The marvelous cast of the Arts Club production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" - photo courtesy of Arts Club

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Arts Club Vancouver
extended until August 25th.

I first became interested in spelling bees after my 2nd cousin Tracey won the inaugural Canspell regional spelling bee in the Vancouver region.  At the young age of 14, she then went off to the Scripps National Bee in Washington DC, and the Canspell National in Ottawa where she placed in the top 5.  I diligently followed the emails that her mother sent the family. Next I watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee, about a young child becoming involved in a spelling Bee, and being trained by Laurence Fishburne's character of Dr. Larabee.  Richard Gere also starred in the movie Bee Season.

This play captures all the silly ideas of the importance of spelling bees as well as the serious undercurrents of perfectionism and high expectations placed on the young competitors of these contests.  This is afterall a musical.  And musicals are meant to be fun and light.  And this musical delivers on all accounts... except I don't know if I can hum any of the tunes... but I was humming something when I walked out of the theatre.

The Arts Club has put a real effort into this production.  I remember earlier in May, when Arts Club manager Howard Jang told me that this was going to be very enjoyable.  He's right.  You step into the theatre, and the set design accurately represents a high school gymnasium, right down to the lockers outside in the hall.  You are indeed transported into a world of nostalgia as the musical begins with event host Rona Lisa Peretti entering the gym to set up.  There is a flashback to when she is a little girl and she won the third annual spelling bee by correctly spelling syzygy.  It brings a certain emotional induction to the theatre play, as I recalled watching the CBC documentary Generation: The Chan Legacy, that showed tv film footage of my young cousin Tracey spelling her word at the Canspell contest.

There are five contestants that are supplemented by four "contestants" chosen from the audience.  This adds to a wonderful spontaneity for the play, as each night will be different with the audience members chosen. 

This play is also a wonderful fit for multicultural Vancouver.  Two of the characters are Asian.  Chip Tolentino is a boy scout having issues with puberty.  This returning champion of last year's contest is played by Vincent Tong.  Marcy Park is an over-achieving recent transplant that sings "I Speak Six Languages" and played by Rosie Simon.

This is a fun play and perfect for a summer evening of fun.  25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been extended until August 25th.

More soon.....

18 Mighty Mountain Warriors HOOT CAMP comedy show Emmy Award Winning Asian Sketch Group from Los Angeles Coming to Vancouver - June 5 & 6 @ the Roundhouse www.vact.ca HURRY! Tickets only available for 2 remaining performances! 2 evenings: Saturday June 5th & Sunday June 6th Only 2 hilarious performances remaining at the Roundhouse Performance Centre 181 Roundhouse Mews (corner of Davie & Pacific Blvd) Vancouver, BC * $20 in advance – general admission * $25 in advance – reserved section (first 2 rows in raised centre section) * $25 at the door – general admission only * $108 in advance – SAVE! – group rate for 6 tickets (general admissions) Buy on-line at www.vact.ca or at the Roundhouse at 604.713.1800 18mmwtoservesouth.jpg Back by popular demand from 2009 for their very own show are: The 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors (18mmw) from Los Angeles! This group has garnered three awards including the 2007 Emmy Award “Mighty Warriors of Comedy”, the 2006 International Sketch Comedy Championships, and the 2005 Bay Area’s Best Comedy Troupe award. They continue to rock the San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose with their unique blend of Asian and political themed sketches. Visit www.18mmw.com or www.vact.ca for more information.   more »

VACT's Etch-YOUR-Sketch-OFF presents new teams for new Asian-Canadian sketch comedies!

special to www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com

by Michael Brophy

Thursday night I attended an event put on by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theater which is organized by Joyce Lam. She is the original creator and producer of the Etch-YOUR-SketchOFF comedy show who has recently been honored with the BC Community Achievement Award for her work in shaping our provinces theatrical community.

Host of the show, Tom Chin, related his witty observations on the lifestyles of the stereotypical aspiring Asian lawyer, dentist, or doctor and disclosed "what happens to Asians that don't make it to med school". With a piercing "Aiyya!" Tom introduced the first group SFUU MAN CHU which promised the most value for ones dollar during these hard economic times by presenting "one sketch for every dollar spent".

Banana Drama, winner of this years People Choys Awards, began with a sketch bringing light to our North American dependence on all things made in China by stripping a young man of all his Chinese made clothing until left wearing only a skimpy man-kini -- more male nudity ensued as a comedic theme of the night.

New teams to the sketch-off scene include Beef Noodle Soup, a two man group that presented bi-curious characters wanking to an image of Gordon Campbell, had the audience cringing with muffled laughter. Asians Bleed Red, also a new addition to the theater, did a well choreographed dance to the tune of "Domo Arrigato, Mr. Robato".

One of my personal favorite groups this year and a 2008 recipient of the Rice Bowl Prize had Simon Yang of The Yangtzers performing a contemporary dance with a hoover vacuum revealing the eroticism between one man and his servile machine. Other gut-busting notables Angry Asian Men and Laughing Make Mind Damage helped make it clear that Asian North Americans have come a long way in comedy from the likes of William Hungs short lived career as an entertainer. 

My night with the V.A.C.T. crew was capped with an after-party that took place at Earls in Yaletown which had members of the audience and actors in the sketch-off socializing well past midnight. I would highly recommend attending if you haven't in the past years. This annual event is always brimming with a culturally diverse humor that resonates the funny bone with gratuitous displays of raunchy buffoonery.

