Category: Stage

It was some enchanted evening last night (Dec. 10) when our local girl Broadway star Loretta Ables Sayre took part in a Lincoln Center Theater reunion of the cast of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.”

Her original cast colleagues from 2008, directed by Bartlett Sher, didn’t know that Ables Sayre (who was Tony-nominated for her role of Bloody Mary) would turn the celebratory event into a Lei Day of sorts.

Loretta Ables Sayre, center, at Lincoln Center’s “South Pacific” reunion. Photo by Vogue.

She and her husband David Sayre had quietly ordered 110 vanda orchid lei to present to cast, crew, orchestra, creative staff and LCT staffers, in somewhat of a hana hou lei presentation just like during the original run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

“We thought that it would be fitting to close this reunion the same way,” said Ables Sayre via email.

“This concert was a dream come true for all of us,” she said. “Having almost our entire cast reunited to share this show, this music, this story for one last time was glorious. We sat on the stage (a concert rendering of the theatrical hit), and we all saw scenes we had never seen before. The bad part of doing a show is that you never get to see the show because you are normally off stage for the scenes you aren’t in.  This time we saw and experienced everything, and we wept through the entire concert.”

The all-star cast included Kelli O’Hara (Nellie Forbush), Paulo Szot (Emile de Becque), Matthew Morrison (Luther Billis), Danny Burstein (Lt. Cable) and Ables Sayre (Bloody Mary).

The event marked two milestones: the 40th anniversary of Lincoln Center Theater, and the 75^th anniversary of the 1949 musical, whose only revival on Broadway was the 2008-2009 LCC production, which earned seven Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Direction, Best Scenic Design, Best Costumes, Best Lighting, Best Sound and Best Actor in a Musical (Paulo Szot).

 “I still cannot believe my great good fortune to have been a part of this cast,” she reflected. “And having and hearing the orchestra on stage behind us was unbelievable. Lincoln Center gave us all a gift of doing this show together one more time and we will never forget it.  It was like having your dream come to fruition again.  What an enormous blessing.”

Ables Sayre also got an online thrill. “I made it into Vogue (online),” she emailed about the magazine’s coverage of the “South Pacific” reunion event, that included reportage of “the purple lei” plus an image of Ables Sayre…

Broadway grosses, for week ending Dec. 8

The holiday musical comedy, “Elf,” continues to attract Broadway audiences during this time of year, land in fourth place and beating the likes of “MJ the Musical” and “Gypsy.”

The Top 10:

1—”Wicked,” $2.930 million,

2—”The Lion King,” $2.883 million,

3—”Hamilton,” $2.579 million,

4—“Elf,” $1.947 million,

5–“Sunset Blvd.,” $1,821 million,

6—”MJ The Musical,” $1.711 million,

7— “Gypsy,” $1.622 million,

8—”The Outsiders,” $1.840 million,

9—“Aladdin,” $1.823 million,

10—”Hell’s Kitchen,” $1.574 million.

The full list of grosses, courtesy the Broadway League:

And that’s Show Biz…

Diamond Head Theatre’s 2024-25 season will offer a potpourri of shows, including one Hawaii premiere, a Christmas favorite, musical revivals with timeless and traditional plots and tunes,  a splashy kid-centric cartoon  production, and a textbook play on how to prepare for a stage role.

The season begins Sept. 20 and “builds on DHT’s tradition of artistic excellence with fresh energy and innovative theatrical storytelling…and offers entertainment for all ages, from keiki to kupuna,” said Trever Tamashiro, Diamond Head’s executive director, in a statement.

Productions run for three weeks, with performances Thursdays through Sundays, including weekend matinees. Extension playdates are added, when there is a demand.

The lineup includes:

“Honeymoon in Vegas,” a musical with a book by Andrew Bergman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, based on a 1992 film of the same name. Jack Singer promises his dying mother he’d never marry but falls in love with Betsy Nolan. They elope to Las Vegas but a charming gambler, Tommy Korman, threatens to steal Betsy away, leading to a madcap adventure including a romp to Hawaii. Opens Sept. 20.

“White Christmas,” a musical  based on a 1954  Paramount film, with book by  David Ives and Paul Blake, and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. A tale of  two veterans, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, who had a successful song-and-dance act after World War II, who seek and follow two singing sisters at a Vermont lodge owned by the soldiers’ Army commander. Features Berlin’s trademark tune, “White Christmas,” plus “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” and “How Deep Is the Ocean.” Opens Nov. 22.

“Master Class,” written by Terrence McNally, a textbook lesson on how Maria Callas conducted a master class to bolster an audition. Rich with theatrical nuggets, about a soprano, Sophie, who selects a challenging aria, and details of Callas’s famous affair with Aristotle Onassis and struggles with her own career. Opens Jan. 24.

“Grease,” the teen musical best known for the 1978 film hit co-starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on a  a screenplay by Bronté Woodard and an adaptation by co-producer Allan Carr, inspired by the stage musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.  Set in 1959 at Rydell High, greaser Danny Zuko and new-girl-in-town  Sandy Dumbrowski flourish amid the travails of the Burger Palace Boys and Pink Ladies. With jukebox hits like “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” and “You’re the One That I Want,” this is the soundtrack for teenhood. Opens March 21, 2025.

“Man of La Mancha,”  the  beloved musical inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” novel, with book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, who gave the world “The Impossible Dream” anthem. Set during the Spanish Inquisition, the musical finds Cervantes and his fellow prisoners staging a play about the elderly Alonso Quijana, who becomes the idealistic knight Don Quixote on a quest to right the world’s wrongs. Windmills matter, too.  Opens May 23, 2025.

“SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical,” the undersea spectacle based on the animated Nickelodeon series, where SpongeBob lives. With book by Kyle Jarrow and music by Steven Tyler, Sara Bareilles, Panic! and  Plain White T’s. The mission at hand for the denizens of the deep is to save Bikini Bottom from a looming volcanic eruption. So SpongeBob finds unity with his buddies Patrick, Sarah, Squidward and Mr. Krabs to save Bikini Bottom. For the young and young at heart. Opens July 18, 2025.

Season subscribers can renew seats for the forthcoming season, with tickets available for $162. Renewing subscriptions will guarantee seats for subscription holders before subscriptions and sales are offered to the general public.

To become a subscriber, visit diamondheadtheatre.com or call the box office at (808) 733-0274…

MGM Resorts debunk Bruno’s debt rumors

Bruno Mars pictured below, doesn’t owe millions in gambling debt to MGM Resorts — despite what a recent report claimed — according to TMZ.

A rep for MGM Resorts International has told the website that singer Mars doesn’t have a $50 million gambling tab on the books with them, calling the allegation “completely false.”

In fact, the Las Vegas resort  remains excited to continue to collaborate with the Grammy winner again in the future. Didn’t quite believe the rampant rumor that Mars would be the gambling kind who walked away from a debt.

 “We’re proud of our relationship with Bruno Mars, one of the world’s most thrilling and dynamic performers,” the hotel/casino said in a statement. “From his shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM to the new Pinky Ring lounge at Bellagio, Bruno’s brand of entertainment attracts visitors from around the globe. MGM and Bruno’s partnership is longstanding and rooted in mutual respect. Any speculation otherwise is completely false.”…

And that’s Show Biz…