Chelsea Handler tickets on sale Friday
July 29, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under More from TGIF, Nightlife, Stage
Star-Advertiser Staff
tgif@staradvertiser.com
If you love Chelsea Handler’s E! show, you’ll be happy to know that the “Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang” tour will be stopping off in Honolulu in January.
The provocative comic will be doing a show at the Blaisdell Arena on Saturday, Jan. 15, with tickets going on sale starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
Her outrageous cable TV show “Chelsea Lately” has been E! Entertainment’s most popular program since its debut in July 2007. The talk show is filled with commentary on the celebrity culture upon which Handler loves to dish.
Tickets are $45, $55 and $65, and will be available at the Blaisdell Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets at Walmart locations on Oahu and the Sports Gear Warehouse in Windward Mall, charge-by-phone at (800) 745-3000, and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
DHT big winner once again at Po’okela Awards
July 27, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under Featured, Latest News, Stage
John Berger / jberger@staradvertiser.com
“Miso” cast members Elissa Dulce (winner, Featured Female in Play), left, Charlotte Dias, Allan Okubo (winner, Leading Male in a Play), Eric Nemoto (winner, Featured Male in a Play) and Jessica Y.L. Ka ‘uhane (winner, Leading Female in a Play) pose for a picture during the 2010 Po’okela Awards.
By John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com
Perennial front-runner Diamond Head Theatre emerged as the biggest winner once again when the Hawaii State Theatre Council announced the recipients of the 2010 Po’okela Awards last night at the Koolau Golf Club.
DHT received 27 awards spread across 15 of the 22 categories, with its spring production of “Guys and Dolls” accounting for eight of them. Manoa Valley Theatre and The Actors Group tied for second place in the awards tally with 17 each. Productions by All The World’s A Stage, Army Community Theatre, Hawaii Pacific University, the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival, ’Ohi’a Productions and the Paliku Theatre also received awards.
Three other community theater groups — Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Kumu Kahua and the University of Hawaii at Manoa theater program — choose not to participate in the Po’okela Awards. Read more
PICS: ‘Last Laugh Friday Comedy Kanikapila’ at Don Ho’s
July 25, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under Featured, Nightlife, Picture Blogs, Stage
Photos by FL Morris / fmorris@staradvertiser.com
Kaleo Pilanca, left, and Kenny Hune perform together at Don Ho’s Island Grill last Friday.
Star-Advertiser Staff
tgif@staradvertiser.com
KP Entertainment and Nahenahe Surf Co. teamed with Vacations Hawaii and Primo Beer last Friday to present “Last Laugh Friday Comedy Kanikapila” at Don Ho’s Island Grill.
102.7 Da Bomb’s Kaleo Pilanca and Hawaiian Ryan were joined by OC-16’s Champ Kaneshiro and special guests during the show, which takes place every last Friday of the month through Oct. 29 at the Aloha Tower restaurant. For more details about the next show, call 429-8255. Read more
Review: ‘Nine’ helps raise funds for Army Commmunity Theatre
July 25, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under More from TGIF, Reviews, Stage
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’
July 25, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under More from TGIF, Reviews, Stage
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
Review: ‘Sound of Music’
July 16, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under More from TGIF, Reviews, Stage
Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com
Rodgers & Hammerstein, Howard Lindsey and Russel Crouse didn’t write “The Sound of Music” as a political statement but 50 years after the show first opened on Broadway the issues it addresses are surprisingly topical.
Georg Ludwig von Trapp had served with honor in the Austro-Hungarian navy in World War I but although an ally of Germany in that war he despised the Nazis who’d come to power in the ‘30s and opposed their plans to unite two German-speaking nations into a “Greater Germany,” Friends urged him to keep his personal reservations to himself, but after the two countries were peacefully united von Trapp was recalled to service – this time in the German navy, and subject to the orders of a government whose policies he disagreed with.
Who could have anticipated in 1959 that many Americans would find themselves in similar situations in the years to come?
So much for politics! It’s the story of the unlikely romance between Captain von Trapp and a young would-be nun, and the glorious Rodgers & Hammerstein songs, which have made the show a Broadway classic. Diamond Head Theatre’s season-closing production of the ever-popular Broadway blockbuster brings the political issues to the table while simultaneously doing justice to the stirring love story and some of the popular songs in 20th century musical theater – “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” among them. Read more
Review: ‘Once Upon One Time’
July 11, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under Latest News, More from TGIF, Reviews, Stage
Review by John Berger
jberger@staradvertiser.com
Country star Tim McGraw’s recent hit, “If You’re Reading This,” includes the words: “If you’re reading this / There’s gonna come a day / When you’ll move on / And find someone else / And, Baby, that’s OK.”
