Category: Reviews

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again…

Never say never…

Quitters never win…

These are the take-away messages of “Tick, Tick … Boom!,”  which marks Lin-Manuel Miranda’s debut as a film director, paying a stunning  homage to the late Jonathan Larson.

The biopic currently is streaming on Netflix.

This is a rare, rousing and resourceful adaptation of an autobiographical musical by Larson that no one ever saw, because the composer just couldn’t find a producer to buy into it. It is highly targeted to the Broadway community, with a number of familiar names and some vague faces that appear in cameos that provide somewhat of a sideshow – a guessing game to name all the Broadway elites that appear in brief sightings.

“Superbia” was Larson’s unknown quest to make the big time in the Broadway of the 1990s, and clearly, he gave his heart and soul into the project, notably struggling to complete a key tune in what he hoped would be the selling point of his show.

The film also is a revelation of how difficult it is to make art; an anguished  Larson feels like a failure because he’s pushing 30 and he can’t reel in the greenlight for someone to produce his work. He muses that Stephen Sondheim, an iconic composer, had his first show produced at age 27. Hence, his clock is tick-ticking away.

But like the highwire act in a circus, who falls but eventually redeems himself by hitting the tightwires again, Larson eventually accepted his first failure by making a second impression, creating the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning “Rent,” a hit among the Bohemian crowd of the era. But reality provided added drama in the Larson legacy:  he died on the eve of the premiere of the show, and never was able to enjoy his eventual success and the impact “Rent” made in the annals of Broadway history.

Garfield, a star of film and stage, projects the empathy and embodies the energy of a conflicted Larson and gets into the skin of the composer, providing a powerful voice and a convincing presence on the keyboards. He had never sung publicly till he took on this film. It’s a performance worthy of Oscar consideration.

Alexandra Shipp plays Larson’s girlfriend Susan and becomes part of the tension in a problematic relationship. Other key secondary  characters are Vanessa Hudgens as singer Karessa Johnson workshopping the show and Robin de Jesus as Michael, Larson’s best friend and ex-actor roommate.

With Miranda at the helm, the cast is peopled with high-caliber actors. The man behind two huge Tony-winning Broadway hits, the earlier “In the Heights” and “Hamilton,”  is unashamed to appear in cameos himself in his own films, so it’s no surprise that he has a brief scene — ditto, his real-life father, Luis Miranda Jr.– here.

But look for a galaxy of Broadway greats:

—Judith Light portrays Larson’s agent, whose advice is to write about what you know.

— Bradley Whitford is Sondheim, looking convincingly like the real deal. While Sondheim does not actually appear in the film himself, it’s his real voice in the scene where Larson listens to the message that his show is a no-go but provides the challenging advice of encouragement to move on and keep working on his craft.

— Joel Grey is best known for his Oscar-winning role as the emcee in the film version of the musical, “Cabaret.”

— Phylicia Rashad is a Tony winner for “A Raisin in the Sun” but best known for playing Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”

 — Brian Stokes Mitchell is a Tony winner for “Kiss Me Kate” and other musicals like “Ragtime.”

— Andre-DeShields earned a Tony as Hermes in “Hadestown.”

— A cluster of Miranda’s colleagues from “Hamilton,” including Phillipa Soo, who originated the role of Eliza; Renee Elise Goldsberry, who won a Tony for her Angelica role; and Christopher Jackson, who played George Washington in “Hamilton,” and now co-stars in the TV drama, “Bull.”

— Bebe Neuwirth is a Tony winner for “Chicago” and “Sweet Charity,” also is remembered for TV’s “Cheers” and for playing Morticia Addams” in Broadway’s “The Addams Family.”

— Chita Rivera is a 10-time Tony nominee and three-time Tony winner, known for her portrayal of Anita in “West Side Story” and Velma in “Chicago.”

— Bernadette Peters, who originated roles in Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George” and “Into the Woods,” is a prolific actress in such hits as “Follies,” “Gypsy,” “A Little Night Music,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Hello, Dolly!”

— Beth Malone is a Tony nominee for “Fun Home.”

— A trio of original cast members from “Rent,” including Adam Pascal (Roger), Daphne Rubin-Vegas (Mimi) and Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel) are recognizable.

— Stephen Schwartz is the prolific composer and lyricist of a string of Broadway hits, including “Wicked,” “Pippin” and “Godspell.”

“Sunday,” the pivotal tune inspired by the Sondheim hit “Sunday in the Park With George,” is one of the key scenes in the film, set in the Moondance Diner enabling most of the aforementioned Broadway luminaries to assemble and reflect in Steven Levenson’s script to party hearty as Larson’s clock is ticking.

Actual footage of Larson performing at the keyboards during the end credits validates the concept and scope of his art-making magnified throughout the film in Garfield’s performance.

With the airing earlier this week of the last of 10 episodes of “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.,” it’s time to reflect on and endorse a second season for the Disney+ Hawaii-based, Hawaii-filmed show.

