Category: Updates

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‘MEASURES’ IS A PLEASURE, TREASURE

“Desperate Measures,” which is running at Manoa Valley Theatre through Feb. 6, is a delightful pleasure and a theatrical treasure, with Shakespearean origins but updated and set in an 1800s Wild West saloon loaded with likable critters.

This one had been on the MVT shelf for more than two years; it was scheduled to run in 2019 but was pushed back because of the pandemic crisis, and also scooted off the 2020-21 season, too. Considering the fact that this was dubbed a “problematic” play by The Bard himself back in the day, when “the play’s the thing” was the quote of the era, one wonders, was it jinxed?

In 2022, the playout’s the thing. The show’s Hawaii premiere ultimately is a jolly jewel.

A modest musical by David Friedman and Peter Kellogg, it is mounted with sprightly direction and choreography by Miles Phillips. He has corralled a lively, lovely and luminous cast, clearly enjoying the see-sawing pendulum of silliness and sentiment involving a handsome Johnny Blood (Drew Niles, conniving and raucous but contagiously delightful), jailed for allegedly killing Big Swede, which he insists was self-defense, but could be hanged for the crime. The local sheriff Martin Green (Garrett Taketa, exuding sympathetic logic) tries to help Blood’s  nun of a sister, Sister Mary Jo, aka Susanna (Christine Kluvo, possessing a sweet voice and an honest demeanor), who’s trying to overturn the hanging by requesting leniency from the Germanic Governor von Richterhenkenpflichtgetruber (enacted by an effectively sleazy Garrett Hols).

Of course, there are complications galore.

A saloon fave, Bella Rose (Alexandria Zinov, a charmer in looks, sexiness, and shenanigans), is talked into becoming a stand-in for Mary Jo to have sex with the Gov, to use that as a wedge for undoing Johnny Blood’s hanging. The victim was her boyfriend.

The cast of “Desperate Measures,” a musical on the shelf for more than two years.

While the Gov tries to woo Mary Jo, she becomes smitten — Lord willing — with the Sheriff. Meanwhile, Johnny Blood also has the hots for Bella and she’s open to a new beau.

There are expected gags, with chastity and fidelity as core issues; the real Mary Jo and the faux one have dance moments and also engage in a mirror routine, wearing identical wedding white dress wear, and borrowing the Marx Brothers’ classic mirror gimmick from the classic “Duck Soup” film, enacting reflective movements to foil the Gov. It’s a bit crude, but an effective gag.

When the German-accented Gov utters he wants to “Make Arizona Great Again,” there’s a ring of current familiarity and wonderment of slogan ownership.

Andrew Doan’s single saloon set, with a bar and walkway to a second level of brothels, creates the right atmosphere for the period piece; the four-piece house band, led by Jenny Shiroma, is stationed just inside the theater’s entrance/exit. A simple desk is the Gov’s office on the opposite side, with window panes alternating projection views of the outdoors or a church’s stain glass. A movable jail cell – where the imprisoned Johnny Blood spends most of his time with a drunken priest — is wheeled in when needed.

Jennifer Hart’s and Kimmerie Jones’ costumes, notably the frou-frou of the saloon dames, reflect an element of the Wild West, and Lisa Ponce de Leon’s hair and makeup define the era. Lighting by Jonah Bobilin and sound design by Lock Lynch brighten and enhance the visual and audible experience.

Some of the dialogue is delivered in couplets, but understandable to modern audiences unlike Shakespearean times; there’s a cadre of plot-moving tunes in the score by Kellogg and Friedman, but nothing hummable on the way home..

The show earned  the Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical and for Outstanding Lyrics, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical, and Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical.  These accolades are warranted, by any measure. If you’re searching for a funfest, you’ll embrace “Desperate Measures.”

And that’s Show Biz. …

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OBAMAS QUIETLY IN OUR MIDST

Unbeknown to most residents or media, President Barack Obama has been holidaying  in Hawaii, presumably with wife Michelle, and likely maintaining a low profile.

But his stay in Hawaii was mentioned on CNN this morning  (Jan. 8) with reports that No. 44 had been in our midst but was en route to the Las Vegas memorial ceremonies today for the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who died Dec. 28 at the age of  82 in Henderson, Nevada.

Barack Obama

Obama, who credits Reid for his success to the White House, was to deliver the eulogy.

There’s been no sight-‘ems of the Obamas, not even reports that he was out enjoying shave ice as he has done during his vacations here. And the closure of Alan Wong’s means that the first family has had to seek other dining opportunities.

You think they might have done take-out orders anytime? …

The Obamas spent Christmas in Hawaii, according to The New York Post, which posted pics of Obama swimming and first daughters – Sasha, 20, and Malia, 23 — perched on paddleboards in the sea.

“Sasha, who was decked out in a red bikini and chunky jewelry, was pictured at various points kneeling and standing on her board as she glided through the water,” the Post said.

“Her sister, Malia, who graduated from Harvard University over the summer, wore a pink tie-dye bikini top, white skirt and baseball hat for the water outing.”

Michelle Obama apparently didn’t go to the beach with the family.

Thanks, June Yago, for flagging the Post article. …

Monday shake-up for CBS

CBS has delayed screening of new episodes of “NCIS” and its spin-off “NCIS: Hawai‘i” this coming Monday. Instead, a repeat of an episode of the mother ship show, “Nearly Departed,” will be in store at 7 p.m., with an encore of a “Hawai‘i” segment, “Rescuers,” at 8 p.m.

Vanessa Lachey

It’s been a shaky week or two for the NCIS franchise. Before the postponement of the new episodes, reports from CBS had confirmed a future crossover show with the original NCIS, with special agent Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) and Knight (Katrina Law) would be heading our way, to join agent Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) in crime-solving in Hawaii.

The crossover was nixed and put on hold, when the COVID-19 virus hit the set of the mothership cast, according to Deadline. A timetable has not yet been determined.

New episodes for both “NCIS” and “NCIS: Hawai‘i” are scheduled for Jan. 17. …

And that’s Show Biz. …

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GOT A FAVORITE RAINY DAY SONG?

Just asking…

On cloudy, rainy days like today and yesterday, don’t you feel like singing a weather-related song?

That ominous, threatening layer of clouds lingering yesterday over the islands produced a lot of liquid sunshine, prompting me to think about weather tunes.

Ominous clouds over Honolulu yesterday.

Here are 10 tunes — to search for in your disc collections or to request your favorite deejay to play — to keep you in the rainy-cloudy-stormy vein:

  • “Rhythm of the Rain,” by The Cascades.
  • “The Rain in Spain, Stays Mainly on the Plain,” by Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” (varies if film or stage).
  • “Set Fire to the Rain,” by Adele.
  • “Get Off of My Cloud,” by the Rolling Stones.
  • “Singing in the Rain,” by Gene Kelly.
  • “Both Sides Now,” by Judy Collins or Joni Mitchell.
  • “Cloud Nine,” by the Temptations.
  •  “Stormy Weather,” by Lena Horne.
  • “Come Rain or Come Shine,” by Margaret Whiting and various artists.
  • “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” by B. J. Thomas.
    Of course, the childhood-era “Rain, Rain Go Away” might be the simplest song on the rainy list, and if there’s rain, there just must be rainbows, so credit Judy Garland for her “Over the Rainbow” original, and home-grown Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole” for re-inventing his version fused with “What a Wonderful Day.”

Do you have a weather-related song you wanna hear  on a cloudy day?

And here’s to a sunny tomorrow…