Alvin Ing, Pioneering Asian American Broadway Actor, Dies at 89
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Alvin Ing, a pioneering Asian American Broadway actor who appeared in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Pacific Overtures,” died at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif. on July 31. He was 89.
Ing’s representatives said that the fully-vaccinated actor was diagnosed with pneumonia in mid-July and then contracted COVID-19 a few days later. After battling the illness for two weeks, Ing died due to cardiac arrest.
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Born in Honolulu, Ing studied music at the University of Hawaii before moving to New York at age 25 to pursue an acting career. He landed various roles in Off Broadway shows and touring productions before making his Broadway debut in the 1976 original production of Sondheim’s “Pacific Overtures.” He reprised the performance almost 30 years later, when the musical was revived on Broadway in 2004. Ing also starred in the 2002 revival of “Flower Drum Song,” in which he performed the song “My Best Love.”