Asians are talented in sketch comedy too!

I chatted with VACT's founding creator Joyce Lam last week.  There is big drama for this year's Etch-YOUR-SketchOFF2!#$%.  One of last year's comedy sketch teams has split into two new teams for 2010.  That's right... dramedy is happening!  Members of last year's Darin' Joes, have formed new teams.  Fane Tse has helped to form new team Angry Asian Men. Josette Jorge was also with Darin' Joes last year but has returned to SFUU Man Chu.

Will there be a comedic show down?

Other teams competing are: Beef Noodle Soup, Laughing Make Mind Dangerous, Banana Drama, Asians Bleed Red, The Yangzters.

Of special note: Tricia Collins is performing with SFUU MAN CHU.  Tricia co-hosted the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner with me.  She is one of my favorite Vancouver actresses - having performed in her solo show Gravity, as well as Firehall Theatre's Ecstasy of Rita Joe and Urban Ink Production's Hunted.  She is also a writer, contributing to Ricepaper Magazine and Completely Mixed Up: An Asian North American Mixed Race Anthology.

35 performers will be on stage.  Mostly Asians with some members of non-Asian minority groups, representing token inclusivity and plain old friendship between races.

Check out the VACT website:  www.vact.ca

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 – Vancouver Rice Bowl Competition Thursday, April 29, 2010 – People’s CHOYS Award Nightly at 7:30 PM Buy your tickets online now! NEW GROUP RATE! BUY 8 TICKETS FOR $120! Tickets are $15 each! Buy Group Rate tickets online now!

Be a Friend of VACT

Wed Apr 21, 03:15 PM by editor

For those who have enjoyed our shows and want to support us financially – we are recognizing our fans with special benefits.  Depending on your friendship level, you will receive premium reserved seating upgrades, recognition in the programs, opening night tickets and invitations to cast parties, signed productions posters and special concierge ticketing services & privileges.  Our way of saying thank you to you.

For more details, click here.

Ali & Ali 7 Return to the stage for another outrageous skewering of Canadian Multiculturalism

WORLD PREMIERE of Ali & Ali
Created and performed by Camyar Chai, Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef
Co-starring Laara Sadiq and Raugi Yu
Directed by Guillermo Verdecchia

at the Cultch’s Historic Theatre
Apr 14–24
Tickets for Cultch Performances available at 604-251-1363 or https://tickets.thecultch.com/

at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts’ Studio Theatre
April 28 - May 1
Tickets for Shadbolt performances at 604-205-3000 or boxoffice@burnaby.ca

Ali & Ali are to Canadian multiculturalism what Wayne & Shuster are to Canadian culture.  They poke fun at ourselves, to help us laugh at the absurdity of our history and culture.

But in today's world, Wayne & Shuster, comedy kings of the 1960's and 1970's, have given way to Kids from the Hall, and Russell Peters.  Canadian culture is no longer white and red, our cultural diversity includes black and yellow and pink and especially brown.  Canadians also come from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Azerbaijian.  Wayne & Shuster used to make fun of foreign accents.  Camyar Chai and Marcus Youssef as brown immigrant refugees from the fictional country of Agraba, take ethnic jokes to a whole different level - but with some very serious political commentary.

This was my first time at Ali & Ali. I really enjoyed reading the published play Ali & Ali and the Axes of Evil.  I couldn't stop laughing at some of the bits about Asian Heritage Month, and the Scottish stage manager.  For the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, I had invited Marcus Youssef to read/perform an excerpt with comedian Charles Demers.  So I wasn't going to miss them.

The show opens with a montage of  current world leaders from Libya, USA, and Canada.  It's a tribute rap to Moammar Gadhafi.  Wow... we are definitely in a different cultural perspective here.  The play is interactive with the audience, asking questions, getting responses.  Surprise!  They are spoofing and utilizing experimental theatre audience participation as well as Bertolt Brecht's agitprop theatre.

Ali & Ali are presenting a show to the audience.  They introduce their assistant as Yogi Ru, in actuality Vancouver actor Raugi Yu.  Raugi is the straight man to this zany duo, even dressing up as Obama's Portuguese Water Dog. 

Along the way, an ethnic South Asian RCMP officer (Laara Sadiq) appears, to charge Ali & Ali with illegal immigration to Canada.  A kangaroo court (or would it be a "moose court" in Canada?) ensues and Ali & Ali must defend and explain themselves. This is where the character of Raugi steps up as an interpreter to explain the actions of Ali & Ali to the RCMP officer.  But true to Ali & Ali interpretation and misinterpretion, as Canadian sacred institutions such as the RCMP are poked with scenarios including tasers and cultural sensitivity training. Broad outrageous humour got loud laffs from the audience - especially the puppet show!

Ali & Ali poke some fun at Barak Obama's New World Order. The puppet show took on a weird outrageous vibe, as talking heads of Afro-American movement cultural icons, criticize Obama policies in the White House.  It would have been nice if they had been able to identify who their "Jiminy Cricket" conscience guides were, as many audience members are probably not versed in Afro-American revolutionaries such as Malcolm X and Angela Davis.  

