{"id":6240,"date":"2001-12-01T19:58:38","date_gmt":"2001-12-01T23:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=6240"},"modified":"2019-06-07T12:23:59","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T16:23:59","slug":"flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"Flower Drum Song by David Henry Hwang, music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by C.Y. Lee + Playwright Profile [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Flower<\/a>Flower Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask any Asian American familiar with musicals, and they\u2019ll probably be able to sing \u201cI Enjoy Being a Girl,” recalling endless images of mirror-cloned Nancy Kwans. Like it or not, as a the first musical spectacular with a virtually all-Asian cast, Flower Drum Song<\/em> by Rodgers and Hammerstein is ingrained in the Asian American entertainment canon. \u201cIt\u2019s loomed so large over my life, and in the lives of other boomer Asian Americans all over the country,\u201d says David Henry Hwang, award-winning playwright of FOB, M. Butterfly,<\/em> and Golden Child<\/em>. \u201cI remember being a kid and thinking it was so cool. I think it was the only time I saw Asian Americans acting like Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hwang never stopped being captivated. Now decades since its debut, Flower Drum Song <\/em>is returning to the stage with a completely reconstructed story by Hwang, rebuilt around Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s original. \u201cI always wanted to do a showbiz story,\u201d Hwang laughs. After a few funding and venue glitches, Song <\/em>debuts anew at L.A.\u2019s prestigious Mark Taper Forum. A Broadway run is widely anticipated.<\/p>\n

Based on a novel by Yale-educated C.Y. Lee, the original version of Flower Drum Song<\/em> featured a love triangle: American-born Ta, a privileged young man of means in Chinatown, is in love with leggy dancing girl, Linda Lowe, but his well-meaning aunt and father arrange a marriage for him with Mei-li, a lovely, fresh-off-the-boat immigrant, who is besotted at first glance with her dashing Chinese American knight. The show first hit Broadway in 1958, then became a five-time Oscar-nominated film in 1961 and lived on in revivals and repeats. Detractors hated it for creating a white-man\u2019s version of what Chinatown should be, filled with misconceptions and stereotypes. Supporters adored it because it was the first time that stages, and later the big screen, were filled with Asian-looking faces.<\/p>\n

While Hwang kept the love triangle intact, he changed their stories considerably. \u201cI\u2019m bringing my own perspective to the material,\u201d he says. \u201cWhatever my own virtues or faults, they\u2019re now embodied in the new book.\u201d Author Lee adds that Hwang\u2019s version \u201cis a little closer to my original novel,\u201d and that he \u201clike[s] all the changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Hwang\u2019s brave new Chinatown, no longer is Ta a privileged son of a Chinatown scion; instead Ta and his father Wang run a failing Chinese opera house. Mei-li appears, fresh-off-the-boat, the daughter of Wang\u2019s oldest friend from opera school and herself a talented opera performer, and is welcomed into the fold with open arms.<\/p>\n

While Wang performs to virtually nonexistent audiences, Ta packs in standing-room-only crowds each Friday night when he transforms the theater into a burlesque hall, starring none other than Linda Lowe. While Ta longs for Lowe, she\u2019s got plans to get out of the ethnic ghetto and go mainstream. Enter Madame Liang, Linda\u2019s agent, who knows how to peddle orientalism to the masses for massive capital gains. She\u2019s also gets the hots for Wang. No, Virginia, this is not your \u201850s Chinatown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the new version,\u201d says Hwang, \u201cthe original clash of cultures becomes a clash of theatrical forms \u2013 how traditional theater transforms itself into a nightclub. It\u2019s about assimilation, about the changes that come about from that.\u201d The theater\u2019s not the only thing that\u2019s changed \u2013 \u201cthe characters, too, have taken on a certain growth over the years,\u201d adds Sandra Allen who plays the new Linda Lowe, who, like her predecessor is hapa of Chinese\/Caucasian descent.<\/p>\n

Says veteran actor Tzi Ma who plays Wang, \u201cThe play offer[s] what I see as the opportunity to present \u2018Orientalism\u2019 and \u2018Asian Americanism\u2019 side by side.\u201d Lea Salonga, the original Miss Saigon, who plays Mei-li chooses to concentrate on the Asian American side: \u201c\u2026 the musical shows the Asian American experience from the point of view of Asian Americans,\u201d she insists.<\/p>\n

