Jue, Dioniso and Montalban Cast in San Jose's Flower Drum Song
By Adam Hetrick
08 Sep 2008
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Paolo Montalban
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Francis Jue, Ma-Anne Dioniso and Paolo Montalban will star in the American Musical Theatre of San Jose's upcoming production of Flower Drum Song.
Gabriel Barre (Cinderella, The Wild Party) will stage the Oct. 28-Nov. 9 run of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which features the revised David Henry Hwang book penned for the show's 2002 Broadway revival. The production will feature choreography by Vince Pesce and musical direction by William Liberatore.
Jue (Yellow Face, Thoroughly Modern Millie) will portray nightclub owner Wang with Dioniso (Miss Saigon) as Mei-Li and Paolo Montalban (Pacific Overtures) as Ta.
Also set for the production are Emily Hsu (Spamalot) as show girl Linda Low, Erin Quill (Avenue Q) as Madame Rita Liang, and Flower Drum Song revival veteran Alvin Ing re-creating the role of Chin.
Completing the cast are Jenn Aedo, Kikau Alvaro, Dane Paul Andres, Joven Calloway, Brian Conway, Albert Guerzon, Jared Lee, Stephanie Lo, Sumie Maeda, Jonelle Margallo, Mario Martinez, Don Masuda, Theresa Nguyen, Donna Rapa-Olsen, Sung Min Park, Nicole Tung, Erwin Urbi and Rod Voltaire-Edora.
The new production of the 1950's musical takes a fresh look at the C.Y. Lee novel on which it is based, and concerns "Mei-Li, who arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown after fleeing communist China. The naïve young refugee is befriended by theater owner Wang, who is struggling to keep traditional Chinese Opera alive despite his son Ta's determination to turn the family's theatre into a rowdy nightclub," according to AMTSJ press notes.
Tony Award winners Robin Wagner and Gregg Barnes, who designed the 2002 Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, lend their designs for scenery and costumes, respectively. The design team also includes Karen Spahn (lighting design), Hage van Dijk (sound design) and Sharon Ridge (hair and make-up design).
Featuring a score by Richard Rodgers and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, the original Broadway production of Flower Drum Song opened under the direction of Gene Kelly at the St. James Theatre in 1958. The classic score includes "I Enjoy Being a Girl," "You Are Beautiful," "A Hundred Million Miracles," "Grant Avenue," "Don't Marry Me" and "Love, Look Away."
Tickets are available by calling (888) 455-SHOW (7469) or by visiting www.amtsj.org.
The San Jose Center for the Performing Arts is located at 255 Almaden Blvd. in San Jose, CA.
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