Month: April 2023

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‘MAGNUM’ SETS SUNSET PREVIEW

“Magnum P.I.” surely is a show that has had challenges and bumps in the road following its cancellation from CBS to its reinstatement at NBC.
The show had to postpone its customary “Sunset on the Beach” season-opening episode back in February.

But fans and supporters now can get a sneak peek at Episode 9 – at a “Sunset on the Beach in Waikiki, from 4 p.m. Friday (April 14)  — before the on-air screening at 8 p.m. Sunday (April 16) on NBC. Remember, a budding romance started at the end of season five led to locked lips when season six began last February.

Of course, Jay Hernadez, pictured, who is Thomas Magnum, will appear to introduce he episode, which he directed. Castmates Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill and Tim Kang will also be present.

The revived “Magnum” earned decent ratings that accelerated in the first few weeks,  then numbers dropped a bit, signalling brief doubts about a second season with NBC, even though two seasons were promised at the time of the network switches. Numbers (ratings) matter, after all.

Beachfront entertainment will be provided by Tavana, KAMANAWA with Kalei Kahalewai, kumu Blaine Kamalani Kia, Halau Ka Waikahe Lani Malie and Hālau Kahulaliwai, Johnny Helm, the UH Rally Band and Taimane.

 The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Concessions will be available on site…

A dark comedy about ableism

“You’re NOT Sick,” a dark comedy exploring the role of ableism in contemporary Oahu, will be in a brief run at 7:30 p.m. April 14, 15, 21 and 22 at KOA Theatre, at 780 St. Beretania St.

Corpus Productions is staging the play, based on the real-life experiences of director Kat Rothman, which navigates  a series of frustrating and quirky characters amid the  ableism community. Ableism refers to the discrimination of people with disabilities —with the non-disabled aiming prejudice and discrimination at disabled people, often with a patronizing desire to cure their disabilities by trying to make them normal but treating them instead with inferiority.

Mike Poblete is co-directing the play, depicting a callous doctor, an invasive Uber driver, and for a bit of magical realism, an anthropomorphic spoon.

The cast includes Dan Connell, Hulita Drake, Michael “Donut” Donato, Christine Lamborn, Dylan Chace Lee, Marcus Lee, and Amy K. Sullivan.

Tickets: $25, general admission; $20, military and students.

The  play is being staged in partnership with Aloha Independent Living Hawaii, a nonprofit providing independent living programs and services for persons with disabilities all over Hawaii.

Audience talkbacks will be held after the April 14 and 22 performances with participation from representatives from AILH to discuss how the issues raised in the play provide information on how folks can support our local disabled community…

Dates to log, if you’re tony about Tonys

If you’re a Broadway buff, here are early dates to remember:

Nominations will be announced May 2.

The awards will be held June 11 originating from New York City’s uptown United Palace theater and televised on CBS and Paramount+.

Ariana DeBose,  last year’s host, will return again …

Everything’s coming up grosses

Not surprisingly, “The Phantom of the Opera,” which is finally closing on April 16, continues to be Broadway’s No. 1 attraction.

Surprising, “Hamilton” – for years the consistent No. 1 weekly blockbuster – has been slipping down several notches, initially when Hugh Jackman’s “The Music Man” entered the Broadway marketplace.

The top seven shows:

  • “The Phantom of the Opera,” $3,648 million.
  • “The Lion King,” $2.980 million.
  • “Wicked,” $2.751 million.
  • “Aladdin,” $2.178 million.
  • “Hamilton,” $2.001 million.
  • “MJ The Musical,” $1.845 million.
  • “Funny Girl,” $1.830 million.
  • The grosses for the week, courtesy The Broadway League…

And that’s Show Biz…

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KEVIN: RETIRED BUT STILL ACTIVE

Kevin I, aka Kevin Iwamoto, has formally retired but no doubt will be busier than ever.

Most retirees have hectic, fruitful, and yes, busy lives when they make the plunge. It’s normally because you decide, when you get up in the morning, what you’ll do. You’ll elect to focus on retiree choices: tend to the garden, take more trips, schedule occasional lunches or dinners with friends and family. Or not. You can do absolutely nothing.

A pal from back in the day, Kevin was a recording artist and frequent singer, at local clubs and venues. We’ve known each other for decades – five? six? —when we both young, green and eager to make a difference in our chosen fields.

Kevin’s had many jobs, spanning a spectrum of successes, moving up the business ladder after ending his performance career. It’s not so much that he feared not finding a performing job, but another option – in his case, aspects of business – would be a better foundation.

