C.Y. Lee
C.Y. Lee
C.Y. Lee (1915-2018), born in Hunan, China, received a B.A. degree from Southwest Associated University, Kunming, China, and an M.F.A. with a major in playwriting from Yale University.
Before his American education, Lee worked during World War II as Secretary to the Sawba of Mangshih, a small principality on the China-Burma border. The experience resulted in a series of articles published in the New Yorker magazine and, later, a book entitled The Sawba and his Secretary (British edition: A Corner of Heaven). A television series based on the book was made and aired in Taiwan.
Lee wrote his first novel, The Flower Drum Song, in San Francisco while he was city editor of a Chinese language newspaper in Chinatown. The book was a New York Times best-seller; as Flower Drum Song it subsequently became a Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical and a Universal film.
C.Y. Lee was the author of nine novels and two non-fiction books published in English and many European and Asian languages. His works include Lover's Point, The Sawba and His Secretary, Madame Goldenflower, The Virgin Market, Land of the Golden Mountain, Days of the Tong Wars, China Saga, Gate of Rage, Second Son of Heaven and others.
Besides writing books, short stories and articles, Lee also worked with David Brown in 1960 as a script writer for 20th Century Fox studios.
He was the recipient of a California Commonwealth Club Gold Medal Fiction Award, a San Francisco Press Club and Union League Annual Award, a Writers' Guild Annual Award for Writing Achievement and a Box Office Blue Ribbon Award. He received the key to the City of San Francisco.
Lee was a member of the Authors' League and Dramatists' Guild of America; a C.Y. Lee archive has been established at Boston University's Mugar Memorial Library. The annual C.Y. Lee Creative Writing Contest for the encouragement of Asian American literature and scholarship has been established at Cal State L.A.
Perform C.Y. Lee
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Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song (Hwang Version)
Multiple Authors
Full-Length Musical, ComedyRodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song (Hwang Version)
Richard Rodgers , Oscar Hammerstein II , David Henry Hwang , Joseph Fields , C.Y. Lee
Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3w, 5m
A dazzling update to Rodgers & Hammerstein's jewel, Flower Drum Song. Mei-Li is a naive young refugee from Mao's communist China, who befriends Wang, a man struggling to keep the Chinese opera tradition alive.
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Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song
Multiple Authors
Full-Length Musical, ComedyRodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song
Richard Rodgers , Oscar Hammerstein II , Joseph Fields , C.Y. Lee
Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 4m, 1boy(s)
Mei Li has come from China to San Francisco to marry Sammy Fong, a nightclub owner who is already in love with a dancer at his establishment. By turns raucous and heartfelt, this delightful Rodgers & Hammerstein musical embraces the new while honoring the old.
Shop C.Y. Lee
View all-
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song (Hwang Version)
Multiple Authors
Full-Length Musical, ComedyRodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song (Hwang Version)
Richard Rodgers , Oscar Hammerstein II , David Henry Hwang , Joseph Fields , C.Y. Lee
Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3w, 5m
Also available as: -
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song
Multiple Authors
Full-Length Musical, ComedyRodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song
Richard Rodgers , Oscar Hammerstein II , Joseph Fields , C.Y. Lee
Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 4m, 1boy(s)
Also available as: