Category: Show Biz

The 2022 Great Aloha Run will be the 38^th and final one.

So says event founder Carole Kai Onouye, in a Facebook posting to the GAR family and friends.

“It will be ‘Aloha’ to the Stadium,” said Kai. “It’ll be fun and sad at the same time.”

For nearly four decades, the fun run, or walk for those who prefer not to run, has raised more than $15 million for 150 non-profit charitable organizations.

So to be part of a historic finale, mark your calendars – for February 2022, frequently a Presidents Day holiday event but a specific date has not yet been announced. …

Life in the fast Zane

Had lunch with Greg Zane, the busy director-choreographer of  “A Chorus Line,” earlier today at Zippy’s Kahala  and he shared some tidbits about his tenure at Diamond Head Theatre, where the show runs for the last times tonight (Thursday, Aug. 5 through. Sunday Aug. 8 ), which includes the extension dates.

He revealed:

• He’s likely to remain in town, at his family’s Hawaii Kai home, since  he’s committed to direct DHT’s holiday show, Dec. 3 to 19.  He’s retained his New York apartment for obvious reasons: rent is impossibly high, and you’ve got a pad, you’re mad  to  vacate  it.
• Yes, he owns a gold top hat once worn by Tommy Aguilar, his mentor from way back, who played Paul San Marco in the Broadway production as well as originating that role in the London launch. “I don’t know where she got it, but (actress) Devon Guard gave me the hat,” he said, uncertain how she actually acquired the hat, since it had been auctioned off here earlier. And of course, Zane cherishes the costume piece (kept at the family home here) and is hoping to some day locate a jacket the late Aguilar donned.
• He managed to convince DHT management that his cast warranted an opening night bubbly party on stage and was prepared to pay for the champagne himself, till the theater OK’d the toasting.
• He downloaded the playbill data and assembled the pages (as suggested in this space some weeks back) so his mother would have her own playbill while watching the show. DHT has abolished the customary take-home program during the pandemic; it is the lone keepsake for his cast of singers and dancers once the final curtain is drawn.
• Yes, while the orchestrations sound live and crisp at the performances, the music is pre-recorded which is why you don’t see conductor Melina Lillios and her musicians in the vacant orchestral spot at the right of the stage. … 

Up and about

Jeff Peterson, a magician on guitar, gives two concerts at 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 7) at the Manoa Valley Theatre.

Peterson is a beloved Hawaiian music advocate and is a passionate award-winning ki ho‘alu artist, deeply involved with the traditions of the island style strumming. He’s also at home with jazz and classical music.

Tickets are $30, available at www.manoavalley.com, with social distancing protocols in place…

‘Oliver!’ auditions at DHT

Diamond Head Theatre will conduct auditions this weekend for “Oliver!,” its first show of the 2021-2022 season.

Tryouts will be at 7 p.m. Friday (Aug. 6) and 2 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 7) at the theater. Pre-selected time slots, in five-minute increments, must be obtained to participate; walk-ins are not permitted. To seek a time, visit https://www.cognitoforms.com/CrossMediaHawaii/DHTAuditionAppointmentRequestForm

Those with appointment times should arrive 5 minutes early but wait in vehicles at the back entrance of the theater, to be summoned. Facemasks are required and worn, except when singing.

“Oliver!” will run Sept. 24 through Oct. 10, with a potential extension through Oct. 17.

John Rampage will direct and choreograph, with Phil Hidalgo as musical director.

Key roles are for Oliver, a child 10 to 12, for the title role of an orphan workhouse boy; Fagin, a wily adult who operates a training academy for young pickpockets; the Artful Dodger, a child/teen who is Fagin’s brightest pupil; Bill Sikes, a villainous role; and Nancy, an adult female who also is a Fagin graduate.

The show boasts such hit tunes as “Consider Yourself,” “I’d Do. Anything,” “As Long as He Needs Me,” and  “Where Is Love.” And “Who Will Buy?” …

And that’s “Show Biz.” …

The Hawaii Academy of Performing Arts will go live, then virtual , for its 44^th annual Na Hoku Hanohano Awards event.

