Are you a subscriber to the Sunday New York Times, via the Sunday Star-Advertiser?
If you do, you know that you didn’t receive the Sunday Times — distributed by the Star-Advertiser, this morning –the second week this happened this month, since the NYT also was missing last Sunday. Transportation issues are the reason; the NYT delivery missed a flight to Honolulu, so delivery was not possible.
So, you go through the drill of dialing the circulation department here, and wait, wait, and wait some more, till an agent answers your call. My wait time today was 35 minutes, and 20 minutes last Sunday.
There is no other way to find out why the NYT was not delivered, along with the Sunday Star-Advertiser. You can’t call your delivery person, since you don’t have his/her number; by now, you must know there is a problem in Houston, er, Honolulu, but making the call is necessary since you don’t know if your carrier missed you making the rounds. Happened before…
When an agent finally answered my call, she knew little about why the NYT was AWOL, but muttered something about in-house computer glitches with the circulation crew, and said the missing paper was probably going to arrive with the Monday S-A, or maybe Tuesday, since Monday was the Martin Luther King holiday.
This missing-delivery angst happens several times a year. After talking to the agent here, I noticed I received an email from the Times that a transportation problem was the issue…like the papers missed a flight. The note included an apology for the delay and a thank-you for being patient. Oh, and a declaration that the paper would be delivered Monday.
If the Times can do that, why not the Star-Advertiser? Or if that’s too much of a burden for the circulation folks here, why not the carrier? Why can’t he/she send a text message or even an old-fashioned hand-scribbled note tucked in with the Sunday paper, so subscribes don’t have to call and wait and endure frustration? I mention this possible tactic today and last Sunday, and I was told to email the publisher. Like, he would care?
Newspapers are in the communications biz, but there’s simply no plan locally to inform subscribers that a problem exists.
Have you had any circulation problem? Seriously. Share your thoughts…
My annual creative output, to make Valentine’s lapel pins for Valentine’s Day. was blessed with generous contributions of wooden pins this year.
My former work colleague, Lynne Chang, was diligent in painting these hand-crafted wooden hearts, shown here, all shaped by her woodworking husband Dale Chang, in two sizes, small and large. So recipients should notice the new addition — easily 150 in the mix of the traditional stock. I embellished a number of the pins.
Jo Pruden, often regarded as “The First Lady of Hawaii Theater” for her astonishing and admirable stage performances here, died Jan. 10 at her Mililani home following a long illness. She was 84.
She suffered a stroke in 2021 but was well enough to perform – alongside her husband Jip Pruden — in “Love Letters” in December 2023, at the Brad Powell Theatre at The Actors Group in Iwilei.
It was to be her final appearance in a string of more than 100 shows in a brilliant career spanning 55 years of stagecraft magic.
Jo and husband Jip arrived in Hawaii in October, 1967 and by February, 1968, she was playing the lead in “Send Me No Flowers” at the Little Theatre at Schofield Barracks, a humble beginning of greatness to come.
“I have only praise for Jo’s consummate talent as an actor as many would agree,” said Vanita Rae Smith, a prominent director-producer here and a theatrical colleague of Jo for more than five decades. “She was always in tune with the heart and soul of each character.
“Together, we’ve done over a hundred events, stage productions. Readers Theatre and 30 Schofield Barracks 4th of July Spectacular.
“We performed in Germany, Belgium, Sacramento, CA and Charlotte, NC. We worked together each day for 13 years at Richardson Theatre (at Fort Shafter) where she managed my Army Community Theatre box office. I celebrate my best friends and ohana, Jo and Jip Pruden for 55 wonderful years.”
Indeed, Jo had a wonderful life, sharing her skills in her beloved theatrical life. Her credits and accomplishments were bountiful, beautiful and broad:
She amassed 18 Po’okela Awards, for perfomance excellence, from the Hawaii State Theatre Council.
She was honored in 2007 with HSTC’s Pierre Bowman Lifetime Achievement Award, which spawned a memorable acceptance quote she borrowed a line from “Love Letters,” “If acting is your passion don’t you dare stop doing it for the rest of your life.”
She was a notable isle talent on filmed-in-Hawaii CBS network television, logging 10 performances on “Hawaii Five-O” and five on “Magnum P.I.,” original versions shot here.
She inhabited 48 Readers Theatre shows at Army Community Theatre, and after the ACT terminated stage events, joined numerous readings at the Pohai Nani retirement residence in Kaneohe, then four more plays at TAG when the series relocated town side of the Koolaus.
She did a tour of U.S. Army installations, doing shows in Germany and Belgium.
She worked for TV Guide here, but retired to manage the ACT box office, where Smith was manager and producer who oversaw a range of entertainment events .With her alliance with the Army theater and a compadre of Smith, Jo also had another gig — narrating 25 ceremonies of the Army’s annual 4th of July hoopla for 25 years at Schofield.
Jip and Jo Pruden, at her 2023 birthday dinner.
Shari Lynn Acebedo, longtime friend, recalled Jo’s first trip to New York City with her in 2010, with subsequent treks in 2013, 2015 and 2017. “Brad Powell and Brother Gary were there at the same time,” Shari recalled about the first trip, “and we were able to share some great times. “She hadn’t been to NYC until I suggested that we go. Here eyes were as big as saucers as we strolled down Broadway. Unbridled happiness! We loved to shop, see shows and eat. “
Jo was born and raised in Enterprise, Alabama, and her hometown name possibly inspired her enterprising acting career. She majored in Theater Arts at the University of Montevllo.
