Genesis of the musical Flower Drum Song

richard rodgers

rodgers , hammerstein, despite extraordinary successes, such oklahoma!, carousel , south pacific, had suffered back-to-back broadway flops in mid-1950s me , juliet , pipe dream. while oklahoma! had broken new ground in 1943, new project in late 1950s have compete modern musicals , techniques, brutal realism in west side story, , other broadway musical hits such music man, fair lady , pajama game. rodgers , hammerstein had made rule begin work on next musical last opened on broadway, start of 1957, 6 months after pipe dream closed, pair had no new stage musical in prospect. had, however, been working since 1956 on popular television version of cinderella, broadcast on cbs on march 31, 1957. rodgers still recovering operation cancer in tooth socket, , drinking heavily , suffering depression. in june 1957, rodgers checked himself payne whitney psychiatric clinic, , remained there twelve weeks. according daughters, mary , linda, did not put stop drinking.

hammerstein, meanwhile, in los angeles @ filming of south pacific. while @ commissary, met longtime friend, joe fields, mentioned negotiating rights flower drum song. intrigued title, hammerstein asked copy of novel, , decided had potential musical – lyricist described sort of chinese life father . hammerstein consulted rodgers, , agreed make next work, written , produced in association fields. hammerstein began work in mid-1958. in july, however, fell ill , hospitalized month. forced him hurry writing, production team had hoped have show in rehearsal start of september; postponed 2 weeks. in interviews, however, hammerstein pointed out had, when necessary, written songs previous shows while in rehearsals them.

the musical retained lee s central theme – theme coursing through 20th-century american literature: conflict between old world immigrants , new world offspring . hammerstein , fields shifted focus of story, however, elder wang, central lee s novel, son ta. removed darker elements of lee s work, including helen chao s suicide after desperate fling ta, added festive nightclub subplot , emphasized romantic elements of story. according david lewis in book musical, mr. hammerstein , colleagues evidently in no mood write musical drama or invest comedic approach dramatic counterpoint of sort jud fry had given oklahoma! ... [they] took safest commercial route following eldest son s search love – popular theme @ time broadway audiences. lewis notes chao s role, though diminished in musical, nevertheless gives of darkest moments, , serves same purpose jud fry: be, in hammerstein s words, bass fiddle gives body orchestration of story . though new story less artistically adventurous earlier rodgers , hammerstein hits, innovative, daring in treatment of asian-americans, ethnic group had long been harshly caricatured , marginalized in our mainstream pop culture.