Category: Stage

Kumu Kahua, the island theater group dedicated to stage plays by  playwrights who focus on works and themes reflecting the island lifestyle or history, has set its 2022-2023 season with flashbacks to its heritage.

Throughout the new season, Kumu Kahua will acknowledge and address the legacy of its founder, the late Dennis Carroll, a pioneering playwright and professor emeritus of the University of Hawaii’s Department of Theatre and Dance. He died in 2021, but set the foundation for Kumu to seek scripts by playwrights who express and explore island themes and local stories, reflecting the Hawaiian culture in comedies and dramas.  

“It’s particularly fitting that as we look ahead with excitement to the new, that we’re also celebrating old friends,” said Donna Blanchard, Kumu Kahua Theatre managing director. “Community has always been at the heart of the theater, and we are humbled by the enthusiasm of our audiences and the passion of our advocates in helping us to sustain our mission.”

Thus, Kumu is looking to the past as it sprints forward to its 52^nd season, which will feature these five productions:

* “Aloha Las Vegas,” by Edward Sakamoto, Aug. 25 to Sept. 25, 2022. About a retired widower, Wally Fukuda, living comfortably in Liliha, till his pal Harry visits from Las Vegas, who proposes Wally does the same, where he can live for a fraction of the Hawaii cost. Family dynamics put a damper on his decision.  
* “Lucky Come Hawaii,” by Jon Shirota, Nov. 3 to Dec. 4. An adaptation of Shirota’s 1965 novel, a comedy set in wartime 1941, where a precarious balance exists between American GIs, local Japanese and West Maui Okinawans. But when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, martial law is imposed and the world goes topsy-turvy when a new normal prevails.
* “Gone Feeshing,” by Lee A.Tonouchi, Jan. 19 to Feb. 19  2023. Da Pidgin Guerrila’s father’s friend is the inspiration of this true-life heroism journey exploring love, communication and forgiveness. Two brothers go fishing; the older bro comes to terms with his relationship to their dad and his tragic death. With the pidgin guru’s orientation, expect a lot of local lingo.
* “Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers,” adapted to the stage by Keith Kashiwada and John H.Y. Wat, inspired by Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s groundbreaking novel. It’s a 1970s, coming of age tale set in Hilo, where Lovey Nariyoshi endures middle school with the support of her bestie, Jerry. A sense of identity is forged, shaped by white American pop culture and media, that makes her ashamed of her upbringing, laced with the beautiful and the brutal realities of growing up local.
* “Folks You Meet at Longs,” by Lee Cataluna, May 25 through June 25. The denizens, who make Longs a part of their days, are the focus of these raucous monologues, tapping a creepy uncle, a hickey-necked teen, a pickled-mango-craving hapai mom and more.. The play evolved in an award-winning book for Cataluna.

Tickets: $80, returning season subscribers; $90, new season subscribers; $25, student season subscribers; $170, Viewer’s Choice Pass ($10 tickets per pass); $70, scholarship subscription (a season ticket order given away by Kumu Kahua).
Where: (808) 536-4441; email officemanager@kumukahua.org; at box office, 46 Merchant Street, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. …

Broadway’s weekly grosses

No change in the leaders, who continue to lead: No. 1, “The Music Man;” No. 2, “Hamilton;” No. 3, “The Lion King.”

Grosses for the week ending May 15, 2022, courtesy the Broadway League:

Show Name	Gross	TotalAttn	Capacity	%Capacity
A STRANGE LOOP	$690,667.95	6,589	7,376	89.33%
ALADDIN	$998,162.79	12,777	13,816	92.48%
AMERICAN BUFFALO	$536,163.90	4,868	6,008	81.03%
BEETLEJUICE	$886,771.50	8,067	12,816	62.94%
BIRTHDAY CANDLES	$266,797.00	3,737	5,816	64.25%
CHICAGO	$667,945.65	6,944	8,640	80.37%
COME FROM AWAY	$468,509.24	5,048	8,368	60.33%
COMPANY	$719,968.09	7,024	8,368	83.94%
DEAR EVAN HANSEN	$522,763.89	5,834	7,872	74.11%
FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF	$249,353.60	4,061	6,184	65.67%
FUNNY GIRL	$1,316,457.00	9,624	9,752	98.69%
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY	$289,305.00	3,941	6,384	61.73%
HADESTOWN	$943,568.75	7,314	7,344	99.59%
HAMILTON	$2,053,252.00	10,228	10,592	96.56%
HANGMEN	$288,436.08	3,062	6,416	47.72%
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD	$1,163,099.10	10,228	12,976	78.82%
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE	$364,925.00	4,341	5,096	85.18%
MACBETH	$1,233,487.42	7,226	7,357	98.22%
MJ THE MUSICAL	$1,352,143.20	10,468	11,096	94.34%
MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL	$537,705.40	4,750	5,200	91.35%
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT	$858,847.00	6,519	8,337	78.19%
MRS. DOUBTFIRE	$395,679.00	5,222	8,272	63.13%
PARADISE SQUARE	$235,604.00	5,488	7,856	69.86%
PLAZA SUITE	$1,619,810.90	7,720	7,800	98.97%
POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE	$461,864.25	6,326	11,608	54.50%
SIX	$1,190,681.00	8,149	8,248	98.80%
TAKE ME OUT	$474,951.23	4,211	4,648	90.60%
THE BOOK OF MORMON	$941,030.65	7,679	8,528	90.04%
THE LION KING	$1,636,928.00	12,659	13,568	93.30%
THE MINUTES	$386,898.00	3,890	5,336	72.90%
THE MUSIC MAN	$3,377,554.04	12,268	12,200	100.56%
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$728,082.26	7,704	12,840	60.00%
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH	$115,745.00	2,371	5,290	44.82%
TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL	$1,015,122.00	8,626	11,824	72.95%
WICKED	$1,361,373.00	11,040	14,456	76.37%

“Waitress,” a Broadway musical with tunes by Sarah Bareilles, is efficient but falls short on the appeal meter  – not the fault of the actors. It’s problematic when the best song is delivered by a secondary character and the score lacks a bona fide hit song.

The production, in its premiere Hawaii engagement, opened last night (May 27) at Diamond Head Theatre to an enthusiastic audience happy to be in a filled theater again. Two more performances have been added in the run through June 19.

Three memories recur, when I think of “Waitress,” which I saw in 2016 in its original Broadway run.

One, the waitress and pie-baker Jenna, was played by Jessie Mueller, who became a marquee name portraying Carole King in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” in 2014. She was engaging as Jenna and her presence and trajectory elevated “Waitress” as her follow-up show, thus it was a hit.
Two, the sidekick Becky, then was portrayed by Hawaii’s Keala Settle alongside Mueller, and it’s likely that this secondary role gave her perspective and impetus to later portray the Bearded Lady in 2017’s “The Greatest Showman” film and helped buoy the soundtrack to best seller status thanks to her big solo, “This Is Me.”

Three, Nick Cordero originated the role of Earl, Jenna’s husband; he was a popular, budding Broadway star, who died in 2020.

Four, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where “Waitress” was in residency, intermission was notably wondrous. Scents of baked apple pies, sold during the interlude, enhanced the onstage pie-ology. The delish-smelling mini-pastry was $10, but you had to devour it before returning to your seat.

Of course, DHT has none of the above, but I bring up these recollections simply to make a point that a modest musical can emit charm in various ways. It would be curiously joyful if someone becomes a somebody by being a part of this show; maybe it might be the unseen Lisa Nakasone, who created the pies for the show but not for concession sales; you never know.

The underlying theme of “Waitress” is to follow your dreams, strive for what you want; change may not be easy, but the journey might lead to happiness.

Jenna (Sarah Souza, optimistic and charming) is stuck in her life of pie-making and table-waiting. Her failing marriage to Earl (David Heulitt, deliberately unlikeable) makes her yearn to find a way out, via a baking contest to create an award-winning pie and a ticket to her freedom. Oh, she also happens to have something in the oven. A baby on the way.

She is comforted by her waitress colleagues Becky (Cassie Favreau-Chung, a buddy to the end), and Dawn (Karese Kakw-uh, dependably comedic), plus customer/diner owner Jo (Lisa Konove, savvy and engaging).

Jenna falls for her doc, Pomatter (Zachary Linnert, awkwardly hilarious), adding an ingredient to a delicate crust of infidelity.

The songs, often about pie recipes and baking as if they were metaphors in life, fail to propel Jenna, as the central figure, though she has one belter, “She Used to be Mine,” prior to the final curtain. But here’s the rub: the best tune, in Act 1, is “Never Getting Rid of Me,” featuring Ogie (Reyn Halford, hilarious and exuberant), that is the showstopper, complete with a memorable and dizzy Ogie dance. He’s the beau of Dawn, and he’s the show-saver.

Director Kevin Pease makes the best of a problematic script; it’s like baking, where you never know if a bit more sugar or a pinch of salt might improve the final product. For the record, the show’s music and lyrics by composer Bareilles are augmented by Jessie Nelson’s book. A key ingredient is lacking — that homerun song.

Ahnya Chang’s choreography is sensual and often emotional; her ensemble is visual and vital in most of the scenic changes, when bakery racks or kitchen shelves are choreographically whisked on and off stage.

Melina Lillios delivers orchestral pleasantries, but the compositions don’t stick in your memory bank. But pay attention to the cello in the five-member band – it’s Brian Webb, a member of Streetlight Cadence, who brings a sprinkle of stardust to the pie party.

Tickets: (808) 733-0274, www.boxoffice@diamondheadtheatre.com

Newly added shows: 7:30 p.m. June 18, 4 p.m. June 19.

Two more island theater groups – the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and The Actors Group – have finalized their fall stage seasons.

HTY has embraced a title/theme for its 2022-2023 slate of shows: “E Ho‘i Hou: Return Anew,” a celebratory notion following virtual stagings during the height of the pandemic, anticipating “our return to live gatherings with laughter, stories, culture and learning,” according to Eric Johnson, HTY artistic director.

At TAG, five of its six shows will be Hawaiii premieres – newbies are hot here.

Honolulu Theatre for Youth

The HTY slate, at Tenney Theatre:

• “The Royal School,” by Lee Cataluna and Moses Goods.
• “The Pa‘akai We Bring,” by Moses Goods and the HTY Ensemble.
• “In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson,” adapted by Mark Branner, based on the book by Bette Bao Lord, which will tour more than 20 U.S. cities before a staging at Tenney.
• “Step by Step,” by Reiko Ho and the HTY Ensemble.
• “Happy, Sad, Sad, Happy,” by Annie Cusick Wood and the The Ensemble.
• “Peter Pop Pan,” a musical adaption of Peter Pan, by Mattea Mazzella, Eric Johnson and the HTY Ensemble.

Show descriptions, precise performing dates and other details have not yet been announced. For details, visit www.htyweb.org

The Actors Group

TAG shows at the Brad Powell Theatre at the Shops at Dole Cannery will feature fresh and new works; five of the season’s six titles are Hawaii premieres:

• “The God Committee,” by Mark St. Germain, Sept. 23 through Oct. 16. A medical drama about three patients angling to receive a heart transplant, exploring moral and ethical questions surrounding organ transplants.
• “Painting TJ,” by Nancy Moss, Nov. 25 through Dec. 18. A tale about a high school junior, whose mother is the school’s headmaster, painting a penis on a statue of Thomas Jefferson, with themes of racism and familial conflicts.
• “A Soldier’s Play,” by Charles H. Fuller, Jan. 20 through Feb. 12, 2023. A drama set at a Louisiana military base that is racially segregated, where a black soldier is murdered, with tensions of racism.
• “The Demon of the Burning Boy,” by David West Read, March 24 through April 16, 2023. A teacher’s favorite student is murdered, creating conflicted emotions, including the power to move on.
• “Uncle Vanya,” by Anton Chekhov, May 26 through June 18, 2023. A powerful literary classic, about the struggles within a family that is timeless and tormenting.
• “Rotterdam,” by Jon Brittain, July 28 through Aug. 20, 2023. A comedy that raises tough questions about gender, sexuality, love, and how they connect.

Information: (808) 741-4699 or www.taghawaii.net

Honoring dads

Father’s Day – Sunday June 19 — will have a Hawaiian vibe at Chef Chai’s, on Kapiolani Boulevard.

You can do an all-you-can-eat lobster tail  buffet at either a brunch or dinner outing.

Kuana Torres Kahele, with the 2000 Miss Aloha Hula winner Tehani Gonzado, headlines the brunch session, with reservations being taken from 9 a.m.to 9:30 a.m. and also from noon to 12:30 p.m.

Robert Cazimero, a monthly Chai’s performer, will reign over the dinner show, with reservations being taken from 4 to 4:30 p.m. and from 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. Cazimero willf feature hula regulars Sky Perkins Gora and Bully Keola Makaiau.

Cost is $125 per person, for the entertainment and special buffet including a gamut of appetizers, soup and salads, plus entree and dessert options.

There is a pre-Father’s Day dinner, on Saturday, June 18, without entertainment, also with a $25 tariff including the lobster tail buffet.

Reservations: (808) 585-0011 or www.chefchai.com …

Clublicity notes

Blue Note Hawaii, at the Outrigger Waikiki resort, features these troupers in the nights ahead:

• Tito Jackson, formerly of the Jackson 5 with his siblings, performs at 6:30 and 9 p.m. May 20 and 21. Tickets: $45 and $55.
• The Honolulu Jazz Quartet, led by John Kolivas, marks its 20^th anniversary with a CD release launch, at 7 p.m. May 22. Tickets: $25 and $35.

• Kuana Torres Kahele teams up with Robert Cazimero, for another Hawaiian collaboration, at 6:30 and 9 p.m. June 8. Tickets:  $45 and $55.
• Felix Cavaliere,  formerly of The Young Rascals (aka The Rascals), takes the stage at 6:30 and 9 p.m. June 10, 11 and 12. Tickets: $45 and $55.
• Who’s Bad 20/10, at 6:30 and 9 p.m. June 17 and 18. Tickets: $35 and $45.
• Beat-Lele, a Tribute to the Beatles, at 6:30 and 9 p.m. June 19. Tickets: $25 and $35.

Tickets: (808) 777-4890 or www.bluenotehawaii.com …

And that’s Show Biz. …

You may remember Mary Gutzi as Norma Desmond, in a 2011 production of “Sunset Boulevard,” at Diamond Head Theatre.

Or perhaps, when Gutzi was Grizabella, the aging cat, awaiting ascent to the Heavyside Layer, in a Broadway tour of “Cats” at Blaisdell Concert Hall.

With other credits ranging from “Les Miserables” to “Ragtime,” Gutzi is no stranger to voice and stage technique and tryouts.

So in June, she’s tapping her skills to offer workshops for kids and adults interested in voice and acting  lessons, with tips to prep for future auditions for stage, film and TV roles.

Her agenda:

• Acting and audition workshop for kids 7 to 14, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. May 22, at Medici’s at Manoa Marketplace.
• Acting and audition workshop for adults, 15 and older, from 1 to 5 p.m. June 12, at Medici’s, Manoa Marketplace.

Fee for each session is $50, confirmed upon advance payment.

Inquiries: Nancy Bernal at (808) 947-5763, email at NancyBernal@aol.com.

      Send payment to Nancy Bernal, 2444 Hihiwai St., #905, Honolulu HI 96826. …

Broadway show grosses

Check out the grosses for the week ending in May 8, 2022.