And talking about those other<\/em> musicals with mostly-Asian casts, Hwang ironically points out, \u201cFor all my complicated history with Miss Saigon<\/em>,\u201d smiles Hwang, who wrote Face Value<\/em> about modern day yellowfacing \u2013 think Jonathan Pryce as the Asian Engineer, \u201cI have to say, I\u2019ve benefited a great deal from the cadre of strong Asian American performers\u201d \u2013 who have at one point or another graced Miss Saigon <\/em>stages across the country.<\/p>\n

But working together here, Hwang\u2019s \u201ctriple-threat, talented Asians\u201d are out to make history. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that maybe this is going to be important in the future. Maybe 20 years from now, it will be something to say that we worked on the original production of the new Flower Drum Song<\/em>,\u201d Hwang says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create opportunities for Asian Americans. And we\u2019re striving to change perceptions of Asian Americans in the mainstream. That\u2019s our goal. We\u2019ll see if we succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playwright profile<\/strong>: “Flower Power,” a<\/strong>Magazine: Inside Asian America<\/em>, December 2001\/January 2002<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2001 (play premiere), 2003 (script)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"FlowerFlower Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask any Asian American familiar with musicals, and they\u2019ll probably be able to sing \u201cI Enjoy Being a Girl,” recalling endless images of mirror-cloned Nancy Kwans. Like it or not, as a the first musical spectacular with a virtually all-Asian cast, Flower Drum Song<\/em> by Rodgers and Hammerstein is ingrained in the Asian American entertainment canon. \u201cIt\u2019s loomed so large over my life, and in the lives of other boomer Asian Americans all over the country,\u201d says David Henry Hwang, award-winning playwright of FOB, M. Butterfly,<\/em> and Golden Child<\/em>. \u201cI remember being a kid and thinking it was so cool. I think it was the only time I saw Asian Americans acting like Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hwang never stopped being captivated. Now decades since its debut, Flower Drum Song <\/em>is returning to the stage with a completely reconstructed story by Hwang, rebuilt around Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s original. \u201cI always wanted to do a showbiz story,\u201d Hwang laughs. After a few funding and venue glitches, Song <\/em>debuts anew at L.A.\u2019s prestigious Mark Taper Forum. A Broadway run is widely anticipated.<\/p>\n

Based on a novel by Yale-educated C.Y. Lee, the original version of Flower Drum Song<\/em> featured a love triangle: American-born Ta, a privileged young man of means in Chinatown, is in love with leggy dancing girl, Linda Lowe, but his well-meaning aunt and father arrange a marriage for him with Mei-li, a lovely, fresh-off-the-boat immigrant, who is besotted at first glance with her dashing Chinese American knight. The show first hit Broadway in 1958, then became a five-time Oscar-nominated film in 1961 and lived on in revivals and repeats. Detractors hated it for creating a white-man\u2019s version of what Chinatown should be, filled with misconceptions and stereotypes. Supporters adored it because it was the first time that stages, and later the big screen, were filled with Asian-looking faces.<\/p>\n

While Hwang kept the love triangle intact, he changed their stories considerably. \u201cI\u2019m bringing my own perspective to the material,\u201d he says. \u201cWhatever my own virtues or faults, they\u2019re now embodied in the new book.\u201d Author Lee adds that Hwang\u2019s version \u201cis a little closer to my original novel,\u201d and that he \u201clike[s] all the changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Hwang\u2019s brave new Chinatown, no longer is Ta a privileged son of a Chinatown scion; instead Ta and his father Wang run a failing Chinese opera house. Mei-li appears, fresh-off-the-boat, the daughter of Wang\u2019s oldest friend from opera school and herself a talented opera performer, and is welcomed into the fold with open arms.<\/p>\n

While Wang performs to virtually nonexistent audiences, Ta packs in standing-room-only crowds each Friday night when he transforms the theater into a burlesque hall, starring none other than Linda Lowe. While Ta longs for Lowe, she\u2019s got plans to get out of the ethnic ghetto and go mainstream. Enter Madame Liang, Linda\u2019s agent, who knows how to peddle orientalism to the masses for massive capital gains. She\u2019s also gets the hots for Wang. No, Virginia, this is not your \u201850s Chinatown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the new version,\u201d says Hwang, \u201cthe original clash of cultures becomes a clash of theatrical forms \u2013 how traditional theater transforms itself into a nightclub. It\u2019s about assimilation, about the changes that come about from that.\u201d The theater\u2019s not the only thing that\u2019s changed \u2013 \u201cthe characters, too, have taken on a certain growth over the years,\u201d adds Sandra Allen who plays the new Linda Lowe, who, like her predecessor is hapa of Chinese\/Caucasian descent.<\/p>\n

