Unexpected oddities are part of the 2022-23 season on island stages, beginning this fall.
For starters, Diamond Head Theatre, which prides itself in being the Broadway of the Pacific, will be one show short – with five, not six productions – in its 2022-23 outing. But there’s a valid reason.
And Manoa Valley Theatre, often called Hawaii’s off-Broadway resource, will have one show too many in its 2022-23 slate. Six shows had been scheduled, but the theater has to schedule a seventh, apart of the season. Yep, there is a valid reason, too.
Diamond Head Theatre will actually be working from two venues in the coming season, with the first show on the slate, “Anything Goes,” opening in the current theater. They’ll skip on a holiday production this year (sorry, Santa), so that there will be ample time to move house, into the new theater facility, still under construction. They’ll welcome first viewers Jan. 2023, when DHT’s second show, “Cinderella,” is launched in the spanky new state-of-the-art facility. So this simply will be an extended intermission.
At MVT, its secure six-show slate will have to accommodate the seventh title, since “Spamilton,” Gerard Alessendrini’s popular spoof of the hit musical that was slated this year, had to be bumped off the current calendar because of scheduling issues, one being the real “Hamilton” will be staged at Blaisdell Concert Hall, as part of a four-show “Broadway in Hawaii” season, this winter.
Complications and challenges aside, the new season will offer spectacles galore, some new, some familiar, reflecting the anything-can-happen, things-can-go-astray pulse of live theater. Ain’t it all exciting?
The early outlook from the organizations ready to roll with an agenda. We’ll report other seasons on other fronts, when they’re announced.
So here’s the schedule, so far:
Diamond Head Theatre:
- “Anything Goes,” Sept. 9 to 25. Cole Porter’s musical comedy, about Reno Sweeney setting sail for England, amid a complicated love triangle that unfolds at sea. Besides the title tune, the score includes “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
- “Cinderella,” Jan. 20 to Feb. 5, 2023. This is the Rodgers and Hammerstein version, not the Disney variation, about the cinder girl who becomes the belle of the ball, complete with glass slipper.
- “La Cage Aux Folles,” March 24 to April 9, 2023. Music and lyrics, with book by Harvey Fierstein, is based on the Jean Poiret French play, about a nightclub with drag entertainment, owned by Georges, and starring his partner in life, Albin, featuring the “I Am What I Am” anthem that defines the show.
- “Bodyguard,” May 26 to June 11, 2023. Based on a Warner Bros. film, with book by Alexander Dinelaris, and screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan. Essentially, a tribute to Whitney Houston, who played Rachel in the film, and includes the poignant and powerful “I Will Always Love You” signature. Held over by DHT since the early stages of the pandemic, but finally debuting.
- “Beauty and the Beast,” July 21 to Aug. 6, 2023. This Disney classic, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, is an Oscar and Tony winner about Belle and a prince trapped under a spell as a Beast.
Manoa Valley Theatre:
- “Cabaret,” the stage and film hit, Sept. 8 to 25. A Tony and Oscar-winning classic, with music by John Kander and Frank Ebb, based on a play by John Van Druten. Hits include “Wilkkomen,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” and “Perfectly Marvelous.”
- “The Game’s Afoot, Or Holmes for the Holidays,” Nov. 17 to Dec. 4. A comedy by Ken Ludwig, mixing murder, mystery, and madcap mayhem in the spirit of Sherlock Holmes.
- “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” Jan. 12-29. Based on Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel where everyone is suspected of murder and spectators help decide the outcome.
- “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” March 9 to 26. Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical, about an aspiring composer frustrated about his looming 30th birthday, and struggling to create a song to seal the deal. A Hawaii premiere.
- “The Play That Goes Wrong,” May 11 to 28. A comedy in the show-must-go-on tradition, where things go askew before the final curtain. A Hawaii premiere.
- “The Chinese Lady,” July 13 to 30. A tale of an immigrant from China, based on a true story, laced with history and humor. A Hawaii premiere.
- “Spamilton,” a parody by Gerard Allensandrini of the Lin-Manuel Miranda Broadway hit, will have to be scheduled, date unknown yet.
Kennedy Theatre:
Mainstage productions:
- “Form Within a Form: Echoes and Reverberations,” Nov. 11, 12, 18, and 20. One of two Mainstage works, this one assembling collaborative dance, music, mixed media, scenic art and costume design; described as Kennedy’s largest dance production assembling innovative and renowned choreographers from abroad and locally, with music and media reflecting themes of nurturing, nourishing, sustaining and transmission intended to transit through the senses and body.
- “20,000 Leagues Deep, #hawaii_ascending,” Feb. 24, 25, March 3, 5. An immersive Theatre for Young Audiences production, also on the Mainstage, expressly for the young of heart, confronting the climate crisis in Hawaii, the Pacific and the world and intended to flag the obstacles and dangers in the battle for the planet. Directed by Alvin Chan.
Primetime Series
- “Chinee, Japanee, All Mix Up,” Sept —. An exploration of identity in Hawaii and in America. Directed by Reiko Ho.