Some serious topics are addressed such as prison detention & torture, illegal immigration and deportation.  This show uses the slap stick humour to set up and explain the underlying social commentary.  How does a normal human being cope with being detained in prison on unspecific charges?  The balance between the serious and absurdist swings back and forth, eliciting emotional reactions from the audience.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  There are many in-jokes, dependent upon the audience's knowledge of many things.  It is like a television channel-flipping barrage of issues.  But the play succeeds in informing the audience about our country's detention of prisoners, and it creating new cultural perspectives of multiculturalism.  Sometimes, how you see the world really does depend on what colour your eyes are.

Definitely not for everybody - but neither was Monty Python or Wayne & Shuster.


Check out the Neworld website:
http://www.neworldtheatre.com/productions-ali-and-ali-7.html

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinners always emphasize BC's cultural and historical past and present. While we acknowledge the Scottish and Chinese pioneers that helped to shape this province of British Columbia, we also look to see where we are going and what kind of cultural fusion is happening. This year's program is amazing..... pictures + descriptions   more »

Every year I do media interviews. On Robbie Burns Day, I was woken up at 7am by a request from BBC Radio Scotland. Yesterday, I did an interview for French CBC television. Monday was Epoch Times. Last week the Georgia Straight did a food feature article. Somewhere in Scotland there is an interview in the Sunday Post. Even SFU, Seattle and North Shore News have stories about Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner this year. Check out the links:   more »

2009 featured photos in exhibits at Royal BC Museum and Scottish Parliament. Other highlights included the inaugural writer in residence program at Historic Joy Kogawa House, and Todd Wong's first visit to Scotland for the finale weekend of Homecoming Year. And there was the 250th anniversary of poet Robert Burns.    more »

Now Available: Tickets for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

- It's the 12 Anniversary of the "little dinner that could."

January 31st, Sunday 2010
Floata Seafood Restaurant
Vancouver Chinatown
Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner has created an awareness of cultural fusion that has spanned international media, and been featured at the 2008 BC Canada Pavillion in Bejing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Royal BC Museum celebration exhibit of the 150th Anniversary of the province of BC, and a 2009 touring exhibition in Scotland titled This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada.


Gung Haggis Fat Choy creator Todd Wong at the Scottish Parliament exhibition of THIS IS WHO WE ARE: Scots in Canada.  The exhibition featured a life sized photo of Wong and a video interview about the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which features the acknowledgement of Chinese and Scottish pioneer history in Canada and contemporary culinary and cultural fusions.

Tickets are now on sale for the 12th Anniversary Dinner.
January 31st, Sunday, 2010
Floata Seafood Restaurant
Vancouver Chinatown
Doors open 5pm
Dinner starts 6pm

$60 + $5 service charge
or
$600 per table + $20 service charge
prices for students and children available.

Raffle Prizes are featured, as this dinner has traditionally been a fundraiser for: Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop/Ricepaper Magazine and Historic Joy Kogawa House.

Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926
Visit the Firehall Box Office, 280 E. Cordova Street.
Box Office hours are: 9:30am - 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.

For media information
- contact: Todd Wong 778-846-7090
- email: gunghaggis@yahoo.ca

The origins of the dinner started with 16 people in a living room in 1998.  The next year it expanded to 40 people in a restaurant.  Soon it outgrew the first restaurant and expanded to 220 people in 2002.  Moving to a larger restaurant for 2003, and expanding to a 2-night event in 2004, serving over 500 people.  2005 saw the move to North America's largest Chinese restaurant and present home of the dinner where 570 people were accomodated.

A 2004 CBC telelevision performance special, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, was inspired by the dinner, and received two Leo nominations for best music performance, and best director of music performance.  In 2007, a CBC television documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy featured interviews with dinner creator Todd Wong, and film clips of the dinner.

A wide range of musical performers have been featured over the years including: fusion musicians Silk Road Music Ensemble, Dragon River Chinese Music Ensemble, Blackthorn celtic band, The Mad Celts, Chinese erhu master Ji-Rong Huang; opera singers Heather Pawsey, Veera Devi Khare; Jazz singer Leora Cashe.  Featured poets have included: Joy Kogawa, Rita Wong, Fred Wah, George McWhirter, Fiona Tin Wei Lam, Jim Wong-Chu, Sean Gunn and Tommy Tao.  The past 3 years have also featured sneak previews of Asian Canadian plays including: Mixie and the Half-Breeds, The Quickie, and Twisting Fortunes.

Todd Wong visits Scotland for Homecoming Year, the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns.

For the 2010 dinner, creator Todd Wong has just returned from Scotland after visiting the birthplace of Scotland poet Robert Burns, and researching the displays of Burns for Homecoming Scotland, and museum exhibits on Scottish history and emmigration to Canada.  Wong is active in Chinese Canadian activities and visited Bejing and Xian in 1993.  He hopes to combine a merger of Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian history and culture in the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Another extravaganza of culinary and cultural fusion are expected for the 2010 dinner.  Details will be released each week leading up to the event.  Special guest speakers, media hosts, poets and musicians are confirmed or being confirmed.  The 2010 dinner will feature old traditions and new surprises, something borrowed and something brewed - especially created for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner.

Tell your friends, and put a table of 10 together to enjoy the singalongs!
or come as a single or a double, and meet 8 brand new best friends for the evening at your table!
It's the most fun and intimate dinner for 500 you will ever attend!

