The Hawaii Ukulele Festival will celebrate everything ukulele, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday (July 23).
It’s the same attraction, at the same site, for the same reason: To showcase ukulele strummers and glorify the versatility of the four-stringed instrument.
But the event has new presenters, since Roy Sakuma, who launched the festival several decades ago, has retired.
The new backers mean many new uke players will perform, including Kamakakehau Fernandez, Ku’uipo Kumukahi (pictured, left) Mika Kane, Na Ukulele ‘Ekolu, Kalei and Corey, Brittney Paiva, Kris Fuchigami, Kimo Hussey, and Zanuck Lindsey.
Admission is free. If you’re a uke player, bring your instrument for impromptu jams. …
Broadway strike averted
Great news!
The IATSE (International Alliance of Theatre Stage Employees) strike on Broadway, which would have happened on Friday (July 21), is off.
The Broadway League and Disney Theatrical have a tentative 11th hour agreement that will avert the strike, according to Playbill.com.
IATSE members have yet to vote and approve the so-called Pink Contract, for behind-the-scene workers like backstage hair and makeup personnel and other theatrical support workers. If the union members reject the new pact, a new strike date could be set.
But for now, the lights of Broadway – and national touring shows – will be aglow as usual. …
Broadway grosses for week ending July 16
The roar of “The Lion King” still is No. 1 on the Broadway charts.
In fact, longevity is part of the way to get into the “million dollar” club.
We list the Lucky 7 each week:
1 – “The Lion King,” $2.638 million.
2—“Hamilton,” $1.856 million.
3—“Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” $1.805 million.
4 – “Wicked,” $1.802 million.
5 –“MJ, the Michael Jackson Musical,” $1.596million.
Uh oh. The lights on Broadway could be turned off as early as Friday (July 21) since IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union , has called for a strike authorization vote.
Negotiations with The Broadway League and Disney Theatrical have not been successful, and if a shutdown is called, even touring Broadway shows will halt.
The deadline for members to vote is 2 a.m. ET Friday, which means a strike would begin Friday, according to Playbill.com.
However, the strike could be averted if The Broadway League and Disney reps return to the bargaining table before Friday.
The strike would affect about 1,500 union members employed via IATSE’s so-called Pink Contract, which covers stagehands, hair and make-up artists, wardrobe personnel, and others employed directly by productions. The contract covers 28 of 30 currently-running productions.
If the shutdown takes place, IATSE would be the third major entertainment union to go on strike, following the strikes in the film and television industries where union members of SAG-AFTRA and WGA have halted production. It would be particularly devastating within the Broadway fan base, which buys tickets in advance for the live productions on Broadway, if a strike occurs.
The last IATSE strike, the first in union history, was in 2007, and lasted 19 days. …
‘Beauty & the Beast’ at DHT
The enchantment of Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast” will unfold Friday night (July 21) at Diamond Head Theatre. The show, Disney’s first entry to the Broadway world in 1994, is based on Disney’s 1991 animated film, and features music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Time Rice, with a book by Linda Woolvertin.
Emily North will appear as Belle, the Beauty, and David Spangenthal (pictured) will be the prince, or the Beast, who’s caught in a spell, in the fabled “tale as old as time.”
The Beast has to be kissed by Belle to undo the spell, which would trigger a happy ending.
Spangenthal is multi-tasking in this one; he’s also directing and choreographing the show. But he also took on the same responsibilities in DHT’s 2005 production. Clearly, he’s found his true love in the play and in his life. In his director’s notes in the show’s playbill, he notes, “So much has changed in my life. I now have two children, and have grown so much as a person since. I have the opportunity to re-tell this story (with its true love theme) and share the stage with my daughter Lanah (Differt) What a blessing.” (Lanah, Kira Stone and Christine Kluvo appear as The Three Silly Girls).
With his husband Timothy, he is happy to be in a two-daddy family. And his triple-threat roles for “Beauty & the Beast.”
In Disney’s retelling of the story, animated characters emerge, such as the teapot Mrs. Potts, played by Cathy Foy, and the candelabra Lumiere, portrayed by David Sheftell.
