Second of two articles (Part one)
Dwayne Sakaguchi auditioned for the role of Mike in “A Chorus Line,” because he previously did the part in an earlier local production. History didn’t repeat, in this case.
Greg Zane, the director-choreographer in Diamond Head Theatre’s latest revival, asked Sakaguchi, 27, to read instead for the part of Paul San Marco. It was the dream role that put Zane on the theater radar when he earlier portrayed Paul at DHT, and he sensed Sakaguchi just might be the lightning rod for the latest reboot opening Friday (July 16) and extended through Aug. 8.
“It’s the opposite end of the spectrum from the character I auditioned for,” said Sakaguchi, who now is charged to deliver an emotional and defining 11-minute monologue which characterizes the Paul character, with layers and levels of conflicts that commonly evokes tears not just from spectators, but also produces uncontrollable weeping from the performer himself.
“It’s a work in progress, learning all about the character,” Sakaguchi said recently. “Each time I get to practice, I’m getting better at knowing him.”
Yes, he sometimes gets emotional. “Just a few lines really affected me,” he revealed. “I feel sad for the character and now that I’m working through it, I’m discovering that he’s a lot stronger than I thought. He’s more an advocate for himself; he knows who he is.”
To navigate the text, as well as comb through the inherent textures of the role, Sakaguchi said he dissected his lines to better know who and what he was dealing with, to understand the threads of the dude.
“Peeling back those layers resulted in a greater realization of Paul and who he is, a vulnerable person,” said Sakaguchi.
Of course, he was ecstatic to be selected to be Paul, but yes, there was pressure since he’s known Zane for 16 years, “which is nice, since he’s seen me go from being a kid to this dancer trying to get into the comfort zone.”
He said he was “95 per cent there,” in conquering the role at the time of this interview two weeks ago.
Still, he’s familiar with the history of the show and the cast. He realizes islander Jason Tam played Paul in the last Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line” in 2006, but he didn’t see that production — but was drawn to and impressed by the show’s making-of-a-classic DVD documentary, entitled “Every Little Step,” in which Tam nailed it by bringing tears to the audition crew members who ultimately tapped him to do Paul in the revival.
Previously, when Sakamoto was 16, he tackled the Mike role in an Army Community Theatre production.
“He was such a darling,” said Vanita Rae Smith, who was the honcho at ACT before the Army shut down the facility. “I knew he’d continue to grow.”
Sakamoto said “A Chorus Line” is a realistic and teaching moment for anyone seeking a role on Broadway, a goal that’s become a common one for locals.
“In 2018, I went to New York City and saw 13 shows, and was totally inspired,” he recalled. “You don’t realize until you’ve been to Broadway and seen the shows, and what it takes to get there (cast in a production). In Hawaii, opportunities are so limited; it kinda lit the fire for me to work harder and to show audiences there that even if we don’t have the opportunity do the range of shows, we have the capability to do shows like ‘A Chorus Line’ to let people know we can do it, too.”
He considers himself a dancer first, then a singer, then an actor. And doing Paul, “who’s at the tip of the wedge, enables me to step out of my comfort zone and do this job, which comes from learning what I know from Greg.”
He’s also wading through the notion of the good cry – an option, not a requirement – in becoming Paul. “You do have option to cry, if it fits the moment,” he said. “But you don’t have to feel you have to cry. But once tears roll out, it’s appropriate and even critical, if you’re engrossed in the storytelling. That critical moment is when Paul talks about seeing his parents, when he’s in (a drag) show, and they walk away…it was a disappointment, and the silence just breaks my heart.”
That soliloquy, and that moment, happens late in the show, after Paul is injured – then has to dash and prep for that grand “One (Singular Emotion)” dance-in-unison finale.
Sakaguchi has been living a fulfilling musical life right now. Besides rehearsing for “ACL” at night, and the upcoming schedule of performances at Diamond Head Theatre, he’s teaching high school youths at an Applause Academy program, then dashing for his nocturnal stage commitments.
“I’m working myself up the ladder,” he said of his consuming regimen.
