Category: Stage

Turns out there were two Tony Award winners with Hawaii roots in Sunday’s telecast from Radio City Music Hall in New York.

We knew and applauded one, Nicole Scherzinger, who picked up the trophy for Leading Actress in a Musical, for her powerful  portrayal of Norma Desmond in “Sunset Blvd.,” which also was the coveted winner of the Best Revival of a Musical.

Scherzinger, of Hawaiian, Ukrainian and Filipino ancestry, also earned the unofficial Tony for being the first bare-footed  singer  to perform her featured tune, “As If We’ve Never Said Goodbye.”

What we didn’t know, until this morning, that Hawaii can claim another Tony winner in Darren Criss, who earned Tony as  Leading Male in a Musical, for his role of Oliver in “Maybe  Happy Ending.”  He claims Filipino roots, since his family lived here when he was young.

The media in the Philippine have been pouring out the hurrahs for Schwerzinger and Criss.

Call this response Pinoy Pride.

Schwerzinger has long mentioned her multi-racial roots while  being the leader of the Pussycat Dolls. She mentioned her mixed- blood extractions when excepting her Tony, revealing that the win made “a little girl from Hawaiian, Ukrainian and Filipino roots see her dream come true.”

She added, “Growing up, I always felt like I didn’t belong, but you all have made me feel like I belong, and I have come home, at last.”

Criss credits his Filipino heritage in shaping his foundation. Criss is Filipino on his mother’s side; his mom, Cerina Bru, was born in Cebu, in the Philippines, and is of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish descent. Although Criss was born and raised in the U.S., he has embraced his multicultural background and is proud of his connection to his Filipino roots, especially through family and food. His family resided in Honolulu from 1988 to 1992, and colleagues recall he attended St. Clement’s School for pre-school/kindergarten, but his primary education was in schools in the San Francisco area.

Criss also is the first islander to pick up two trophies the same night – one  for Leading Actor and a second for being a producer of “Maybe Happy Ending,”  voted Best Musical. which was judged 2025’s Best New Musical. No ifs or maybes here, since the show was the evening’s big winner of six awards, including best director (Michael  Arden), Best  Score (Will Aronson and Hue Park), Best Book (Aronson and Park) and  Best Scenic Design (Dane Laffrey and George Reeve)…

The scoop on Clooney play

George Clooney’s’ “Good Night, and Good Luck” closed Sunday, with two performances – a matinee and evening show – prior to the Tony Awards June 8. The finale was that taped performance

Some factoids:

• Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in ‘”Good Night, and Good Luck.”
• He took a pay cut; originally, his fee was $3 each for writing, directing and acting.
• It cost $7.5 million to make.

•  Due to a spinal injury he received on the set of  his film “Syriana” a few months earlier, Clooney could not pass the tests to be insured. So he mortgaged his own house in Los Angeles to make the film.
• The play recouped its $9.5 million capitalization in just over seven  weeks.
• The play broke Broadway gross records, posting $4 million-plus figures each week.
• It played to 100 per cent capacity, at the Winter Garden Theatre, which has a capacity of 1,508 seats—  1,001 orchestra seats and 507 mezzanine seats.. .
• Average ticket price was $339.
• A CNN telecast of the play had viewership of 7.34 million – and setting a record in the process, of being the first live performance of a play on TV.
• Clooney was nominated in the Best Actor category, but did not win…

The Top 10, for the week ending June 8:

1—”Good Night, And Good Luck,” $4.331 million

2—“Othello,” $3.807million

3—“Wicked,” $2.413 million

4—“Glengarry Glen Ross,” $2.358 million

5—”The Lion King,” $2.002 million

6—“Hamilton,” $$1.983 million

 7—”The Picture of Dorian Gray,” $1.367 million

8—“Death Becomes Her”, $1.347 million

9—“Aladdin,” $1.286 million

10—“Sunset Blvd.,” $1.261 million

The complete list of the grosses, for the week ending June 8:

And that’s Show Biz… 

And then there were two.

Filipinos in the cast of “Hamilton,” that is.

So the mega hit musical show — approaching its 10^th anniversary on Aug. 6 on the Great White Way — has another dash of Hawaii’s aloha spirit in the company.

You might recall we’ve earlier written about Marc delaCruz, who had been the lone Filipino performer in the ensemble. He’s originally from the Big Island, the first Filipino to play the hit show’s titular character, after understudying Alexander Hamilton originally played by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator. DelaCruz emailed me recently that another former islander has joined the company, and he helped me get in touch with this colleague.

So say aloha to Reanne Acasio, a Filipino actress and also a former resident of Hawaii. She’s now in the ensemble but also has been understudying andctively playing the three Schuyler sisters, Angelica, Eliza and Peggy.  She and delaCruz thus are the only Filipinos in the multi-racial cast…and both are proud of their heritage.

Acasio’s Broadway journey started in 2022 with a national tour of “Hamilton,” dubbed the Angelica Company, First National. “I was an offstage cover for Angelica, Eliza and Peggy, as well as one ensemble track,” said Acasio.

“I had gone to an open call in NYC, got one in-person callback for Eliza, and then had a series of Zoom callbacks and tapes that finally led to the job,” she said. “ I booked it with four days left on a contract in New Hampshire, with no jobs lined up afterward. It was a Godsend!”
She joined the Broadway “Hamilton” cast in  2024, this time as the onstage cover of the Schuyler sisters, performing every night in the ensemble while still understudying Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy.(She understudies a fourth role, Maria Reynolds, the character who has an affair with Alexander Hamilton).

