Two popular restaurants shut their doors in March.
Sayonara: Hokkaido Ramen, the tiny Japanese eatery in the Kaimuki municipal parking lot, served its last meals in early March. Regulars loved the friendly staff and besides great food, the prices were reasonable Hokkaido will be missed…
Romano’s Macaroni Grill at Ala Moana Center also has closed.
A lockdown: Romano’s Macaroni Grill, at the Ala Moana Center, apparently closed abruptly, even locking out surprised staff workers reporting for work on March 2. Certainly not the way to call it quits. In its prime, Macaroni was a popular family and date destination, with Italian fare affordably price. Online chatter mentions declining quality, and the usual matter of competition in a tight economy when higher prices are charged for everything from bread to coffee…
Liliha Bakery has shelved its coffee pot, shown behind the cup of coffee.
Speaking of coffee: As a longtime and frequent patron of breakfast (lunch and dinner, too sometimes) at Liliha Bakery at Macy’s Ala Moana, I noticed that the usually mini pot of coffee, always there when you ordered coffee, has disappeared. You still can get a refill by asking the server, but often, it’s a task to find the wait staffer because of the flock of diners. That silver coffee pot was a trademark of the Liliha experience. Wonder if that basket of the grilled dinner roll, with Liliha’s red jelly in the tiny container, might be the next to go?…
Brother Noland (Conjugacion), who marked his Waikiki comeback last month with a two-night gig at Blue Note Hawaii at the Outrigger Waikiki resort, embarks on round two of his planned re-entry on the club scene.
His next pair of shows will be on the Big Island, as follows:
April 11, at 7 p.m., at the Kaleiopapa Convention Center, at the Outrigger Kona Resort, at 78-128 Ehukai St., Kailua-Kona. Tickets: $45, general admission, at www.brothernoland.com
April 12, at 7 p.m., at the Palace Theatre, in downtown Hilo’s waterfront. Tickets: $45, priority seating, $35 general admission, in advance; $5 extra on day of performance. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Brother Noland, at Blue Note Hawaii. He’s Big Island bound in April.
Noland’s Island Incredibles, his powerhouse all-star group, will perform in both shows. The group features Noland on guitars and vocals, with Gaylord Holomalia on keyboards, David Garibaldi on drums, Kata Maduli on bass, Michael Ruff on keyboards, Tavana on guitars, Fred Schreuders on guitars, Olivia Ruff on vocals, and Lila Chris on vocals.
Noland is introducing three new singles – “Ride the Water”, “Walkabout”, and “Las Vegas” –in the shows, notable for the group’s alter-native rhythms and funky grooves, embracing dynamic vocals that take Noland beyond the reef with his socko sound…
Locals loved Chamberlain’s ‘Island Sons’
Actor Richard Chamberlain, who died Saturday (March 29) following a stroke in Waimanalo, would have been 91 today (March 31).
Richard Chamberlain
While he was considered the king of the mini-series, because of his vast successes with the likes of “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds,” locals adored him for his Honolulu-based “Island Sons” TV series, which was filmed here 25 years after “Dr. Kildare,” was his first big success where he portrayed a physician.
I remember some women here mentioned they’d love to be treated by Dr. Daniel Kulani, a doc Chamberlain portrayed at the fictional Kamehameha Medical Center, because of his kind demeanor.
He had a gentle manner, on and off screen, and a sweet singing voice, too, recording the theme song from “Dr. Kildare.” He earned three Golden Globes, for his performance in “Kildare,” “Shogun” and “Thorn Birds.”
The series ran for one season on CBS, during the1989-90 season.
Donations may be made in his name to either NPR or the Hawaiiia Humane Society…
The Kilohana Hula Show, which opened on Feb. 15, 2024, as a free Hawaiian music and hula attraction at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell Amphitheater, will give its final performance at 9:30 a.m. Monday (March 31).
It was touted as a grand endeavor, with island musicians backing up a cast of hula dancers, sounding and looking like what Hawaii is all about.
