`FLOWER DRUM' DIFFICULT TO BEAT NEW TOUCHES ADD POLISH TO OLD MUSICAL.Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic A Chinese opera Chinese Opera (Chinese: 戏曲/戲曲; Pinyin: xìqǔ) is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China. There are numerous regional branches of opera with its original root starting in the dynastic periods History Dynastic periods house owner house owner n → Hausbesitzer(in) m(f) in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , a traditionalist down to his white blood cells White blood cells A group of several cell types that occur in the bloodstream and are essential for a properly functioning immune system. Mentioned in: Abscess Incision & Drainage, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Complement Deficiencies , has just drawn the biggest laughs of his professional career through salty burlesque burlesque (bûrlĕsk`) [Ital.,=mockery], form of entertainment differing from comedy or farce in that it achieves its effects through caricature, ridicule, and distortion. It differs from satire in that it is devoid of any ethical element. during the ``nightclub night'' he has spent months disdaining. Sharing an embrace with his considerably more with-it son, Wang Chi-Yang says, ``If only our ancestors could see us now.'' The same thought crossed my mind after seeing Linda Low and her fellow nightclub dancers stripping down to bras and undies during the rendition of ``I Enjoy Being a Girl'' - still ``Flower Drum Song's'' most recognizable tune. What would the ancestors of musical theater - in this case the late Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein and co-author Joe Fields - think at seeing their 1958 musical thus retooled? Jaw-dropping disgust or cash-register dollar signs? Here's betting they'd give it the thumbs-up. The much ballyhooed re- creation of ``Flower Drum Song,'' which opened Sunday at the Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a small thrust stage with 745 seats at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Beckett and Associates. It has presented innovative plays since 1967. The world premiere of Angels In America was produced here. , is marvelously effective not merely because of the talent on stage and off. Playwright David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is a contemporary American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at Stanford University and the Yale School of Drama. has delivered a reinterpreted classic with something on its mind beyond frisky frisk·y adj. frisk·i·er, frisk·i·est Energetic, lively, and playful: a frisky kitten. frisk tunes and a predictable love story. Credit the ancestors, certainly: Rodgers, Hammerstein, Fields and author C.Y. Lee, who wrote the novel on which the musical is based. But give a bigger share to Hwang, who hasn't simply reimagined ``Flower Drum Song'' but taken a Volvo and turned it into an equally reliable hot rod. Time and again, this new ``Flower Drum'' raises question of ancestry that Hwang has explored in earlier plays. Do we betray our roots when we assimilate into another culture? If so, how much and are there alternatives? Can traditions from the past inform the present to help artists tell new stories? Wang (played by Tzi Ma) makes his peace with the break from tradition awfully quickly; apparently the money's too good for him not to. More conflicted is Wang's thoroughly Americanized son, Ta (Jose Llana) who, for all his shedding of the old ways, doesn't want the club to turn into ``some Oriental minstrel show.'' Even as Ta is developing steps for new nightclub night dances, we watch the movements being simultaneously re-created by dancers in warrior garb (artfully choreographed by the production's Chinese opera consultant Jamie H.J. Guan guan: see curassow. ). Clearly the past has a place in Ta's future. He just needs to find a balance. Ditto Wu Mei-Li (Lea Salonga), the fresh-off-the-boat Hong Kong immigrant who escapes to America with little more than the clothes on her back and a precious flower drum after her father is put to death in Maoist China. Most closely resembling her counterpart from the original, Mei-Li in Hwang's version has finally escaped the confines of the character's pidgin-English-spouting shrinking violethood. As embodied by Salonga - whose voice has only gotten richer since her days in ``Miss Saigon'' - the character now has a backbone. Her eyes flash with determination when she's singing about ``A Hundred Million Miracles.'' During her first encounter with Wang and Ta at the Golden Pearl Opera House in San Francisco's Chinatown, Mei-Li picks up a bamboo pole and holds her own executing the battle scene of the Flower Boat Maiden. Still a bit naive, Mei-Li has a few lessons for Ta and vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. . Linda Low (Sandra Allen), the hottest dish on the nightclub circuit, also has assimilation issues, even if Hwang's plotting doesn't always seem to know where she fits in. Mentor, vamp and social climber, Linda primarily exists to perform - to turn an audience into wolves - and in this endeavor, the sultry Allen excels. The numbers ``Fan Tan Fannie'' and ``I Enjoy Being a Girl'' sizzle siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. even as they spoof. The ``backstage musical'' context also allows Hwang to get comic relief from Mme Liang (Jodi Long), an Ethel Merman-esque agent, and from Harvard (Allen Liu), Linda's effete ef·fete adj. 1. Depleted of vitality, force, or effectiveness; exhausted: the final, effete period of the baroque style. 2. dresser. Under the sure hand of director/choreographer Robert Longbottom, the production's musical numbers fit the Taper's intimate confines more than adequately. Visually, Longbottom owes a substantial debt to his creative team, particularly costume designer Gregg Barnes, who has re-created the look of 1950s Chinatown as well as the traditional garb of a much earlier era. Robin Wagner's nightclub facade set is occasionally draped drape v. draped, drap·ing, drapes v.tr. 1. To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the coffin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. over or hidden for scenes in other locales. Some 2 1/2 hours after Me-Li first taps out that nine-beat rat-a-tat on her drum, ``Flower Drum Song'' ends with a wedding and an image. The drum finds a new owner. It's a gorgeous scene, true to everything that has preceded it, one more little miracle in a production positively full of them. ``FLOWER DRUM SONG'' Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through Dec. 2. Tickets: $45 to $50. Call (213) 628-2772. Our rating: Three and one half stars CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Sandra Allen (with Eric Chan, left, and Robert Pendilla) glows as the sexy chanteuse chan·teuse n. A woman singer, especially a nightclub singer. [French, feminine of chanteur, singer, from chanter, to sing; see chant.] in ``Flower Drum Song.'' (2) Allen, left, Jose Llana, Tzi Ma, Allen Liu and Jodi Long join together in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. (3) Lee Salonga plays a Chinese immigrant who falls in love with nightclub manager Llana. David Henry Hwang's successful reworking of the show has given her character a backbone. |
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