Me, I prevailed in one and only occupation – a journalist, a reporter, a critic, a columnist – as if my needle was stuck on the record player. Boring, perhaps, but filled with some opportunities but loaded with memories.

Kevin, of course, has had a luminous career and was, and still is, an active voice in the corporate travel industry. Why not? He earned his stripes at TIM, the University of Hawaii’s fabled Travel Industry Management program of the Business College, and he rocked and rocketed, from a Hawaiian Airlines employee to the Bizly biggie, where he was chief strategy officer and head of enterprise. When he retired a few weeks back,  he emerged – when you look back – to be one of the sparkplugs of the corporate travel industry for 35 years. He’ll continue to advocate for the biz travel community, consulting and speaking, as he’s done throughout his career.

Those in the biz world, who worked with and knew Kevin, will attest to his generosity of time and skills, during various facets of his growth as a corporate leader.

Business Travel News named Kevin Travel Manager of the Year in 2001 for accomplishments at Hewett-Packard, and he was named an Industry Icon in 2009, by the National Business Assn. now known as the Global Business Travel Association.

He’s authored books  and  was a prolific blogger for a network of travel biz followers, but he’s not forgotten his Hawaii roots, providing TIM scholarships for UH biz students.

In the past year, his entertainment career made a comeback of sorts, when his vintage vocals became a minor sensation in downloads with surprising sales and response from a network of new fans discovering his ‘80s music. Better late than never.

Ironically, he kept a stash of long-playing vinyl records for years, but discarded a bundle of ‘em when clearing out storage space in Hawaii, a miscue since the discs are  now out of print.

I’ve not traveled with him, but Kevin has frequently met me and my wife  in New York, to do a few touristy things, and we’ve gone to Broadway shows together. In  the summer of 2019, when we took in “Hamilton” together we got to explore the onstage set after the performance. (Those visits were halted because of the pandemic).

We’re hoping to find a mutually workable date this year, to meet up in New York again. And here’s a morsel most folks won’t know about Kevin. He probably doesn’t remember, too,  but he was briefly a journalist in Hawaii and turned the tables on me by conducting and then writing up an interview with me for a local publication.

It was a lovely piece, which I probably still have in box of memories at home.

So Kevin, enjoy your retirement. I know you will likely be the busiest retiree in. your circle, but will make time for activities you want to do, not have to do on your own timetable.

I share these recollections to congratulate Kevin on finally bidding aloha to the work force.

I know our paths would not have criss-crossed if he wasn’t a singer, but fortunately, his job at one time connected with mine as a journalist, and it’s been a blissful intersection and intervention since. …

About Spam and chow fun…

If you savor Spam, it’s old news that McDonald’s in the islands serves Spam as an accompaniment to eggs, in one of its breakfast meals. The other option, you must know, is Portuguese sausage.

These “side” options, however, are not available  at McDonald’s on the Mainland.

Saimin also had been another only-in-Hawaii item at your local McRestaurant, but it was discontinued some time ago…

And lucky you live Hawaii, too, if you like chow fun with your Chinese take-out at Panda Express.

Panda here offers four starch choices (and you pick two):  white rice, fried rice, chow mein or chow fun in plate-lunch portions or in bulk via its Family Feast option. But most Mainland Panda eateries don’t have the chow fun…

Scratch this on your list

Scratch Kitchen in Hawaii Kai – located on the former site of Outback Steakhouse on Kalanianaole Hwy., at the Hawaii Kai Towne Center  – is opening at 9 a.m. Friday (April 14).

No specific details yet, but the restaurant plans to serve brunch (presume breakfast and lunch fare) as well as dinner.

Wish it would open earlier, like 7 a.m., on a trial run, for early birds who want to get breakfast before hitting the road, or retirees who get up early who would likely prefer an earlier time to have chit-chats with breakfast fare. You know, with eggs, bacon, and coffee, in a modified menu and timetable that would fill the void caused by the April closure of Zippy’s dining room at Koko Marina Shopping Center. Take-out counter service continues, but heck, dine-in matters, too.

Also newish at Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, is Tex808 BBQ & Brews, open for lunch and dinner on the waterfront. Ribs and brisket are the prime offerings and happily, there was a good-sized crowd when I visited Saturday night. There was live entertainment, but too loud with amplification. …

Pagoda koi population to downsize

Over at the Pagoda Hotel, you know that Sorabol has taken over the dining rooms, upstairs and downstairs, and in the pagoda clusters amid the ponds which have been home for the resident koi for decades. Korean food prevails in the dining halls.

But the koi population, as well as the scope of the ponds, apparently will be downsized.

