Ron Bright, the beloved director-drama teacher, was an inspiration to the scores of theater students he mentored.
A show marking his 60th anniversary at Castle High School, will be staged at 7:30 p.m. day (Sept. 2) at the Ron Bright Performing Arts Center at Castle. Today also marks his 90th birthday. His wisdom about performers, audiences and the venues has been shared before; the I’m A Bright Kid foundation periodically shares this savvy behavior guide at shows. (This last appeared in IABK’s “This Is Me” playbill).
With the curtain rising on the 2023-24 theater season this month, the advice here is universally applicable.
Two theatrical milestones will be commemorated when the Castle Performance Arts Company (CPAC) and the I’m a Bright Kid foundation (IABK) collaborate to stage “60 Years of Castle Theatre” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 2) at the Ronald E. Bright Performing Arts Center at Castle High School.
Ron Bright, pictured left, has been the eminent resident, inspirational director and educator, who staged musicals at Castle during his tenure beginning in 1963. He has been mentoring a flock of young theater buffs over the decades, many who ultimately made the cut to star in Broadway musicals after graduation from Castle.
The event also coincides in what would have been Mr. Bright’s 90th birthday on Sept. 2. He retired in 1988 and died July 7, 2015, at age 81.
A third historical moment will unfold, too, when the Michael Bright family – Michael is Mr. B’s second son — vocalize together for the first time, on “A Million Dreams,” the power ballad from the film, “The Greatest Showman.” Michael will be joined by wife Jade and their children (and Mr. B’s and Mo Bright’s grandchildren) Caitlin, Drew and Colton, a familial moment that surely will have Poppa beaming and applauding from his heavenly perch.
Mo Bright, joins Ron Bright, at the keyboards.
“It’s such a wonderful feeling, to have them performing and singing for the first time as a family,” said Mo Bright. “I’m so proud of all of them.”
Mo has been part of Mr. B’s life and times from the get-go, with a ringside seat for most of the prime spectacles staged by him. She was always an onlooker, offering comfort and support from the sidelines, and was a valuable assistant to Mr. B, logging notations for the shows.
“It seems like only yesterday,” she said of the passage of time. “Sixty years? The memories are still fresh in my mind.”
She’s been Auntie Mo to all the stage youngsters, for nearly all the times he’d assemble a cast and rehearse in his inimitable style, creating opportunities leading towards opening night. “I may have missed a few shows,” she sighed, referring to the times she was pregnant with sons Michael and Clarke Bright and daughter Jodi Bright Stein.
Ron Bright and son Clarke Bright prep for “West Side Story.”
This joint project between CPAC and IABK means all collaborative hands will be on deck from both theatrical teams, with CPAC’s Karen Meyer rehearsing and staging Castle’s students and IABK’s Ligaya Stice coordinating elements from her camp, the mission being to share the story and history of the theatrical seeds planted and nurtured on the Kaneohe campus.
Curiously, there’s no director per se, and while there will be the noticeable presence of 24-VII, the versatile dance group led by Marcelo Pacleb, there’s no bona fide choreographer credited nor a vocal or musical director.
Emcee chores will be shared by Wally Tavares, Castle ’72, and Devon Nekoba, frequent Bright-directed singer-actor who also is a radio deejay now.
Regulars to Mr. B’s Castle shows, as well as his post-retirement productions at Paliku Theatre at the Windward Community College, will recognize the faces and voices of performers Kimee Balmilero, Jodi Leong, Sarahlea Kekuna, Allan Lau, Miguel Cadoy III, Kalea McLagan and the aforementioned Nekoba.
The Ron Bright Theatre is home of the Castle Performing Arts Center.
The show will embrace memories from pre-Castle Theatre productions at Castle Gymnatorium and Benjamin Parker School, to more recent IABK endeavors at Paliku, providing an arc of triumph reflecting the spectrum of the Bright learning curve. The musical fare will run the gamut, from “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” to “On My Own,” from “Les Miserables,” and from “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” from “Annie Get Your Gun” to “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.”
“Celebrate 60” is the first of two Ron Bright productions this month.
“An Evening of Rodgers & Hammerstein Classics,” produced by the IABK foundation, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29 and 30 and at 4 p.m. Oct. 1 at Paliku Theatre, at Windward Community College. The show will feature such signatures from the R&H vaults including “The King & I,” “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma,” “Carousel” and “The Sound of Music.”
Details:
“Celebrate 60”
Tickets: $20 adults 18-64, $10 students 18+, seniors 65+, military. A collaborative production by CPAC and IABK foundation. Tickets: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/75807
“Rodgers & Hammerstein”
Tickets: $32 premier; $27 adults; $22 seniors, students and military; $17 youths 6-13; free, toddlers 2-5; $17, floor seating (ticketing required for all). Produced by IABK. Tickets: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/75827 or imabrightkid.org/tickets
Local boy Morales in China tour
Local boy Joseph Morales, who has been one of the touring Hamiltons in the family of “Hamilton” companies, is one of several Broadway leads who are touring in “Next Stop Broadway,” in prestigious multi-cultural gigs in China, arranged by Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment.
Keri Rene Fuller and Joseph Morales, are touring China.
Morales joins Jen Colella (“Come From Away”), Keri Rene Fuller (“Six”), and Zachary Piser (“Dear Evan Hansen”) and they’ll represent America in shows at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, the Nanjing Lichi Theater, the Chengdu City Concert Hall and the Shanxi Opera House. Performances began Aug. 23 and run through Sept. 10.
Top Chinese performers also are part of these presentations, themed “A Star-Studded Night of New Broadway Classics.”
Morales, a Wahiawa native who is a former Bright Kid performer, also starred in Lisa Matsumoto pidgin English musicals before finding his calling in “Hamilton,” in which he played the title role in Chicago and several national tours. …
The I’m a Bright Kid Foundation will commemorate the 60th anniversary of a true theatrical legend, the late Ronald Bright, with a special show at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Ron Bright Theatre on the campus of Castle High School.
Bright was the beloved teacher-director, who not only instilled the love and tradition of the stage to hundreds of youthful actors with his productions, but broadened his popularity by building a loyal community of theater-goers, initially at the Castle gym, but later at the Castle Theatre now named after him.
The show be a musical jointly produced by IABKF and the Castle Performing Arts Center.
Bright, pictured below, was the founder of the arts center and director of all the musicals staged at Castle before he retired; 2023 would have been his 60th anniversary of mounting Castle shows.
The date is significant, too, coinciding with what will be Mr. B’s 90th birthday. He was born Sept. 2, 1933 and died at age 81 on July 7, 2015.
The nature and content of the production has not yet been revealed, but likely will include tributes linked with songs and dances from iconic musicals that helped shape Mr. B’s legacy. But surely, somebody — even the full ensemble – will render his trademark tune, “If You Believe” (from “The Wiz”) — which has been a powerful and perfect mantra to perpetuate his memory.
IABKF will also present “An Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein Classics,” its fall musical attraction, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29 and 30 and 4 p.m. Oct. 1 at Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College. The venue is where Bright continued to direct musicals that were on his bucket list: “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” and “Miss Saigon.”
Numbers from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s legacy shows, comprising “Sound of Music,” “Oklahoma!,” “South Pacific” and “The King and I,” will be featured in the Paliku show.
Tickets: For “Celebrate 60!,” $20 adults, $10 students; for “Rodgers and Hammerstein,” $17 to $32, at www.imabrightkid.org/tickets
‘Moana” star Cravalho tackles ‘Evita’
Auli‘i Cravalho, pictured below, the voice of Moana in Disney’s animated film “Moana,” just completed singing the title role of Eva Peron in“Evita” in a concert version of the hit musical, July 31 and Aug. 1 at London’s Royal Drury Lane.
It was her West End debut.
A concert version of a Broadway musical generally means a full cast performs the show, with minimal costumes and few sets, if any, but supported by a large orchestra to enhance the “concert” element.
