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Ten Questions for Jose Llana
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Beat of a Different Drum
> Then and Now
> Timeline
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| 1939 |
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Charlie Low opens Forbidden City in San Francisco's Chinatown, a nightclub and restaurant featuring an "All-Chinese Musical Revue" of Asian American singers, dancers, and burlesque performers, including Larry Ching, the "Chinese Sinatra," bubble dancer Noel Toy, and Paul Wing, the "Chinese Fred Astaire." Forbidden City would inspire the "Celestial Gardens" nightclub owned by Sammy Fong in the movie version of Flower Drum Song, as well as Club Chop Suey in David Henry Hwang's reenvisioning of the musical. |
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| 1949 |
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Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's South Pacific debuts on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre, running for 1,925 performances. |
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| 1951 |
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Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I debuts on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, running for 1,246 performances. |
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| 1957 |
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C.Y. Lee-a graduate of Yale Drama School-writes The Flower Drum Song, his first novel, reportedly while living in a small apartment over a Filipino restaurant in San Francisco. It becomes a New York Times bestseller. |
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| 1958 |
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Adapted for the musical stage by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Flower Drum Song comes to Broadway and runs for 600 performances at the St. James Theatre, directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly, and starring Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li, Pat Suzuki as Linda Low, Larry Blyden as Sammy Fong, and Ed Kenney as Wang Ta. |
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| 1960 |
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Flower Drum Song comes to London's Palace Theatre and begins a year-long run. |
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| 1961 |
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Universal-International releases the movie adaptation of Flower Drum Song, directed by Henry Koster, produced by Ross Hunter, choreographed by Hermes Pan, and featuring Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li, Nancy Kwan as Linda Low, Jack Soo as Sammy Fong, and James Shigeta as Wang Ta. |
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| 1962 |
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The movie adaptation of Flower Drum Song is nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography (Color), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Color), Best Costume Design (Color), Best Sound, and Best Music/Scoring of a Musical Picture. |
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| 1996 |
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David Henry Hwang proposes rewriting Flower Drum Song's book for a fresh and radically different production; the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, as well as Hammerstein's son James and Rodgers's daughter Mary, respond to the idea with enthusiasm. |
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| 2001 |
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The "revisical" Flower Drum Song comes to Los Angeles's Mark Taper Forum, directed by Robert Longbottom and starring Lea Salonga as Mei Li, Jose Llana as Wang Ta, Sandra Allen as Linda Low, Jodi Long as Madame Rita Liang, and Tzi Ma as Master Wang Chi Yang. It opens to laudatory notices and is extended for six weeks. |
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