Thus, when she reports to the Richard Rodgers Theatre every day, she winds up playing different characters, according to need.

“It’s quite fun to test my range,” she said. “You really never get bored. I’ve also gotten to make history as the first Filipina to play all three sisters on Broadway.” 

By now, Acasio probably has performed the Schuylers dozens of times. “My favorites are Eliza and Angelica, but I do love the huge switch-up in energy from Peggy to Maria Reynolds. I love the subtleties, acting challenge, arc, and music of Eliza, and the strength, power vocals, and humor of Angelica.” 

Acasio lived in Hawaii in the early 2000s, residing first in Kapolei then in Waipahu. During the pandemic, she lived in Honolulu. And yes, family members, flying in from all over the world, have seen her in ”Hamilton” “They were so proud to see me achieving my wildest dreams,” she said.

Before “Hamilton,” Acasio was part of the all-Filipino “Here Lies Love” on Broadway, based on the life of Imelda Marcos. Acasio shared the role of Aurora Aquino with Lea Salonga, the first Filipina to win a Tony Award for her pivotal portrayal of Kim in “Miss Saigon.” 

Acasio appreciates how Broadway “has become more inclusive of all cultures, skin tones, genders, sexual orientations, and beliefs, than in the past. I am so lucky to witness and be a part of the industry in this era of celebrating diversity in storytelling. I think it’s cool that I get to play four different people in this show, and my heritage/skin tone isn’t the center of the story. I get to color my performance with my Filipino identity, for example, sprinkling a little “Ate” (Tagalog for older sister) energy when playing Angelica. But the audience sees me as Angelica, not as ‘the Filipina.’ Although it is such a joy to meet Filipinos at the stage door who get so excited that they saw a fellow Filipino onstage.” 

While landing a role on Broadway is a dream come true, Acasio is a bona fide island girl and misses everything Hawaii. A military brat born in Guam, she has lived  in Turkey, Germany, and different states. “I attended Hickam Elementary School, Kapolei Elementary School, and Kapolei Middle School in Hawaii,” she said. “My family and I lived on Oahu for six years. 

Because New York is a concrete jungle, her thirst for Hawaii is natural. “I miss the green, the ocean, the ʻāina,” she said. “I miss going to hula as a kid in Kapolei at my neighbor’s house and as an adult at Halau Keolakapuokalani with kumu Drake Keolakapu Dudoit Delaforcé even getting to go to the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo. I miss the people and the community who took care of each other and the land. I miss the food — oh the food! I miss the music, the vibrant culture, the hikes, the sunrises. Hawaii was the best place I’ve ever lived, and I’ve gotten to experience a lot of the world in my lifetime. Hawaii will always feel like home”…

Two Broadway dramas recoup initial investment

George Clooney’s hit drama,  “Good Night, and Good Luck,” no longer is in the $4 million club, but it  earlier recouped the show’s initial investments. Clooney also is a Tony nominee for Best Actor in a Drama.

“Othello,” which also has passed the $3 million milestone, has managed to recover its initial investment, too, effective the week ending May 11.

Which means both shows are  hereon riding the gravy train.  But “Othello” has been snubbed, denying lead actor Denzel Washington  a Tony nomination.

The Tonys are set for June 8 at the Radio City Music Hall. Since I have not visited Broadway since last June, I have not seen a single nominated production this year. Sigh…

The Top 10:

1—“Good Night, and Good Lock,”  $3.812 million

2—“Othello,” $3.229 million

3—“Glengarry Glen Ross,” $2.432 million

4—“Wicked,” $2.128” million

5—“The Lion King,” $1.795 million

6—“Hamilton,” $1.660 million

7—“Death Becomes Here,” $1.343 million

8—“MJ the Musical,” $1.214 million

9—“The Picture of Dorian Gray,” $1.204 million

10—“Gypsy,” $1.180 million

The complete list of grosses, courtesy the Broadway League:

And that’s Show Biz…

Even with the ol’ adage, “The show must go on,” the show couldn’t continue for Hawaii’s Nicole Scherzinger on Broadway this past Wednesday (April 23) afternoon.

At a matinee performance of her “Sunset Blvd.” hit at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, a technical mishap forced the cancellation of the show.

Frustrating, yes, but inventive Scherzinger – starring as Norma Desmond in “Sunset” – didn’t allow her audience to be totally disappointed. With her co-star, Tom Francis (he plays Joe Gillis in the show), she took to the stage to announce the cancellation, by grabbing a bullhorn from backstage to make lemonade from a lemon of a situation.

With the support of a backstage track, Scherzinger sang “With One Look,” a tune her Desmond character sings, which at least gave disappointed show-goers to have something to talk about after vacating the theater.

Magician Giancarlo Bernini, in the audience, captured the singer with her bullhorn in an Instagram post, and the show continued as usual for the evening performance…

Show breezes

Coming up:

• Boys II Men, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (April 26), at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell. Ticket prices vary, depending on seat location.
• Jefferson Starship, at 8 p.m. June 7, at the Hawaii Theatre. Tickets: $72 to $262.
• Lee Ann Rimes, at 6:30 p.m. July 12, at Blaisdell Arena. Ticket prices vary, depending on seat location.

And that’s Show Biz…