His interest in the stage began when he was a seventh grader at Washington Middle School, where he took drama classes and was required to participate in shows at Kaimuki High School.
His first audition was for “The Wiz,” and he earned a role “and as cheesy as it sounds, I got the theater bug, which became a hobby, then a passion.”
He has become a veteran in local theater, being a former Shooting Stars performer at DHT, where a role in “Newsies” earned him a Po‘okela Award in 2018. He has been teaching at Applause Performance Academy, Punahou Dance School, and has choregraphed locally-produced musicals including the Kaimuki Performing Arts Center at Kaimuki High. He has a degree in communications from the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
But reality bites. “At one time, it used to be my dream to make it on Broadway. My real career now is with the Department of Education; I teach at McKinley High School. I considered the stage and conservatories for more learning, but I didn’t want to put myself in debt; as an actor who performs, you have to make ends meet. So I’m making choices wisely and conspicuously, but living with no regrets now.”
“A Chorus Line” begins Friday (July 16) at Diamond Head Theatre. It’s a defining musical about chorus line hopefuls, who yearn to land a role in an upcoming show. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, at 3 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, extended through Aug. 8. Social distancing protocols in place. Greg Zane directs and choreographs. Details: www.diamondheadtheatre.com
Earlier: an interview with Greg Zane, director-choreographer of “A Chorus Line.”
POSTED ONEDIT”FOR GREG ZANE, THE TOMMY LINK LIVES”
FOR GREG ZANE, THE TOMMY LINK LIVES
First of two articles
Greg Zane, who is helming Diamond Head Theatre’s reboot of the Michael Bennett-directed and choreographed (with Michael Avian) “A Chorus Line,” is forever grateful of the mentorship of his stage idol, the late Tommy Aguilar .“Tommy has been my inspiration,” said Zane, about the boy wonder back in the day, who launched the role of Paul San Marco in “ACL,” in its London premiere in 1976, and then surfaced in Hawaii to perform the Paul role in the island debut at then-Honolulu International Center (now Blaisdell Concert Hall).
“He made such an impact on me,” recalled Zane. “I was in the ninth or tenth grade in high school and had no expectations to see the show. But when I left, I was transformed. I knew what I wanted to do. This man on stage – and his character – resonated with me. I wasn’t a dancer, I had no acting or voice classes, so I didn’t know how to do it. But I had to learn.”
Learn he did, so much so that his “ACL” journey continues, while his admiration and appreciation of ties and grows, with the shoe on another foot. Aguilar died at age 41 in Honolulu in 1993 from complications of AIDS, but his presence and support of island troupers remain a fixture on the theatrical front.
The revival of the musical at DHT, beginning Friday (July 16) amid the lingering coronavirus pandemic, thus ends Zane’s hiatus as a Broadway luminary.
He went “home” to New York, to get immersed in the Broadway circuit and restore his energy in rebuilding “A Chorus Line” for its Hawaii run, now extended through Aug. 8. So he’s back in the saddle as opening night looms. The show will intersect with his past and his present and likely will become a foundation for future revivals of the award-winning show, which made its Broadway debut in 1975.
‘A CHORUS LINE’ CAST LIST
Don……………………………..Chase Bridgman
Maggie …………………………..Marisa Noelle
Mike………………………………………. Luke Ellis
Connie……………………………… Kayla Uchida
Gregory …………………. Gabriel Ryan-Kerns
Cassie …………………………………. Kira Stone
Bobby …………………………..Marcus Stanger
Sheila ……………………………..Lauren Teruya
Bebe ………………………………… Miya Heulitt
Judy……………………….Seanalei Nakamura
Richie …………………………..David Robinson
Al …………………………………. Jared Paakaula
Kristine …………………………Alexandria Zinov
Val ……………………………………………Jody Bill
Mark ………………………………..Michael Hicks
Paul …………………………… Dwayne Sakaguchi
Diana …………………………………… Emily North
Zach …………………………………. Norm Dabalos
Larry …………………………………… Levi Oliveira
Tricia ……………………..Ayzhia- Marie Tadeo
Frank ………………………………..Brandon Yim
Roy …………………………… Jackson Saunders
Zane had been sidelined like the rest of the theater world, here and abroad, when the coronavirus pandemic virtually shut down everything. Prior to COVID, Zane had been toiling behind the scenes as assistant choreographer of Lincoln Center’s “The King and I,” in New York and in London.
