David Henry Hwang’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song” has returned to Los Angeles 25 years after it first premiered.Credit...Philip Cheung for The New York Times
David Henry Hwang revised the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic 25 years ago. Now he gets to remedy some of his own remake’s flaws.
When East West Players in Los Angeles reached out to David Henry Hwang two years ago about staging one of his works for the theater troupe’s 60th anniversary season, Hwang had a lot of material to choose from.
Maybe “M. Butterfly,” the 1988 Tony-winning work inspired by the true story of a love affair between a French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer, with a nod to Puccini’s opera? Or “Yellow Face,” the Pulitzer-nominated play that skewered “Miss Saigon,” Hollywood racism and even the playwright himself?
Your pick, the theater company told him.
Hwang ultimately chose “Flower Drum Song,” the 1958 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical — or rather, the wholly reworked version he created more than two decades ago.