RECOVERY LIFE INCLUDES UPS, DOWNS

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…

And that’s Show Biz. …

BUTCHER PAPER, NEWSBOY, MATCHBOOK?

Just asking…

When was the last time you…

…had a butcher wrap up your steak purchase in the pink butcher paper of the past?

…bought a newspaper from a child hawker, instead of from a vending machine?

…collected a match book or match box from a restaurant where smoking now is banned, anyway?

’60 YEARS’ OF BRIGHT LIGHTS

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. …

And that’s Show Biz.. …

SERENITY, AT A TIME OF NEED

Nature always has a way of calming the soul.

So I had these tiny clip-art images of trees, rivers, and the countryside.

Nope, not local stuff, but nonetheless green and keen, though somewhat deliberately muted.

Enough here for me to put together a bunch of cards.

The mood fit my current status, of recovering from an illness.

Serene comes to mind.

Enjoy….

ONE IN, ONE OUT: STREAMING SCRAMBLE

“Magnum P.I.” – the first four seasons of the CBS procedural – has been picked up by Amazon for its free streaming Freevee, beginning Sept. 1, according to TV Insider. This will be the only streaming venue to air the Jay Hernandez-Perdita Weeks show, which has been a ping-pong bouncing everywhere.

“Magnum P.I.” stars Jay Hernandez and Perdita Weeks will be seen on Amazon Prime’s Freevee streaming site, starting Sept. 1.

These original episodes were honed and developed at CBS, which surprisingly dropped the series, at the end of Season 4, which then was picked up by NBC, where previously-filmed shows of the second half of the fifth and final season, will air Oct. 4 on NBC, perhaps giving the filmed-in-Hawaii a possible edge in winding up in prime time again.

Currently, only NBC’s Peacock streaming site will air the earlier shows of the fifth season. …

The “Doogie Kamealoha” ‘ohana — from left, Matt Sato, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jason Scott Lee and Wes Tian — have been denied a third-season renewal on the Disney Channel.

Elsewhere, it’s aloha – meaning goodbye – for  “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.,” the Disney+ streamer which filmed two seasons in Hawaii, won’t get a third season pickup. The show, starring Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Lahela Kamealoha, aka “Doogie,” was pink-slipped Aug. 25, according to Variety.

“Doogie” is one of two Disney projects shut down because of the unresolved, embattled writers guild strike that has stopped production of nearly all new and ongoing movies and TV shows, in prime time as well as in the widening streaming market, which has been a hot button for actors demanding payment, an issue which has been an under-the-radar till current negotiations.

The other local Disney show also stalled by the strike is “Lilo and Stich,” a live-action film based on the animated film set in Hawaii. It’s still on the agenda, but “Doogie” failed to earn a third-season pickup.

“Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.” was created by Kourtney Kang, who executive produced alongside Melvin Mar, Jake Kasdan, Dayna Bochco, Jesse Bochco, Matt Kuhn and Justin McEwen.

A credible ‘ohana bond included Kathleen Rose Perkins as Dr. Clara Hannon, Lahela’s mother who’s also her supervisor at the hospital; Jason Scott Lee as Benny, Lahela’s father; Matt Sato as Kai, her older brother; Wes Tian as Brian Patrick, her younger brother; Emma Meisel as Steph, her BFF, Alex Aiono as Walter, her first boyfriend; Milo Manheim as Nico, her patient and new love interest. The show also boasted Al Harrington in his final TV role as an uncle, before his death. …

Broadway grosses, for week ending Aug. 20

There’s no newbie in the Lucky 7 $1 million club on Broadway.

Translation: The leaders still lead.

The Top 7 on the Great White Way are:

1– “The Lion King,” $2.226 million.

2–“Hamilton,: $1.904 million.

3 — “”Wicked,”: $1.559 million.

4 — “MJ, the Musical,” $1.451 million.

5–“Aladdin, $1.381 million.

6– “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barbor of Fleet Street,” $1.325 millon.

7–“Back to the Future, the Musical,” $1.258 million.

Here’s the entire list of the week’s grosses:


And that’s Show Biz. …