The Japanese Canadian National Museum
Koto Concert - Chikako Kanehisa, a benefit concert for the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre
Sunday, July 26, 2009, 3pm

Review by Devon Cooke
- for www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com

Theatre Under the Stars at Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park

July 15 to Aug. 22

Tickets $32 to $39,

www.tuts.ca

Falling in love is one of the most wonderful things in life.  There's lots of "falling in love" in the Thoroughly Modern Millie production by Theatre Under the Stars.  This makes it a wonderful choice to see with a date.

Diana Kaarina is wonderful as the title character Millie Dumount, who hops off a bus from Kansas and makes her way in New York City.  Set in 1922, Millie decides to find a rich husband, by seducing her boss.  Trouble is, first she has to get a job, and a place to live.. 

Millie settles in at the Hotel Priscilla, a place for young women.  It's on the wrong side of 42nd St., and run by the very strange Mrs. Meers - who may be Chinese or not.  Millie has a series of adventures that include getting a job as a stenographer, going to a speakeasy during prohibition, getting arrested, and going to a fabulous party in the penthouse suite of socialite Muzzy van Hossmere.

Everything about this musical is campy, and over the top.  The music is a pastiche of well-known melodies from other productions.  The plot contains misplaced identities, misunderstood intentions, star-crossed lovers, and a kidnapping.  But the wonderful dancing and singing numbers make you forget that everything seems cliched.  Indeed, Thoroughly Modern Millie is designed to pay homage to old musicals, with tongue-in-cheek fun.

Diana Kaarina brings a lot of experience to this production.  She created the role of Miss Dorothy Brown (Millie's BFF) for the First National tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie (2003).  Kaarina brings lots of Broadway experience, having been the closing Eponine in Les Miserables (2003) and also playing roles in Rent and The Phantom of the Opera.

Kaarina brings a touching humaness to the character of Millie.  She isn't just the talk-talking gold digger who wants to marry her boss, but she also cares for her friends and is willing to make sacrifices.

All the lead roles are played well.  Meaghan Anderssen plays the ditzy Miss Dorothy Brown with great comic aplomb, which she did so very well in last year's TUTS production of Annie Get Your Gun.

Danny Balkwill plays Jimmy Smith, the poor but dashing young son of a gardener.  Audience members might recognize him as one of the competitors in Canadian Idol. 

Seth Drabinsky plays Trevor Graydon, the boss that Millie wants to marry.  Drabinsky excells in elocution, as he sings "The Speed Test" which is a Gilbert & Sullivan parody, complete with Busby Berkeley styled dancing.  Wow!

I didn't expect to see Asian-Canadian actors or Asian characters in Thoroughly Modern Millie.  But it was there in subtle ways... and not so subtle ways.  The program points out that lead actor Diana Kaarina is Half -Finnish and Half-Chinese. Either way, she is still a beauty, similar to Smallville actor Kristin Kreuk who ancestry is Half-Dutch/Half-Chinese.

The subplot involves the character of Mrs. Meers who runs the Hotel Priscilla, and also employs two Chinese henchmen for a side business of kidnapping.  Sarah Rodgers is over the top, as Mrs. Meers - so highly unbelievable character, that she can only exist in a musical.  Aaron Lau and Daeyoung Danny Kim play the characters of Ching Ho and Bun Foo.  They strive to make the characters realistic, speaking in only Chinese, and also performing some martial arts moves on stage.

While I found it refreshing to see Asian actors playing authentic Chinese characters speaking good Chinese, without being traditionally stereotyped. The stereotypes still persisted in other ways.

Racial stereotypes of Chinese in Thoroughly Modern Millie

I was shocked that this musical contained lots of out-dated Chinese stereotypes including: a Chinese laundry, kidnapping for white slavery, bad Chinese accents, and a female actor in "white face" playing a white woman masquerading as a Chinese woman. Much less culturally sensitive than Robert Downey Jr playing a black man in Tropic Thunder

Part of the sub-plot is that white girls are sold into white slavery and shipped off to China, by the character of Mrs. Meers, a white woman dressed up as a Chinese woman - who doesn't even have a proper Chinese accent - She keeps mis-prounouncing her "L's" as "R's"

She keeps saying things like "Ssssso saaaad, to be arrrr arrrrone in dis worrrrld"

I realize that this is supposed to be a fun frothy romp, and every character is stereotyped to extreme measures...

Actual Asian ethnic actors play the Asian roles and do NOT speak in bad Chinese accents - but actually in good Cantonese.  The play makes fun of the stereotypes...

But I still felt uncomfortable watching the perpetuation of racist stereotypes in this way.  There are many people in today's audience who don't realize the origins of such stereotypes, nor the harm that was caused over decades of racism.

Check out what the Asian American theatre review had to say about the two Chinese henchmen, singing "Mammy" in Chinese - originally sung by Al Jolson, wearing a "black face" when he played a black man on stage.
http://www.aatrevue.com/Old/Millie.html

The original movie was made in 1967 starring Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. Japanese-American actor comics Jack Soo and Pat Morita played the Chinese henchmen. The Broadway musical debuted in 2002, with the roles of the Chinese henchmen expanded. They only speak in proper Chinese. It's the white actress playing a white woman who disguises ... Read Moreherself as a pastiche of Asian stereotypes and accents. The purpose was to "cleverly" make fun of racial stereotypes. Almost every character is stereotyped to extremes in this post-modern Broadway musical.

