Broadway in Hawaii, the group which just concluded its first four-show series of musicals at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, is seeking input on what islanders would like to see in the next slate of shows.
The Concert Hall will shut down in July, for a long-overdue renovation, but the producers of these events are polling ticket-buyers about possible choices next year, or in two years.
Inside the playbill at the “Cats” show, there is a page dubbed “What show do you want to see?,” along with a QR code to vote.
There’s no guarantee any of the show choices will be picked, but let your voice be heard.
This ad in the “Cats” playbill seeks viewer choices.
Personally, I think if we could have a four-season agenda, I’d pick these:
- “Les Miserables,” the most popular of all Broadway titles that have been staged here. I can already hear the people sing! Bring it home, again.
- “Ain’t Too Proud,” a musical bio of The Temptations. Saw this a couple of years ago, and the soundtrack is chock-full of Temps triumphs like “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” and “I Can’t Get Next to You.” The vocals are grand, the choreography sensational. The Temptations are Motown’s longest-running act topping such label mates as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and Lionel Richie and the Commodores.
- “Come From Away,” a sleeper when it first opened in New York, is a gotta-see musical about the real-life tales and friendship when passengers heading for New York couldn’t land because of the 9/11 tragedy but found comfort and support from the Canadian residents of Gander, Newfoundland.
- “A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical,” is an audience favorite. Will see this when I visit New York this month, and I can already hear the choruses of “So good, so good, so good” when “Sweet Caroline” is performed. The show had no Tony noms, but diehard Diamond fans are making this one sizzle.
Of the other choices: if you want a current show, “& Juliet” or “Shucked” could fill the bill; they arrived this past season on Broadway. I’d pass on “Pretty Woman, the Musical,” a disappointing take on the Julia Roberts and Richard Gere film, and isn’t it too soon for a “Wicked” homecoming? “Kinky Boots” is a howl, no matter how often you see it, but “Beetlejuice” might work if it had a Halloween run. Enough opinions, already…
Let the ‘Sunshine’ in…
Pat Sajak and Joe Moore, the duo comprising Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” comedy at the Hawaii Theatre, completed the first of five performances “and I’m happy to report the audiences seem to love the show, a lot of laughs and applause,” said Moore.
Sajak and Moore have generously donated time and their comedic skills to raise funds for the Hawaii Theatre, and the final six performances start this Wednesday and run through Sunday. Evening performances are at 7 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
The duo, Army buddies from way back when, are the only television “names” I know who have made this a regular “hobby,” rehearsing long-distance. Sajak has been the host of the syndicated (and widely popular) “Wheel of Fortune,” and Moore has been a top-rated news anchor at KHON, the Fox affiliate here.
Tickets are $35 to $75, available at www.hawaiitheatre.com the box office at 808-528-0506 …
Moore, the merrier
Bryce Moore, son of Joe Moore, is in “Sunshine,” and calls stage acting a “tricky beast.”
“You get the thrill of being in front of a live audience but also don’t get any ‘second takes.’ It’s straight through, no do-overs.”
This is his first professional theater gig, with only a middle school (Mid-Pacific) credit in a production of “Suessical Jr.,” in which he played the Mayor of Whoville.
He’s watched dad and Sajak before, and dad offered him a role. After viewing the movie adaption of “Sunshine,” he said, “ “there was no way that I was going to say no. I couldn’t, and still can’t think of a higher honor than to share a stage with them.”
Since 2020, he’s also been working in the shadows of dad Joe as a KHON journalist, riding out the pandemic, which shelved “Sunshine” for three years.
His tasks have included “listening to police scanners, answering phone calls from the public and getting everything that aired in our newscasts onto our website.”
As a multimedia journalist, he is “responsible for being the writer, producer, editor, talent and cameraman while I’m out on my stories. I’m constantly approaching strangers with a camera and recording myself in public, so as far as to feeling pressure of being watched… I guess I’m pretty used to it.” …
And that’s Show Biz. …