Museum of Chinese in America

Blythe Matsui was cast as an understudy in the Los Angeles production of David Henry Hwang’s 2002 revisal of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “Flower Drum Song.” In this interview, Blythe discusses researching and auditioning for the role of Linda Low, not getting the part, being offered the job of understudy, and her disappointment about not being selected to go on to the subsequent New York production. She also provides a candid behind the scenes view  into the strained relationship director Robert (“Bobby”) Longbottom had with cast members. This interview is one of a series of 18 interviews that author David Lewis Hammarstrom conducted in 2003 as part of research for his book, Flower Drum Songs: The Story of Two Musicals (2006).