HOLIDAY GREETINGS
IT’S SHOW BIZ TIME–IN RHYME
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the ‘aina
Santa was list-checking, gifts splendid and minah.
With Omicron still threatening, though COVID protocols declining;
He had concerns of Rudolph’s red nose still brightly shining.
For Gov. Ige and Mayor Blangiardi, a green light on waivers;
But for bars and restaurants: are the pushbacks life-savers?
To Bruno Mars, pretty please, come back, do a show;
You know how we love you and your Hooligans‘ glow.
A second season “go” signal, for the “Doogie Kamealoha” cast;
For “NCIS: Hawai‘i,” too, may one not be the last.
For Chris Lee, resident film guru, more savvy shared;
His knowledge and smarts go where no one else dared.
For Destin Daniel Cretton, “Shang-Chi” pride of Maui
A bid at the Oscars would make him a wowie.
For Dwayne “Rock” Johnson, who has more than he needs;
Maybe some fundraisers for a string of good deeds?
For the divine Bette Midler, a “Dolly!” for all seasons.
And now, Kennedy Center laurels, kudos for all the right reasons.
For QB Marcus Mariota, a wish: “Maybe next year;”
More huddling, more passing…TDs we would cheer!
Fresh water, not tainted, for those on Red Hill,
And Navy brass, come on, too many are ill.
For singer Shari Lynn, a trove of Sondheim ditties?
For her furry dog Lui? Two pairs of warm mitties.
For Kika Matsumoto, new bookings, more cats;
For Audy Kimura, pups and kittens… minus spats.
A one-time day-off, for dandy Andy Bumatai
His daily online postings are as bright as the sky.
For Frank DeLima, more tours of schools statewide;
For decades he’s shared comedic inspiration with pride.
Another isle concert has been his big wish;
So sing, Martin Nievera, share your songs! Delish!
A “safe pass” to visit, for Loretta Ables Sayre;
She’s self-secluded in Mililani, because of pandemic scare.
For Joseph Morales, Marc delaCruz, Hawaii’s “Hamilton” stars;
Let your “shots” in the musical leave you stronger, without scars.
Something homemade and special, for busy Henry Kapono;
A gigantic tub of poke, fresh-catch and so ono.
For Jerry Santos, maile, the lei with sweet scent;
And one for Bryan Tolentino, the uke-strumming gent.
For Misty and Afatia, tweaking the Tihati brand;
With visitors returning, they’re still best in the land.
For retired Tihati founders Puna Cha and Papa Jack:
A leisurely cruise would ease their pain in the back.
For Robert Cazimero, a night club, where he can serenade and glow;
A chic Waikiki lounge to sing –three nights in a row?
For Roy Yamaguchi, Chai, Siu, the DK, MW team:
Filled fridges, full houses and creations that gleam.
A personal request to Alan Wong: please return to the scene?
We miss your culinary treats, you’ve always been keen.
For poet Fran Kakugawa, a new wrinkle of glory;.
A regular letter-to-the-editor writer, her words tell a story.
For floral whiz Asa Ige, a field full of bright blooms;
To create arrangements astounding, befitting hotel rooms.
For Kevin Iwamoto, also known as Kevin I:
More surges in ‘80s music, giving him a new global high.
For creator Johnson Enos, a delayed “Honu” launch would do;
His Disneyesque musical would have folks cheering “Woo!”
For Keali ‘i Reichel, Roz Catracchia, too;
The kickoff of Michael Jackowitz’s
Hi‘iaka dream musical come true!
For actor Jason Tam, more Broadway hits;
For Greg Zane, kudos, for his DHT blitz.
For composer Jay Larrin a “white” Mauna Kea year-long
So deejays can keep spinning his appropriate song.
For Kalani Pe’a, perhaps Grammy win No. 3?
He’s nominated again, so a hearty shout-out: Whee!
For Jake Shimabukuro, our prolific ukulele czar
A Grammy, too, will elevate his global star.
A new path for Raiatea Helm, the songbird from Molokai;
With her new college degree, she’ll reach a new high.
For Carole Kai Onouye, a revamped Great Aloha Run next year
That will wind up at UH’s Ching Stadium, no doubt with a big cheer!
For Blue Note operators, a rousing big cheer
For hiring acts, staying open, welcoming patrons without fear.
For Karen Keawehawai’i, used Christmas cards aplenty;
She recycles, makes tote bags, full of cheer … not scanty.
For KSSK’s Michael W. Perry, more music, less talk;
His political rants are making many folks balk.
For Ho’okena, The Makaha Sons, groups always supreme
Perhaps regular music festivals would be keen.