It’s set for Sept. 11 as a “live” event filmed for telecast Oct. 7 via KFVE.

There will be an array of entertainment and entertainers, clad in finery like the customary awards evening, with a bento part of the Hawaii Theatre proceedings.

“Ho‘ala Hou — A New Awakening” is the theme for the proceedings.

The idea is to enable nominees and the retinue of performers the chance to celebrate in person – social distancing has not been factored in, at this time – to maintain the aura of an awards celebration, considering the nearly two years of lockdowns and the rebirth of live entertainment around town, with HARA carrying the banner to uplift the musical community with –what else — music.

Though 40 awards categories are at stake, attendees will have to wait for the announcement of winners in a prime-time show from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 7 on KFVE, with an encore presentation in the same time slot on KGMB.

HARA members will have first dibs at tickets, so if you’re an industry participant, you should receive details and protocols via a link provided in an email.

At the Hawaii Theatre, doors will open at 4 p.m. for no-host refreshments outside of the theater, fronting the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park. Tickets include boxed bentos from Kuhio Avenue Food Halls, available from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Pre-show festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m., with footage filmed for Facebook and aired prior to the show. The broadcast at 7 p.m. will include presenters and performances, with possible pauses for re-takes, if necessary. The experience will be akin to be being in a studio where a show is being taped.

Tickets are $65 to $110 (plus $9.50 for ticketing fee, benefitting the Hawaii Theatre). HARA members will be first to sign up; public sales will begin next week, and members are asked not to share the HARA link with non-members.

COVID-19 mandates will be in place, with attendance requiring a valid vaccination card or a FDA-EAU negative test result 48 hours prior to the event. …

No Po‘okela Awards this year

The Hawaii State Theatre Council is shelving its Po‘okela Awards this season, largely due to the pandemic but also because it is reexamining and bolstering its awards evening, celebrating excellence in theater.

‘Play/Write’ competition under way

Kumu Kahua Theatre and BambooRidge are partnering to launch “Go Try Play/Write,” a monthly playwriting competition.

Entrants must write/create a five-page monologue or a 10-page scene, based on a monthly prompt.

Every month, Kumu Kahua’s artistic director Harry Wong II will provide a prompt to define a scene.

The contest starts at the first of the month and concludes the last day of the month.

The August prompt is a monologue or scene depicting a confrontation between a person and a cockroach. A monthly winner will be selected and receive $20 and a subscription to Bamboo Ridge Press. There is no cost to enter; for details, call 536-4441 or visit kumukahua.org

Entries must be submitted at https://www.kumukahua.org/gotryplaywrite

 And that’s “Show Biz.”

The roots are deep, director-choreographer Greg Zane has been learning via his latest project, “A Chorus Line,” as the musical hit winds up at Diamond Head Theatre.

Since the award-winning show opened July 16, a number of island folks who’ve previously performed in “ACL,” have responded to the production and shared indelible memories and ties with the late Tommy Aguilar, whose legacy and spirit have driven and prevailed during entire run. The show has another weekend of performances, Thursday through Sunday (Aug. 8).

Suzen  Murakoshi and Ron Kurowski, now Honolulu residents, are alumni of “A Chorus Line,” who have worked with some of the DHT ensemble here to keep the legacy alive.  Suzen played Connie Wong in the Broadway and National Tour companies; Ron portrayed Bobby Mills in the 1979 Blaisdell Concert Hall cast and was in the original cast of the London production, and logged seven years during “ACL’s” original Broadway run.

“I consider his Bobby (like Tommy Aguilar’s Paul) as definitive portrayals. Both Suzy and Ron have ties to Tommy by performing with him during his time on tour and on Broadway,” said Zane. “Having learned the show from its creators, they have given the cast amazing insights into their characters. Invaluable details that only Ron and Suzen know, and have culled over their years with the show, have given our actors and production a tremendous depth. Both Suzen and Ron are keeping the legacy and show alive through coaching this new cast. We are so grateful to have them and their amazing support. We are so lucky!”

