reworked the story and music for a 2002 Broadway revival.
Background
After World War II, Americans began to show an interest in the Far East, and Rodgers and Hammerstein had explored this interest in South Pacific and The King and I. The novel Flower Drum Song was written while Lee was a journalist working for two San Francisco Chinatown newspapers, Chinese World and Young China. It was a story of generational and cross-cultural conflict in the early 1950s. Lee had done his homework by moving to Chinatown while turning his short story into the novel.
Producer Joe Fields, a high school friend of Hammerstein, had purchased the novel Flower Drum Song and mentioned it to the librettist at a party in New York. After Hammerstein read the book, he suggested to Rodgers that it might make a good musical.
Rodgers had already read it and agreed. They also agreed on a casting innovation; an all-Asian cast, something that had not been seen before. Finding the actors proved challenging. Lee suggested going to Forbidden City nightclub, on which the musical is based, to find Asians who could sing and dance in the musical. Still, the team could not find enough Asians to fill the cast completely, and a few members of the cast were non-Asians. The story of the novel is darker than the plots of the musical and film. In the novel, Helen commits suicide, and the flower drum song is sung by a servant.
While it is revolutionary for being a show that features a virtually all Asian cast, it should also be noted for being revolutionary because it is the only musical about Asian-American characters. Other "Asian" musicals, South Pacific, The King and I, Miss Saigon, Pacific Overtures are about Asians who live in Asia.
Flower Drum Song features characters who were born in America who just happen to be Asian. This is despite the fact that the producers of the original production cast "star" non-Asians in leading roles.
Original Broadway Production
The production opened for out-of-town tryouts on October 27, 1958 in Boston's Shubert Theatre and had its Broadway opening at the St. James Theatre on December 1, 1958. Flower Drum Song was the first Broadway show to feature a mostly Asian cast, including Miyoshi Umeki, Keye Luke, Pat Suzuki, Jack Soo, Ed Kenney, Reiko Sato, and Arabella Hong.
Juanita Hall was African-American (she had previously starred in South Pacific), and the male lead, Larry Blyden, was non-Asian. Directed by Gene Kelly (in his first outing as a director on Broadway) and with choreography by Carol Haney, Flower Drum Song ran for 600 performances despite some pans by critics.
The show received six Tony Award nominations (including a win as Best Conductor and Musical Director for Salvatore Dell'Isola) but was overshadowed that year by Redhead, which starred Gwen Verdon and Richard Kiley, with choreography by Bob Fosse.
Miyoshi Umeki and Pat Suzuki - Time Magazine cover, 1958Asian performers from the musical were featured on the cover of Time Magazine in December 1958. Columbia Records released the original cast album in 1958.
Musical Numbers
Act I
Overture
You Are Beautiful -- Wang Ta and Madam Liang
A Hundred Million Miracles -- Mei-Li, Dr. Li, Wang Chi Yang, Madam Liang and Liu Ma
I Enjoy Being a Girl -- Linda Low and Company
I Am Going to Like It Here -- Mei-Li
Like A God -- Wang Ta
Chop Suey -- Madam Liang, Wang San and Ensemble
Don't Marry Me -- Sammy Fong and Mei-Li
Grant Avenue -- Linda Low and Ensembe
Love, Look Away -- Helen Chao
Fan Tan Fannie -- Night Club Singer and Girls
Gliding Through My Memories -- Frankie Wing and Girls
Finale: Grant Avenue -- Company
Act II
Ballet
Love, Look Away (Reprise) -- Helen Chao
The Other Generation -- Madam Liang and Wang Chi Yang
Sunday, Sweet Sunday -- Linda Low and Sammy Fong
The Other Generation (Reprise) -- Wang San and Children
Wedding Parade -- Mei-Li and Dancers
Finale -- Company
The 2002 revival restored "My Best Love", a song that was cut from the original production, which is sung by Chin. "The Other Generation" was cut from the revival.
Synopsis (1958 version)
A shy young woman, Mei Li, arrives with her father in San Francisco from China in the early 1950s; both are illegal immigrants. She has come enter into an arranged marriage with the owner of a Chinese nightclub, Sammy Fong, whose traditional family has insisted on the union.
