It was time for ‘Love Letters’

Nancy Kwan sat behind a desk on the stage of the David Henry Hwang Theatre, gazing at James Shigeta to her right.

He kept his eyes on the script as he read from A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.” But Kwan didn’t look away from Shigeta as they prepared for two readings of the play Saturday, benefiting East West Players.

There was a logical explanation for why she looked at him but he didn’t look at her. He was reading words of love from his character to Kwan’s -- after Kwan’s character has died. So in a sense, she was embodying a spirit from the afterlife, who could see him more easily than he could see her.

For many people of a certain age -- especially Asian Americans -- the chance to see Kwan and Shigeta together again must also seem like a glimpse at another world: the early ‘60s, when Kwan and Shigeta were among the young stars of the movie “Flower Drum Song.” More than any other mainstream American film for many years before and after its release in 1961, “Flower Drum Song” depicted Asian Americans as glamorous and sexy -- and without any non-Asian stars sharing the spotlight.

As the word has spread about the “Love Letters” readings, many older Asian Americans have responded, said Tim Dang, director of the reading and artistic director of East West. A group of 25 has chartered a bus from San Diego. One couple are flying in from New York.

Kwan, 65, and Shigeta, 71, never appeared together on stage or screen after “Flower Drum Song.” But in a dressing room interview after their rehearsal, Kwan said they have known each other socially over the decades, although not nearly to the extent that the man and woman in “Love Letters” have. In the play, the characters meet as children, marry others, but correspond until death.

In “Flower Drum Song,” Kwan and Shigeta also played characters who were not quite meant for each other. As Linda Low and Wang Ta, the two flirted and went on a date but ultimately married others.

Shigeta’s role was especially unusual. Asian American men have had fewer opportunities to play romantic leads in American movies than have Asian American women. Yet Shigeta played romantic roles not only in the musical but also in “Bridge to the Sun” and “The Crimson Kimono.”

He doesn’t regret, however, that the romantic roles didn’t keep coming. He thought “Flower Drum Song” was “a delightful little piece, very frothy,” but Wang Ta was “naive, almost stupid.”

He enjoyed graduating to more mature roles, such as the king in “The King and I” on stage.

And “playing heavies is always more fun,” he said, even though they usually aren’t the leading roles.

Shigeta has never appeared on stage in his hometown of L.A., he says. But Kwan, who also lives in L.A., appeared in an East West production, “Arthur and Leila,” in 1993 at the group’s former, smaller east Hollywood home.

Unlike Shigeta, Kwan has previously appeared in “Love Letters” -- in an English-language production in Vienna with David Carradine and in a benefit reading in Singapore with Pat Morita. But she has never previously performed it in the United States.

A few lines of the play have been changed for this production, as in earlier productions in which the actors were Asian or black. A reference to the characters as WASPs is gone, as is one reference to a blond.

Dang said that some of the woman character’s swearing seemed emphasized by the Hong Kong-born, British-educated Kwan’s accent, so he has asked her to tone down the delivery, although he hasn’t cut the words.

Anyone who remembers the actors primarily from “Flower Drum Song” can’t help but think of Miyoshi Umeki as well -- she played the young Chinese immigrant who ended the movie by marrying Shigeta’s Wang Ta.

But Shigeta and Kwan said they have no idea where Umeki is, despite efforts to locate her. East West gets calls from people asking about her as well, but the theater company hasn’t been able to find her, Dang said.

“She doesn’t want to be found,” Kwan said.