It's arguable that the perpetuation of stereotypes in any form is still de-humanizing and destructive OR have we come far enough that we should be able to recognize such stereotypes for what they are, and be able to laugh at the stupidity and ridiculousness of the people who perpetuate them?

The best use of "Clever" parodying of racial stereotypes was in Marty Chan's "Mom, Dad, I'm Living With A White Girl." The stereotypes take place in the main character's dream about him mother and father becoming a dragon lady and her loyal henchman. In this case, the context is about racial and cultural stereotypes, and easily understood by the ... Read Moreaudience.

But in Millie, while the 2 Chinese characters are played very straight and respectful, speaking in good cantonese, and humourously holding up sheets of laundry for a clever display of "subtitles" - The fact remains that they are still Chinese laundry workers, part of a "white slavery" kidnapping operation.

The character of Mrs. Henessey is still a white woman pretending to be Asian, by wearing a "painted face", speaking mixed up Asian accent, and perpetuating stereotypes.  Check out youtube portrayals of Mrs. Meers.
http://www.youtube.com/results?feature=moby&search_query=thoroughly+modern+millie+they+don%27t+know&search_type=&aq=0&oq=thoroughly+modern+millie+they+d

Otherwise - the cast is GREAT!
And the lead who plays the title character Millie Dumont is Broadway veteran, Vancouver born Diana Kaarina, half-Chinese and half-Finnish.

Other reviews

Vancouver Sun review: Millie shines in a show burdened by too much business

Georgia Straight: Thoroughly Modern Millie full of relentless enthusiasm

Gay Vancouver Review: Thoroughly Modern Millie is throughouly enjoyable | Theatre

Flower Drum Song makes you laugh and sing...
It's Rogers and Hammerstein in 1950's San Francisco Chinatown!

May 29-June 14
Waterfront Theatre
Directed by Rick Tae
Produced by Joyce Lam
Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre
www.vact.ca

This VACT production is amazing, it should become a Vancouver regular.  Who knew Asian Canadians could put on such a good song and dance musical, worthy of being included into "Theatre Under the Stars" or at any of Metro Vancouver's stages. 

Actor Jimmy Yi is a knockout!  He plays Sammy Fong the night club owner who might or might not get married to Linda Low, played coquettishly by Lannette New.  But Linda might also marry Wang Ta, played by Isaac Kwok.  Or Ta might marry Mei Li (Rosie Simon).  And somebody else also has a crush on Ta.  Sound confused?  You should be.  It's a classic Love triangle times 2 with some great songs and dance numbers thrown in.

But then there is also Ta's father Wang Chi Yang, played by BC Lee (now known as the former Vancouver City Councilor), who wants to lay down the family law as he insists that Ta should be married, and sets out to set up a traditional Chinese style arranged marriage.  Gee... Sammy Fong has a picture order bride just arrived into town... how convenient.

Jimmy Yi as Sammy Fong with Lannette New as Linda Low - photo courtesy of VACT

Okay... forget that the characters and the setting are Asians in San Francisco's Chinatown.  This could be a plot similar to Shakespeare's As You Like It, or Gershwin's Girl Crazy, or Lerner and Lowe's Brigadoon, or Rogers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.  Love, trying to find the right person, and the ensuing moral dilemmas are universal themes in every language and culture. 

Flower Drum Song originally debuted in 1958 on Broadway with dance great Gene Kelly choreographing the moves.  This Rogers and & Hammerstein musical has everything.  Dancing, singing, corny jokes, love stories... and controversy!  It's a classic tale of old traditions versus assimilation into the New World. Addressing social issues within the Broadway musical format is the legacy of Rogers and Hammerstein.  They aptly addressed racism, sexism and classism with their hits Oklahoma, Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound of Music. In particular, The Sound of Music addressed how some Austrians objected to Nazi Germany taking over their country prior to WW2.  The King & I addressed how the kingdom of Siam dealt with and resisted the growing colonialism of Asia by European nations.

Set in 1950's era San Francisco, this VACT production addresses the nostalgia of the era.  Director Rick Tae has found the balance for the show in a post-modern politically correct environment, by willingly playing up the campiness of the 50's beatnik era language.

It is the older brother Ta (Isaac Kwok), the first born son, that is caught in the middle.  He wants to please his father, but he also wants to forge his own identity.  Kwok is a recent graduate from Capilano University's Musical Theatre program and does a good job in the lead role, singing and acting his way between the show's generation and love match issues.  His strong voice and good looks should could easily find him cast in leads for Brigadoon and other shows. 

Lannette New has a tough job, living up to the role of Linda Low played so excellently by Nancy Kwan in the 1961 movie.  The Low character is flamboyant role of a night club performer - sexy and independent - not your typical Chinese daughter-in-law material. New reigns in the energy with sweetness and presence.

With Vancouver's huge Chinese population, you would think ethnic Chinese actors would get tired of the perennial stereotypecasting playing Chinese waiters, kung fu baddies, chinadolls and gangsters.  But where do people get the chance to expand their horizons and resume lists?

For the past 10 years, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre has been producing plays to showcase Asian Canadian talent, and feature works by North American Asian playwrights such as David Henry Hwang.  Asian comedy nights have become annual features that grew into sketch comedy contests.  The Sex in Vancouver series was adapted from the Sex in Seattle series originated by Kathy Hsieh and Serin Ngai's

Producer and president, Joyce Lam also had a vision to put on Rogers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song as a full production in Vancouver.  Incredibly, it had never happened before.  Two years ago she saw Jimmy Yi, in the staged reading by APPLAUSE! Musical Society, and in that moment, she knew she had her casting for Sammy Fong.