Sammy is a totally assimilated hipster and is already involved with his leading showgirl, Linda Low. It's clear that this naive newcomer is the wrong girl for Sammy, and he does his best to dissuade Mei Li from marrying him. He sends her to live in the house of Master Wang, where he presents her as prospect for his friend, Master Wang's shy son, Wang Ta. Master Wang is delighted with the girl, as he is traditional and has been trying in vain to keep his children from being seduced by the American life-style. But dissolving the marriage contract will be difficult.
Meanwhile, Wang Ta is dazzled by the charms of Linda, who enjoys being a girl. Landing a date with Linda, Ta proposes marriage. Linda wants to use Wang Ta to get a real commitment from Sammy Fong, who gets wind of her plan when Linda gets another club employee to pretend to be her brother and grant his permission for Linda to marry Wang Ta.
When Ta finally meets Mei Li, she quickly develops feelings for him, but he is unimpressed. When she dresses up in Western clothes, however, he warms to her. Linda shows up with her brother and claims that she will marry Ta. Master Wang forbids this, but Ta argues that he is old enough to make his own decisions, and they argue. Sammy is now in a tight spot and needs to figure out how to get Ta and Mei Li together so that he can have Linda.
Sammy arranges to have Master Wang and Ta see Low's nightclub act, where they are shocked by Linda's strip tease. They leave, distraught, and Linda argues with Sammy. Ta spends the night at the apartment of childhood friend Helen Chao, a seamstress who loves Ta tenderly, but perhaps more as a friend. In the morning, Mei Li delivers Master Wang's coat for Helen to mend and is distressed to see Ta's dinner jacket on the kitchen table.
Mei Li jumps to conclusions and leaves horrified. Wang leaves the lonely Helen and goes back home to admit that his father was right. But now, Mei Li want nothing to do to him. This complicated problem must be settled by the Three Family Association. Sammy Fong announces that he andLinda have decided to get married, but the Association decrees that the wedding contract cannot be broken, and Mei Li must become Sammy's wife. Sammy tries to convince Linda that even if he is "framed" into marrying Mei Li, he will continue to love Linda.
Ta brings Mei Li a wedding gift of an old family clock, and tries unsuccessfully to hide the fact that he is deeply in love with her. The wedding procession moves down one of San Francisco's streets with the bride, heavily veiled, carried on a sedan chair. Sammy drinks from the traditional wedding goblet, then offers the goblet to his new wife. Unveiled, the bride turns out to be Linda. Mei Li announces that since entered the U.S. illegally, the marriage contract and decisions by the Association are null and void. Now Mei Li is free to marry Ta.
（From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia）
解説＆ストーリー
ナンシー・クワン（Nancy Kwan）
ナンシー・クワンは、1939年5月19日、中国人で建築家の父と、スコットランド人でモデルの母の間に香港に生まれたが、両親は、彼女が2歳の時に離婚した。1941年12月、太平洋戦争が勃発すると父と兄弟と共に中国に身を隠したが、終戦後、香港に戻り、クワンはイギリスに留学し、ロイヤル・バレエ団に学び、バレエ学校を卒業し、バレエ教師の資格を得たが、イギリス滞在中、映画プロデューサー、レイ・スタークに見いだされ、18歳の時「スージー・ウォンの世界」(1960)の主役に抜擢された。
ナンシー・クワン出演作品
ナンシー梅木（本名 梅木 美代志）は、1929年に北海道小樽で生まれ、兄が進駐軍の通訳をしていた関係からキャンプでジャズを歌うようになり、1950年代日本のジャズ歌手の草分けとして角田孝＆シックスやレイモンド・コンデのゲイ・セプテットなどで人気を博し、ナイトクラブやステージで活躍した。
彼女は、1955年に音楽の勉強のため渡米するが、その後の活動の舞台をアメリカに移し、1956年にはCBSテレビの「アーサー・ゴドフリー・ショウ」に着物姿で出演して英語の歌を歌い話題となった。