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	Capacity	%Capacity
A STRANGE LOOP	$476,797.00	4,965	7,376	67.31%
ALADDIN	$1,091,385.55	13,123	13,816	94.98%
AMERICAN BUFFALO	$514,501.63	4,686	6,008	78.00%
BEETLEJUICE	$900,622.50	8,042	12,816	62.75%
BIRTHDAY CANDLES	$264,076.00	3,624	5,816	62.31%
CHICAGO	$684,274.40	7,149	8,640	82.74%
COME FROM AWAY	$473,306.68	4,926	8,368	58.87%
COMPANY	$617,116.73	5,563	8,368	66.48%
DEAR EVAN HANSEN	$489,004.50	5,395	7,872	68.53%
FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF	$159,092.90	2,421	6,184	39.15%
FUNNY GIRL	$1,382,855.75	9,512	9,752	97.54%
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY	$274,781.50	3,341	6,384	52.33%
HADESTOWN	$856,528.50	7,209	7,344	98.16%
HAMILTON	$2,103,020.00	10,012	10,592	94.52%
HANGMEN	$252,543.44	2,601	6,416	40.54%
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD	$1,177,920.80	10,466	12,976	80.66%
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE	$317,017.00	4,221	5,096	82.83%
MACBETH	$1,365,598.50	8,077	8,408	96.06%
MJ THE MUSICAL	$1,352,589.00	9,973	11,096	89.88%
MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL	$1,592,497.50	10,323	10,400	99.26%
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT	$565,411.50	4,058	5,955	68.14%
MRS. DOUBTFIRE	$477,132.00	5,710	8,272	69.03%
PARADISE SQUARE	$193,669.30	4,804	7,856	61.15%
PLAZA SUITE	$1,668,783.10	7,756	7,800	99.44%
POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE	$380,673.50	5,709	11,608	49.18%
SIX	$1,162,514.00	7,954	8,248	96.44%
TAKE ME OUT	$351,909.70	3,342	4,095	81.61%
THE BOOK OF MORMON	$905,752.71	7,875	8,528	92.34%
THE LION KING	$1,716,181.00	13,195	13,568	97.25%
THE LITTLE PRINCE	$330,668.47	6,231	11,776	52.91%
THE MINUTES	$346,283.00	3,696	5,336	69.27%
THE MUSIC MAN	$3,431,657.08	12,151	12,200	99.60%
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$742,308.20	7,847	12,840	61.11%
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH	$174,481.00	3,304	8,464	39.04%
TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL	$1,065,578.30	8,694	11,824	73.53%
WICKED	$1,341,127.00	11,264	14,456	77.92%

And that’s Show Biz. …

Nudity on Broadway is nothing new, but infrequent. When someone goes au natural, it raises the buzz – and some barriers – like the latest incidence.

A baseball play, “Take Me Out,” features two actors – Jesse Willliams and Patrick J. Adams – in full-frontal nudity in a locker room scene. It’s playing at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway, and has been extended through June 21. Not sure if the nudity is part of the appeal, or simply brisk box office sales because of the controversy.

Whatever the reason, that theater has taken on new security measures, with playgoers required to isolate their cellphones in Yondr felt pouches with a magnet security tagging system, so calls or texting or photo-taking cannot be done for 2:15, the duration of the production. The regs are outlined in an insert of the show’s Playbill.

But clearly, somebody didn’t abide by the rules – likely, refused disclosure that they had a phone, or the device was not discovered during the entry process – and took photos of the aforementioned nude scene, prompting the theater security folks to demand the images be erased after unauthorized images appeared on social media.

No word about charges being filed, but it is across-the-board illegal to take photos in any play, with or without nudity, and the ban-the-phones directive maintains privacy issues for the actors. No ifs, ands or buts about this house rule. There’s new technology in place, where the theater security can monitor and sense camera in photo mode.

The lock-the-phone element – new on the Great White Way — has been utilized occasionally by mainstream rock concert stars, not due to nudity, but because the performers didn’t want the distraction of phones aiming at them or they didn’t want patrons to limit access to have images that could be shared or sold, even on social media.

I saw the original “Take Me Out” when it originally was staged in 2003, with the nude scene but minus the uproar of illegal photo-taking. There wasn’t the ban on phones in the house either. And if memory serves, no pics appeared for gawkers.

The fuss and flurry about nudity on Broadway might go back to 1971, when “Oh! Calcutta” debuted at the Belasco Theatre. The nakedness was constant, making the raucous show a success in its original run and a revival production later. It wasn’t a good show – but I recall the notorious nudity, with actors cajoling in the buff.

But baring it and sharing it goes back a bit earlier, to 1968, when “Hair,” subtitled “The American Tribal Love Rock Musical,” opened at the Biltmore Theatre.  For the record, the show had rock and pop hits and hippie cultural elements. But only about 20 seconds – amid flashing lights – of nudity.

