Ing, a trailblazing Asian American performer, also starred in more productions of Flower Drum Song than any other actor.
Trailblazing Asian American actor Alvin Ing has died at the age of 89 from cardiac arrest caused by complications from Covid-19. Ing, fully vaccinated, contracted pneumonia in July and was confirmed to have the virus a few days later.
Born in Honolulu, Ing never expected to go into show business, arriving in New York City at the age of 25 to study music on the graduate level with an expected plan of becoming a teacher. As a youngster, he appeared in several amateur theater productions, eventually landing in the summer stock circuit on the East Coast, performing in the chorus of shows like Annie Get Your Gun and Song of Norway. His first leading role was Lun Tha in The King and I, which he played at several theaters.
In 1958, Ing auditioned for one of the musicals which would go on to be a staple in his career: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song. Though he didn't land the Broadway production, he served as understudy for the role of Wang Ta in the national tour, though he never went on. Ing would return to Flower Drum Song on multiple occasions over the course of his professional life, including playing the role of Uncle Chin in the 2002 Broadway revisal and it's subsequent tour. In that version of the show, where the script was revised by David Henry Hwang, Ing sang the Broadway premiere of the Rodgers and Hammerstein number "My Best Love," which had been cut from the original production. He did more productions of Flower Drum Song than any other actor.