ISLAND HISTORY: ‘Flower Drum Song’s ’ Harriet Yamasaki, James Shigeta and Ed Kenney Jr.

ISLAND HISTORY: ‘Flower Drum Song’s ’ Harriet Yamasaki, James Shigeta and Ed Kenney Jr.

The splendid Rodgers &Hammerstein musical “Flower Drum Song” was based on Chinese-American author Chin Yang Lee’s 1957 contemporary Asian-American novel “The Flower Drum Song.” It premiered on the Broadway stage in 1958, in a London theater in 1960, and was adapted to film in 1961. “Flower Drum Song” became the first Broadway musical featuring a primarily Asian-American cast, while the 1961 movie version of “Flower Drum Song” was the first major…