For Yvonne Elliman, simply, redemption, she’s had a few bad years;
She’s rebuilding her life, and her tunes still evoke tears.
For Carissa Moore, the first lady of surf;
May the waves never cease while you’re in that turf.
For Vanita Rae Smith, a frequent lunch mate;
Shall we continue the chatfests once we select a date?
For all of you first responders, in this time of duress;
A huge mahalo, and aloha you’re all truly da best.
To vaccine dodgers, a plea: please halt the decline;
Two shots. Plus booster. Just join the line.
A holiday toast, precious readers, all you Mr. and Ms.,
Mele Kalikimaka! Happy New Year! And that’s Christmas Show Biz …
Coming Christmas Day…
‘ANNIE LIVE!’ LOADED WITH OPTIMISM
“Annie Live!,” which aired last night (Dec. 2) on NBC and streaming now on Peacock TV, is a dose of optimism served by a refreshing and resourceful cast. Despite a few flaws, it’s the right show for the right time with a tireless message of hope and confidence.
Some impressions:
- Live TV is not easy to do; there were a few glitches, but staging a full-tilt musical without a conventional proscenium stage plus a live audience watching, requires a mobile and agile cast. This one delivered masterful and quick action, from orphanage quarters to New York City locales.
- Celina Smith as Annie was a breakout star, looking like a young Aretha Franklin – those cheeks!—and singing like a diva. Yep, she gives life to “Tomorrow,” the show’s key anthem, in several incremental moments including the near-the-final curtain where she has President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Alan Toy) and some of his cabinet singing hopeful versions that “the sun will come out tomorrow,” referring to the New Deal.
- Taraji P. Henson as the manipulative and mean Miss Hannigan is a revelation. Who knew? She can sing, dance, and mug for the cameras; she is a new-generation, fashionable and formidable villain, but one wih a heart and infections charisma.
- Harry Connick Jr.’s Daddy Warbucks is a puzzlement. He can sing, which is why he’s in this, but that bald scalp cap seems to affect his disposition; the fake pate was a constant irritant, for him and for us viewers.
- Hawaii’s Nicole Scherzinger is a charming Grace Farrell, assistant to Warbucks, with a voice and legs with plenty of action in the dance moments.
- Tituss Bergess as Rooster Hannigan and Megan Hilty as Lily St. Regis were the perfect foils, secondary schemers who want to collect $50,000 in a fraudulent guise as Annie’s long forgotten parents. Hilty, in particular, deserves special applause – replacing Jane Krakowski, sidelined with COVID and unable to perform.
- The ensemble of orphans is incredibly agile, remarkably darling, and delightfully polished — these youths can sing, dance and cartwheel like veterans. The opening “It’s a Hard Knock Life” is an example of swift and stunning movement (remember those mops and buckets?); this is a show-stopper, so early in the show, and tough to beat over the three hours of showtime (including beaucoup commercials, with Wendy’s homage to the era a keeper).
- In context of the show, several resonating elements — a homeless population, a depressed economy, and the return of Broadway shows –reflect the prevailing cultural and economic climate now. So forget datedness – “Annie Live!” has fresh-as-today ripples and undercurrents, like the need for optimism and hope.
- Don’t recall if the namedropping is part of the original script, but let’s face it: the history-lesson utterances of Babe Ruth, Walter Winchell, J. Edgar Hoover, and more (Annie doesn’t know ‘em) reflect the heroes and notables from the past who should never be forgotten.
- Every dog has its day, and Sandy, the pooch “adopted” by Annie, is a rescue adoptee himself, named Macy. He makes an early appearance, but doesn’t show up till the closing moments of the show, and the question is why? He’s apparently done a number of “Annie” shows and should complain to his agent.
- The score by Charles Strouse and Martin Sharnin is jammed with inspirational tunes; besides “Tomorrow,” the spirit-lifters include “Maybe,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” and “I Don’t Need Anyone But You” … all could be quotable truisms today. The stage musical, based on the Howard Gray’s comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” made its Broadway debut in 1977, with book by Thomas Meehan. Lear deBessonet and Alex Rudzinski co-directed, with choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
Kudos to NBC, which continues to support and stage an annual “live” musical, despite the challenges of assembling the production for a mere one night and during the ongoing pandemic. The good spinoff: a CD soundtrack is available and a DVD likely will follow. This is a tradition worth supporting and continuing…
And that’s Show Biz. …
GETTING INTO THE ‘TICK’ OF THINGS
If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again…
Never say never…
Quitters never win…
These are the take-away messages of “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” which marks Lin-Manuel Miranda’s debut as a film director, paying a stunning homage to the late Jonathan Larson.