Says veteran actor Tzi Ma who plays Wang, \u201cThe play offer[s] what I see as the opportunity to present \u2018Orientalism\u2019 and \u2018Asian Americanism\u2019 side by side.\u201d Lea Salonga, the original Miss Saigon, who plays Mei-li chooses to concentrate on the Asian American side: \u201c\u2026 the musical shows the Asian American experience from the point of view of Asian Americans,\u201d she insists.<\/p>\n

And talking about those other<\/em> musicals with mostly-Asian casts, Hwang ironically points out, \u201cFor all my complicated history with Miss Saigon<\/em>,\u201d smiles Hwang, who wrote Face Value<\/em> about modern day yellowfacing \u2013 think Jonathan Pryce as the Asian Engineer, \u201cI have to say, I\u2019ve benefited a great deal from the cadre of strong Asian American performers\u201d \u2013 who have at one point or another graced Miss Saigon <\/em>stages across the country.<\/p>\n

But working together here, Hwang\u2019s \u201ctriple-threat, talented Asians\u201d are out to make history. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that maybe this is going to be important in the future. Maybe 20 years from now, it will be something to say that we worked on the original production of the new Flower Drum Song<\/em>,\u201d Hwang says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create opportunities for Asian Americans. And we\u2019re striving to change perceptions of Asian Americans in the mainstream. That\u2019s our goal. We\u2019ll see if we succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playwright profile<\/strong>: “Flower Power,” a<\/strong>Magazine: Inside Asian America<\/em>, December 2001\/January 2002<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2001 (play premiere), 2003 (script)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,21,1045,6535],"tags":[4822,83,6608,4881,2769,10,189,4882,11,51,25,13,4883,39,4884],"class_list":["post-6240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-author-interview-profile","category-chinese-american","category-drama-theater","category-repost","tag-amagazine-inside-asian-america","tag-assimilation","tag-bookdragon","tag-c-y-lee","tag-david-henry-hwang","tag-family","tag-father-son-relationship","tag-flower-drum-song","tag-friendship","tag-identity","tag-immigration","tag-love","tag-oscar-hammerstein","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-richard-rodgers"],"yoast_head":"\nFlower Drum Song by David Henry Hwang, music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by C.Y. Lee + Playwright Profile [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flower Drum Song by David Henry Hwang, music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by C.Y. Lee + Playwright Profile [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Flower Power Ask any Asian American familiar with musicals, and they\u2019ll probably be able to sing \u201cI Enjoy Being a Girl," recalling endless images of mirror-cloned Nancy Kwans. Like it or not, as a the first musical spectacular with a virtually all-Asian cast, Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein is ingrained in the Asian American entertainment canon. \u201cIt\u2019s loomed so large over my life, and in the lives of other boomer Asian Americans all over the country,\u201d says David Henry Hwang, award-winning playwright of FOB, M. Butterfly, and Golden Child. \u201cI remember being a kid and thinking it was so cool. I think it was the only time I saw Asian Americans acting like Americans.\u201d Hwang never stopped being captivated. Now decades since its debut, Flower Drum Song is returning to the stage with a completely reconstructed story by Hwang, rebuilt around Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s original. \u201cI always wanted to do a showbiz story,\u201d Hwang laughs. After a few funding and venue glitches, Song debuts anew at L.A.\u2019s prestigious Mark Taper Forum. A Broadway run is widely anticipated. Based on a novel by Yale-educated C.Y. Lee, the original version of Flower Drum Song featured a love triangle: American-born Ta, a privileged young man of means in Chinatown, is in love with leggy dancing girl, Linda Lowe, but his well-meaning aunt and father arrange a marriage for him with Mei-li, a lovely, fresh-off-the-boat immigrant, who is besotted at first glance with her dashing Chinese American knight. The show first hit Broadway in 1958, then became a five-time Oscar-nominated film in 1961 and lived on in revivals and repeats. Detractors hated it for creating a white-man\u2019s version of what Chinatown should be, filled with misconceptions and stereotypes. Supporters adored it because it was the first time that stages, and later the big screen, were filled with Asian-looking faces. While Hwang kept the love triangle intact, he changed their stories considerably. \u201cI\u2019m bringing my own perspective to the material,\u201d he says. \u201cWhatever my own virtues or faults, they\u2019re now embodied in the new book.