The 30-piece London Musical Theatre Orchestra provided the music.
Her co-star as Che Guevara was Matt Rawle, who played the role in a London revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical. …
Broadway grosses, week ending July 30
The leaders of the Broadway pack still top the charts, as summer biz continues. And two shows posted more than. $2 million!
The Lucky 7:
1–“The Lion King,” $2.813 million.
2– “Wicked,” $2.139 million.
3 — “Hamilton,” $1.873 million.
4 — “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” $1.774 million.
5 — “Funny Girl,”: $1.672 million,
6 — “Aladdin,” $1.619 milliion.
7 — “MJ, the Michael Jackson Musical,” $1.598 million.
“This Is Me,” an I’m a Bright Kid Foundation (IABKF) youth-centric musical, is a declaration of incandescence, featuring teens who spent several weeks learning the essence of the theatrical experience.
Playing four times only – Friday night, Saturday afternoon and evening, and at 2 p.m. Sunday (July 30) at the Paliku Theatre at the Windward Community College — “This Is Me” is profoundly and personally a reflection of growing up, mixing appropriate tunes mirroring each kid’s take on the why’s and how’s of crossing the bridge from kid to teens, while simultaneously shaping a live show in a legitimate performance space.
Mentored by a dedicate corps of teachers, the kids express their “me” in the mentoring process, singing, dancing, and enacting what ultimately is a memorable shared experience in the making of a show.
The I’m a Bright Kid Foundation’s youthful cast : all shapes and sizes.
Oh, what charm and fun. There is no single star in this shimmering galaxy; all lads and lasses are equals and bring singular bursts of joy in declaring their individual “me.” The 40-plus in the ensemble come in all ages and sizes, with varying degrees of experience on stage, and it’s exhilarating when the entire troupers are whirling, kicking, dancing with cyclonic strength, bodies moving in circles of energy.
Diversity is an undercurrent, with a mixed plate of voices and faces – white, black, Asian and surely hapa-this or that — which distinguishes the show’s sheen and style.
Led by artistic director Jade Stice, herself an accomplished stage professional and backed by a team of musical (David James Boyd), vocal (Moku Durant, Sarahlea Kekuna) and choreographic (Lisa Herlinger-Thompson, Annie Yoshida) adult directors, the show is an IABKF trademark.
Youthful participants in grades 3 to 12 interpret a number of known and not-so-famous tunes with kaleidoscopic vigor, yielding a genuine, heart-tugging reflection of growing up amid the angst and aspirations of finding their place in life’s journey.
Some kids are terrific singers, others not so accomplished, but certainly eager to share and try, best exhibited in Colbie Callait’s “Try,” fueled with wistful wonderment. The tone is try, but don’t overdo the effort; do the best you can.
“Landslide,” the Fleetwood Mac entry, features a trio of older girls (Faith Morrow, Zoe Naso, Moana Simmons) taking turns with a trio of younger girls (Alana French, Aria Kuboyama, Kamren Neste) synchronizing voices and perspectives about girlhood.
“I’ll Stand by You,” a song by The Pretenders, is a joyous buddy number, delivered with powerful sense of loyalty, by Ezekiel Kekuna and Ezra Kekuna, with Oziah Wurlitzer on keyboard.
One of the hysterically funny numbers is a rap/hip-hop take on Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” with Noe Kaimu loa, the Kekuna brothers, Damian Mendez and keyboarder Wurlitzer gyrating with obvious joy and intensity.
Similarly, the kids are in vogue with a mashup of “Express Yourself” and “Born This Way,” putting their youthful harmonies and movements to the Madonna and Lady Gaga signatures.
“Me” matters in “This Is Me.” This is a rehearsal shot. (Courtesy IABKF)
A series of “I Am” monologues interspersed within the larger production numbers, with single or group revelations about hope, fear, loves, hates and other challenging idiosyncrasies of teenhood.
