[ Sony / Columbia / CD ]
Release Date: Sunday 14 March 1999
Flower Drum Song was the eighth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the West End and on tour. It was adapted for a 1961 musical film.
After their extraordinary early successes, beginning with Oklahoma! in 1943, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written two musicals in the 1950s that did not do well and sought a new hit to revive their fortunes. Lee's novel focuses on a father, Wang Chi-yang, a wealthy refugee from China, who clings to traditional values in San Francisco's Chinatown. Rodgers and Hammerstein shifted the focus of the musical to his son, Wang Ta, who is torn between his Chinese roots and assimilation into American culture. The team hired Gene Kelly to make his debut as a stage director with the musical and scoured the country for a suitable Asian - or at least, plausibly Asian-looking - cast. The musical, much lighter-hearted than Lee's novel, was profitable on Broadway and was followed by a national tour. (Wiki)
1 Orchestra- Overture 4:09
Act I
2 Ed Kenney, Juanita Hall- You Are Beautiful 4:01
3 Miyoshi Umeki, Conrad Yama, Keye Luke, Juanita Hall, Rose Quong- A Hundred Million Miracles 4:23
4 Pat Suzuki- I Enjoy Being A Girl 3:34
5 Miyoshi Umeki- I Am Going To Like It Here 3:50
6 Ed Kenney- Like A God 1:32
7 Juanita Hall, Patrick Adiarte, Ensemble*- Chop Suey 2:35
8 Larry Blyden, Miyoshi Umeki- Don't Marry Me 4:09
9 Pat Suzuki, Ensemble- Grant Avenue 2:31
10 Arabella Hong- Love, Look Away 3:31
At The Celestial Bar (5:02)
11a Anita Ellis- Fan Tan Fannie
11b Jack Soo- Gliding Through My Memoree
11c Pat Suzuki, Ensemble - Grant Avenue (Reprise)
12 Orchestra- Entr'acte 1:31
Act II
13 Keye Luke, Juanita Hall- The Other Generation 3:14
14 Pat Suzuki, Larry Blyden- Sunday 4:18
15 Susan Lynn Kikuchi, Patrick Adiarte, Baayork Lee, Linda Ribuca, Yvonne Ribuca, Luis Robert Hernandez, Cely Carrillo- The Other Generation (Reprise) 2:00
16 Ed Kenney, Miyoshi Umeki, Entire Company- Wedding Parade - A Hundred Million Miracles (Reprise) 2:28