In 1996, while attending the successful revival of "The King and I", Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang considered whether other Rodgers and Hammerstein shows could be revived and decided to work on "Flower Drum Song". To Chinese Americans, the musical "represented political incorrectness incarnate. But had a secret soft spot for the movie version. 'It was kind of a guilty pleasure ... and one of the only big Hollywood films where you could see a lot of really good Asian actors onscreen, singing and dancing and cracking jokes.'" Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, announced that an unnamed "Asian playwright" had approached him about revising "Flower Drum Song". Chapin called the musical "a naive, old fashioned, anti-feminist story with a truly great score. ... It's one that ... needs changes." Rodgers' will urged his heirs to do what they believed he would have agreed to (Hammerstein's instructions are unknown), but during her lifetime, his widow Dorothy had refused to countenance major changes in the plays. Hwang's involvement was soon revealed, and in 1997, C. Y. Lee announced that the rewrite had his approval.