Zane still has two “ACL” original T-shirts and have donned them over the past few months, further keeping the spirit and tradition alive.  “I guess, they help keep me connected to that ‘ACL’ legacy and to Tommy. I mean, ACL is ‘The Greatest Musical Of All Time!’” …

Isle actor Alvin Ing dies

Alvin Ing, a Hawaii native with a lifelong career in Broadway musicals, has died at age 89.

The date and cause of his death have not been revealed; he was a Los Angeles resident.

Years before he made an imprint on Broadway shows, Ing performed in the islands in such shows as “13 Daughters” at the Hawaii Theatre. He was one of the first-from-Hawaii residents to star in a number of musicals in New York and in national tours, including “Pacific Overtures,” “The King and I,” “South Pacific” and “Flower Drum Song.” He is believed to be the actor with longest run playing Wan Ta in “Flower Drum Song.”

He also starred on TV in a gamut of shows, including “Third Watch,” “Law and Order,” “Dynasty,” “Dallas,” and “Falcon Crest,” and in such films as “Final Countdown” and “The Gambler.” …

Smooth as Silk, with skates

Silk Sonic, the duo/group featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, has dropped a new single, “Skate,” as kind of a mid-summer surprise.

The tune, on YouTube, is sleekly infused with rhythm ‘n’ blues combined with Latino vibes, with Mars on congas and .Paak on drums, in the new video. The tune is Silk Sonic’s second single, providing a better sense of how the pair will ultimately pace its anticipated first album.

Because the two are on instruments, it’s hard to know how much their own body language would play out if they perform the tune live in concert. The video depicts dynamic, skate-sensitive choreography with a cluster of women sliding and gliding and skating their way with animated glee.

Clearly, Mars and .Paak are leaving the door open for more surprises in the weeks/months ahead.

See the video here: https://thissongissick.com/post/anderson-paak-bruno-mars-skate/

And that’s “Show Biz.” …

First Lady Jill Biden apparently left Hawaii with an unwanted souvenir – an unidentified object in her left foot encountered during a brief walk on a beach.

Network media have been mentioning Biden had a visit to Walter Reed National Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, to remove the foreign object, upon her return to the Capitol, according to the first lady’s press secretary Michael LaRosa, in a statement. President Biden was by her side.

FLOTUS had two official meet-and-greet sessions while here, including one to promote vaccinations during this pandemic. …

KHON2  veteran Joe Moore did not anchor the Wednesday and Thursday editions of the 5:30 and 6 p.m. newscasts, as he rested from a badly sprained ankle  earlier this week.  He’s scheduled to return to the Friday evening lineup as usual.  Alas, the ankle injury also triggered some back pain. “Feel like a hundred years old at the moment,” he emailed Thursday.

Moore and his Army buddy, Pat Sajak, will co-star in Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” comedy June 16 to 26 2022 at the Hawaii Theatre. In the comedy, they play senior citizens Willie Clark (Moore) and Al Lewis (Sajak). “I feel like I won’t have to act at all to play the old fart Willie Clark,” said Moore. “ I’ve become Willie Clark! ).”

The pain has impacted his daily routine, like “sleeping in the wrong position, turning awkwardly, sitting too long…and on and on and on.  :-(.” …

A rom-com film

Taiana Tully, a singer-actress-dancer-model from Honolulu, has a role in the Hallmark Channel’s “Love, for Real,” a rom-com airing at 6 p.m. Saturday. She plays the character Bree.

You may have seen her previously in “Magnum P.I.” and “Hawaii Five-0,” and on a Zippy’s commercial, too, a valuable credit indeed.