The biopic currently is streaming on Netflix.
This is a rare, rousing and resourceful adaptation of an autobiographical musical by Larson that no one ever saw, because the composer just couldn’t find a producer to buy into it. It is highly targeted to the Broadway community, with a number of familiar names and some vague faces that appear in cameos that provide somewhat of a sideshow – a guessing game to name all the Broadway elites that appear in brief sightings.
“Superbia” was Larson’s unknown quest to make the big time in the Broadway of the 1990s, and clearly, he gave his heart and soul into the project, notably struggling to complete a key tune in what he hoped would be the selling point of his show.
The film also is a revelation of how difficult it is to make art; an anguished Larson feels like a failure because he’s pushing 30 and he can’t reel in the greenlight for someone to produce his work. He muses that Stephen Sondheim, an iconic composer, had his first show produced at age 27. Hence, his clock is tick-ticking away.
But like the highwire act in a circus, who falls but eventually redeems himself by hitting the tightwires again, Larson eventually accepted his first failure by making a second impression, creating the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning “Rent,” a hit among the Bohemian crowd of the era. But reality provided added drama in the Larson legacy: he died on the eve of the premiere of the show, and never was able to enjoy his eventual success and the impact “Rent” made in the annals of Broadway history.
Garfield, a star of film and stage, projects the empathy and embodies the energy of a conflicted Larson and gets into the skin of the composer, providing a powerful voice and a convincing presence on the keyboards. He had never sung publicly till he took on this film. It’s a performance worthy of Oscar consideration.
Alexandra Shipp plays Larson’s girlfriend Susan and becomes part of the tension in a problematic relationship. Other key secondary characters are Vanessa Hudgens as singer Karessa Johnson workshopping the show and Robin de Jesus as Michael, Larson’s best friend and ex-actor roommate.
With Miranda at the helm, the cast is peopled with high-caliber actors. The man behind two huge Tony-winning Broadway hits, the earlier “In the Heights” and “Hamilton,” is unashamed to appear in cameos himself in his own films, so it’s no surprise that he has a brief scene — ditto, his real-life father, Luis Miranda Jr.– here.
But look for a galaxy of Broadway greats:
—Judith Light portrays Larson’s agent, whose advice is to write about what you know.
— Bradley Whitford is Sondheim, looking convincingly like the real deal. While Sondheim does not actually appear in the film himself, it’s his real voice in the scene where Larson listens to the message that his show is a no-go but provides the challenging advice of encouragement to move on and keep working on his craft.
— Joel Grey is best known for his Oscar-winning role as the emcee in the film version of the musical, “Cabaret.”
— Phylicia Rashad is a Tony winner for “A Raisin in the Sun” but best known for playing Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”
— Brian Stokes Mitchell is a Tony winner for “Kiss Me Kate” and other musicals like “Ragtime.”
— Andre-DeShields earned a Tony as Hermes in “Hadestown.”
— A cluster of Miranda’s colleagues from “Hamilton,” including Phillipa Soo, who originated the role of Eliza; Renee Elise Goldsberry, who won a Tony for her Angelica role; and Christopher Jackson, who played George Washington in “Hamilton,” and now co-stars in the TV drama, “Bull.”
— Bebe Neuwirth is a Tony winner for “Chicago” and “Sweet Charity,” also is remembered for TV’s “Cheers” and for playing Morticia Addams” in Broadway’s “The Addams Family.”
— Chita Rivera is a 10-time Tony nominee and three-time Tony winner, known for her portrayal of Anita in “West Side Story” and Velma in “Chicago.”
— Bernadette Peters, who originated roles in Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George” and “Into the Woods,” is a prolific actress in such hits as “Follies,” “Gypsy,” “A Little Night Music,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Hello, Dolly!”
— Beth Malone is a Tony nominee for “Fun Home.”
— A trio of original cast members from “Rent,” including Adam Pascal (Roger), Daphne Rubin-Vegas (Mimi) and Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel) are recognizable.
— Stephen Schwartz is the prolific composer and lyricist of a string of Broadway hits, including “Wicked,” “Pippin” and “Godspell.”
“Sunday,” the pivotal tune inspired by the Sondheim hit “Sunday in the Park With George,” is one of the key scenes in the film, set in the Moondance Diner enabling most of the aforementioned Broadway luminaries to assemble and reflect in Steven Levenson’s script to party hearty as Larson’s clock is ticking.
Actual footage of Larson performing at the keyboards during the end credits validates the concept and scope of his art-making magnified throughout the film in Garfield’s performance.