Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Photo by Bruce Asato / basato@staradvertiser.com

The Beast (Justin Glaser) confronts Belle (Liz Shivener) for the first time in a scene from “Beauty and the Beast,” which opened in Honolulu on Tuesday.

Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com

Kids love stories that involve adults struggling to learn things or master social skills that are part of their own recent life experiences. That’s one reason NETworks’ production of “Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’” is such perfect children’s entertainment.

The show opened its two-week run in the Blaisdell Concert Hall on Tuesday, and when the kids in the audience were watching the Beast trying to tamp down his temper and speak politely, it was obvious they understood that he was having a hard time trying to say, “please” — and that they could relate.

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Review: ‘The Beginning of the Ed’

REVIEW BY JOHN BERGER
jberger@staradvertiser.com

Labs are by definition a place where experiments are conducted. Some experiments are successful. Others are not. The University of Hawaii-Manoa’s Late Night Theatre season opener, “The Beginning of the Ed,” is one of the latter.

W.M. Balou’s script is described as a “mash up” of “Oedipus the King” and “Romeo and Juliet” and includes characters from both tragedies. It’s a concept that worked quite well for MAD magazine and Rocky & Bullwinkle’s “Fractured Fairy Tales” decades ago but there is a tremendous difference between being funny and Trying-To-Be-Funny. Silliness is no substitute for good writing — silliness prevails here.

Ed Ipus (Jenn Thomas) eventually discovers that his wife is also his mother but the discovery is neither tragic nor comic. Julie, a “valley girl”-type also played by Thomas, dies several times, as do Romeo (D’neka Patten) and Capulet (Jillian Blakkan-Struss), all with the same lack of entertainment value.

Director Chris McGahan’s best idea is the scene where two characters fight while the unidentified sound man plays a recording of what sounds like an original “fight song.” There’s also a quick sight gag in the scene where James Schirmer is playing a shepherd and pulls out a blackboard with sheep drawn on it. There is also an insider line about how “nobody reads the director’s notes” in a playbill.

That’s as good as it gets.

McGahan and almost every member of the cast has done better work in previous UH productions, but then they all had better material to work with.

Spoof these classic plays? Parody them? Satirize them? It’s been done many times before and done much better than this.

“The Beginning of the Ed”
Where: Earle Ernst Lab Theatre, UH-Manoa
When: 11 p.m. tonight (9/17) and tomorrow (9/18)
Cost: $10 general admission ($8 UH faculty/staff, seniors, military and students; $UHM students w/current student ID)
Info: 956-7655 or www.hawaii.edu/kennedy

PICS: Society of Seven ‘homecoming’ an instant hit

Photos by Bruce Asato / basato@staradvertiser.com

The Society of Seven reopened their show at the Outrigger Waikiki with excellent music and comedic antics, but also turned patriotic with a medley of patriotic songs, ending with Tony Ruivivar, Alika Santos, Arshiel Calatrava, Bert Sagum and Hoku Low at the front of the stage singing “God Bless the USA” as Roy Venturina, Wayne Wakai and Vincent Mendoza played in the background.

Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com

Rule Number One in show business is that if something works, you don’t mess with it.

Tony Ruivivar developed a winning formula for the Society Of Seven some 40 years ago, and the opening of the SOS’s “homecoming” show last night proved that Ruiviviar’s formula is still a winner. Old-time nightlifers who remember the SOS from their heyday in the 1970s and ‘80s can count on embracing this latest production by Waikiki’s once-and-forever super show group. Anyone seeing the SOS for the first time is certain to leave a fan.

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PICS: Air Supply mixes old with new at Blaisdell

Photos by Jason Genegabus / jason@staradvertiser.com

Graham Russell plays to the crowd during Air Supply’s concert last night at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

By Jason Genegabus
jason@staradvertiser.com

It’s been 35 years since soft rockers Air Supply formed in Australia, and original members Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock still can’t get away from the love jams that made them famous in the ’70s and ’80s.

For nearly 90 minutes last night at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, the duo — with a young, energetic four-piece backing band in tow — made sure to play a number of tracks easily found on the band’s greatest hits albums and still played in regular rotation to this day in local karaoke bars.

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Review: Temptations, Four Tops impressive at Blaisdell

Photos by FL Morris / fmorris@staradvertiser.com

Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com

The musical magic of classic Motown was in full effect last night as the Temptations and the Four Tops played a high-energy double-bill for several thousand fans at Blaisdell Arena.

The Tops opened the show, the Tempts closed it, and that worked out well all the way around. The Tops wore loose-fitting tropical white suits, did some dancing while they sang, and performed for an hour. The Tempts came out in sharp black tuxedo suits and thrilled the crowd with the precise tightly synchronized choreography that has been a signature part of their stage shows for more than 45 years. Much of the Tempts’ 70-minute set was almost like watching the “Classic Five” of the mid-60s with the original gestures, hand movements and intricate footwork intact.

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Review: ‘Return to Waikiki’ a welcome addition

Photos by Cindy Ellen Russell / crussell@staradvertiser.com

Pua La’a and Kali Kekuku perform hula during Makana’s new show, “Return to Waikiki,” held at the International Market Place. Pictured in back, from left, Lono Kaumeheiwa, Makana and Keoki Lopez.

Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com

History can be a tough sell in Waikiki. Kathy Paulo did a beautiful one-woman show about Ainahau, the long-since-demolished home of Princess Kaiulani; the show brought some visitors to tears with images of the concrete jungle now in place there — it didn’t last long.