Other players include Kyle Malis (Cogsworth), Samuel Budd (Lefou), Maurice “Mo” Radke (Maurice), Alexandria Zion (Babette) and Philex Kepa and Tobias Ng-Osario (alternating as Chip), Azaliah Kekuna (Enchantress) and Joshua-Dwayne Figueroa (Young Prince)
Roslyn Catracchia and Jenny Shiroma are co-musical directors.
“Beauty and the Beast” will run through Aug. 20; some performances are already sold out. Tickets: $37 to $62, at www.diamondheadtheatre.com or (808) 733-027
‘Magnum’ set for an Oct. 4 NBC airing
NBC’s peacock feathers are fluttering.
The good news: NBC has reversed its decision to drop “Magnum P.I.” after airing half the season, and now will resume airing the series at 9 p.m. (10 p.m. on the Mainland) on Wednesdays, beginning Oct. 4. The program was previously seen on Sundays.
“Magnum,” starring Jay Hernandez (Thomas Magnum, pictured left) and Perdita Weeks (Juliet Higgins), have a romance going and logically is continuing; the new time slot follows episodes of “Quantum Leap,” formerly in a Tuesday time slot.
The bad news: NBC is pushing back its legacy shows like the trio of “Chicago” procedurals, along with two “Law and Order” series, until 2024, the delay obviously triggered by the ongoing strike by the WGA, SAG and AFTRA, which has shut down productions of all fall shows.
Since the strike, NBC has decided to push back “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.,” a blow to fans, plus “Law and Order” and “Law and Order SVU,” the latter an indefatigable and enduring brand led by Mariska Hargitay (Olivia Benson, pictured right), also tabled for now.
NBC will have to fill prime time with reruns, even movies, since all series are shuttered.
“Magnum’s” second half of the fifth season will be the last, because the sixth season still is canceled. Because there are new episodes in the vault, the Hawaii-filmed show – without a specific timetable – has earned a fall kick-off. After that, it’s aloha – a fond farewell – for Magnum and his colleagues…
‘Grace and Glorie’
“Grace and Glorie,” a play by Tom Ziegler, will be the next presentation of The Windward Readers Theatre at The Actors Group in Iwilei.
Jo Pruden and Shari Lynn, pictured below, are veteran stage actors and life-long friends, who are regulars in Readers Theatre shows, will be featured, with Marjorie DeSantis as the Narrator. Vanita Rae Smith will direct.
Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the tale focuses on Grace (Pruden), a feisty 90-year-old cancer victim who has checked herself out of a hospital to return to her beloved cottage, where she wants to die alone. Glorie (Shari) is a hospice worker with baggage – guilt-ridden, due to the loss of her daughter – whose life is transformed with new perspectives.
Performance dates are at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7, 8 and 9 at TAG. Tickets: $20 at taghawaii.net…
They’ve opened the vaults on a fabulous filmed version of Hugh Jackman, singing and portraying Curly in the Rodgers and Hammerstein evergreen, “Oklahoma.” Oh, what a beautiful musical!
I took in a matinee screening of this cinematic treat at the Kahala Theatres, where the classic will be shown one more time, at 7 p.m. Wednesday (July 19). It’s part of a national celebration to herald Rodgers and Hammerstein’s very first musical, “Oklahoma,” conceived 80 years ago, which was superstar’s Jackman first stage production in London 30 years ago.
Of course, Jackman also starred in two Broadway shows since, winning a Tony for portraying Peter Allen in “The Boy From Oz” in 2004, and setting box office records, grossing $3 million-plus a week last year, starring as Prof. Harold Hill in “The Music Man.”
But trust me, make time to go see Jackson in this special revival marking the milestone. What a revelation!
Hugh Jackman as Curly in “Oklahoma’: Oh what a beautiful voice.
Youthful and handsome, effusive and expressive, he is amazing and alluring as a cowboy in this frontier musical, taped in 1998 in the West End, with an unheralded DVD released some years back. What a find!
From the moment his voice is heard on the show’s first tune, “Oh, What Beautiful Mornin’,” the sunny mood of the production brightens the stage. So animated and immersed in his role, Jackson’s solos and duets (“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” “People Will Say We’re in Love” with Josefia Gabrielle as Laurie) are compelling and flawless, clearly demonstrating he would become a major musical star. Curly was his groundbreaking role, decades ago, that portended his later performances in filmed musicals such as “Les Miserables” and “The Greatest Showman.”