The effort has dwindled down into an ensemble of five, still representing the aloha spirt in song and dance. But Kilohana will shut down at the end of the month, in a minimalist program at the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound, where it has been staged three days a week – on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays – since last fall.
Blow the conch shell: Monday’s show be the finale.
Kilohana had great intentions and enviable spirit, when it was launched in the amphitheater chock full of Waikiki visitors filling the seats, but no solid plan to keep the show afloat.
Karen Keawehawaii
One of the troupers from the opening weeks is veteran entertainer Karen Keawehawaii, who also has been a rotating cast member playing for tourists at the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound.
“It’s been a little more than a year,” she said with a tone of sadness, about the finale she’ll be part of, as singer and ukulele player, and a kupuna.
But like any production, payroll becomes a major issue without paid admission.
Kilohana had lofty intentions, envisioned as a replacement, or a new-generation hula spectacle, like the long-running Kodak Hula Show, in same location in the shadows of Diamond Head.
But the Kodak original was sponsored by the camera and film company, the title sponsor of the original show, which ran from 1930 to 2002 without charging an entry fee. The end was somewhat logical; cameras and film were being replaced by telephones with built-in cameras.
Kilohana originators maintained the free-admission policy like its predecessor but clearly struggled with the overhead of a show in a zone defined as a Hawaiian park, forbidding admission charges. At one point, the operators wanted to do an early evening show with paid admission to subsidize the morning shows, which was nixed by the city.
Footnote: Google “Kilohana Hula Show,” and an online image appears with the show’s title, with a “Southwest Presents” credit. However, if the airline became a title presenter, the show has kept it a secret…
Or he’s landed a show with a title that promotes goodness, including luck.
Or quite likely, “Good Night, and Good Luck” was the play Broadway has been anticipating, the one that broke the weekly box office grosses, with a dazzling and dizzying $3.3 million for the week ending March 23.
George Clooney, the actor making his debut on the Great White Way, is the focus of the buzz and the big box office, whose numbers exceeded that of “Othello,” which has Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in the leads, which dropped to No. 3 this week with $2.529 million. But “Wicked,” still defying gravity, remains a secure No.2 with its $2.545 million take.
George Clooney, the star in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” tops Broadway grosses.
“Good Night, and Good Luck” explores a tangle of themes including truth, intimidation, and the courage of corporate media. Clooney, who adapted the play with Grant Hoslov, from the earlier film version, portrays veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow, an iconic CBS anchor, who recreates a historic faceoff with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who, at the height of the Red Scare, attempted to weed out imagined communist infiltration of the U.S. government.
The show gets its name from Murrow’s iconic signature sign-off, “good night, and good luck” at the end of his telecasts.
To understand the economics of the top shows, “Good Night, and Good Luck” is playing at the Winter Garden, which has 1,545 seats, priced from $307.07 to $775. In comparison, “Othello” is unfolding at the Barrymore Theatre, with $1,043 seats and typically selling for $897.
Star wattage is a factor on pricing, and still another element in the formula: “Good Night, and Good Luck” and “Othello” are in limited runs, a common rule when “name” actors are on stage.
But if you’re thinking of heading to New York, seats are available if you decide to score a pair of tickets with your charge cards.
‘Night’ tops Broadway grosses for week ending March 24
“Grease is the word, is the word that you heard “It’s got a groove, it’s got a meaning “Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion “Now, grease is the way we are feeling.”
— From the title tune of “Grease,” the musical
Your first encounter of the show “Grease,” now at Diamond Head Theatre, is an oversized cut-out of a red car frame hanging over the proscenium of the venue, created by set designer Deanne Kennedy.
It is formidable, dominating, and reflecting a precise groove, of the time (circa 1959), the place (Rydell High School), the emotion (nostalgic teen-age angst) of an indefatigable serving of pop culture.
The show’s two centerpiece figures, Danny Zucko (played by Cameron Scot) and Sandy Dumbrowski (portrayed by Sophia Ysrael), initially lack chemistry and spark, like two lost souls from different sides of the railroad tracks. Summer’s over, and they’re back in school, with uncertainties of direction.