I recall asking James Grant Benton, the island comedian-actor who was in the Las Vegas company of “Hair,” what the governing rules were for cast members who would strip at the show’s finale. You remember, when “Let the Sunshine In,” was sung and danced. He said peeling and baring were voluntary, not required; if you felt it, you’d do it. Or not. And it was a quickie, if you did.

More impressive, in a Los Angeles production at the Aquarius Theatre in 1968, was the policy of engaging audience members to join the ritual of letting-the-sunshine-in, by ascending to the stage. The last Broadway revival was in 2011, and at the performance I attended, audience members could get on stage for the “Sunshine” sing-along.

Among other Broadway shows with nudity:

* “The Full Monty,” about unemployed British steelworks who attempt to be male strippers, has a big reveal – just as the lights go out. Meaning it’s a teaser scene, where most audiences see nothing.

* “Equus,” a revival of a psychological drama about Alan Strang, a disturbed youngster who blinded six horses, became a Broadway hit in 2007 when Daniel Radcliffe, by then a superstar thanks to his “Harry Potter” franchise of flicks, appeared naked, brightly and clearly. Nope, his young Potter fans could not attend, because of its adults-only restriction.

* “Spring Awakening,” a musical about boarding school teenagers in a repressive German society in the late 19^th century, featured two young “Glee” faves, Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele, in one steamy scene but the baring was brief and Groff’s butt probably noticed, only briefly.

* “M. Butterfly,” the David Henry Hwang drama inspired by the operatic drama “Madame Butterfly,” tells the story of a military officer Rene Gallimard (played by John Lithgow) having a longtime love affair with Song Liling (portrayed by B.D. Wong), incredibly not knowing that his paramour is a guy, not a woman; a major disrobing nude scene features Wong.

* “Miss Saigon,” the hit musical with a Vietnam storyline about an American soldier and his tryst with a Vietnam woman, had a brief bedroom scene in a darkened moment, with mostly his butt showing. The disrobed solider in the original production was Willy Falk, a Punahou grad nominated for a Tony Award as a Featured Actor in a musical.

* “Love! Valour!  Compassion!,” a gay Terrence McNally comedy with a lot of exclamation points, featured a company of eight skinny dippers, unclothed, in one frolicking scene. Broadway veteran Nathan Lane was in the cast.

* “The Lisbon Traviata,” another McNally endeavor, is an homage to opera singer Maria Callas, involving two aging men in a relationship, disrupted with the arrival of a younger gent, leading to an operatic finale of sorts, with nudity along the way.

**********

When actor Joe Chishold appeared nude in “Afterglow,” an off-Broadway hit at the Davenport Theatre  in 2018, he shared meaningful thoughts about dropping trous in an interview.

“Every single one of us is naked at some point every day,” he said. “American culture has spent the last century demonizing nudity, making it into something naughty or bad, but it’s the most basic human state of being. Somewhere along the way, we sexualized the naked body. But I think it is important to reaffirm the fact that sex and nudity are two separate things. That is a big takeaway of this show. In my mind, nudity onstage or onscreen, as long as is it serves a purpose and is not gratuitous, is simply another costume (or lack thereof).”

*******************

Three other shows – one on Broadway, two off-Broadway – further demonstrate the diverse ways nudity end up on stage:

• “Avenue Q,” the slightly naughty but clever musical produced by former islander Kevin McCollum an an original cast member from Hawaii, Ann Harada, was an all-puppet show (the dolls were manipulated by actors) which earned Best Musical laurels when it played the Golden Theatre in 2007. The show, in retrospect, had naked puppets having sex!
• “Naked Boys Singing,” an off-Broadway oddity with male singers and dancing totally nude (but with shoes)  at the Actors Playhouse  in 1999. I saw it, it was hilarious, but forgettable.
• “Puppetry of the Penis,” at the John Houseman Theatre in 2001, was wholly gratuitous, with two guys, in the buff, creating genital contortions or penal origami  in the first and only show where the actor played with their privates. …

And that’s Show Biz…