Amazingly, the original 1958 production got six Tony Award nominations, and spun off some national tours and the popular 1961 musical film version. It also marked the first time in musical history that a mostly Asian cast appeared on the Broadway stage.

But the work and film fell out of favour in the late 1960's due to criticism of the gender and racial stereotyping of the era, in the wake of the rising civil rights movement.

In 2002, playwright David Henry Hwang reworked the original music and storyline for a Broadway revival that received multiple Tony nominations, a Grammy nomination for the soundtrack.

More later

Is "Flower Drum Song" an Asian-American version of "Sound of Music" by Rodgers & Hammerstein?

Just as the Von Trapp family hiked over the mountains for a chance of freedom from Nazi tyranny, the characters of Flower Drum Song find happiness in the pursuit of the "American Dream" both as immigrants coming to a new country, and as Americans finding their place.  The Flower Drum Wong musical (1958) was based on the book by C.Y. Lee (1957), and a movie version directed by Gene Kelly came out in 1961.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein had previously written musicals with Asian themes such as South Pacific (1949) and The King & I (1951).  Watching the movie versions as I grew up, I was always interested because they had Asian characters and actors.  The original musical and movie of Flower Drum Song became considered full of racist stereotypes during the American Civil Rights movement, but like the 1910 song "Chinatown My Chinatown" penned by Jerome & Schartz, it has an affectionate place in the hearts of many North American Asians.

About  year ago, I watched the movie version on dvd, and was amazed by the commentary from playwright David Henry Hwang, who re-wrote Flower Drum Song for a post-colonial America and stated, "I tried to write the book that Oscar Hammerstein would have written if he were Asian-American." 

I really enjoyed watching the original movie.  There are great highlights such as Nancy Kwan singing "I Enjoy Being a Girl", "A Hundred Million Miracles" performed by Miyoshi Umeki.  Most fantastic is the jazz dance sequence of the song "Chop Suey" is addresses the melting pot/cultural fusion of Asian America.  My friend Dan Seto always says that the song "Grant Avenue" is famous, and was very happy on his first visit to San Francisco to actually stand on Grant Avenue in Chinatown.  It would be as if Rodgers & Hammerstein had set the story in Vancouver Chinatown and wrote a song about "Pender Street."

Check out this press release from Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre and buy your tickets!

VACT CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN MUSICAL

WITH AN ALL-ASIAN CAST

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG * May 29 to June 14, 2009

 

 

 

VANCOUVER, BC (April 2, 2009) – Continuing to celebrate 10 successful years as the city’s premiere Asian Canadian theatre company, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT) is excited to announce that it will be staging Rodgers & Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG from May 29 to June 14 at The Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.

 

This is the very first time that this Tony award-winning Broadway musical will be presented in Vancouver as a full production, during this, the 50th anniversary of the play. Another milestone for Vancouver theatre will be the all-Asian-Canadian cast, along with an Asian Canadian production team that includes director Rick Tae, choreographer Raphael Wong, set designer Janice Chiu, costumer designers Joyce Chung, Jeannine Sheares-Moon and producer Joyce Lam. Rounding out the team will include musical director Christopher King and lighting designer Darren Hales.

 

Other notable highlights include actor and former Vancouver city councillor BC Lee and local Asian comedian Tom Chin, in a cast of eighteen that stars Issac Kwok as young and impressionable Wang Ta, Rosie Simon as shy pre-arranged bride Mei Li, Jimmy Yi as hipster nightclub owner Sammy Fong and Lannette New as ready-for-the-altar showgirl Linda Low.

 

And adding to the experience, VACT will include the use of sur-titles – Chinese text that’s displayed above the stage so that non-English speaking Chinese members of the audience will be able to follow along with the lyrics and the dialogue. This is the second time that VACT has decided to use this visual aid to welcome as many members of the local Asian community as possible – the first time being VACT’s successful run last summer of the Asian version of Neil Simon’s THE ODD COUPLE.

 

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, set in San Francisco’s Chinatown of the late 50’s, takes a “colourful” approach to the age-old conflict that affects even the traditional immigrant family – the Generation Gap. Sammy’s folks have arranged a bride for him from China, hoping to sever his relationship with showgirl Linda. Mei Li arrives shy and naive – totally wrong for the modernized Sammy. But, she just may be the ticket for Sammy’s buddy Ta, whose dad is trying to prevent his kids from discovering rock ‘n roll, baseball, sports cars – a losing battle. However, Ta is smitten with the sexy Linda – because she “enjoys being a girl.” Suddenly Sammy has to figure out how to get Ta and Mei together so he can be with Linda. Of course, singing and dancing ensues.

 

FLOWER DRUM SONG, first performed on Broadway in 1958, is seeing a revival lately. It had fallen out of favour over the years as diversity awareness redefined how minorities should be portrayed in the media. However, VACT’s production will keep all of the original language of the play and attitudes of the day intact. “Doing this, our audience will be able to see the distinction in how far we’ve come and also be able to reminisce about the past with a satirical sense of humour, “ says director Rick Tae. “It’s just amazing how far we’ve come,” adds producer and VACT founder Joyce Lam.  “We have 18 terrific actors and singers in this cast. I remember clearly 10 years ago how we struggled to find 3 experienced Asian actors in all of Vancouver for our first play.”

