Word: umeki
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...traveled far to greet her future father-in-law in the stubbornly Oriental parlor of his San Francisco home. And she has arrived on time. Until now, Flower Drum Song has been nothing but the newest Rodgers and Hammerstein hit musical-brisk, bright, opulently staged, professional. When Miyoshi Umeki glides onstage to star in her first Broadway show, her first four words capture the house. The warmth of her art works a kind of tranquil magic, and the whole theater relaxes...
...Children have such high voice," she remembers wistfully. "They read their lessons together, way up there. And I read my lesson, way down there." Then, one day during music class at school, the teacher heard a new voice and asked in surprise. "Who's that?" Suddenly Miyoshi Umeki could sing...
Flower Drum Song (music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; book by Mr. Hammerstein and Joseph Fields) proves to be thoroughly professional, has Miyoshi Umeki, Pat Suzuki and other nice performers, has some agreeable dancing, some gorgeous costumes, here proof of a jolly Rodgers and there of a dreamy one. As purely popular musical fare, the show should fare handsomely. But as Rodgers and Hammerstein, it not only lacks the talent of their top-drawer work, it seldom has the touch. Flower Drum Song is passably pleasant in its way, but its way is strictly routine...
...Rodgers, perhaps, had an un due influence upon casting, since the singing is highly competent while the acting ranges from adequate down. The only exception to the latter stricture is Miyoshi Umeki, the heroine who is exceedingly good at looking demure. One might even go so far as to call her charming. Pat Suzuki as her brassy rival has an absolutely A-number-1 smile, and a pretty good figure too. Her singing will be fun when she learns how much volume she needs to fill the house. Ed Kenney plays the handsome hero with whom half of Chinatown...
Both Suzie and Flower Drum hired the same speech expert, Professor Simon Mitchneck of Columbia, to turn Oriental inflections into speech that is understandable to American audiences. He is currently working with Japan's Miyoshi Umeki and the rest of the cast of Flower Drum, shaving vowels, changing consonants, even breaking Comedian Storch of his New Yorkese. Just about the only time Agent Rivers got off the Oriental beat this season was when Producers Feuer and Martin insisted that they would cast their new musical Whoop-Up only with full-blooded Indians. "I scoured the area," says Rivers...