Reviewed by Judy Richter
When playwright David Henry
Hwang revised
the book for "Flower Drum Song" in 2002, he updated and simplified it, reducing
both the number of characters and the number of settings in the original 1958
book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joseph Fields. They, in turn, had based their book on a novel
by C.Y. Lee.
One thing that Hwang didn't eliminate was the memorable music by Richard
Rodgers with
lyrics by Hammerstein. American Musical Theatre of San Jose is staging the revised version
under the direction of Gabriel Barre.
It's
an absorbing tale that has an age-old plot at its core: boy meets girl, boy
loses girl, boy gets girl. In "Flower Drum Song," however, there's
much more than that as it relates the saga of a young woman, Mei-Li (Michelle
Liu Coughlin),
who escapes Communist China with little more than a flower drum and wise words
from her father, who was seized and killed. She endures a grueling sea voyage
and lands in San Francisco in 1960. There she makes her way to Chinatown and a
Chinese opera theater owned by Wang Chi-Yang (Joseph Anthony Foronda), a friend of her father. She's
attracted to Wang's son, Wang Ta (Paolo Montalban), who turns the theater into a
nightclub once a week. He in turn is attracted to the club's star, Linda Low (Emily
Hsu), but it's
not reciprocal.
Over
time, the nightclub replaces Chinese opera and becomes a huge hit, thanks in
part to the show biz moxie of Madame Rita Liang (Erin Quill), who becomes Linda's agent.
Even Chi-Yang gives up his opposition to the venture and becomes one of its
performers. In the meantime, Mei-Li feels rejected by Ta and goes to work in a
fortune cookie factory alongside Chao Hai-Lung (Jared Lee), who wants her to go back to
China with her. Of course all turns out well in the end.
Along
the way, the audience is treated to some signature Rodgers & Hammerstein
songs like "A Hundred Million Miracles," "I Enjoy Being a
Girl,"
"You Are Beautiful," "Grant Avenue," "Sunday," "Chop Suey" and "Love, Look
Away." All
are well sung, and many are accompanied by some terrific dancing choreographed
by Vince Pesce.
The scenes with Chinese movement are overseen by Jamie H.J. Guan.
The
cast also is terrific, especially Coughlin as the sweet, innocent Mei-Li, Hsu
as the sexy but smart Linda and Quill as the brassy Madame Liang. Foronda is
initially too blustery as the set-in-his-ways Chi-Yang, but he mellows out and
loosens up when he joins the nightclub act. Rod Voltaire-Edora is a nicely fussy Harvard, the
costume designer, and Alvin Ing is wonderfully wise as the elderly Uncle Chin. Montalban
sings and dances well as Ta, but he doesn't seem entirely comfortable in the
role. Musical direction is by William Liberatore with the flexible set by Robin
Wagner, lighting
by Karen Spahn,
colorful costumes by Gregg Barne and sound by Hage Van Dijk. Barre's direction is fast-paced
yet smooth. His staging of the Prologue, which takes Mei-Li from China to San
Francisco, is noteworthy for its imaginative simplicity.
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