The talk is that the koi and the watery element will be focused only in the front area of Sorabol, which means a key attraction on the site will be minimal. You could buy koi food and toss ’em as they swim to get their meals.

If there’s not much water surrounding the dining pods, there will be fewer koi, so the tradition will end, timetable not known.

Pagoda hotel guests still have access to breakfasts served at  the Pagoda ballroom, where shows or special buffet meals prevailed before, but these American meals are not open to the public.  …

And that’s Show Biz. …

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‘LA CAGE:’ GAY, GIDDY AND GLAM

 Note: this column originally was posted on March 29, 2023, after “La Cage Aux Folles” opened at Diamond Head Theatre. The original art appearing here has been replaced with photos by Brandon Miyagi, which DHT provided a few days ago.

“La Cage Aux Folles,” now at Diamond Head Theatre, is a giddy and gorgeous musical bubbling with heart and hilarity, about a gay couple named Georges and Albin who share a home, a nightclub and heartbreak that test their longstanding relationship.

Georges (Guy Merola, grandly showcasing his tenor voice, with substantial operatic presence) operates “La Cage Aux Folles,” a hotspot in St. Tropez, France, where he is the supposed guy in a supposed hetero-homo lifestyle. His partner, Albin (Andrew Sakaguchi, in a career-best expedition as a gorgeous drag queen chanteuse, with abundant swish and sizzle), is the trans whose baritone soars to the high notes, on three-inch pumps and ultra glamorous wigs coupled with body-clinging gowns.

The narrative supposes this is a happy household, where Albin doubles as a “mom” to Jean Michel (Charles Ho, a cutie like the boy next door, who is the 20-something straight son of Georges) from a previous relationship named Sylvia, mentioned but not seen.

Guy Merola as Georges, Andrew Sakaguchi as Albin, the lovers in “La Cage.”

The wrinkle: Jean-Michel visits the couple’s apartment, which adjoins the sexy nightclub, to announce he’s about to marry g.f. Anne (Nanea Allen, also a cutie-beauty). Thus, the calm becomes chaotic, complicated  and challenging, when the tempo and temperature rise.

Based on a play by Jean Poiret, with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, “La Cage” plays unabashedly gay, and preys on cliched and exaggerated manners, gestures and chatter.

But an undercurrent of traditional virtues and values — the respect for lifestyle choices that may not be the norm, the notions of acceptance and empathy, the bond of family harmony  –  echoes a rom-com involving two traditional lovers. Everyone, everywhere and everything become threatened by distortions, fibs and pretense, when, in fact, the show celebrates and humanizes the gayness of the leads.

Director John Rampage, a wizard of spectacle, has assembled a stellar cast to play out the different strains of the rainbow with sentimental turns without resorting to caricature. Sakaguchi doubles as choreographer, with swirls of clubby dancing, surrounding himself with the Cagelles decked out in  eye-filling frou-frou. For the audience, it’s a guessing game to figure out which are women with plumes and sequins, which are men masquerading as exotic dancers on heels.

Merola, who is making a comeback after more than a dozen years away from the stage spotlight, has the best of times when his tenor works its magical spell. His handling of the “Song on the Sand” ballad, with those la-da-da-das, is captivating, and is generously heard twice (in Act 1 as a solo number, in Act 2 as a duet) with Sakaguchi’s powerful, pliable voice in both gentlemanly and womanly modes.

The tension and trauma unfold when the conservative parents of Anne, Edouard Dindon (Joe Martyak, perfect as a big shot bigot) and his wife, Marie Dindon (Kim Anderson, hilarious and open-minded) pay a visit to meet the parents of Jean Michel. The tangled play-out is over-the-top outrageous, but never falls to mockery.

A dinner with Georges (above, left) and Albin (below, right), at Chez Jacqueline Restaurant, formally introduces Jacqueline (Shari Lynn, in a cameo, repeating the role of the restaurant owner), enabling the dependable Shari to  uncork her Jacqueline juice on “The Best of Times,” with Albin and Marie chiming in.

Composer Herman’s score is rich and savory, with two precise, enduring hits — the aforementioned “The Best of Times” and the be-who-you-are anthem, “I Am What I Am”–delivered with precision and pride in an empowering, ecstatic Sakaguchi interpretation that closes Act 1.

At the Saturday night (March 25) performance I attended, La Tanya Faamausili-Siliato’s sound was quirky and uncertain, crackling a few times with feedback. Ouch!

Phil Hidalgo’s music direction — silky smooth and smart, even employing an actor to “play” an accordion onstage — deserves a curtain call, but it’s impossible because the stage pit design disallows the bow. Quel dommage.