Maureen Lipman as Aunt Eller, with Jackman in “Oklahoma.”
With nostalgia as part of a selling point now, “Oklahoma” is like meeting a friend you wish you met years ago. An obscure discovery now, it’s fitting and proper to watch it on a big screen, with lounge seats, of course. This would have been a buried treasure were it not brought to our attention now.
It’s delightful to discover the supporting cast, too, performers genuinely ingrained in the roles they play. Maureen Lipman is precious as the salty but in-command Aunt Eller, leading the singing and dancing ensemble’s animated and storied “The Farmer and the Cowman,” a battle cry with a theme of territoriality that evolves in a call for unity, solidarity and togetherness. She’s also kind of a helicopter aunt to Curly and Laurie, protective and there when they need her. Hers is the voice of wisdom here, never tolerating foolishness.
Vicki Simon as Ado Annie is irresistibly romantic but adorably confused, and likely an audience favorite with her giddy and fluctuating heart, which puts Jimmy Johnston as her beau, Will Parker, reeling. Then there’s Shuler Hensley as Jud Fry, the misinterpreted wave of darkness who lives in a smokehouse, and Peter Polycarpou as the comedic traveling Persian salesman Ali Hakim, who also is a likeable conman infatuated with Ado Annie.
Josephia Gabrielle, as Laurie, with Jackman in “Oklahoma.”
Remember, this is a staged production, with action within the proscenium of the theater, yet director Trevor Nunn (“Cats”) gives the production grandness with minimal sets, but supported by a huge and versatile revolving turntable stage.
The singing and dancing ensemble in “Oklahoma’: A dream cast.
R&H shows always include a mid-way dream sequence, to sort out conflicting issues and choices, so the Agnes DeMille’s choreography of this phase is stunning with wavering moods. The legendary Susan Stroman (“Crazy for You”) updated the choreography, including cowboy-type leaps and twirls, aptly tuned in to the countrified storyline.
One of the quizzical elements of the movie is the lack of audience response (applause after each tune, as in an actual stage performance), so sometimes the quiet seems eerie. Those in the theater also were calm and quiet, till the film was over, then offering a few hoots and some clapping.
Further, since this production was a stage effort, it’s amazing that you don’t see body mikes on the actors. Also, the movie runs nearly three hours, so a stage-type intermission is part of the experience.
A film with an intermission: When’s the last time you’ve seen this?
I was so enraptured with this film, I ordered a DVD of the show at Amazon.com yesterday.
In retrospect, this is truly a unified theatrical vision, sewn together like a colorful quilt, seamlessly fusing music with dialogue, story with dance.
And in another 20 years, when “Oklahoma” logs its milestone 100th anniversary, perhaps there will then be a star of the future starring in this proven hit to evolve as his generation’s Jackman. …
NEW YORK – As I’ve repeatedly said, New York is my kind of town.
The 2023 visit, however, was quite different and very special: ‘twas my wife Vi’s and my first return to The Great Apple in nearly four years, the first after the COVID 19 pandemic, the first with a rented electric wheelchair because of my chronic back pain.
So for this final installment in a series of Broadway posts, thought I’d recapitulate some memories that hopefully will be beneficial for your New York experience.
Getting there
Lucky we live Hawaii. But if you’re Broadway bound, you can’t drive, catch an Amtrak train, hop on the subway or take a ship cruise.
You have to catch a plane. And I believe in direct flights – costlier than a one- or two-stop itinerary, because time is money, too.
Happily, my two most-used carriers – Hawaiian and United – both have direct flights from Honolulu to New York. Hawaiian flies to JFK, anchored in the JetBlue terminal. United aims for its hub in Newark, N.J.
But the pandemic – among other reasons – has changed both carriers ‘direct flight home to Honolulu…at least on a Sunday, my return-home day.
Hawaiian’s sked was a one-stop, from JFK to LA, then HNL.
Wayne and Vi, on United Airlines — the homeward-bound trip.
United had a direct-to-HNL from EWR (Newark) but the agenda was changed while I was getting ready to fly out. United now was a one-stop, too, the pause at the mammoth George Bush International Airport in HOU (Houston), then HNL. Trouble is, the connection time was a mere half-hour, too risky since the airport is mammoth, so while still in New York, I called United to see what options I had to dodge the 30-minute gallop. The solution was to take an earlier flight from Newark to Houston, allowing a two-hour layover.
As it turned out, United’s flights anyway,, but as the hours ticked, the “new” flight left pretty much left the same time as the original flight, but the HNL-bound jet was held for those making the connection. Frustration and tension resulted in a happy journey, in the end. …
Everything is costly
Prices are up everywhere, for everything, so reality bites And folks who know us know that the Haradas prefer first-class flights (who doesn’t?) that cost an arm and two legs, but offers room for those arms and legs.
Since I had accrued mileage for both Hawaiian Air and United Airlines, I traded in 300,000 for two via Hawaiian to fly there, and another 330,000 for two for the return via United. There were $50 fees per person, too. If plan early, you can buy coach and upgrade to Business First, if possible.
We’ve been going to New York for more than 50 years, and my primary interest is to see Broadway shows. Over 10 days, we took in 11 productions; bought orchestra or mezzanine/balcony seats, costing $3,300. Where your seats are will determine your costs.
A disclosure: at the height of the “Hamilton” frenzy, I simply couldn’t find tickets no matter how hard I tried, and wound up – gulp! – buying $750 seats (times, two, since my wife was there, too) in the second-to-the-last-row in the nose-bleed section, but saw the original cast with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr. Worth it, everything considered!
Choosing a hotel
In the past, we got rooms at “brand” hotels (Hilton, Sheraton) to get frequent-stayer points. It’s difficult to earn loyalty points, unless you’re a business traveler.
So this year, we decided to select a hotel with easy access to near theaters, and chose the Hotel Edison on W. 47th St., smack dab in the middle of Times Square. It’s a mid-sized hotel, so elevator access is a lot better than a mega-hotel where conventioneers stay. The Edison had a rate of $238 a night, compared to other places that have $400-plus rooms.
One other hotel tip: Whenever we travel now, we book the room to include our departure day, so when we arrive overnight, we can check into the hotel at 8 or 9 a.m., compared to the universal 3 p.m. check-in.
Since most HNL flights to the East Coast have mid-afternoon flights out, you always arrive early morning the next day and having the luxury to check into your room early in the morning is a joy. If you haven’t slept on your flight, you can sleep, or unpack, or go out for breakfast. If you have young kids, you don’t want to wait till late afternoon to get your room. City attractions don’t open till 10 a.m. anyway, and a 3 p.m. check is now unfathomable for us.
Tip: If you do the extra-day booking, be sure to call your hotel on your departure day that you will be a “late” arrival, and to hold the room. …
Where to secure show tickets
Websites to order tickets:
The two key websites I use: Telecharge.com and Ticketmaster.com
Tickets are also on sale at Playbill.com; you receive discounts with a membership fee
Where to get half-price tickets
If you’re a first-timer tor Broadway, or a once-in-a-decade visitor, the place to go is the TKTS booth at Duffy Square, in the heart of Times Square, at W. 46th St. and Seventh Ave. You can’t miss the place, since there are ticket windows on the north side, and a bunch of red staircase seats on the south side.
This is the home of twofers, meaning you get two tickets for the price of one, and the booth sells only same-day tickets for a select list of shows. Hot-ticket shows (“Hamilton,” “The Lion King”) generally are not on the sales board.
The TKTS booth is where tickets are “twofers.” Buy one, get one free.
The booth just marked its 50th anniversary in June 2023.
Hours: 3 to 8 p.m. most days, 3 to 7 p.m. Sundays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Wednesday and Saturday matinee shows.
Best resource for theater reviews: https://didtheylikeit.com/
Reviews (capsule and full-length) are posted here; you can peruse before you buy tickets, which also can be purchased here.
Regrets, I have a few
No matter how long you stay, you can’t to it all. So:
Couldn’t catch the subway this year; I can struggle and go down and up stairs, but the missus said absolutely not. Subways are the fastest way to get anywhere in New York, but I was in no hurry to go anyplace fast. Caught the bus with the wheelchair and used both Uber and the Yellow Cab in instances of rain.