Roy Tokujo tried twice to share the history of Waikiki in “Waikiki nei” without either whitewashing the facts or offending visitor industry power brokers; he failed both times. Makana is doing much better sharing the history of Hawaiian music in his ambitious new dinner show, “Return to Waikiki.” Read more

Review: MUTEMATH at Pipeline Cafe

Photos by FL Morris / fmorris@staradvertiser.com

Review by Gary Chun
gchun@staradvertiser.com

Sometimes, you just have to thank your lucky stars that you were able to witness a concert special enought that it will be talked about for months.

That happened last night at Pipeline Cafe, when New Orleans rock band MUTEMATH made their Hawaii debut. In the parlance of performers, MUTEMATH “killed it.”

Even though the band has had a few forays into the national limelight, thanks to songs like “Typical,” “Spotlight” and “Backfire,” the quartet of guitarist Greg Hill, singer-keyboardist Paul Meany, bassist Roy Mitchell Cardenas and drummer Darren King have really made their reputation as a live band. Here in Honolulu, they didn’t disappoint at all, making many new fans.

The tightly focused set they played may have been one they’ve done many times on the road before, but the guys didn’t phone it in. MUTEMATH played with commitment and verve, and besides Meany, who is a charismatic frontman with a fine voice, everybody had their moment to shine.

Putting King and his drum kit along the front line as part of the stage setup was a brilliant idea, because the man is a show unto himself, as he and rhythm-mate Cardenas attacked the songs’ beats and grooves with an authority that can be traced back to the band’s Nawlins roots. Hill’s guitar sound was at times reminiscent of the Edge’s approach in the early years of U2, with its chiming notes and chords.

The strength of MUTEMATH’s sound is its ability to draw on the strengths of all kinds of music. Their hit songs sound great live — the buildup in “Typical” blew me away — and when they go off on rhythmic tangents, like during the extended encore, MUTEMATH always finds its way back home.

And I give props to Meany, who acknowledged the memory of Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole by leading the band through a toned-down, reggae-groove version of “Peculiar People” that wouldn’t sound out of place in any given local club. By night’s end, the Pipeline crowd had succumbed to — taking a phrase from the band’s song “Control” — the “beautiful surrender” of MUTEMATH’s music.

The band’s return to the islands wouldn’t be too soon.

Abby and John Garland, a husband and wife couple out on “date night” at the concert.

Hiwa Brown, left, and Lance Chang.

Melanie Rudkiewicz, left, and Shin Ko.

Tiare Thomas, left, and Brandon Apeles.

Joe Huihui, left, and Erin Higa.

Natalie Phoenix.

PICS: Persian Excursion and Shopping List headline ‘Art+Flea’

Photos by Cindy Ellen Russell / crussell@staradvertiser.com

Persian Excursion lead singer Robert Bidigare performs amongst the crowd at Fresh Cafe’s “Art+Flea” last Thursday.

Review by Gary Chun
gchun@staradvertiser.com

The indie rock scene in Honolulu has never been livelier.

At venues like Fresh Cafe and in the downtown area, there are any number of showcases featuring bands of all kinds. Following the “Art+Flea” market at the Kakaako gathering spot last Thursday, four bands played 20-minute sets until midnight, showing the range of musics that are being played. Read more

Review: ‘Nine’ helps raise funds for Army Commmunity Theatre

Courtesy Army Community Theatre

The cast of “Nine.”

Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com

The show was staged in a theater rather than in some neighbor’s old barn the way the Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland did it in the those classic Hollywood movies, but with Larry Paxton starring as Guido Contino, and some of Hawaii’s most talented women as Paxton’s co-stars, Brett Harwood’s weekend production of “Nine” lived up to expectations as a precedent-setting two-night fund-raiser for cash-strapped Army Community Theatre.

Paxton, who starred in Diamond Head Theatre’s fully-staged version of “Nine” in 1998, was superb once again playing Guido in an “in concert” version in which he his co-stars wore formal attire and performed on a bare multi-level stage with members of musical director Melina Lillios’ orchestra on each side of them. Several scenes were enhanced with choreographed movement, but no sets or costumes were necessary to do justice to the story, the lyrics and the score.

Guido, a brilliant and unconventional film director, is dreading his 40th birthday. His last three films have been “flops,” and although he is supposed to start shooting a new film he has no idea what the story is going to be. He hasn’t even started writing the script and one of the investors is threatening legal action.

Then, on the brink of ruin, inspiration strikes — he’ll improve a movie about Casanova with a script based on his own life experiences! Read more

Review: Mead is masterful in ‘Measure for Measure’

Courtesy Hawaii Shakespeare Festival

Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com

Stephen Mead’s brilliant performance in the title role of the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Shylock” in 2008 illuminated every facet of the character of one of Shakespeare’s most complicated villains. He returns this year again playing the villain – although a less complicated and more comical one — with the pivotal role of Angelo in director Linda Johnson’s HSF production of “Measure for Measure.” Mead’s scenes are some of the best in the show.

Duke Vincentio leaves Angelo to rule Vienna while he attends to matters of state outside the city. A law on the books makes “fornication” a capital offense and although Duke Vincentio has not enforced it Angelo decides that public morality will be best served by executing of a young nobleman named Claudio for that offense. Claudio’s guilt is obvious — his fiancée, Juliet, is pregnant and soon to give birth.

Claudio’s friend, Lucio, takes a message from death row to the condemned man’s sister, Isabella, a novice nun, begging her to go Angelo and plead for mercy.
Isabella, young and innocent, does so. Angelo, who appears to have been a pillar of moral rectitude until that moment, falls deeply in lust with her. After much hemming and hawing, false starts and innuendos, Angelo eventually informs Isabella that he will spare her brother’s life in exchange for her virginity – in other word, committing the same act with Isabella that Claudio is to die for.

The difference, of course, is that Claudio wants to marry Juliet. All Angelo wants is Isabella’s virginity. Read more

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