Manoa Valley Theatre’s summer production of “Once Upon One Time” shows that the sentiment can apply equally well to theater.
The show is the first community theater production of playwright Lisa Matsumoto’s definitive pidgin musical since her tragic death in 2007, and only the second time another actor has had to play a role Matsumoto wrote and developed for herself. The tight-knit core group of actors Matsumoto featured in her shows over the years are absent for other reasons, but their absence heightens the sense of moving on. MVT guest director Elitei Tatafu Jr., and his talented cast make that surprising easy to do.
After all, the show is still her ever-popular amalgamation of ideas from MAD magazine, Rocky & Bullwinkle’s “Fractured Fairy Tales,” Kent “K.K. Ka‘umanua” Bowman, and Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First?” routine. It’s a recipe that never gets old for Hawaii audiences, and, as always, the comic characters stand out. Read more
Hawaii Theatre focuses on Hawaiian culture this weekend
July 8, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under For the Family, More from TGIF, Stage
Star-Advertiser Staff
tgif@staradvertiser.com
The Hawaii Theatre downtown will be busy this weekend with two special presentations.
On Saturday, it’s “Hollywood Goes Hawaiian,” showcasing three classic movies.
The 1939 film “Honolulu,” starring Eleanor Powell, will show at 1 p.m., followed by 1942’s “Song of the Islands” at 3 p.m., starring Betty Grable. At 5 p.m., see John Ford’s 1963 movie “Donovan’s Reef,” with John Wayne.
Ticket prices in advance are $7 general admission and $2 for those 18 and under; general admission at the door is $12.
At 4 p.m. Sunday, noted halau hula will gather for “‘Ahihi Lehua: For the Love of Hula.”
Kumu hula Robert Uluwehi Cazimero, Vicky Holt Takamine, Mapuana de Silva, Michael Pili Pang, Maelia Loebenstein Carter and Manu Boyd combine talents for an afternoon ‘aha mele featuring scores of dancers and chanters, with nahenahe Hawaiian music by the Brothers Cazimero, Kawika Trask & Friends and more. The concert will serve as a benefit for the Hawaii Theatre Center and participating halau hula.
Tickets for Sunday’s show are $25; call 528-0506 or visit www.hawaiitheatre.com.
Do It: ‘Once Upon One Time’
July 8, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under Do It, For the Family, Stage
Star-Advertiser Staff
tgif@staradvertiser.com
The popular pidgin musical comedy “Once Upon One Time” is in revival.
Written by the late Lisa Matsumoto, with a libretto by Paul Palmore and Roslyn Catracchia, the production adapts and intertwines familiar fairy tales into a fun Hawaiian-kine fantasy for the whole family.
The action takes place in a mythical local kingdom where outrageous characters meet for one crazy, kapakahi adventure.
Characters include Noelani an da Six Menehunes, Kekoa and Maile, Red Rose Haku, Da Keed Who Wen Cry Mongoose, and many more. Featured actors include Pomai Lopez, Tesia Worley, Jessica Kauhane, Daryl Bonilla, KoDee Martin and Leilyn Lui.
Catracchia is guest music director, Elitei Tatafu Jr. guest director, and Kat Jones guest choreographer.
» Where: Manoa Valley Theatre, 2833 E. Manoa Road
» When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 8
» Cost: $35 general admission, $30 for seniors and military, $20 for those under 26 years old
» Info: 988-6131 or www.manoavalleytheatre.com
» Note: All seats are non-reserved
Do It: ‘Auli’i: The Last Menehune of Nu’uanu’
July 1, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under Do It, Stage
Star-Advertiser Staff
tgif@staradvertiser.com
Spend an evening reliving old Hawaii with Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus as they present “Auli‘i: The Last Menehune of Nu‘uanu.”
Written by Herb Mahelona, this two-act opera, based on a Hawaiian legend, is the end product of “OPERAtunities,” a three-week intensive opera course of students in grades 4 to 12.
» Where: Sacred Hearts Academy Auditorium, 3253 Waialae Ave.
» When: 7 p.m. tomorrow; also 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday
» Cost: $10 general admission, $8 for students and seniors (advance tickets available online)
» Info: 521-2982, www.hyoc.org