Imagine, I didn’t have a single bagel while visiting. Reason: my favorite theater district deli, Carnegie Delicatessan, closed perhaps a decade ago, and food trucks sell ‘em, I was never near one to buy one. My hotel didn’t have ‘em, either. And Katz Deli and Zabar’s stock bagels but are too far away to get ‘em.
Visited Macy’s at Herald Square with the wheelchair. While the world’s largest store has elevators and wheelchair ramps, it is not really handicapped-friendly. Wanted a Starbucks coffee that day; though the café was on a highly visible mezzanine, with an elevator nearby (but no longer so), the only way via access ramps that are hidden, in corridors not easily found; went up one elevator floor to get the coffee, but didn’t bother trying to find the many Macy’s bargains.
Wheelchair rental
Wayne on his wheelchair, at Rockefeller Center.
While leaving our hotel one day, a woman saw me in a wheelchair and inquired about how and where to rent one, too.
I recommend NYC Mobility Rentals; it provides chairs and scooters and delivers and picks up the rentals
I consider myself a local boy, so enjoy local kine places to eat.
OK, the menu is Mainland to the core, but if there is a place that serves family fare, at breakfast, lunch and dinner, it has to be Junior’s Bakery and.
Junior’s, on Broadway and W. 49th St. Kinda like Zippy‘s
OK, there’s no Spam nor Portuguese sausage on the menu, but the informality and hospitality have a local vibe here. Oh, and don’t ask for shoyu, either.
This is the place I meet local friends visiting New York at the same time.
This trip and once earlier, visiting friend Kevin Iwamoto joined us for breakfast.
Junior’s, with roots in Brooklyn, boasts two restaurants in the theater district: the newer one, where I hang out, is on Broadway and W. 49th St.; the other is on W. 45th St. and Shubert Alley.
The meals are fulfilling, but if you crave dessert, there’s a variety of cakes and pies and cheesecake to cap the meal. Sorry, no Napoleons either…
A roster of bona fide luminaries in Hawaii’s recording industry will be honored in the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts’ Lifetime Achievement Awards gala Nov. 5 at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel’s Monarch Room.
The 2023 inductees are:
Audy Kimura, left, a singer, composer, guitarist, engineer, and producer best known for his “Lovers and Friends” hit; also a longtime entertainer (now retired) at Hy’s Steak House, a commercial jingle writer and accomplished rifle shooter.
Karen Keawehawai‘i, left below, a veteran singer, recording artist, television host and radio personality, actress, featured voice with the Royal Hawaiian Band but also known for a floral garden in her hair.
Nohelani Cypriano, right, below a singer, composer, keyboardist, club performer and wife of Dennis Grau.
Les Ceballos, left below, a singer well known as a mainstay in the Kamehameha Schools song contest.
Kata Maduli, below right, is arecording artist, show presenter, and the father of McKenna Maduli and the husband of Janet Maduli.
A luncheon ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. with a silent auction and no-host cocktails, with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. for seating and a lunch at 11 a.m. The ceremony begins at noon and will feature entertainment with biographic profiles, concluding at 2 p.m.
The event also will bestow a Legacy Recognition honor to the late Cynthia “Cindy” Ann Lance, a Hula Records executive who also was researcher and writer and savvy and knowledgeable Hawaiiana expert.
The shutdown of Hollywood productions on the Mainland impacted Hawaii shows too.
With actors going on strike, in support of the Writers Guild of America walkout, all shows are on pause.
Nearly 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are supporting the 20,000 Writers Guild of America members who have been picketing since May, when negotiations broke down with writers seeking a new three-year contract with movie studios.
The SAG-AFTRA strike affects 1,200 actors in Hawaii.
The shows affected are CBS’ “NCIS: Hawai‘i,” which apparently completed its second season filming before the shutdown occurred, and Disney’s live-action “Moana” and live-action “Lilo and Stitch” features. NBC’s “Magnum P.I.” called off part of the show’s fifth season, too, but the closure came before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA walk-out, and its status is in limbo and likely is being cut off from NBC, the network that gave it a safety net pickup.
Amy Hill, pictured, who was a “Magnum” recurring star for CBS’ four seasons of the procedural and also the shortened fifth season on NBC, also has been doing the “Lilo and Stitch” project, told Hawaii News Now that labor disputes no longer are surprising. “Having been in this business for a while I kind of, I’m always ready for losing a job,” said Hill. …
