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.
To celebrate Grandparents Day on Sept. 10, comedian Frank DeLima, pictured below left, will do a show honoring kupuna at 6:45 p.m. at Central Oahu Event Center, formerly Dot’s of Wahiawa, at 130 Mango St.
Doors open at 5 p.m.
The bill will feature two other acts, Steve Lucas & MSG Band and Taste of Harmony.
Dinner and drink service will be available; reservations are required.
Reservations: $25 in advance, through midnight Sept. 9, or $30 at the door.
Call (808) 627-5451 or visit www.centraloahueventceter.com
DeLima, meantime, has resumed his annual series of Student Enrichment school visits throughout the state weekdays, advocating no-drugs, no-bullying, study-hard agendas; he’s done Kauai visits already and is trying to schedule visits to Maui schools, including alternate sites for schools destroyed in the Lahaina wildfires. …
Now it’s kokua Maui show
On the heels of his successful “50 Years of C&K” concert last weekend at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell, Henry Kapono, pictured right, corrals yet another huge cast to stage “We Are Friends Maui,” a benefit for the Maui wildfire victims, at 4 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center’s A&B Amphitheater/Yokouchi Pavilion.
The all-star event will feature Jake Shimabukuro, Robert Cazimero, John Cruz, Kimié Miner, Makana, Anuhea, Brother Noland, Kalapana, Amy Hanaiali‘i, Sistah Robi, Tavana, Eric Gilliom, Angela Morales of Na Leo, The Rough Riders, Ana Vee, Kala‘e Parish and Kealoha;
Tickets: $150.50 for Gold Circle/VIP Package, $75.50 and $45.50 for reserved seating, and $15.50 general admission (no seats). Patrons of the earlier Kapono concert will receive new electronic tickets for this event.
Gates open at 3 p.m. for food and beverage purchase.
Other benefactors include the Henry Kapono Foundation and the Hawaii Community Foundation. …
Broadway grosses for week ending Aug. 27s
Antoine Dias Casajosa, aka El Mago Pop, pictured left, did a 10-day run on Broadway and topped last week’s grosses. He’s a Spanish illusionist who created his own box office magic.
And for the first time, “Funny Girl” also was big office.
The Lucky 7:
1 – “El Mago Pop,” $2.727 million.
2 – “Funny Girl,” 2.132 million.
3 – “The Lion King,” $1.991 million.
4 – “Hamilton,” $1.834 million.
5—“Wicked, $1.514 million.
6—“MJ, the Musical,” $1.455 million.
7—“Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” $1.367 million.
You might recall that when I was in Queen’s Medical Center two weeks ago, I surmised that a hospital was like a hotel for those with broken souls.
Now at home in recovery mode, this broken soul has an updated observation: Recovery life is like a movie, or perhaps a documentary. It’s not quite a lights-camera-action motif, but there are moments that could be mildly cinematic.
First, I must share that I finally had a haircut yesterday after being tardy for more than two sweeks. You know you need a trim when there’s far too much growth above the fenders, and the body wave appointments that my hair resembled a weed patch like the overgrown grass at any city intersection.
So Lucil obliged with a trim, since my regular ‘dresser Tootsie was not available. Oh, such bliss. It was a photo op that I neglected, so did a selfie upon returning home.
This would have been ample “news” for the day, but overnight, I had another “moment.” At around 2 a.m., I was getting off the bed to go to pee (man, I go three times or so a night, with a walker to boot), when I rolled off the bed (we don’t have hospital guard rails) and landed flat on my face and shoulder, luckily not squishing a network of tubes and bags collecting drips from the abscess from my liver and my gall bladder, the reason I was hospitalized.
Ouch! In retrospect, I thought of the TV commercial where the lady fell at the foot of the stairs and could not adequately yell for help.
Luckily, my wife Vi heard the noise when I slid onto the floor in the darkness, and it did take a minute or so for me to catch my bearings and attempt to lift myself up. But I couldn’t; I had no strength to stand up, so Vi had to help lift me onto the side of the bed, so I could breathe and recover to properly head to the bathroom.
When I was done, Vi brought me an ice pack to place on my face to minimize bruising, if any.
Now, this nocturnal “action” clearly was a bigger issue than a haircut, and part of this life-as-movie anecdote. Could’ve made this a “camera” moment, but the iPhone was elsewhere recharging. It is what it is.
Recovery requires patience, since everything is in go-slow mode. Take your time on the walker, to avoid falls. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, since there’s a handful of meds to take morning, noon and night. Boring, but again, it is what it is. Oh, there are twice-a-day draining of those unfashionable drip collectors to measure and document the oozes from my liver and gladder. Somewhat disgusting, but I’ll have these procedures till the well runs dry. Meaning pau drip, pau wearing these bags and cords.
My daily routine is, alas, routine. After I awaken, I have a cup of coffee, read the morning paper and USA Today, and watch “Today” and switch to CNN for an overview of the world. The Maui wildfires are still on the agenda, and Idalia’s wind and water fury in Florida and the East Coast grab the headlines.
Breakfast Is unexciting: English muffin, croissant, or oatmeal, with sliced bananas or cubed watermelon (a favorite, when I was in Queen’s).
Of course, news is routine, too … there’s the daily update on Trump’s litany of court cases and his customary “I am innocent” laments, between the real news, like another attack in Ukraine.
This leisurely sked enables me to resort to one of my hobbies, making hand-made notecards, to write thank-you’s for courtesies and kindnesses from friends. Plus, I try to create new versions of my aloha shirt cards.
Retirement enables time to reflect on good gestures and kind people. I spent some time yesterday writing gift donations to my favorite theater groups to mail today, since the fall season and special shows are in the offing in the days, weeks and months ahead. While Maui’s victims are needy and need kokua, global donors have responded, so we can’t forget the arts groups here that need support, too.
And have hand-written messages on self-made cards to a batch of wonderful friends who’ve offered comfort and warm support over the past weeks.
Admittedly, none of the aforementioned would be worthy of the stuff of movies, but in my imagined reel world, this is the nature of the momentum and mundane doings during my recovery.
I should add that I’ve had some Zoom doctor visits, with a few more forthcoming, and a few in-office doc visits, too, along with clinic visits and in-hospital testing. The beat goes on.
And I trust I won’t fall of the bed again. That would be a nightmare…
Further, did you get the last preventive shot at CVS Longs? If and when you do, you’ll receive a $5 coupon for future use when you spend $20. A good deal. …
So this rambling movie in my mind still is not over. Hey, films are not done in a day or two…
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. …
