‘Once on This Island’ extended through Oct. 10

Paliku Theatre manager Tom Holowach announced Wednesday that the production run of “Once on This Island” has been extended for an additional weekend.

Performances are now scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 10.

Click here to read Honolulu Star-Advertiser theater critic John Berger’s review of the show. Click here to purchase tickets.

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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PICS: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ opening night

Photos by Bruce Asato / basato@staradvertiser.com

The opening night of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” at the Blaisdell Concert Hall on September 21, 2010.

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: In Yo Face Improv at theVenue

Photos by Bruce Asato
basato@staradvertiser.com

‘Sing-A-Long Sound of Music’ will debut at the Hawaii Theatre

By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@staradvertiser.com

The hit show “Sing-A-Long Sound of Music” will debut at the Hawaii Theatre October 1 through 3.

The fun presentation of the classic 1965 movie musical with audience participation has logged thousands of performances in nine different countries since its debut in England of August 1999.

The audience will get a vocal warm-up and packs of special props that will be used throughout the movie. A costume competition is also part of the festivities (dressing up is not compulsory, but it is encouraged).

Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1 and 2; and a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. $17 general admission ($12 theater members), and a special $7 price for those 17 and under for the Sunday performance.
Call 528-0506 or visit www.hawaiitheatre.com.

PICS: ‘The Movement’ at McKinley High School

Photos by Dennis Oda / doda@staradvertiser.com

Now in its fourth year, Island Fire Productions‘ annual “The Movement and New Dance Workshop” continues to bring together Honolulu dancers with some of the most popular crews from MTV’s “Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew.” The two Saturday performances featured Poreotics (pictured above), Hype 5-0, Hypersquad, 24/7 Dance Force Studio, Honolulu Dance Studio, Studio 808, Nixpac, Iolani Dancers, Pas De Deux and Applause Dance Company.

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AUDIO: Shanghai Children’s Palace visits Honolulu

Video by Steven Mark / smark@staradvertiser.com

By Steven Mark
smark@staradvertiser.com

Imagine a Juilliard Institute, a “Fame” school and perhaps a Bela Karolyi Gymnastics Institute rolled into one, and you might have the equivalent of the Shanghai Children’s Palace.

The Children’s Palace, founded by Soong Ching Ling, wife of Sun Yat-Sen, the founder of modern China and an ‘Iolani grad, was the first arts and academic institution for children to be established in the Peoples Republic of China, and remains one of its most prestigious. A group of 45 children from the institution will be giving a performance tonight showcasing the many young artists who study at the school.

This is the fourth time that the Shanghai Children’s Palace has sent a group to Hawaii, but the first in nearly 10 years. The government-backed organization has also sent group to perform at the White House and throughout Europe and Asia.

The Olana Ai Hula Halau will be joining the visitors to make it a multicultural affair.

Shanghai Children’s Palace
featuring 45 of China’s most talented children
» When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
» Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall, 777 Ward Ave.
» Cost: $15-$35
» Call: 591-2211 or 286-0506

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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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

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