- “Memorial Day,” October. Set in 1992, at the height of the AIDS crisis, when a generation of infected men are dying amid prevailing anti-gay hysteria. A Hawaii premiere.
- “Dance, Dance, Dance,” January. A play adapted on Haruki Murakami’s novel, set in Hokkaido, Tokyo and Honolulu, with a non-linear space-time warp, where dance is a metaphor to restore, rebuild, and rediscover life.
- “Footholds,” April. A dance show featuring MFA and BFA student choreographers on the eve of earning their diplomas.
Late Night Series
- Late Night Theatre Company, operated by students, though hosted by UHM’s Department of Theatre and Dance, will offer a yet-to-be-identified production set for fall, 2022. With the hallmarks of the genre: limited budget, minimalist tech elements highlighting student acting and directing skills, in the student-friendly late-night format.
Broadway in Hawaii:
Performances at Blaisdell Concert Hall
- “Jersey Boys,” Sept. 13 to 25 .A biographical music, about the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, features all the yesteryear hits like “Sherri,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Walk Like a Man.”
- “Hamilton,” Dec. 7 to Jan. 29, 2023. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning mega hit about Alexander Hamilton, told in hip-hop rap. A Hawaii premiere, in an unprecedented seven-week residency.
- “Cats,” June 13 to 18, 2023. The Broadway classic, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, wstill the cat’s meow, is avpurr-fect “Memory”-maker, for a new generation of theater fans.
Broadway grosses, week ending May 1, 2022
Broadway grosses took a dip, with “The Music Man” and “Hamilton” retaining their No. 1 and No 2 status; at No. 3, “Plaza Suite” moved up the laddar.
The rundown, courtesy the Broadway League:
| Show Name | GrossGross | TotalAttn | Capacity | %Capacity |
| A STRANGE LOOP | $415,275.50 | 5,611 | 7,376 | 76.07% |
| ALADDIN | $965,527.18 | 12,516 | 13,816 | 90.59% |
| AMERICAN BUFFALO | $528,846.30 | 4,630 | 6,008 | 77.06% |
| BEETLEJUICE | $875,738.60 | 7,336 | 12,816 | 57.24% |
| BIRTHDAY CANDLES | $286,387.00 | 3,924 | 5,816 | 67.47% |
| CHICAGO | $585,101.25 | 6,226 | 8,640 | 72.06% |
| COME FROM AWAY | $446,094.40 | 5,102 | 8,368 | 60.97% |
| COMPANY | $660,222.71 | 5,551 | 8,368 | 66.34% |
| DEAR EVAN HANSEN | $474,607.70 | 5,067 | 7,872 | 64.37% |
| FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF | $250,174.50 | 3,149 | 6,184 | 50.92% |
| FUNNY GIRL | $1,116,472.95 | 9,456 | 9,752 | 96.96% |
| GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY | $131,956.50 | 1,683 | 2,994 | 56.21% |
| HADESTOWN | $851,687.00 | 7,004 | 7,344 | 95.37% |
| HAMILTON | $2,091,733.00 | 9,653 | 10,592 | 91.13% |
| HANGMEN | $294,033.00 | 3,567 | 6,416 | 55.60% |
| HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD | $1,095,952.00 | 9,183 | 12,976 | 70.77% |
| HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE | $311,030.00 | 4,305 | 4,459 | 96.55% |
| MACBETH | $970,737.00 | 7,313 | 7,357 | 99.40% |
| MJ THE MUSICAL | $1,226,825.10 | 9,369 | 11,096 | 84.44% |
| MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL | $1,419,844.60 | 9,904 | 10,400 | 95.23% |
| MR. SATURDAY NIGHT | $711,269.20 | 6,006 | 7,146 | 84.05% |
| MRS. DOUBTFIRE | $421,454.00 | 5,288 | 8,272 | 63.93% |
| PARADISE SQUARE | $206,561.80 | 4,260 | 7,848 | 54.28% |
| PLAZA SUITE | $1,656,073.60 | 7,693 | 7,800 | 98.63% |
| POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE | $330,416.92 | 8,888 | 11,608 | 76.57% |
| SIX | $1,083,870.00 | 7,359 | 8,248 | 89.22% |
| TAKE ME OUT | $414,249.25 | 4,083 | 4,680 | 87.24% |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $857,180.97 | 7,311 | 8,528 | 85.73% |
| THE LION KING | $1,635,397.00 | 12,697 | 13,568 | 93.58% |
| THE LITTLE PRINCE | $232,808.00 | 3,050 | 11,776 | 25.90% |
| THE MINUTES | $374,812.00 | 4,056 | 5,336 | 76.01% |
| THE MUSIC MAN | $3,314,670.56 | 11,955 | 12,200 | 97.99% |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $625,180.42 | 6,668 | 12,840 | 51.93% |
| THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH | $141,111.00 | 4,004 | 8,464 | 47.31% |
| TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL | $872,345.50 | 7,024 | 11,824 | 59.40% |
| WICKED | $1,196,763.00 | 10,609 | 14,456 | 73.39% |
And that’s Show Biz. …