Jo’s tenure as a queen of drama embraced a swirl of community endeavors, at theaters large and small, on stages such as Army Community Theatre, Manoa Valley Theatre and its predecessor, Hawaii Performing Arts Company; Diamond Head Theatre, and its predecessor, Honolulu Community Theatre; Kennedy Theatre, at the University of Hawaii, Windward Theatre Guild, Hawaii Theatre, Hawaii Pacific University Theatre, The Actors Group, Starving Artists Theater Company, Oumansky Magic Ring Theatre, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village; and several more.
A short list of her formidable credits include “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf,” “Agnes of God,” “Picnic,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Wolf,” “King Lear,” “The Trip to Bountiful,” “Doubt,” “August: Osage Country,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The American Dream,” “Nine,” “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” “Music Man,” and “Mame.”Besides her husband of 56 years, Jo is survived by a sister, Jayne Pleasants, of Clayton, Georgia.
There will be no funeral service, but a celebration of life event is being planned for the afternoon of Feb. 18, specifics not yet known, at Manoa Valley Theatre….
Personalities
Iam Tongi, Hawaii’s first “American Idol” winner, is on the ballot for a People’s Choice Award.
He is vying, along with TV competition candidates, several from “RuPaul’s Drag Show,” plus candidates from “Dancing With the Stars,” “The Bachelorettes,” “The Golden Bachelor” and “That’s My Jam.”
Winners will be revealed on an NBC special, at 8 p.m. ET Feb. 18…
Vocalist Shari Lynn and keyboarder Jim Howard return to the Paradise Lounge of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, from 7 to 10 p.m. Jan. 13 and Jan. 27, part of her twice-a-month arrangement with the jazz club…
Broadway grosses, week ending jan. 7
All hail the king. Disney’s “The Lion King” roared to the top of the Broadway list, one of only two other shows on the elite $2 Million club.
The week’s Top 10 shows:
1 – “The Lion King,” $2,444 million.
2—“ Wicked,” “2,124 million.
3 – “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” $2,037 million.
4 – “ Hamilton,” $1,968 million.
5 – “Merrily We Roll Along,” $1,785 million.
6 – “ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” 1,708 million.
7 – “ Aladdin,” $1,617 million.
8 – “MJ The Musical,”$1,569 million.”
9 – “Back To The Future: The Musical,”$1,374 million.
You’ve gotta have hearts for Valentine’s, and boy, did I have a bundle of hearts. Consequently, the 2024 Valentine’s pin production is nearly over Some were mailed today; more will be shipped. Friends, family and select followers, check your mail boxes over the next few days. Valentine’s is not till Feb. 14, but since I’ve been in recuperation made following recent surgery, I started before the medical appointment, and finished post-operation. Enjoy!
Hawaii native Nicole Scherzinger will make her Broadway debut when she stars in a Broadway revival of “Sunset Boulevard,” portraying Norma Desmond, in the Andrew Lloyd-Webber hit. The show has been a hot ticket in London, where it just closed on Jan. 6.
The stripped-back production, directed by Jamie Lloyd, had huge buzz during its West End run at the Savoy Theatre.
Scherzinger making Broadway debut in “Sunset Boulevard.”
The modern take shucks much of the glamor of the original and targets a modern vision, embracing hand-held live photography, showing actors in often massive closeups, and also tracks backstage exits and entrances seemingly like an earlier, innovative element attemped by a failed “West Side Story” revival on Broadway.
Scherzinger’s co-stars from London – Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, the struggling screenwriter; Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaefer as Gillis’ girlfriend; and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling, Norma’s butler– will also be making their Broadway debut.
Scherzinger previously starred as Grizabella in a London run of “Cats.”
She is widely known for her work and popularity as leader of the Pussycat Dolls, so she brings a vigorous, powerful voice to the stage.
The production removes much of the glamor of the original, in the tale of a fading silent movie star incapable of transitioning to talkies.
As Norma, Scherzinger is costumed only in a black slip throughout the show, and she roams. bare feet like an alley cat, shadowed by her mute younger shadow (Hannah Yun Chamberlain).
The mood is dark and shadowy, befitting Norma’s looming madness.
“Sunset Boulevard” revival is dark, moody and modern.
Gone is the trademark grand staircase of the past, where the likes of Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige have descended — to deliver the character’s memorable line, “I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille,” alluding to iconic director Cecil B. DeMille.
Her pipes surely will make “With One Look” and “:”As If We Never Said Goodbye” show-stoppers…
Tam in off-Broadeway ‘White Chip‘
Jason Tam, a Honolulan who’s become a regular Broadway trouper, will be in the cast of “The White Chip,” an autobiographical recovery comedy by Sean Daniels, set for a run from Feb.1 through March 9 at the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater aI The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theatre Space. Previews of the off-Broadway show begin Jan. 22.
Sheryl Kaller, a Tony nominee, will direct.
Tam, pictured left, is best known for his role as Paul San Marco, in the last revival of :”A Chorus Line,” and launched his Broadway career playing Gavroche in “Les Miserables.”
The cast for “Chip” also\features Crystal Dickinson and Joe Tapper…
