Theatre Review: Flower Drum Song

I just got back from the theatre, I got to see Flower Drum Song for the first time tonight. It was so good!! According to the...paper pamphlet thingy that lists the names and bios of the cast and crew members (Apparently my brain has completely shut down, and I can not remember what that darn thing is called right now. It's driving me nuts!!) Anyway, according to that thing, this is a new version of the musical:

"This re-written Flower Drum Song marks the first radical revision of a Rodgers & Hammerstein show, who are legendary for not allowing any changes to their work. With surprising permission from the heirs of the R&H organization, David Henry Hwang set out to write a completely new story, while using the music from the original work...This 'New Version' was first produced at the Mark Taper Forum in Oct 2001, moving to Broadway in 2002."

A friend told me about the original R&H storyline and from the way she described it, it had many more characters and a more complicated plot line. I really enjoyed this new version that I saw tonight. The plot was simple but effective, very well written. The traditional Chinese father wants to perform Traditional Chinese Opera in his theater, but allows his son to have his modern Friday Night Club Night with a Vegas-style dancing girls show. Towards the middle of the story, the father abandons the Chinese Opera to join in with the fun of the Vegas-style show, much to the annoyance of the son. By the end of the story, the son has fallen in love with a young woman fresh off the refugee boat from Communist China, and she has shown him the value in the traditional Chinese ways, and the she and the son perform the Traditional Chinese Opera one night a week in the father's Night Club. I felt like the story was a perfect Yin Yang.

There was much of the same cast in this performance as there was in Miss Saigon (same theatre, same female lead and ensemble) but this time they had the volume of the music under control, thank goodness. Again, the entire cast did an excellent acting job, they were all honest and connected. I really enjoyed it tonight! Happy! :)