Flower Drum Song--film on DVD

Of the so-called "Asian Trilogy" of Rodgers and Hammerstein--South Pacific, The King and I, and Flower Drum Song, the last one has the most interesting script for me, but the least interesting score.

The issues of assimilation into a new culture, clashes between generations, and how one personally chooses between tradition and a desire for one's own style are timeless and all present in the story of Flower Drum Song. They must have seemed very timely in the years after WWII, touching, as the book does on teenagers and American immigration, and maybe even as a mea culpa following the internment of Japanese Americans, even though FDS follows Chinese Americans.

The score however does not contain enough for me to hold onto. Perhaps the stage version has more. "I Enjoy Being a Girl" is a good song; "Love, Look Away" is a great song, one of the best R&H ever wrote I think. But the rest leaves me cold. Mei Li, the romantic female lead sings the insipid "A Hundred Million Miracles", and "I am Going to Like it Here." There is not a good number for Wang Ta, the male lead. Even the chorus numbers don't get my juices running, particularly "Chop Suey". "Grant Avenue" is slightly better.

The two extended dance numbers in this film also fall flat for me. I'd much rather hear some more of "Love, Look Away" than watch the odd dream ballet which interrupts it. The same with the comedic dance that follows "Sunday". Neither add to my understanding of the story or the songs out of which they come.

I do like the song "Don't Marry Me". I used to use it as an audition piece, before I realized that it was inappropriate for me to sing a song specifically written for an Asian American. Or inappropriate for me to sing period.

Flower Drum Song
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics and Book by Oscar Hammerstein
Opened on stage in 1958, film version released in 1961
Cast: Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, Patrick Adiarte, Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta

Aladdin score for television production on CD

This is the third original musical for television to populate my Year. First there was Lerner and Loewe's The Little Prince, then Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, now we come to Cole Porter's Aladdin. I had never heard of this tv musical, so it attracted me when I saw it in the library bin with Cole Porter's name above the title. Well, it turns out this show is not a perennial favorite for good reason, although a couple of the songs have real verve and deserve to be heard outside of the full production.

It's hard to judge a television production just by the soundtrack, so there is much I can not discuss with regards to this production. But about the music...I like Cole Porter's music in his best shows, like Kiss Me Kate, yet here the music seems of a very generic nature. While being very listenable and at times swinging, it doesn't say much specifically about the characters or their situations. Any "Orientalism" to the score is an add-on in the orchestrations rather than in the tunes themselves.

The cast is a mixed bag of musical successes and also-rans. Sal Mineo as Aladdin does particularly poorly with his one song. Anna Maria Alberghetti's singing as the Princess is pretty enough, but without much life. Cyril Ritchard as the Emperor is the most deserving of credit and he gets three songs in this score of nine numbers. His song "No Wonder Taxes are High" could easily be adapted for current use in a cabaret act and would be funny.

This is another score where I query why the 1958 television broadcast was reissued on CD in 1992. For Cole Porter aficionados? Sal Mineo fans? Really, really guy gays?

There are four bonus tracks to the reissue that present studio demo recordings of four songs from the score, orchestrated very differently than the finished television product and sung by uncredited studio singers. In all four cases, the musical results are better in the demos than the TV versions--thanks primarily to the stronger demo voices.

I'm starting something new in the labelling with this entry. I'm adding the year the production was created, so I can track when my musicals were written. I'm sure I have a plethora of 40s, 50s, and 60s going on already, without many 70s, 80s, 90s, or 2000s. This should help me flesh out those musical decades.

The photo for this entry comes from the CD booklet for the reissue. It shows Cyril Ritchardson as the Magician, Geoffrey Holder (of 1970's 7-up commercial fame) as the Genie, and Sal Mineo as Aladdin. Mr. Holder does not appear on the recording, so there must not have been any music for the Genie. Would that the same could be said about the Disney version of Aladdin with Robin Williams.

Aladdin
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Produced for television in 1958
Soundtrack reissued on CD in 1992
Cast: Anna Maria Alberghetti, Sal Mineo, Cyril Ritchard, Geoffrey Holder, George Hall, Dennis King