Review of Flower Drum Song (1961) by Xian W — 03 Jul 2009

My Chinese-American mother recommend the book to me and I was very impressed with the portrayal of the San Francisco Chinatown that she spent many of her early childhood years living in. The modern introduction of the book that taught me so much about half my heritage said wonderful things about this musical version of the story and I was sadly disappointed.

The singer seemed about as Chinese as David Carradine in "Kung Fu". The script deviated too far from the book and the best parts were omitted. Although I like Mei Li the most, she was played by a Japanese actress (which is not terrible), but I was kind of offended by the "wetback" remark used in a desperate attempt to give this a happy ending.