A talented cast helps bring the Rodgers & Hammerstein songs to life. (photo by Brian Hashimoto)

“Flower Drum Song” is likely the least known and least performed musical in the pantheon of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s illustrious catalogue. Next month, their likely best-loved musical, “The Sound of Music,” will be performing at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. But right now, Los Angeles audiences have the unique opportunity to peek into the past at the rare jewel that is “Flower Drum Song” – albeit in a heavily transformed state.

Through May 31, the East West Players are staging David Henry Hwang’s rewritten “Flower Drum Song,” which first debuted on Broadway in 2002. This version takes the original story, which contains an almost-entirely Asian cast and is set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and removes much of what Asian Americans have complained was offensive from the original 1958 version. As such, while many of the character names are retained, as well virtually the entire score, the story is heavily altered. In this version, Mei-li arrives in the United States and is immediately thrust into Chinatown, becoming an essential part of Wang Chi-yang’s (or Johnny Wang) fledging Chinese opera as it transforms into a swinging nightclub run by Wang’s son Ta. The club’s star attraction is a stripper named Linda Low.

Romantic entanglements abound, and the largely light-hearted story explores generational conflicts in humorous, toe-tapping fashion. Among the Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes are “I Enjoy Being a Girl” and “A Hundred Million Miracles,” and updates include the addition of Harvard, a gay costume designer and visionary musical director who helps craft the club’s numbers. Harvard, played here in L.A. by Kenton Chen, gets a star-making moment in the last act that just about steals the entire show.

Grace Yoo as Mei-Li, though, is the focus of the story, and her voice carries much of the action. Possessing one of the purest tones this side of Broadway, Yoo captures the audience’s heart from the first scene and her trajectory, as well as her chemistry with Scott Keiji Takeda’s Ta, carry both acts with ease.

Not that they don’t have help, Marc Oka is incredibly charming as Wang, transmitting fatherly concern and stars-in-the eyes optimism across the footlights. Emily Kuroda, known as Mrs. Kim to the “Gilmore Girls” crowd, is sensational as the sass-spewing agent Madame Liang, who takes on the club and Linda Low as clients.

This is not a Broadway in Hollywood production, mind you. The East West Players are working with a tighter budget and a smaller venue, but the constraints hardly show, with a dynamic orchestra on stage, occasionally shown through a scrim, as well as a full ensemble that not only fill the theater with melodic sound but wow the eyes with engaging dances.

In the end, the experience is something closer to “Oklahoma!” in the Rodgers and Hammerstein pantheon, with a lighter script that still broaches on serious issues, in particular immigration. It feels especially relevant in 2026, as the Americanism ideals that are held over from the original production invade the characters, as they struggle between hope and defeat. In the end, the characters overcome and subscribe, at least for another theatrical season, to the promise of Lady Liberty – or, in this story’s case, the Golden Gate Bridge.

I watched the 1961 film adaptation after seeing the stage musical, better familiarizing myself with the show’s beginnings. Dated though it may be, it remains (sadly) remarkable to see an all-Asian cast in major Hollywood film, lavishly decked out in Technicolor and Cinemascope. With a more culturally sensitive rendering on stage, the same is true for this East West Players’ production. That shouldn’t be remarkable or bold in 2026. Based on reviews, Broadway didn’t seem to care much about the feat in 2002. But 24 years later, and nearly 70 years after its first staging, the world continues to lack equitable representation.

Actually, representation isn’t even the right word here. Because, as the performers prove, it is really just about showcasing talent, regardless of race, creed or background. At the curtain call, the cast all shoutout their hometowns, some of which reach as far away as Japan and the Philippines. There are no borders on talent. Representation is not a boundary or a hinderance, it is in fact an opportunity – an opportunity to see ourselves in people that maybe don’t look exactly like us, but whose voices and plights are remarkably similar.

God bless East West Players and their mission to provide an outlet that otherwise may not exist. Maybe in another 24 or 70 years this won’t have to be so unique. As the characters profess, “A hundred million miracles are happening every day.”

For tickets and information, visit eastwestplayers.org. “Flower Drum Song” is presented at the Aratani Theatre at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, located at 244 San Pedro St.