Without doubt, “Doogie” is the best thing to happen here since sliced pineapple.

It’s authentic, credible, consistent, groundbreaking and professional, from top to bottom.

OK, its inspiration is yesteryear’s Neil Patrick Harris medical sitcom, “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” reshaped and rebooted with a new spin – updated for today, wholly filmed here, boasting more local faces on camera and off whose presence glows and certifies the show as a bona fide Hawaii gem.

Simply, this one  is a measuring rod and a model of execution for other filmed-in-the-islands productions to adopt. It’s got the visual integrity among its population of characters and actors, knowing looks matter more than the visitor-appealing customary sights and scenes of tropical Hawaii filling network series.

An unlikely lass named Lahela becomes a doctor at 16 and is conflicted with high school expections, so it’s simultaneously an homage to the original sitcom and a journey  for modern times. Lahela has to deal with surgeries, as a certified medic, but she struggles to get her driver’s license and boyfriend decisions, too. Like, should he go pro as a paid surfer and leave his lovey-dovey at home?  Domestic  matters compete with hospital commitments, too, because mom Dr. Clara Hannon (played by Kathleen Rose Perkins) rules at home yet doubles as her hospital administrator. It’s a unique balancing act of tough, often hilarious, situations.

Peyton Elizabeth Lee portrays the titular character, and she’s perky, cute, charming and respectful, a lofty inspiration for aspirational kids. While she might look like the kid down the street, she is New York-born but her hapa looks fit the template of the show.

Lahela’s world quickly becomes our world, a tropical paradise with sunny skies, verdant seas, and laced with teen issues and complications that intersect both her medical career and her peers.

Her family is our family – and this is the show’s strength and attraction: most of the actors playing real-life roles look like us. Asian, Hawaiian, haole, hapa. It’s a rainbow collection of normalcy for us folks in the islands.

The show, adapted by Hawaii-born Kourtney Kang, is based on the original series by collaborators Steven Bocho and David E. Kelley which aired on ABC for four seasons and made Harris a star from the get-go.

Its localness surely was a draw for Jason Scott Lee, an actor somewhat semi-retired and residing on the Big Island, to return to active acting playing Benny Kamealoha, Lahela’s appealing and  often off-center dad, who operates a shave ice-and-flowers wagon and proves to be the most natural and adorable pidgin-spouting cast member with a most congenial smile and laughter. Lee, who likely really didn’t need the work, must’ve sensed an opportunity to jump-start his on-and-off Hollywood credits. He played Bruce Lee in a biopic early in his career, portrayed the King of Siam in a London musical mounting of “The King and I,” and last was seen on the big screen as the antagonist Bori Kahn in Disney’s live-action “Mulan.”

The Kamealoha clan includes Matt Sato as the elder son, Kai Kamealoha; he is wickedly funny, with a head of wavy hair that attracts attention, and teen girls adore him. His roots are in Mililani, the westside Oahu community, and his occasional sibling friction with sister Lahela could be stuff your kids argue about.   

Wes Tian as Brian Patrick Kamealoha, the youngest son/brother, is from Chicago but convincingly fits into the ohana. He brings a wry comedic spin to the plate.

Several secondary players – Alex Aiono, as Lahela’s boyfriend Walter Camara, from Phoenix;  Emma Meisel, as Lahela’s BFF Steph Denisco, from Los Angeles; Mapuana Makia as nurse Noelani Hakayama , from Maui; and Ronny Chieng, as Dr. Lee, from  Malaysia; and Jeffrey Boyer-Chapman, as nurse Charles, from Canada – complete the mixed plate inner circle of the show.

For the out-of-town crews, both on and off camera, onetime Hollywood producer Chris Lee, has served as a consulting producer, to provide kokua and guidance from his decades-long savvy in film production. So a shout-out to Lee, who helps make wrongs right in his oversight.

The John A. Burns School of Medicine, an actual University of Hawaii working “campus” for future doctors in training at Kewalo Basin, has a key role weekly on “Doogie Kamealoha.” The show’s hospital wing utilizes available space at JABSOM, which occasionally shows off the glories of the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head in overhead or distance shots.

The show’s concluding chapter, episode 10, was as good as it gets – capped by the last of three guest-role appearances of the late Al Harrington, who played Uncle John. He died several weeks ago, after completing his guest spots,  and a closing acknowledgement of his passing was a noble send-off. And the oooh-oooh voicing of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole singing his iconic version of “Over th Rainbow,” was a defining moment that demonstrated the show’s prowess and power of a lingering episodic comedy.

A final observation: Lahela’s monologue at the concluding moments of each show — where she composes and spouts observations of life and love, speaking from the heart for her online blog – serves as a flashpoint of humanity and honesty, akin to the family dinners of “Blue Bloods,” where the day’s or week’s concerns are discussed and resolved with truth and inspiration.

Hope Lahela continues this tradition…in the not-yet-announced second season. …

And that’s Show Biz …