Flower Drum Song, A Theater Mu production at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on 6/27/09

By: John Olive

Theatre Mu – which under the steady artistic direction of Rick Shiomi has become a national treasure – has tackled a toughie: Flower Drum Song (at the McKnight Theatre at the Ordway, Th-Sun, through July 12). With songs by the grandmasters of American music theatre, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Flower Drum Song made a splash when it premiered fifty years ago. The first major show about Asian-Americans, with a (mostly) Asian cast. But the Civil Rights Movement was flowering and Flower Drum Song, with its rather stereotyped characters (in the original the lead, Wu Mei-Li, is a mail order bride) fell out of favor. 

But those songs! "A Hundred Million Miracles." The famous "I Enjoy Being A Girl." "Don't Marry Me." All jewels. This show can't be allowed to fade away.

Enter dramatist David Henry Hwang (a national treasure in his own right). Hwang reworked the material, made Mei-Li (Sara Ochs) a refugee from communist China, living on the memory of her sainted father. Hwang sends her to a dying opera troupe in San Francisco's Chinatown. Mei-Li retains the ability portray the demure yet stylized women of Chinese opera. This is contrasted by the brassy Linda (the wonderful Laurine Price) belting out "I Enjoy Being A Girl." Thus we get two versions of womanhood: the ancient Chinese versus the blowzy 1950s California glamour girl, both mannered and attenuated. Rich stuff.

Hwang brilliantly portrays the transformation of the traditional Chinese opera into the "Club Chop Suey", an Apollo Theatre-like send-up of Chinese stereotypes. The "fresh off the boat dancers" zestfully rip into their musical numbers ("Chop Suey", with the oversized chopsticks and the dancing girls wearing white to-go boxes, is unforgettable). Audiences (those "white demons") crowd in and everyone makes good money. But are they creating, as Ta (Sherwin Resurreccion) frets, an "Oriental minstrel show?" This is Hwang's achievement: he makes the Club fun and scary at the same time.  

Not everything in this show works. After her beautiful entrance, Mei-Li becomes something of a cipher. She abruptly leaves the Club and connects with fellow refugee Chao (Kurt Kwan, in a lovely turn) who works at a fortune cookie factory. Just as abruptly, she leaves Chao and returns to Ta. These transformations don't fully land but even so Hwang treats his characters with affection and writes with admirable dexterity. 

The cast brings a variety of skills and experience levels, but Shiomi directs with a sure hand and everyone charms. As Mei-Li, Sara Ochs is a marvel. Her restrained and fragile performance (not to mention her physical beauty) makes her the quiet center of every scene she's in. Resurreccion imbues Ta – and the whole show – with intelligence and emotional resonance. Randy Reyes's Wang (later, as he warms to his new role as Club Chop Suey impresario, Uncle Sammy Fong) is brash and vivid. Also excellent are Melissa Bechthold as Madame Liang and Brian McCormick as Harvard. As the elder Chin, Arnold R. Felizardo is a lovely presence. The ensemble is solid. These folks are having a grand time, and it shows.

The gorgeous ending has to be mentioned: the characters, all wearing traditional Chinese wedding clothes, slowly come out, bowing, smiling. Finally, the newlyweds, Mei-Li (wearing a veil) and Ta enter. Applause, as everyone comes downstage. Then, suddenly, proudly and loudly, each actor tells us where she was born: China, California, Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Minnesota, Florida, etc, the rich panoply of Asian life in 21st century America. This is Theatre Mu. 

Location Info: Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Artist Info: Theater Mu

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