 

For more information, including cast and crew bios, please visit http://www.vact.ca.

 

Event Details

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG

@ The Waterfront Theatre

1412 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, Vancouver

May 28: Preview

May 29, 30, 31, June 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

 

Tickets Details

Purchase in Advance:

By phone (604) 684-2787 with a $2.50 service charge

By online www.vact.ca or wwww.ticketstonight.ca

Group Rates, please call (778) 885-1973

 

*Preview performance Thursday May 28 at 8pm - $20

(only available online at www.vact.ca or cash-only at door)

*All Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday evening performances at 8pm –

$29 in advance/$35 cash-only at door

*Saturday/Sunday matinees at 2pm (except Wednesday June 3 matinee at 1pm) –

$24 in advance/$30 cash-only at door

 

*Limited Rush Tickets: $17.50 cash-only at the door (max 2 per person)

*Students and Seniors (65+): $20 cash-only at door

What is the C-Word that is the meaning of life?

The C-Word cast (Foreground, from left): Preet Cheema (Akesh Gill), Grace Chin (Kelly Cho), Sheryl Thompson (Ashley Hennessey). (Background, from left): Fane Tse (Steve Chung), Raahul Singh (Pal Prasad). Photo by Terry Wong, courtesy of The C-word.

The C-Word  April 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 2009
written by Grace Chin
at the Playwrights Theatre Centre on Granville Island, Vancouver

The C-Word is an engaging play... even before you sit down in the seats.  What is the C-Word?  Is it for  Chinese?  Or the derogatory Chink word?  Does it mean Coloured?  Is it a four letter word that belongs below the belt?  One for male appendage, or for female anatomy?

Is the C-Word something more abstract, profound and perhaps "Complicated"?

Or is it "Compassion" or "Cheating"?

In the opening scene, "The Love Guru" is giving a seminar on how to get some action for his male clients.  Pal Prasad (played by Raahul Singh), gives a short talk about goals, and what it takes to follow through.  It's about intention and going after what you want.  It could be any personal development seminar, but this is about the C-word.

Next we meet girlfriends Kelly Cho and Akesh Gill played by Grace Chin and Preet Cheema.  They are on a shopping trip and talking about Kelly's upcoming wedding plans.  Soon we learn that Kelly has a live-in boyfriend named Steve Chung (Fane Tse) who is a yellow guy, while Akesh is single, but she doesn't like brown guys.

Things become complicated when Steve goes to see his old friend Pal to ask for some advice, and compare his relationship and impending marriage with Kelly to Pal's long term "open relationship" to a blonde woman named Ashley (Sheryl Thompsson).  What follows becomes an intercultural Vancouver-style dramedy of errors, innuendo, suppositions on the study of relationships. 

Excuse me... the proper words are cheating, commitment, compassion, change, comic and consolation - after all this is "The C-Word."

"The C-Word" is the third play by Grace Chin.  Twisting Fortunes was co-written with her TF Productions partner Charlie Cho, and was a delightful comedic romp, set to Vancouver's caffeine drive.  "The Quickie", Chin's first solo playwright experience, explored multicultural speed dating.  "The C-Word" goes to the next level, exploring a search for meaning in relationships.  This is Chin's most frank and sexual play to date, and hints at the darker sides of relationships and human nature, not to mention weddings.

In all three productions, Vancouver's multicultural society is the setting, but it is the intercultural nature of the characters where the culture clashes occur.  It's not just a Chinese-Canadian 2nd generation immigrant experience that is explored, but also South Asian this time around too.  And somehow this is juxtoposed with what might be mainstream Canadian or possibly alternative sexual lifestyles.

From the beginning, the characters are all interesting and engaging.  The topics are easily relateable to the audience... unless you don't have any friends of a different ethnicity, or have never dated.  The pacing is good, and the diaglogue never flags.

The casting all works.  Raahul Singh has fun being the egotistical "Love Guru" and his character makes reference to the Mike Myers movie.  More cultural references abound as character development exploration occurs when Kelly and Ashley try to figure each other out, and what their men may see in each other.  Here the extremely self-critical Kelly tries to get a handle on the brazen Ashely, she labels a "Samantha" compared to her "Miranda" - or is she really a Carrie Bradshaw?  Grace Chin actually displays a bit of each of the Sex in the City characters in her role of Kelly.

Much of the action revolves around Kelly and Pal, but while Steve's character seems stalled and doesn't give Fane Tse a big range to play with, Preet Cheema gets to push her character Akesh in the 2nd Act.  Supporting actors Lili Lau Cook and Vincent Cheng provide wonderfully surprising turns as Kelly's parents.  Mel Tuck directs this ensemble cast.

Previous productions

a take-out love story	an accidentally Asian romantic dramedy

Web: www.scriptingaloud.ca/cword

See previews in Review Vancouver and Vancouverplays.com.

The C-Word is a new play by Grace Chin...

Gung Haggis members saw her first play Twisting Fortunes and the 2nd play "The Quickie"

Both were featured as sneak preview excerpts at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in 2007 and 2008.

