wayneharada.com

If you happen to spot a Hollywood couple in Honolulu in the days and weeks ahead, it just might be Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

Online buzz suggests that the award-winning actress and the award-winning country music singer hope to renew their wedding vows in our midst. The ceremony would indicate all is well in the couple’s relationship despite rumors that there has been see-sawing strain and tension in their marriage.

And why Hawaii? Why not? Kidman was born here but her Australian parents — in the islands on student visas — left Honolulu for Down Under residency and she went on to be a globally known actress.

An insider admits,  “They’re secretly organizing an intimate beach ceremony for this winter in Hawaii, where Nicole was born.” OK, she was born here but not on the beach. …

Marquee honorees

“Manoa Marquee,” set for March 26 at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, is the Manoa Valley Theatre’s annual fundraiser.

Honorees this year will be David Kennedy and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Jeffrey Portnoy and the Cades Foundation.

Individual tickets are $325, a hike from earlier gatherings, and premium tables are available at $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000.

Visit www.manoavalleytheatre.com

Stage notes

During a preview performance of the holiday musical “Elf” Thursday night at Diamond Head Theatre, there was a blackout smack dab in the middle of the show, according to director Greg Zane. Friday’s premiere went on without incident. …

With the comeback of ABBA, the Swedish sensations whose tunes made “Mamma Mia” a Broadway and London retro dance party and a singing Meryl Street on film, Farrington High School is on track to be ahead of the curve in rebooting the audience-favorite musical. Director Miguel Cadoy III is helming the revival for six performances from Feb. 25 through March 6. …

And that’s Show Biz. …

Update: sad to report that beloved Fran Kirk died earlier today (Nov. 29). Prayers and thoughts to the Kirk ohana. Stay tuned for details.

Fran Kirk, the veteran entrepreneur who brought the Society of Seven to Hawaii as the group’s manager and mentor, is under hospice care in an Arizona facility.

Kirk, who also served as entertainment director of the Main Showroom of the Outrigger Waikiki  where the SOS group was  anchored for decades before it became Blue Note Hawaii, has been coping with Alzheimer’s and other health issues, according to her son, Mike Kirk, a resident of Chandler, AZ.

Frannie, he said, is at a care facility and is in a peaceful sleep. However, the doctors say she may not linger for more than two days.

“I know she can hear me and her body language changes when I give her a kiss,” said Mike.

Frannie had been residing in Las Vegas for several years. An avid golfer, her Hawaii friends would periodically visit and they’d golf together.

She also visited Honolulu somewhat regularly, for doctor visits and personal business, but she hasn’t been the Frannie we all know.

“I moved to Las Vegas to be with and caregive her,” said Mike. “But I moved her to Phoenix July 25, but my home was two stories and we needed a single-floor place.”

In recent days and weeks, Frannie devised a strategy to conceal her loss of memory. “She would tell callers that she had something to tend to, to call back,” a means to cut short her conversations to hide her search for a word or respond to questions.

She eventually was placed in a facility that has been providing valuable and personal care.

Earlier, she suffered a fall and broke her femur and complicated her well-being, but received good care at the hospital. But  X-rays showed she had spots on her kidney, an indication of cancer, and Mike said when she was still able to speak, she had complained of pain in the vicinity of her kidney.

“She did not like the rehab that followed,” he said.

And that began her decline in health and awareness.

On her Facebook page, Mike posted this:

“She is not doing well and she may not see Christmas. We did celebrate her 84th Bday and she enjoyed Roast Duck, Char Siu Chow Fun and Baby Bok Choi. She is comfortable and the Doc believes she is at peace.”

Friends can post a message on Facebook or dial her cellphone at (808) 271-3330 and “and I will read them to her daily,” said Mike. “I believe she can still hear, so. friends may call her.”

“The doctors think she will not last two more days; she is not eating and is not on IV.

He remembered a pivotal incident recently:

“There was one moment, when she looked up in air like she was speaking to someone,” said Mike.

“She then said, ‘Is it time?’”

And she hasn’t spoken since…

And that’s Show Biz. …

“The Joy Luck Club,” now playing at Manoa Valley Theatre, resonates with island audiences because it deals with relatable cultural issues. If you’re Asian, you know the power of familial values and traditions, explored in this play.

Based on the novel by Amy Tan, and scripted by Susan Kim for the stage,  the dramady involes four Chinese women who migrate to the U.S. and their four American-born daughters.

It was adapted in 1993 for a movie that featured a widely Asian American cast, a rarity of that period, and that casting concept makes the MVT effort one with a mostly Asian American cast, too.

Set in San Francisco’s fabled Chinatown, the thrust of the play involves memories and reflections of the four-family ensembles. There’s a number of adoring laughs but core is the bond of the traditions not to be forgotten in a family.

Like mahjong tiles that click and clack, there’s a lot of chatter and patter and a yin and yang volley of dichotomous benchmarks : mothers and daughters, sadness and gladness, achievements and disappointments, praise and criticism, doubt and confidence and secrets and confessions flow like hot tea.

For director Reiko Ho, the challenge is to pace the shifting tides of highs and lows, and she utilizes the cramped and smallish MVT staging on multi-platforms and stairways to good advantage, again with dichotomous exits and entrances, from MVT’s doorways on the left and  right.

For the spectator, the lack of a printed playbill provides some frustration in identifying characters and actors. You could download a 38-page online version, if you can find it (I believe you need to purchase tickets to get access, or you’ll be unable to peek at the contents). But at a performance, an usher may ask if you want to download the QR code onto your cellphone. But try to access that during the show? No can do; you’re supposed to put your phone on airline mode. Further, the light from your phone will be a major disruption, since all devices must be turned off — house rules. To peruse, you have to wait till intermission, or simply review it at home later. But I digress. I firmly believe, with normalcy returning, theaters should commit to provide a playbill, not just for spectators, but as a measure of gratitude and respect to the cast and crew, a validation of the entire team effort.

The narrator Jing-Mei Woo (Jennifer Stierli) assembles with her three aunties — who were mahjong players with her late mother Suyuan Woo (Rebekah Fu) – for a reunion. The pack includes a mixture of personalities: Lindo Jong (Kat Nakano), An-Mei Hsu (Denise-Aiko Chinen), and Ying-Ying St. Clair (Lisa Ann Katagiri Bright).

The other daughters are Rose Hsu Jordan (Alana Eagle), Waverly Jong (Lacey Chu) and Lena St. Clair (Miki Yamamoto).

What a chop suey lot, these women. American-born daughters, of course, dodge off the conflicts with their native Chinese moms, who can’t understand why they don’t conform to the standards of the older generation. So there are generational friction and wounds.

 The men are afterthoughts, with little to do. Canning Woo (Dann Seki) is the patriarch who has a few good lines, and Tin Jong (Devin Nekoba) might best remembered for his feigned but credible hunched trots across the stage .

The production runs Thursdays through Sundays, through Dec. 12. Visit www.manoavalleytheatre.com