Flower Drum Song - A Hundred Million Miracles - Lea Salonga

[skippyd89]

And someone, somewhere thought that this whole affair WASN'T offensive? I saw this, too, and show-girls dessed in old-styple Chinese takeout cartons, complete with protruding chopsticks was just as offensive anything in the original production. Lea was fabulous and Jose Llana cute, but these Fillipino-heritaged performers are no more "Chinese" than Miyoshi Umeki and Juanita Hall were in both the original production and film.

[boinx1234]

@skippyd89

But that was author David Henry Hwang's whole point: that Chinese in the U.S. were forced to do offensive things to survive. The show certainly wasn't condoning it - that was clear to me when I saw it.

And now actors must come from the exact country of the character they play? I certainly understand the problems with yellowface casting, but Filipinos can only play Filipinos? What happened to becoming a character? Isn't that what acting is all about?

[kjv61]

Saw it both in LA and NYC. IT WAS AN AMAZING PRODUCTION! Only drawback in NY was that it was in a much larger theater than the Taper in LA so it lost it's intimacy and didn't seem like they compensated for the larger space. But it's a gorgeous reworking.

[aldrinhu]

Only RACISTS and PURISTS actually disliked the new version. The revival was a HIT in Los Angeles and was SOLD OUT for its first three months on Broadway. It didn't have enough support (i.e., sponsors, funding) to make it last beyond six months on Broadway, however, which is why it had to close. TIME Magazine praised it as one of the best musicals of the year and it also received a Grammy nomination for its cast album, among its many accolades in Los Angeles and on Broadway.

[AQuietNight]

This little snippet isn't enough to judge the whole production, but it does seem to lack some of the warmth of the original.

[sapphirechick]

Thanks for posting this up! Any chance you'll post up the full version?

[filmvisionary]

Thanks for posting this! Even though it's only a tidbit, I have always wanted to see this revival. As for those who dislike this reboot, I must point out that it was redone specifically to address many outdated stereotypes that would have offended many Asian Americans today. Being a sort-of culture musical, it is only natural that our views change over time. Whether you like the changes or not , they were made out of the highest respect for both its source material and its modern audience.

[juicysaucy]

Unfortunately Hwang mess up this great R&H masterpiece. Although the show has star performers like Lea but Hwang changed the entire sequence and made it into like his disastrous and misleading M Buttefly movie. Really hate it when people made matter worse when they try improvising the original.

[boinx1234]

showtunestarpower

I saw this revival and keep wondering why, if they hated the original Joseph Fields book so much, did they bother to bring the show back to non-life. I certainly appreciate a few well chosen nips and tucks in an old show but this was a total dis of what the original creators set out to do.

[boinx1234]

Apparently R and H were getting few requests to produce the show because many Asians found it offensive. And it had never been revived on Broadway. So when David Henry Hwang approached them with the idea of a new book, they were receptive.The rights holders (including Ralph Fields, the son of co-librettist Joseph Fields) liked what they heard from Hwang and decided to say yes. "We went into it understanding that if we were going to go ahead with this experiment, we had to be open to it."

[boinx1234]

mischine

good rendition.choreography, and all. just fantastic. lea does her thing with passion. you just have to put yourself into it, and tadah you are crying and laughing with her. lol!

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OmsIsabel

Thanks for sharing this!

artcream530

Thanks a lot for sharing! xx

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txquis

This is the only glimpse I've ever had of this interesting revival/revision of the classic R and H musical. Spectacular.

[biukucanoe]

@boinx1234 wow, I saw it live in seattle and got the CD they sold at the show. The new book is a bit pc, as if it were coated in a 1970s Asian American history course, but the song performance quality with Salonga and the rest of the cast and recording quality is much better than the old movie.