Check out Grace's play "The C-Word"

The C-Word cast (from left): Preet Cheema (Akesh Gill), Sheryl Thompson (Ashley Hennessey), Grace Chin (Kelly Cho), Fane Tse (Steve Chung), Raahul Singh (Pal Prasad). Photo by Terry Wong, wonger.ca

From http://www.scriptingaloud.ca/cword/

If cheating is colour blind, so is commitment, increasingly a "C-word" to both sexes. How do you deal with intercultural cheating, commitment, and consequences? The C-Word, a contemporary, set-in-Vancouver dramedy directed by Mel Tuck, invites an intimate in-and-out of the bedroom view of four friends' lives when infidelity and unforeseen consequences force them to choose to whom, and to what, they must commit. More

Playwrights Theatre Centre, Granville Island
1398 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC

Thurs Apr 2 - Sat Apr 4
Thurs Apr 9 - Sat Apr 11
All shows 8 pm

Tickets:
$18 online (PayPal)
"2 for $30" Thursday April 9
$20 at the door

DOOR PRIZES MOST NIGHTS

To buy tickets in advance and for more information:
www.scriptingaloud.ca/cword
cwordplay@gmail.com

Celticfest is one of Vancouver's most exciting ethno-cultural festivals:
Saturday I will check out "Battle of the Bards" King O' Men (about Robbie Burns, and the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy entry in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Celticfest started on Wednesday and goes to Sunday March 15th.  St. Patrick's Day is on Tuesday March 17th.

Check out the website: www.celticfestvancouver.com for lots of great events featuring Ashley McIssac, Lunasa, Irish Pipes Regiment, Battle of the Bards etc. etc.

This year there is a play about Robbie Burns, titled King O'Men - featuring bagpiper Rob McDonald and actor John Hardie.  All the more to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the birth of poet Robert Burns.

I was involved in the augural "Battle of the Bards" event last year, playing poet Robbie Burns.  It's a great fun event, where performers "channel" the spirit of the poets, and read the poems.   Check out my story from last year: www.GungHaggisFatChoy.com :: Toddish McWong's "Robert Burns" wins Battle of the Bards

The annual St. Patrick's Day Parade is lots of fun too!  We usually hang out at the Celticfest Village following the parade.  This year's parade is on Georgia St.  Starting at Broughton, the parade route heads East ending at Howe St.  The Village is on the North lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Check out my story from last year: www.GungHaggisFatChoy.com :: Gung Haggis Fat Choy puts a dragon (not a snake) in the parade.

Here are 3 events that I will be attending - hope to see you there!

Saturday March 14 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Battle of the Bards - A Literary Pub Crawl and Grand Finale Three cheers! The Battle of the Bards is back for 2009, whisking you along on a flying tour of Granville Street’s best Irish pubs. Dynamic spoken word artists Sean McGarragle, Duncan Shields and Warren Dean Fulton channel W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Robbie Burns respectively as they duke it out to be crowned “top bard” in an on-the-move poetry slam-style contest, judged by members of the audience in each venue. The crawl culminates at The Cellar, where the bards will do final “battle” with Vancouver’s first official poet laureate George McWhirter presiding over the event. Expect plenty of artistic license as the performers offer their own hilarious perspectives on the masters with the help of improv fiddler Caitlan Read. Who will be this year’s “top bard”? Why don’t you be the judge!

Pub Crawl Round 1 - 2:00 PM @ Doolin's Irish Pub Round 2 – 2:45 PM @ Ceili’s Irish Pub Round 3 – 3:30 PM @ Johnnie Fox's Irish Snug No admission charge @ Pub Crawl venues Open Mic & Finale Event The Cellar, 1006 Granville St. @ Nelson 4:25 PM to 6:00 PM

Saturday March 14 2 shows: 2:00 PM & 4:00 PM

King o' Men - A Robbie Burns Stage Play & 250th Birthday Tribute Featuring John Hardie & Rob MacDonald A literary and musical costumed event that will send you spinning back in time to the glorious days of Scotland’s most legendary poet and lyricist. 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robbie Burns, a cultural icon in Scotland and around the world. This tribute features Rob MacDonald, a local piper, Chairman of “A Swarm of Drones” and a Burns aficionado. He’ll be telling the fascinating story of the life and times of Burns and playing some of the tunes Robert set words to. His performance will be followed by King o’ Men, an exciting new one-man play directed by writer and actor John Hardie and making its Vancouver premiere at CelticFest. The production imagines one of Burns’ closest and oldest friends reminiscing to a curious journalist following the news of the great poet’s final passing. This show will appeal to loyal fans of Scotland's favourite literary son as well as those who are new to Burns’ story and works. Here's what Chris White, Artistic Director of the Ottawa Folk Festival, had to say about a recent production of the play at the National Arts Centre: "With minimal set and few props, Hardie delivered the piece with enormous skill and subtlety, somehow managing to be humorous, informative and intensely moving all at once. The performance, which elicited an overwhelmingly positive audience response, is one that I will be forever grateful to have witnessed."

Tom Lee Music - Music Hall 3rd floor - 929 Granville St.

Sunday March 15
11:30 AM

6th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade

Where can you find hundreds of thousands of people, all seized with Celtic fever? At the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, of course! This year the parade travels a new route along Georgia Street, beginning at Broughton St., ending up at the Celtic Village outside the Vancouver Art Gallery at Georgia and Howe. Round up your family and friends (and favourite green attire) and enjoy the spectacle of over 2,000 colourfully costumed participants, from pipers and drummers to acrobats and stilt-walkers. The price is still right – absolutely free!

Presented by Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association