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Plot Picture bride Mei Li travels to America with her father to meet the boy she to whom she has been betrothed: an American-born hipster named Sammy Fong. Unfortunately, Fong already has his heart set on showgirl Linda Low, who-in an attempt to catch a husband-is playing him off against college boy Wang Ta. Fong tries to pawn Mei Li off on Ta by introducing her to Ta's father, who is instantly charmed, but Mei Li's traditionalist dad Dr. Li nixes the arrangement, since their contract is explicitly with the Fong family. Meanwhile, Ta has impulsively proposed to Linda, and Linda has accepted, to the consternation of both Sammy and Ta's father. Sammy conspires to undo the union by inviting the Wangs to the nightclub where Linda dances. Father and son are both shocked at what they see, and Linda is infuriated at Sammy for sabotaging her plans. However, when Sammy professes his love to Linda and offers to marry her on the spot, the two reconcile. Ta, meanwhile, has ended up at the home of a childhood friend, seamstress Helen Chow, where he sleeps off his sorrows, and dreams of Mei Li-who, coincidentally, drops by Helen's place to pick up some clothing, only to glimpse compromising evidence of Ta's presence. She decides to go ahead with her wedding to Sammy, despite Sammy's avowed love for Linda (and Mei Li's secret love for Ta). When Ta approaches Mei Li the next day, she refuses to have anything to do with him. The wedding procession begins, and all seems lost for the star-crossed couples, until the red veil is lifted-and the bride's face is revealed as Linda's! Stepping forward from the crowd to explain, Mei Li tells the elders of the Family Association that her marriage contract with Sammy is null and void, because she entered the country as an illegal alien. The elders agree and terminate the contract, leaving the two couples free to follow their heart's desires. Mei Li, a refugee from Communist oppression, travels to America at the dying wish of her father, a Chinese opera master who has been persecuted for his practice of the ancient art. He has told her to seek out his old friend Master Wang at his opera house in San Francisco's Chinatown. There, she is greeted by Wang and his son Ta, who is delighted that a girl has arrived to take over the female roles he's been stuck with playing. After Mei Li shows she is quite capable of holding her own on the stage, Ta confides to her his dream: turning the theater into a Western-style cabaret. Although Wang only allows Ta to run his club once a week, it has become the theater's main source of income. Mei Li inspires Ta to create a new number featuring Chinese maidens stripping down into sexy all-American girls. The number, showcasing leggy Linda Low, is a big hit, but a horrified Master Wang bans further shows. Mei Li comforts Ta, who impulsively kisses her. Before Mei Li can react, she is interrupted by the arrival of theatrical agent Madame Rita Liang, who announces her desire to market the club to a broader audience. Over Wang's protests, the theater is transformed into the dazzling Club Chop Suey. When Wang hears that the Mayor plans to attend opening night, he steals a costume and goes on as the show's emcee. Meanwhile, hearing Ta dismiss her as "too Chinese," Mei Li decides to leave the club (and Ta) behind. Six months later, Wang and Liang revel in the club's success, while Linda frets about Wang stealing her spotlight and Ta worries about Mei Li. Finding out that she now works at a fortune cookie company, he goes to visit her-and discovers that she has become engaged to the factory's sincere but dull owner. Thoroughly confused, Ta considers running away with Linda, while Mei Li prepares to leave for Hong Kong with her fiance. To find true happiness, Ta must convince Mei Li, and himself, of his love, and learn to accept himself as the best of two worlds. Music "You are Beautiful" "A Hundred Million Miracles" "I Enjoy Being a Girl" "I Am Going to Like It Here" "Like a God" "Chop Suey" "Don't Marry Me" "Grant Avenue" "Love, Look Away" "Sunday" "The Other Generation" Added to the score: Ballads "The Next Time It Happens," from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Pipe Dream, and "My Best Love," written for the original musical but cut before the show's Broadway opening. Deleted: "Sunday" and "The Other Generation" Characters A naïve and innocent girl who accepts her father's wishes to marry her off in a "good match," until the story's end, when she shows surprising determination (and cleverness) in finding a way to pursue a match based on love. An independent and talented woman who comes to America on her own, as a refugee, and finds herself falling for Wang Ta, the U.S.-born son of her father's oldest friend. Torn between security and passion, she finally chooses the latter-on her own terms. A decent but conflicted college boy, infatuated with the wild life (as represented by glamorous Linda Low), who finally realizes his true affection for good-hearted and gentle Mei Li. An American dreamer with his heart set on stardom, eager to escape the hidebound tradition represented by his dad; through Mei Li, he learns to appreciate his heritage, and to choose love and family before fame and fortune. A gold-digging schemer, eager to catch a man, and ready to use all her considerable charms to that end. A star on the rise, resolutely seeking the big time; to Linda, romance is a distraction on the road to showbiz success. A stubborn, aged patriarch, seeking an appropriate match for his eldest son. An actor's actor whose love of the spotlight leads him to set aside of his traditional art when given the opportunity to thrill the crowd with shtick. The indomitable sister-in-law of Master Wang, a newborn convert to America's promise. An irrepressible agent and publicist who sees a gold mine in Wang Ta's kitschy cabaret-and unexpectedly finds a kindred heart in Master Wang. Ta's cool-daddy rival for the affections of Linda Low. Master Wang's nightclub alter ego, "Uncle Sammy Fong," an identity adopted as an homage to America and Uncle Sam. Mei Li's father Dr. Li; Wang Ta's younger brother Wang San; Linda Low's "sailor brother" Frankie. Chin, an avuncular older member of Wang's opera company, and Harvard, a fey costume designer who lives in awe of Linda.

©2002 New Drum Song Company. Photos of the Mark Taper Forum production by Craig Schwartz