They are eventually united in song, dance and romance, in a powerful story tenderly directed by Michael Ng, in collaboration with the agile and imaginative choreography by Dwayne Sakaguchi. They both connect the dots in this familiar journey.
Such teamwork throughout the creative ranks eventually makes “Grease” a well-oiled wonderment, though the ghosts of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John unintentionally linger from a hit film that obstructs the Danny/Sandy relationship.in the stage version. It’s not till Sandy, like the Newton-John’s late-in-the-show remake in a body-clinging leather outfit, that she starts percolating.
Sophia Ysrael is Sandy Dumbrowski in “Grease.” Photo by Brandon Miyagi.
Homecomings can be a snoozer, after all. The point is, unless you’re hip to the relatability of being greased, your presence has ceased.
Two things help bring the magic of “Grease” to life:
— The rich well of rock/pop classics. Happily, DHT has invested in paying extra royalties fees, to enable the cast to sing tracks from the movie, like “Grease,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Sandy” and “You’re the One That I Want.” These titles are solid gold, so the inclusion is a triumph for the audience.
The ensemble offers rigorous dancing in the show’s megamixes. Photo by Brandon Miyagi.
— The use of group vocals and dances by the company of troupers, in moments that might be termed “megamixes” of specific tunes, is part of the process toward satisfaction.. The title song “Grease,” is the essence of time and place and even pace, but melodies like,“Shakin’ at the High School Hop,” “Born to Hand Jive,” and the finale version of “You’re the One That I Want” are hallmark. Karaoke meets disco, resulting in rousing vocals and choreographic explosions.
Secondary characters steal some of the thunder in the show. For instance, Jody Bill as Betty Rizzo, has a leading lady moment, on “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee;” Jantzen Shinmoto as Kenickie puts sizzle into “Greased Lightning;” Kiakahi Kekoa as Roger and Lainey Hicks as Jan shine on “Mooning;” Gabriel Ryan-Kern as Johnny makes “Born to Hand Jive” come alive; and Jeff Andrews as Teen Angel and Parker Kilkenny as Frenchy team up wonderfully on “Beauty School Dropout.”
The hand jive number is one of the megamixes of songs. — Photo by Brandon Miyagi.
A production of this magnitude – with a cast of nearly 30 — requires a vigorous and versatile ensemble: Kirra Baughn, Drew Bright, Victoria Chang, Paul Garcia, Justin Garde, Sammy Houghtailing, Caris Leong, Shane Nishimura, Maggie Ryan, Gabriel Ryan-Kern, Emi Sampson, and Jasmine Weldon provide dependable and exquisite support.
Designer Kennedy’s bag of set tricks work well; besides the car motif at the proscenium, she constructs smaller pieces (like sofa chairs, easier to move) and aerial groupings of signs and ribbons (not a task to fly up and down, and quiet) and scaled-down towers for Rydell High signage (moveable with barely a squeak). Oh, a smart move, too, to position a six-piece orchestra in an elevated stage; nice to see and applaud maestro Darcie Yoshinaga and her seven-piece ork here instead of the invisible pit.
Not certain who gets credit for creating Kenickie’s red car, seemingly a full-sized sedan; is it Kennedy’s vision, or part of the wizardry of Kyle Conner’s props design?
Chris Gouveia’s light design and La Tanya Siliao’s sound design are right on target.
Other background heroes include Emily Lane (costumes) and Aiko Schick (hair and make-up), whose tasks involve scores of color-coordinated gears for men and women, with seemingly unending costume changes, and beaucoup wig creations for the myriad of required looks.
It all adds up to a satisfying funfest…
And that’s Show Biz…
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“Grease”
What: A musical about homecoming teens at Rydell High School, with book and music by Jim Jacobs and Warren Case, with a title tune by Barry Gibb
Where: Diamond Head Theatre
When: Performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; also, at 3 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, through April 20.