\u201d Author Lee adds that Hwang\u2019s version \u201cis a little closer to my original novel,\u201d and that he \u201clike[s] all the changes.\u201d In Hwang\u2019s brave new Chinatown, no longer is Ta a privileged son of a Chinatown scion; instead Ta and his father Wang run a failing Chinese opera house. Mei-li appears, fresh-off-the-boat, the daughter of Wang\u2019s oldest friend from opera school and herself a talented opera performer, and is welcomed into the fold with open arms. While Wang performs to virtually nonexistent audiences, Ta packs in standing-room-only crowds each Friday night when he transforms the theater into a burlesque hall, starring none other than Linda Lowe. While Ta longs for Lowe, she\u2019s got plans to get out of the ethnic ghetto and go mainstream. Enter Madame Liang, Linda\u2019s agent, who knows how to peddle orientalism to the masses for massive capital gains. She\u2019s also gets the hots for Wang. No, Virginia, this is not your \u201850s Chinatown. \u201cIn the new version,\u201d says Hwang, \u201cthe original clash of cultures becomes a clash of theatrical forms \u2013 how traditional theater transforms itself into a nightclub. It\u2019s about assimilation, about the changes that come about from that.\u201d The theater\u2019s not the only thing that\u2019s changed \u2013 \u201cthe characters, too, have taken on a certain growth over the years,\u201d adds Sandra Allen who plays the new Linda Lowe, who, like her predecessor is hapa of Chinese\/Caucasian descent. Says veteran actor Tzi Ma who plays Wang, \u201cThe play offer[s] what I see as the opportunity to present \u2018Orientalism\u2019 and \u2018Asian Americanism\u2019 side by side.\u201d Lea Salonga, the original Miss Saigon, who plays Mei-li chooses to concentrate on the Asian American side: \u201c\u2026 the musical shows the Asian American experience from the point of view of Asian Americans,\u201d she insists. And talking about those other musicals with mostly-Asian casts, Hwang ironically points out, \u201cFor all my complicated history with Miss Saigon,\u201d smiles Hwang, who wrote Face Value about modern day yellowfacing \u2013 think Jonathan Pryce as the Asian Engineer, \u201cI have to say, I\u2019ve benefited a great deal from the cadre of strong Asian American performers\u201d \u2013 who have at one point or another graced Miss Saigon stages across the country. But working together here, Hwang\u2019s \u201ctriple-threat, talented Asians\u201d are out to make history. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that maybe this is going to be important in the future. Maybe 20 years from now, it will be something to say that we worked on the original production of the new Flower Drum Song,\u201d Hwang says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create opportunities for Asian Americans. And we\u2019re striving to change perceptions of Asian Americans in the mainstream. That\u2019s our goal. We\u2019ll see if we succeed.\u201d Playwright profile: "Flower Power," aMagazine: Inside Asian America, December 2001\/January 2002 Readers: Adult Published: 2001 (play premiere), 2003 (script)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2001-12-01T23:58:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-07T16:23:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2001\/12\/Flower-Drug-Song.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Flower Drum Song by David Henry Hwang, music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by C.Y. Lee + Playwright Profile [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Flower Drum Song by David Henry Hwang, music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by C.Y. Lee + Playwright Profile [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon","og_description":"Flower Power Ask any Asian American familiar with musicals, and they\u2019ll probably be able to sing \u201cI Enjoy Being a Girl,\" recalling endless images of mirror-cloned Nancy Kwans. Like it or not, as a the first musical spectacular with a virtually all-Asian cast, Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein is ingrained in the Asian American entertainment canon. \u201cIt\u2019s loomed so large over my life, and in the lives of other boomer Asian Americans all over the country,\u201d says David Henry Hwang, award-winning playwright of FOB, M. Butterfly, and Golden Child. \u201cI remember being a kid and thinking it was so cool. I think it was the only time I saw Asian Americans acting like Americans.\u201d Hwang never stopped being captivated. Now decades since its debut, Flower Drum Song is returning to the stage with a completely reconstructed story by Hwang, rebuilt around Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s original. \u201cI always wanted to do a showbiz story,\u201d Hwang laughs. After a few funding and venue glitches, Song debuts anew at L.A.