“I’m getting my integrity back, after 18 months (of the lockdown), and working with Dwayne Sakaguchi (portraying Paul) has been interesting,” said Zane. “I’m discovering something new every day (at rehearsals) and I guess I better understand the role now; I get it now.”
He said Aguilar “made such an impact on me – this man on stage, his character and his performance – transformed me. I didn’t know how to do it, since I had no dance, no acting, no voice classes, and this man – Tommy – sparked this passion.
“When I went on my first trip to New York, ‘A Chorus Line’ was playing at Shubert Theatre, and Tommy was doing Paul. After the show, I went to the stage door, and Tommy walked out. I didn’t approach him – he said ‘good night’ at the door, as actors commonly do – and I just had to see him out of the theater. I didn’t even try to get an autograph.”
When DHT was one of the first community theaters to stage “ACL,” Aguilar was directing.
“I gotta try audition, I thought; it was the dream role, and I was flattered that he thought I could fill his shoes,” said Zane. “He was really intense; sometimes I didn’t want to rehearse that monologue, but to get his take on the role since I’m the only one to do it with him, it’s a pleasure. And to now transform that knowledge and pass on to Dwayne, it’s a full cycle.”
Zane said working with his mentor was incredible. “He helped me get my foot in the door, and for that I am forever grateful,” he said. “He was giving me this gift of ‘A Chorus Line.’ It’s like working with Baryshnikov, when you meet the man who inspired you and you learned from.”
Zane knew Sakaguchi, through Charlys Ing and Hawaii Ballet Theatre. He was in the ensemble there, “but just like Tommy, I knew he has the vulnerability to do the role. His dance technique is incredible; he can tell a story, and Paul has a story. One story leads to the next and the next, building the character and his challenges. Paul brings all of that to role and has been open to direction.”
As a director, Zane said he tries to guide his actors “but I find myself navigating and I hear Tommy saying ‘don’t be tragic, don’t be sad, have empathy for the role.’”
Paul’s monologue, running about 11 minutes toward the end of the production, is highly emotional, and Zane is concerned that the actor has to find his way through the experience.
“When I did the role, sometimes I cried, and Tommy told me ‘you don’t have to cry; you don’t have to force the tears.’ But it’s so emotional, and you cannot help it. I tell Dwayne that he needn’t cry for me, but if the moment calls for the tears, well, you know when you get to that point.”
Cassie, the female lead role, will be portrayed by Kira Stone, and island trouper now a theater major at New York University. She had a role in the DHT’s “The Sound of Music” in 2009, playing Marta Von Trapp. When Zane returned to New York several months ago, he hooked up with her and they made arrangements for a video/viral rehearsal in the early stages of the mounting of “ACL.” “She’s a triple threat,” he said of singing, dancing and acting prowess.
“And all grown up now” and ready for her ‘Music and the Mirror’ vocal and dance solo sequence in the show.”
So why do audiences – and even performers — still relate to “A Chorus Line”?
“I think on the surface, being a dancing audition for a show, it’s a metaphor for life,” said Zane.“Everyone has applied for a job, everyone has a dream to pursue, and for dancers and actors, it I think on the surface, it’s a dancing audition for a show, but underneath it’s a metaphor for life. Everyone has applied for job — and it’s getting a second chance, to find your identity and prove yourself about getting back into life. The show is about real people with real concerns, and the challenges of proving yourself.”
“A Chorus Line” begins Friday (July 16) at Diamond Head Theatre. It’s a defining musical about chorus line hopefuls, who yearn to land a role in an upcoming show. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, at 3 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, extended through Aug. 8. Social distancing protocols in place. Greg Zane directs and choreographs. Details: www.diamondheadtheatre.com
Earlier: an interview with Greg Zane, director-choreographer of “A Chorus Line.”
