A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Flower Drum Song’

Despite this new revival of Flower Drum Song having a second revision from David Henry Hwang, no amount of rewrites cannot shake the core that this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, now playing at East West Players, is still very much outdated as a orientalist and voyeuristic crowd pleaser for old white people with subpar musical numbers.

The enchanting golden era musical Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, directed by EWP’s Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal, will serve as the grand finale for EWP’s Diamond Legacy season. This captivating tale will receive a newly updated book for 2026 by the Tony Award-winning playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and EWP theater namesake David Henry Hwang. At a time when conversations about identity and cultural preservation are more important than ever, Hwang’s reworking of the book for the Spring 2026 production allows Asian Americans to reclaim this cherished story in a meaningful way, illuminating the complexities and richness of the community’s continuous evolution. FLOWER DRUM SONG pulls back the curtain on themes of assimilation and tradition in 1960’s San Francisco Chinatown as Mei-li, a young Chinese opera artist fleeing communism, arrives in America, where she is immediately drawn into the dazzling world of the Grant Avenue nightclubs.

I am always hesitant when old materials are significantly reworked to make it relevant to modern generations as it is more often the case that it was best to just let it be or better yet, to just let it fade away. The fact that this is the second revision for David Henry Hwang to rework this musical (this 2026 revival largely stays on course like it did with Hwang’s 2002 revision) only deepens the chasm of where the voyeuristic and utterly chauvinist orientalist core of the show clashes with the modern necessity to make it relevant and less racist & misogynistic. Some revisions worked while others were either absolutely cringeworthy or completely unnecessary, particularly with the 2026 revisions.

The 2026 revision that worked is how this musical properly gave the extremely problematic character of Harvard his own closing number and finally treat their LGBTQIA+ character the respect he deserved as all the previous versions (with the exception of the 1961 film where they omitted him completely) treated him as a horrifically underwritten stereotype. But the other revision that did not work as well was the need to have all the actors break the fourth wall at the end and state where they were born, which made the experience painfully drawn out as each of the 22 actors took their individual turn to do so. The worst of the revisions and perhaps the most cringeworthy was the shoe-horned effort of having the main characters declare that they created a theatre company with an “East West” name to it by the end of the show.

In terms of the overall assessment of the musical? It is strange to say that this show somehow felt like an above average amateur production, despite all the efforts I can clearly see with the creative team and cast, particularly with their director Lily Tung Crystal who has directed a production of this musical before. There were many things that just felt off, the starter being that the Aratani theatre space was way too big for its intended purposes. From there, the set design felt uninspired and incredibly sparse given how large the Aratani theatre is, and the choreography that was not only completely off but did not utilize their dancers well as the improvised dance finale showed off how talented the ensemble cast truly were.

The singing was decent for most of their actors (with the exception of Grace Yoo, Scott Keiji Takeda, and Kenton Chen, who particularly blew everyone out of the water). Krista Marie Yu certainly plays the part of Linda well but her singing had no vocal support whatsoever. The bigger problem than the singing was that the musical itself is not really a great musical to write home about and coupled with the issues above, it made the first hour of the show almost unbearable to watch. Supporting cast members like Marc Oka, Gedde Watanabe, and Emily Kuroda thankfully liven up the production with their presence and humor.

There was a bewildering experience to be had when the older white (and Asian) male audience members would holler and hoot at the musical numbers where the Asian women dancers were wearing skimpy orientalist clothing and while I am aware those particular numbers were to prove a point that the theatre owner Wang Chi-yang (Marc Oka) went off the deep end to make his business more palatable for white audience members, it was surreal to see the actual audience on opening night be so…excited about it. All I could think of is that this revival will be very popular amongst the older white and Asian crowd.

It feels like as an Asian American performer who loves theatre, I feel like I need to cherish this musical and its historical contribution to the ANHPI community. But my enjoyment felt hollow, despite the uproarious applause and approval given by the opening night audience that were stacked with ANHPI entertainment celebrities in the film and theatre world. I wish I could partake in their joy but the need for our community to constantly harken back to old musicals written by white men (yes I know the original novel was written by C.Y. Lee) because it starred an all Asian cast is exhausting. I am painfully aware that such shows are necessary as they bring rich old white audience members to come to the theatre and a justification to have historical lessons on why such musicals are important for our community but I eagerly await the day when we can finally move on from the past and into new territories of how we explore our identity in our own terms.

Flower Drum Song is performed at the JACCC’s Aratani Theatre (244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012) from April 16th to May 31st, 2026. Tickets can be bought here and range from $49.00-255.00, with the opening night tickets that were on the highest priced end (which felt odd considering that there was no reception whatsoever that night).