Original Cast Recording of FLOWER DRUM SONG Released Today as 2-LP Set

Craft Recordings and Concord Theatricals have announced a special reissue of the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, available today exclusively at Barnes & Noble. This 2-LP set features classic songs like "I Enjoy Being a Girl" and "Love, Look Away." For the first time ever, the album is also available in digital hi-res (192/24). The vinyl is being released in tandem with Barnes & Noble's Vinyl Weekend, click here to order.

To celebrate the release, Stars in the House will host a reunion with cast and creatives from the Original and Revival productions of Flower Drum Song tonight (September 4) at 8pm ET/5pm PT. The live reunion, hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, will feature David Henry Hwang (2002 Revival Book Writer), Alvin Ing (Original Tour and Revival Cast), Baayork Lee (Original Cast) and Jose Llana (Revival Cast, will also be performing "Sunday"), with a pre-taped performance from Lea Salonga. The episode will be available on the Stars in the House YouTube channel HERE. While the live stream is free for everyone to enjoy, those watching are encouraged to support industry professionals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by making a tax-deductible donation to The Actors Fund, by visiting www.ActorsFund.org/Donate.

Flower Drum Song opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on December 1, 1958, starring Miyoshi Umeki, Pat Suzuki, Larry Blyden, Juanita Hall and Ed Kenney and directed by the legendary Gene Kelly, who was making his debut as a stage director with this musical. The show ran for 600 performances and was nominated in several categories at the 1959 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Costume Design, Best Choreography and Best Actor and Actress in a Musical. The musical was adapted into a film in 1961, becoming the first major Hollywood feature film to have an Asian majority cast in a contemporary Asian-American story. In 2008, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." Flower Drum Song returned to Broadway in 2002 with a revised book by David Henry Hwang. The revival, which opened on October 17, 2002, starred Lea Salonga, Sandra Allen and Jose Llana.

Set in the late 1950s and based on the novel by C.Y. Lee, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song centers on Mei Li, who has come from China to San Francisco to marry nightclub owner, Sammy Fong. But Sammy loves Linda Low, a dancer at his establishment. His friend, Wang Ta, is urged to marry Mei Li, even though he is promised to Linda. After farcical trifles, a torn Wang Ta eventually realizes it is Mei Li who he loves after all, and they happily marry.

In his autobiography, Rodgers wrote of the effect the success of Flower Drum Song had on his state of mind:

The entire experience of working on Flower Drum Song was rewarding in many ways, not the least of which was that it convinced me that I had overcome all traces of my depression. My only thought was to keep on doing what I was doing, and I saw nothing in the future that could stop me.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song was mastered from the original three-track tape and cut at 45-RPM by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. Click here to order your copy of the vinyl, and click here to stream or download the album.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl

Side A

1 - Overture

2 - You Are Beautiful

3 - A Hundred Million Miracles

Side B

1 - I Enjoy Being A Girl

2 - I Am Going To Like It Here

3 - Like A God

4 - Chop Suey

5 - Don't Marry Me

Side C

1 - Entr'acte

2 - Grant Avenue

3 - Love, Look Away

4 - At The Celestial Bar: Fan Tan Fannie / Gliding Through My Memoree / Grant Avenue (Reprise)

Side D

1 - The Other Generation

2 - Sunday

3 - The Other Generation (Reprise)

4 - Wedding Parade And Finale

Digital

1 - Overture

2 - You Are Beautiful

3 - A Hundred Million Miracles

4 - I Enjoy Being A Girl

5 - I Am Going To Like It Here

6 - Like A God

7 - Chop Suey

8 - Don't Marry Me

9 - Grant Avenue

10 - Love, Look Away

11 - At The Celestial Bar: Fan Tan Fannie / Gliding Through My Memoree / Grant Avenue (Reprise)

12 - Entr'acte

13 - The Other Generation

14 - Sunday

15 - The Other Generation (Reprise)

16 - Wedding Parade And Finale