Madison Gholston’s first costume design assignment included a boutique-like array of garb, from showgirl glitz to snappy traditional men’s suits, from houseboy uniforms to the stunning formal glam garb donned by Albin, notably in Act 2. Bravo!

And makeup and wig designer Aiko Schick merits kudos for her flamboyant finery, in concert with the varied and imaginative hair design by Shaw Rodriguez. Magnifique!

Georges and Albin, seated, with the chorus of glam Cagelles in the background.

Steven Clear’s light design provided keen sheen, but Dawn Oshima’s set design was a wonderment, with limited utilization of the facility’s fly space, mostly lowering curtains and bejeweled ribbon drops and a couple of painted scenic. There’s still constant reliance of split-sets scenery of the Georges-Albin digs and a French promenade,  wheeled out in sections on wagons instead of aerial drops (too heavy?) from the fly space. Porquoi?

“La Cage Aux Folles” reflects and embraces the joyous era of the musical with songs that audiences can sing or hum as they exit the theater. It also boasts a grand opening overture that includes the key hit songs, a formula of the prolific Rodgers and Hammerstein duo of yesteryear, still a requisite in revivals.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and the “Les Miserables” team of Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil  are among the creative forces who have followed the R&H format, with appealing overtures and scores that produce breakout hit songs.  …

“La Cage Aux Folles”

A musical based on a play by Jean Poiret, with songs and lyrics by  Jerry Herman and book by Harvey Fierstein

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays, through April 9, plus extended shows at 7:30 p.m. April 15 and 4 p.m. April 16

Where: Diamond Head Theatre

Tickets: $27 to $52, at (808) 733-0274 or www.diamondheadtheatre.com …

And that’s Show Biz. …

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BAKERY GOODIES, NOW AND THEN…

Let’s talk bakeries – and pastries.

First, a confession: I’m a fan of sweet treats. Life-long. Not the best of choices, but I can’t resist ‘em.

Some yummy things still exist. Many are long gone.

So, a reflection or two…memories you also may share.

Hall of fame, or gone but not forgotten:

  • The lemon crunch cake, from the old  downtown Alexander Young Hotel Bakery.
  • The red velvet cake, from Sweetheart Bakery, in Makiki.
  • The French doughnut, from Bill’s Bakery in Kapahulu.
  • The peach Bavarian cake, from Kapiolani Bakery.
  • The guava chiffon cake, from Delight Bakery, in Kalihi.
  • The glazed blueberry cake doughnut, from Safeway Bakery.
  • The custard pie, from Bea’s Bakery in Kaimuki.
  • The Japan-style square whole wheat and/or white bread, from Shirokiya Bakery at Ala Moana Center.
  • The humungous glazed yeast doughnut (I used to call ‘em “truck tires”), Kimura Bakery in Kaimuki.
  • The circular crusted bread (don’t recall what it was named), from 9th Avenue Bakery in Kaimuki.
  • The sweet bread rolls, from King’s Bakery (bakery gone, recipe still lives via national distribution and available at markets).

Still present and still delish…

  • The coco puffs, from Liliha Bakery.
  • The Napples apple turnover, from Napoleon Bakery, at Zippy’s.
  • The Chantilly cake, from Napoleon Bakery.
  • The malasadas, from Leonard’s Bakery.
  • The apple fritters doughnut, from McDonald’s (all locations).
  • The coconut haupia pie, served at the Halekulani Hotel’s Orchids restaurant, and apparently available as a dessert slice at the Halekulani Bakery and Restaurant at the Halepuna Hotel across the street from the hotel.

Some other wonderments

  • The Halekulani’s popovers are legendary; back in the day, larger portions were available; now, a smaller version is a huge favorite at the Sunday brunch and served as part of the offerings. The popovers at Neiman Marcus’ Mariposa restaurant hit the spot, too.
  • Are those malasada-like doughnuts, with fillings ranging from apple to custard to chocolate pudding still part of any bakery’s menu? Yes, nowadays, Leonard’s malasadas have fillings, too.
  • Are you a fan of the trendy upscale doughnuts topped with everything like bacon, cereal, nuts of all kinds and laden with specialty frostings?  
  • Anna Miller’s at Pearlridge used to make its marvelous strawberry shortcake; is it only a seasonal offering, or is it off the menu for good?
  • Costco’s bakery options are great for the prices, but the gotta-buy-12 muffins or a dozen large croissants are overwhelming for a household of two. And if you savor the portions, the pumpkin, custard, and apple pies will feed an army. Well, you know what I mean.

Feel free to add your faves to the discussion. Yum’s the word…