As with many of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals, the work features a ballet at the start of the second act, choreographed in the original production by Carol Haney. The ballet dramatizes the confused romantic longings of Wang Ta towards the women in his life, and ends as he awakens in Helen Chao's bed. Thomas Hischak, in his "The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia", notes that the ballets in "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel" (choreographed by Agnes de Mille) broke new ground in illustrating facets of the characters beyond what is learned in songs and dialogue, but describes the ballet in "Flower Drum Song" as "pleasant but not memorable". Although Hischak describes Rodgers as "the greatest waltz composer America has ever seen", "Flower Drum Song" was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical not to feature one.