A Hundred Million Messages: Reflections on Representation in Rodgers andHammerstein’s Flower Drum Song

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song stands as one of the first and one of the only Broadway musicals about the lives of Asian Americans. Premiering as a stage musical in 1958 and a film in 1961, it was a landmark in the entertainment industry, opening opportunities for Asian actors to play substantive roles written by one of the most famous writing teams in American musical theater. However, Flower Drum Song has effectively fallen out of mainstream memory. There are several possible reasons for this disappearance; one of the most salient causes is the use of stereotypes in the construction of characters, dialogue, and music. The aim of this thesis is to reopen and reconsider musical theater as an important and revealing genre of entertainment that is birthed in the politics and history of the society from which it emerges. A reading through the libretto and score, listening to cast recordings, and viewing the film reveal Flower Drum Song as a product of its time. It is filled with stereotypes of Chinese and Chinese American characters—stereotypes that were commonly propagated in the mid-twentieth century and viewed, in this setting, as innocently humorous. Looking back at Flower Drum Song through a more culturally sensitive lens, one observes the offensive stereotypes presented therein. However, studying any piece of artwork necessitates understanding that art in its particular point in history. In order to historically situate Flower Drum Song, this discussion highlights some of the relevant events and legislation affecting immigrants to the US beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, focusing particularly on Asian immigrants. Through a close reading of the libretto and an analysis of the score, one is able to identify elements used by Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Fields to construct their own versions of China and America—of Chineseness and Americanness. Through music, dialogue, staging, and costumes, the writing team constructs images of Asians and Asian Americans, thereby taking upon themselves the authority to represent a group of people through the show they wrote. In the mid-twentieth century, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joseph Fields crafted a musical comedy based on the novel by C. Y. Lee that gently prodded the theater world forward in terms of openness and acceptance of characters, actors, and stories of diverse backgrounds. Yet, as well-intentioned as the team may have been, they still drew on Orientalist and Exoticizing tropes, constructing an artificial understanding of “China” and “Chinese Americans”—images that would influence the theater going public. In 2002, David Henry Hwang, a Chinese American playwright, sought to salvage this musical by rewriting the book in a more culturally conscientious perspective. His version of the show, however, did not achieve much success. It seems as if Flower Drum Song is doomed to be forgotten. Yet, the issues surrounding the play are fruitful for discussion and vital to the history of American musical theater.