The cast backstage before/after the show:

 

Teahouse of the August Moon opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City on October 15, 1953.

Plot Synopsis The story deals with the United States' occupation of the island of Okinawa just after World War II, and the American efforts to bring democracy to it and to teach its people American ideals.

Captain Fisby (Cliff Gurdin) is sent to the small village of Tobiki, along with a native translator named Sakini (Alan Lupi).  At first, he was put off by the quaint and primitive customs of the Okinawans ― particularly when he is given a Geisha girl,Lotus Blossom (Sue Schlesinger), as a gift ― but they grow on him, and soon he's acting like a native.  This distresses his supervisor, the blustery Col. Purdy (Carl Zeitz), who sends an Army psychologist down to check on Fisby's mental health.  

There's gentle satire in this play, mostly at the expense of ethno-centric Americans, who always assume their way is the best way.  When none of the soldiers will buy the painstakingly crafted ceramics or other well-made trinkets of the Tobikians, Fisby has them start making the one thing he knows the American G.I.s will buy ― liquor.

Few American plays treat foreign cultures with as much respect as this one, which is especially noteworthy considering it was written in 1953, only eight years after the end of WWII, when reverence for the Japanese and their culture was not exactly at its pinnacle.  Yet, the play is not preachy or moralizing.  The Okinawans are not put on a pedestal.  They are shown to be at times silly, jealous and petty ― in other words, regular people.  It’s a good-natured, laugh-out-loud funny play that gently reminds us how much beauty there is in the world ― beauty that we, to paraphrase Fisby, ought to be wise enough to leave alone.

		You are now listening to Sakini's (Alan Lupi's) closing words.  Act 3, Scene 3: The teahouse  [Playing time: 58 seconds] (Click to return to beginning.) Click here to hear Sakini's (Alan Lupi's) introduction.  Act I, Scene 1: Col. Purdy's office [Playing time: 2 minutes, 1 second] Click here to hear the second introduction of Lotus Blossom (Sue Schlesinger) to Capt. Fisby (Cliff Gurdin).   Act 2, Scene 1: Tobiki village [Playing time: 4 minutes, 8 seconds]  Click here to here Capt. Fisby's (Cliff Gurdin's) progress report to Col. Purdy (Carl Zeitz).   Act 3, Scene 2: Capt. Fisby's office [Playing time: 5 minutes, 7 seconds]