Word: umeki
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Dates: during 1958-1958
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...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...
...them. But the discovery was not made without guilt. Miyoshi says: "You can't look at eyes. It's not feminine. You should look down. It's not really insult, it's not pretty." Her English-speaking brother brought three of the Americans to the Umeki home as guests. There were Edward Giannini, a clarinet-playing T-4 in the 417th Army Service Forces Band, Sergeant Joseph Bardner, and a third soldier whose name the Umeki family never learned. They knew him as "G Minor" because he always muttered "G minor, G minor" as he played...
Through the early winter of 1945, the three G.I.s went to the Umeki home almost every night. Usually the plump 16-year-old sat in the background eating apples, but one night Giannini egged her into trying a song. (At the time, Rodgers and Hammerstein, having triumphed with Oklahoma!, had just opened Carousel.) Miyoshi was still self-conscious because her voice was not the usual high-pitched Japanese voice, but Giannini put her at her ease. "This American man gave me courage," says Miyoshi. "He said, 'Don't feel ashamed of your voice. Song is not only voice...
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...