Flower Drum Song revival

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 10/17/04 at 9:16pm

i'm listening to the CD right now... damn i love Lea Salonga... she has a gorgeous voice... she needs to be on broadway more...

anyways... i saw the show here in LA where it was a tremendous success... the show was so relevant to Asians and Asian Americans (i'm Filipino) and it was wonderful seeing an all Asian cast... made me proud... but what happened when it hit Broadway... i thought it was going to last longer than it actually did... i was quite surprised...

[theatreguy]

Posted: 10/17/04 at 9:23pm

I also saw it in LA a few weeks after it opened. I was skeptical at first because I generally don't like "revisals" but I ended up really enjoying it. The cast was uniformyl excellent, the costumes and choreography were especially good. I never caught it in New York so I'm not sure what happened in the transfer. Though one thing may be the venue. The Mark Taper Forum (which, for those that don't know, has a thrust stage and about 750 seats) worked very well and kept the show small and intimate. The Virginia in New York is a good-sized proscenium theater. Maybe that had an effext on it. Is there anybody out there who saw it in LA and New York?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 3:41pm

I only saw it out here in LA and love love loved it! I agree the MTForum was intimate and added much to the show. I adore Lea...it was a delight to see her..and the lead man (can't think of his name fast enough) was quite handsome too :)

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 3:44pm

I saw it on broadway, it was an amazing show! They did a horrible job advertising the show, I think that was its major problem. It was also in too big of a theatre for the size of the show. I sat in the mezz and while I had a great view of everything I think the show would have done better in a smaller theatre.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 3:45pm

I own a copy of the revival script and I think it's just plain not good. Maybe they did drastic changes from LA to New York, but I didn't find it good at all. Have not seen the actual production but from what I've heard the production itself was also not good.

[Love4Cheno]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 4:42pm

I have to agree with wickedfan. I saw the show here in NYC when it opened, and although i love Lea Salonga, I was less than impressed with the overall show. The book, which was revised by David Henry Hwang, was in my opinion just not funny at all. There are some pretty songs, but overall I find the score dreadfully boring. Ditto most of the acting- Lea and Jose Llana were so wooden that unless they were singing, it was hard to watch.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 4:48pm

I also think it didn't have an official closing night. There happened to be a strike going on, and all the Broadway musicals closed (except Cabaret). Unfortunately, the strike was still going on the day it was supposed to close.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 4:57pm

I saw it in NYC. I thought it was just okay. Lea Salonga, Jose Llana, and Sandra Allen were all REALLY good. I love their voices. The choreography and costumes were really cool. "I Enjoy Being a Girl" was the highlight of the show. It was such a great number! Sandra Allen was amazing- she was my favorite in the show.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 5:47pm

Canadian girl Ma Ann Dionisio was in that- she's sort of the Canadian Lea (she's quite the Kim in Saigon!)