Stage and Cinema
- Recommended
"...I fell in love with East West Players and JACCC’s co-production revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, with a book by David Henry Hwang. On its own, Flower Drum Song is a Broadway classic. For those unfamiliar, it debuted on December 1, 1958, at the St. James Theatre, starring Miyoshi Umeki, Pat Suzuki, Larry Blyden, Juanita Hall, and Ed Kenney. The show ran for 600 performances. Hwang’s rewrite returned the musical to Broadway in 2002, with a revival starring Lea Salonga, Sandra Allen, and Jose Llana."
Stage Scene LA
- Highly Recommended
"...A hundred million miracles may be happening every day, but none are more miraculous where musical theater is concerned than the one that has transformed Flower Drum Song, splendiferously revived at Little Tokyo’s Aratani Theatre, from a show filled with antiquated stereotypes to one that can now take its place among Rodgers and Hammerstein’s finest."
TheaterMania
- Not Recommended
"...Given the strength of the 2001 rethinking, a return to Flower Drum Song invites high expectations. Even so, this staging often feels tentative, as if it doesn’t fully trust either the revision or its own point of view. The result is a production that rarely reaches the sense of discovery the material can still offer."
Stage Raw
- Somewhat Recommended
"...It’s a visually disturbing set-up wholly appropriate to Hwang’s revolutionary reimagining. That revisionist sensibility extends to the central character of Mei-Li, who isn’t slipping into the country for an arranged marriage, as in the original play and film, but fleeing the ravages of Mao’s cultural revolution."
Ticket Holders LA
- Highly Recommended
"...The play is described as having “blood, profanity, and meta-commentary,” which fits perfectly with the high-intensity, almost industrial energy that makes this playwright’s work so unique. It deals with hidden secrets, intense transformations, and the pressure of being caught between two different lives."
Larchmont Buzz
- Highly Recommended
"...Currently celebrating its 60th Season, downtown Los Angeles’ East West Players is ending their season with a tour de force production of Flower Drum Song. For audiences familiar with the original 1958 Broadway musical, based on the novel by Chinese-American C.Y. Lee, many changes will be noticeable in this remount."
Nerds Of Color
- Somewhat Recommended
"...It feels like as an Asian American performer who loves theatre, I feel like I need to cherish this musical and its historical contribution to the ANHPI community. But my enjoyment felt hollow, despite the uproarious applause and approval given by the opening night audience that were stacked with ANHPI entertainment celebrities in the film and theatre world."
Broadway World
- Highly Recommended
"...And now, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s classic songs and beloved characters are making their long-awaited return to Los Angeles for the first time since the premiere of Hwang’s 2001 adaptation of Flower Drum Song at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum over twenty years ago."
