# 9

#9 is a real gem. It's one of those obscure musicals that you have to be a total geek even to know about. I found the video one day at the library and snagged it. I was delighted. From the men who gave us The Sound of Music and Oklahoma, *Drum roll* I give you,

Flower Drum Song.

*trumpet fanfare and flashing lights*

Dana says that this is not a Great musical but she's wrong, obviously, because it's on my list.

Story: It's a simple plot. A little love triangle... square... pentagon. Everyone gets a girl at the end but it sure takes them a long time settle on who gets who. And one poor girl gets left in the dust but she also get to sing the most beautiful song in the show so it's okay. Let's see how I do from memory. It's been a while since I've seen it.

The Setting is San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950's or thereabout.
Sweet young, Mei-Li has just illegally immigrated with her father from China. She came because she is betrothed to night club manager Sammy Fong, who is in love with Linda Low, the star of the night club floor act. Linda is in love with Sammy but she's so frustrated waiting for him to finally ask her to marry him that at this point she would just really like to marry Someone, anyone. The man she is trying to catch at the moment is Wang Ta, a handsome young man from a well to do Chinese family. So far she is succeeding. Ta's father, Wang Chi Yang, is bewildered by this American culture where young people choose their own spouse and seem to have no respect of their elders. Chi Yang's sister-in-law, Madam Liang, has embraced her adopted culture with great enthusiasm and is doing her best to ease in Chi Yang to the American Way. Than there is the beautiful seamstress at the night club, Helen Chao, who is older and wiser than any of the other young people and is also in love with Ta. Popular fellow.

Since Sammy and Mei-Li are obviously unsuited for each other, Sammy enlists the help of Madam Liang to get her married, in traditional Chinese fashion, to someone else, namely, her nephew Ta. Mei-Li is such a good, traditional Chinese bride that the match is readily excepted by Ta's father. Ta humors and tolerates his fathers stubborn clinging to the old traditions but quietly disregards Chi Yang's advice and the arranged marriage with Mei-Li. He gets himself engaged to Linda. Linda hasn't told him or his father that she is a singer at a night club, a highly dishonorable occupation. Mei-Li has, of course, fallen in love with Ta on sight and is now thoroughly heart broken. One has to feel kind of sorry for Sammy, Ta keeps stealing all his girls. When Chi Yang finds out about Linda, he is, of course quite horrified. Mei-Li is hopeful again. Ta is devastated. He goes to Helen for comfort cause she seems to be the one emotionally stable person in the situation. Guess again! He is completely blind to the fact that she is in love with him. Mei-Li sees Ta's shoes in Helen's house and panics. Now she won't have him. Meanwhile, it looks like Sammy might marry Linda after all. He proposes. Except that now Sammy's family and Mei-Li's father are insisting that they honor the original betrothal arrangement. That doesn't do any good for Sammy's touchy relationship with Linda. Some one sends her an invitation to Sammy's wedding. That was real smooth. Then Ta finally notices Mei-Li. What a beautiful, innocent young woman she is. Duh! Little late buddy! Sammy and Mei-Li find themselves at the alter, Ta and Linda, in the pews, all four intensely miserable. They are about to make the only match that we know for sure won't work. And I'm not going tell you how it ends.

There are wonderful songs sprinkled all throughout this lovely ridiculous mess. Helen Chao sings a beautiful song about how she can't marry Ta; "Love Look Away" (followed by a classic Rodgers and Hammerstien ballet). The subtlety of this song never ceases to amaze me.
Sammy sings a really funny song about how Mei-Li shouldn't marry him; "Don't Marry Me" I can't believe I'd never heard it before I saw the show. It's SO fun.
Linda sings a few night club songs (and "I Enjoy Being a Girl") including one ("Fan Tan Fannie") where she accidentally runs into Ta's father thereby ungraciously breaking it to him that his son is (currently) betrothed to a night club dancer. Oops. And song about how wonderful it will be when she marries Sammy, "Sunday" followed by another ballet.
Mei-Li sings a really cute song about just loving life: "A Hundred Million Miracles" and one about being betrothed to Ta: "I am going to like it here". She is incredibly sweet.
Ta sings... Wait, I don't know if Ta sings anything! He sings something but I don't remember what. The Internet Broadway Database says it's called "Like a God" but maybe it's not in the movie cause I don't remember it.
Ta's little brother and his friends sing about how hard it is to understand their parents and Chi Yang and Madam Liang sing the same song about them: "The Other Generation".

They all sing about the crazy American habit of being a big mixed up melting pot in "Chop Suey".

It might be my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstien show. Sound of Music is their greatest masterpiece, of course, but I don't think Flower Drum Song gets nearly her due. So maybe it's not the Rodgers and Hammerstien show for people who hate musicals but I like it.
One reason I like it so much is that there is a battle between tradition and rebellion, and tradition comes out pretty victorious. How are young people supposed to know what makes a good spouse anyway? They can't make up their minds about anything, they don't really know what they want. (Good grief, the young people in this show change their minds ever scene or two) How can they be expected to make an important decision like who to marry without the guidance of their parents? Silly Americans. This goes back to my opinion of arranged marriages and is the only movie I know of that almost agrees with me.

It is a classic of the Golden age of the American musical comedy. It must be taken as just that: a comedy. A light hearted, charming little comedy.
Rodgers and Hammerstien have a very recognizable style but I never feel that their character songs sound just like their love song etc. Sometimes their loves songs sound like other love songs they wrote for other shows but they really have a pretty good emotional range. These two men felt just as much at home writing utterly silly songs like 'The Lonely Goatherd' and 'Chop Suey' as really deep and majestic songs like 'Climb Every Mountain' and 'Love Look Away.' I think some song writers now are specialists; really good at one kind of song and not so hot with anything else.
All R&H's songs are wonderfully singable. It almost makes you believe that people just break into song in the middle of a conversation, a party, or while their walking down the street. Makes sense to me.