The show’s title tune – the soul-moving, self-assuring song popularized by local girl Keala Settle in the Hugh Jackson musical film, “The Greatest Show,” is the perfect vehicle to bring out the best of the cast. Every “me” matters. The concept of the summer musical is the seventh in the IABKF series, led by Allan Lau, a dedicated fulltime teacher and the theater group’s current president. David James Boyd, the morning program director, helped shape the daytime sessions with the youngsters that evolved into the cast now doing the show. Ligaya Stice, sister of Jade, is the IABKF executive director, who continues to run the office and makes certain the spirit and inspiration of the late Ron Bright continue to be the lightning rod for developing future theater talent ….
And that’s Show Biz. …
‘This is Me’
A presentation of the I’m A Bright Kid Foundation, to perpetuate the legacy of the beloved teacher-director, Ron Bright
When: final performance at 2 p.m. today (July 30)
Where: Paliku Theatre, at the Windward Community College
“The Chinese Lady,” now at the Manoa Valley Theatre, is a revealing and riveting drama about a 14-year-old Chinese native girl exhibited to New Yorkers in 1834…as if she were a sideshow oddity.
For the next five decades, this girl becoming a woman is exhibited as a curiosity from the Orient whose manners and lifestyle can be observed by Americans, who paid admission to gawk and inspect.
From one viewpoint, you may think this is racism of the worse kind: exhibiting a foreigner simply because she is different. On the other hand, this is somewhat of a history lesson – in a staged theatrical setting –that requires the viewers to focus and concentrate and learn from Afong Moy (alternately portrayed by Jennifer Yee Stierli and Diana Wan) about the idiosyncrasies of humankind.
Diana Wan is Afong May, Alvin Chan is Atung, in MVT’s “The Chinese Lady.”
Which of the actress enacting the part was not identified nor announced at a performance I attended, but she was steadfast and compelling as a non-American telling an immigrant’s story of acceptance despite widely different roots.
The play, by Lloyd Suh, is based on real-life experiences, and is directed by Reiko Ho, with requisite respect and affection, polishing an imaginative mirror that reflects generational strife and challenges of being different in America. The play was to close July 30, but has been extended for three additional performances, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4 and 5, and at 3 p.m. Aug. 6.
Chinese playgoers might be particularly interested to see and hear the experiences of a person from the past and the challenges of being Asian in an American realm. Could their ancestors be part of this element?
The character supposedly is a goodwill ambassador from Guangdong Province, sold by her father to promoters for promotional purposes to build potential trade with China. But the positioning of her uniqueness, in this case an apt pagoda-style single set adorned with the feel and accoutrements of a Chinese home (shelving, tea pot and cup), makes her somewhat of circus act to gaze at, like a sideshow bearded lady, rather than a human as part of the puzzle that is mankind.
It’s not the kind of Ellis or Angel Island welcome, where immigrants can plant American roots for a possible future in the land of hope and opportunity.
That said, Afong Moy is delighted in staging her recurring and episodic duties, drinking tea, having dinner, talking about and showing her bound feet (a Chinese tradition among women), and dancing around her seat for exercise. She intermittently chats with Atung (Alvin Chan), a collaborator who is translator and kind shoulder to lean on, who attends to her needs and opens and closes a curtain on the set.
“My entire life is a performance,” Afong says at one point. That’s because she doesn’t know another life outside the globe of scrutiny.
There’s delicate chemistry between the two roles, two souls caught in the web of loneliness, together but yet far apart. There are a few comedic moments, necessary in the otherwise static journey though time.
For MVT, the show is a modest milestone, with an all-Chinese acting and directing team.
The artisans do good work here; sets by Michelle A. Bisbee, lighting by Janine Myers, sound design by Mattea Mazzella, costumes by Maile Speetjens, hair and makeup by Ho and Speetjens, props by La Tanya Fasmausili-Siliato, and scenic artistry by Willie Sabel are superb, visually stunning and properly easy on the ears.
And that’s Show Biz. …
‘The Chinese Lady’
A drama by Lloyd Suh, directed by Reiko Ho
Where: Manoa Valley Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, held over Aug. 3 to 8.