\u2019s prestigious Mark Taper Forum. A Broadway run is widely anticipated. Based on a novel by Yale-educated C.Y. Lee, the original version of Flower Drum Song featured a love triangle: American-born Ta, a privileged young man of means in Chinatown, is in love with leggy dancing girl, Linda Lowe, but his well-meaning aunt and father arrange a marriage for him with Mei-li, a lovely, fresh-off-the-boat immigrant, who is besotted at first glance with her dashing Chinese American knight. The show first hit Broadway in 1958, then became a five-time Oscar-nominated film in 1961 and lived on in revivals and repeats. Detractors hated it for creating a white-man\u2019s version of what Chinatown should be, filled with misconceptions and stereotypes. Supporters adored it because it was the first time that stages, and later the big screen, were filled with Asian-looking faces. While Hwang kept the love triangle intact, he changed their stories considerably. \u201cI\u2019m bringing my own perspective to the material,\u201d he says. \u201cWhatever my own virtues or faults, they\u2019re now embodied in the new book.\u201d Author Lee adds that Hwang\u2019s version \u201cis a little closer to my original novel,\u201d and that he \u201clike[s] all the changes.\u201d In Hwang\u2019s brave new Chinatown, no longer is Ta a privileged son of a Chinatown scion; instead Ta and his father Wang run a failing Chinese opera house. Mei-li appears, fresh-off-the-boat, the daughter of Wang\u2019s oldest friend from opera school and herself a talented opera performer, and is welcomed into the fold with open arms. While Wang performs to virtually nonexistent audiences, Ta packs in standing-room-only crowds each Friday night when he transforms the theater into a burlesque hall, starring none other than Linda Lowe. While Ta longs for Lowe, she\u2019s got plans to get out of the ethnic ghetto and go mainstream. Enter Madame Liang, Linda\u2019s agent, who knows how to peddle orientalism to the masses for massive capital gains. She\u2019s also gets the hots for Wang. No, Virginia, this is not your \u201850s Chinatown. \u201cIn the new version,\u201d says Hwang, \u201cthe original clash of cultures becomes a clash of theatrical forms \u2013 how traditional theater transforms itself into a nightclub. It\u2019s about assimilation, about the changes that come about from that.\u201d The theater\u2019s not the only thing that\u2019s changed \u2013 \u201cthe characters, too, have taken on a certain growth over the years,\u201d adds Sandra Allen who plays the new Linda Lowe, who, like her predecessor is hapa of Chinese\/Caucasian descent. Says veteran actor Tzi Ma who plays Wang, \u201cThe play offer[s] what I see as the opportunity to present \u2018Orientalism\u2019 and \u2018Asian Americanism\u2019 side by side.\u201d Lea Salonga, the original Miss Saigon, who plays Mei-li chooses to concentrate on the Asian American side: \u201c\u2026 the musical shows the Asian American experience from the point of view of Asian Americans,\u201d she insists. And talking about those other musicals with mostly-Asian casts, Hwang ironically points out, \u201cFor all my complicated history with Miss Saigon,\u201d smiles Hwang, who wrote Face Value about modern day yellowfacing \u2013 think Jonathan Pryce as the Asian Engineer, \u201cI have to say, I\u2019ve benefited a great deal from the cadre of strong Asian American performers\u201d \u2013 who have at one point or another graced Miss Saigon stages across the country. But working together here, Hwang\u2019s \u201ctriple-threat, talented Asians\u201d are out to make history. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that maybe this is going to be important in the future. Maybe 20 years from now, it will be something to say that we worked on the original production of the new Flower Drum Song,\u201d Hwang says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create opportunities for Asian Americans. And we\u2019re striving to change perceptions of Asian Americans in the mainstream. That\u2019s our goal. We\u2019ll see if we succeed.\u201d Playwright profile: \"Flower Power,\" aMagazine: Inside Asian America, December 2001\/January 2002 Readers: Adult Published: 2001 (play premiere), 2003 (script)","og_url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/","og_site_name":"BookDragon","article_published_time":"2001-12-01T23:58:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-07T16:23:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":370,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2001\/12\/Flower-Drug-Song.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SmithsonianAPA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/","url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/flower-drum-song-by-david-henry-hwang-music-by-richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii-based-on-the-novel-by-c-y-lee\/","name":"Flower Drum Song by David Henry Hwang, music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by C.Y. 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