She stars with Chloe Bridges as Hayley, Scott Michael Foster as Luke, and Corbin Bleu as Marco, in a tale about a reality dating show complete with friction and melodrama before

a dramatic finish. The film is part of a wave of summertime love stories. …

Global reach growing

Kevin Iwamoto, who released a cache of digital tunes from one decade of his performing/recording career in Hawaii, continues to receive a wave of new international fans.

His album, “The Best of Kevin I,” has logged streaming and sales that astound him. No, it’s not current stuff, but a mixture of his 1980s music and performances that have resonated anew with pandemic-era listeners. And he hasn’t performed since he moved to California and established a vigorous profile in the business community.

“I’m continually fascinated by the weekly top countries that streamed or bought my music worldwide according to Apple Music,” he said on Facebook. “In the beginning it was the U.S. hands down, in June/July each week has been a different country,” he said of his mounting global reach.

“Recently it’s been Peru, Norway, Thailand, India, Japan, South Korea, and the UK,” he said. “Thank you so much to the global listeners!”

A peculiar trait of his reborn “career” as a digital crooner: his fan base in Hawaii knows him – he visits home frequently enough — but hasn’t shown the kind of devotion expressed by an international audience. Wassup, Hawaii? …

And that’s “Show Biz.” …

Hoku Low, the bass player of the Society of Seven, has announced his retirement in a Facebook post.

“It has been been a privilege to be a part of the SOS organization for the past 44 years,” Low said in an email to me. “I enjoyed every minute of performing for audiences all over the world.”

Low officially retired in February but went public last week, confessing, “I plan to live a life of leisure and also do some volunteer work and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

Low evolved as an all-around entertainer after joining the SOS. He has gained confidence and resilience and has been of the do-it-all troupers in the group, meeting the high standards of versatility of the late leader Tony Ruivivar. When you’re an SOSer, you learn to do it all. Play an instrument, take on impersonations (remember his Frankie Valli?), become a dancer, and simply be a reliable team member . Alongside Ruivivar, he prevailed as a long-timer in the SOS, with Bert Sagum and Wayne Wakai as the surviving key players. Oh, and be flexible; he lived in Honolulu but relocated to Las

Vegas where the SOS relocated for showrooms in Sin City over the past decade.

Apparently, leadership now falls on Sagum, and the group intends to continue, said Low. However, the pandemic has challenged the group and fellow entertainers to restore a stage presence again. …

Enjoy retirement, buddy!

Teng on ‘NCIS: Hawai‘i’ progress

For Larry Teng, who has been in town to direct a couple of episodes of CBS’ “NCIS: Hawai‘i,”

the mission’s done but continues.

Teng, showrunner of the third “NCIS” spin-off, took to Instagram to reveal that not only the initial episode is in the can, so is the second show.

That’s good news, because the Hawaii show launches Sept. 10, following the premiere of the mothership “NCIS” series, which precedes the home-brewed newbie.

“After 22 days of filming, I can officially say that the pilot and episode 102 for @ncishawaiicbs is wrapped,” he announced. “I feel so lucky to collaborate with this amazing cast, this amazing group of producers, and more than anything, this amazing crew. They have held me up, worked long hours, and devoted their time, sweat and talents for this maiden voyage.”

So the toil of long hours, and fresh scripts, marches on, as lead actress Vanessa Lachey also is keeping up the frantic schematics of carving a new notch on the “NCIS” tree…

Oh, a shout-out to CBS: when will you launch the show’s official logo, with the okina in Hawai‘i?

Life’s a beach

Hawaii has landed on Conde Nast Traveler’s recent Readers’ Choice Awards of 25 Best Beaches, among islands, but not in the top slot. Not surprising, actually.

Two island spots are mentioned in the travel website – but the beach selections were based on their island-specific locations:

• At No. 21, Sunset Beach. Mostly because this is the site of big wave surfing contests.
• At No. 19, Honokalani, Maui. Largely because of its black sand beaches en route to Hana.

So what/where was No. 1? Gouverneur, St. Bart’s, in the Caribbean, for its remote and pristine beach. …

And that’s “Show Biz.” …