|
|
Flower Drum Song
|
Liu
Dean Ford
|
By Rob Stevens
Following up their smash production of Miss Saigon in February (see review elsewhere on this site), Fullerton Civic Light Opera and director Jan Duncan are presenting the Orange County Premiere of the revised version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. Award-winning Asian American playwright David Henry Hwang’s drastically revised book for the show made its debut at the Mark Taper Forum in 2001 before too short a run on Broadway. The original book featured a central story of a Chinese father in San Francisco who has brought a mail-order bride and her father from China to marry his Americanized son. But the son is drawn to the very Americanized Linda, a showgirl in a swanky club on San Francisco’s Grant Avenue in the heart of Chinatown. Hwang keeps the action in the 1960s but makes it much more political, with Mei-Li escaping from Communist China after the imprisonment and death of her father for anti-Mao activity. There is still the clash of the new versus the old Chinese cultures, but, in this version, it is ultimately the younger characters who harken back to the traditional ways. Hwang’s book stalls and stops the action at times, and he has created a stereotyped gay character, but there is always a great musical number in the wings just waiting to put some life back into the proceedings.
Duncan and the FCLO have staged a beautiful and faithful production using Robin Wagner’s original Broadway scenic design and Gregg Barnes’ original Broadway costume design (with an assist from the always splendid Mela Hoyt-Heydon). Karen Nowicki’s choreography is a big plus, as is Lee Kreter’s musical direction.
The women are usually the standouts in Flower Drum Song. Athough Kristine Remigio as Mei-Li, a young woman attempting to live on her own in a new world, Sharline Liu as nightclub performer Linda Low, at times coming across as an Asian Ann Miller, and Karen Lew as the sassy, brassy, entrepreneurial Madame Liang deliver solid performances, it’s the men who make the impression here.
Clifton Hall dominates the production as Ta, the son who scorns his father’s traditional ways until he finds true love and sees what harm stereotypes can cause. Hall possesses a rich, melodious voice that makes "You Are Beautiful" a standout ballad. Paul Martinez displays much range as Wang, going from traditionalist father with an affinity for Chinese Opera to Uncle Sammy, a bastardization of all things Chinese. But his sense of puckish fun as the latter incarnation really supplies the humor. Alvin Ing adds much dignity and humor as the wise and merry Chin.
Flower Drum Song, produced by Fullerton Civic Light Opera at Plummer Auditorium, Lemon and Chapman Streets in Fullerton. 714-897-1732 or www.fclo.com $22-45. Fri-Sat, 8, Sat-Sun, 2. Closes May 29.
|
|
|
|
