Flower Drum Song Film to Receive First DVD Release in Nov.

According to DVDActive.com, Flower Drum Song will finally blossom on DVD.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which is the only screen musical by the team not to have been available on DVD, will be released by Universal Home Video on November 7th.  Universal has not yet released information on the disc's special features, although it will be presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, and English, French and Spanish subtitles will be included.

Flower Drum Song is set in San Franciso's Chinatown and concerns conflicts between a younger generation of Chinese-Americans and their more traditional first generation parents.  Nightclub owner Sammy Fong's father has ordered him a demure "picture bride" from China--Mei Li--but Sammy is already interested in a saucy dancer named Linda Low.

The 1961 film, directed by Henry Koster, stars Miyoshi Umeki (who starred in the Broadway version), Nancy Kwan, Jack Soo, Benson Fong, and Juanita Hall, among others.  It features a screenplay by Joseph Fields, based on the libretto that he wrote with Oscar Hammerstein II (the score, of course, features lyrics by Hammerstein and music by Richard Rodgers).  The film version received five Oscar nominations, including a nod for costume designer Irene Sharaff.

Flower Drum Song--featuring a score that includes "A Hundred Million Miracles," "Love, Look Away" and "I Enjoy Being a Girl"--opened at the St. James Theatre on December 1st, 1958 and ran through May 7th, 1960 for a run of 600 performances.  Starring Umeki, Pat Suzuki, Larry Blyden, Hall, and Keye Luke, it won one Tony and was nominated for five others (including Best Musical).

Flower Drum Song was revived in 2002 (with a revised book by David Henry Hwang); that production starred Lea Salonga and Jose Llana.

The upcoming DVD is currently valued at $29.98 list price.