Remember when “Hamilton,’ the Lin-Manuel Miranda Broadway megahit, was screened on Disney+, providing access to many fans unable to secure tickets to the live show that still is ensconced at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York?
Soon, those who still have yet to see the show, will be able to view it in movie theaters for the first time, beginning Sept. 5.
I’d go see it again — on the big screen — because it featuries the original cast in all its glory, and the film boasts numerous closeups and the special effects, like aerials depicting the show’s stellar choreography, elements that are viewing pluses.
For those who have not ever seen the show, this will be the perfect chance to be in the room where it’s been happening for a decade…and see what the raucous is all about…
Readers Theatre embrace gossip columnists
The Actors Group (TAG) will stage a Readers Theatre production of “Mr. & Mrs. Fitch,” a comedy by Douglas Carter Beane.
Performances of the witty, urbane comedy, will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9, 10, 16 and 17 at TAG’s Brad Powell Theatre at Dole Cannery.
Betty Burdick and Dwight Martin
Betty Burdick will appear as Mrs. Fitch and Dwight Martin will be Mr. Fitch, a pair of gossip columnists, who find that the social circuit no longer provides juicy morsels. Thus, the pressure’s on for the columnists – desperate for bon mots and hot rumors — need to pull printable chatter out of thin air. Tickets: $20 at https://taghawaii.net ….
Three shows still in the $2 million club
Only three long-running musicals continue to top Broadway’s elite $2 million club.
The Top 10:
1—”Wicked,” $2.344 million
2—”Hamilton,”$2.231 million
3—”The Lion King, $2.201 million
4— “Aladdin,”$1.432 million
5—”Maybe Happy Ending,” $1.401 million
6—”Death Becomes Her,” $1.393 million
7—”Just in Time,” $1.321 million
8—”MJ the Musical,” $1.292 million
9—”The Outsiders,” $1.231 million
10—”Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” $1.205 million
The complete list, for the week ending Aug. 3, courtesy the Broadway League:
Everything’s coming up roses for actress Jacquelyn Holland-Wright.
Well, Mama Rose, anyway.
Holland-Wright — affectionately called Jac — is tackling the single-mother lead character in “Gypsy,” which opens a three-weekend run Aug. 8 at Paliku Theatre, Windward Community Theatre
Jac can relate to Mama Rose, a single mom who seeks a better life for herself, to provide for her two daughters, June and Louise, in their quest to entertain.
Jacquelyn Holland-Wright
In Jac’s real-life scenario, she has a son, Parker, a drummer in high school, who may have a future in entertainment, like his mom. Or not.
“Gypsy” is a homecoming for Jac, who first performed Mama Rose at Castle High School in 1987. Appropriately, she is a bona fide Bright Kid, who gained her acting chops here and went abroad to shape her career as a professional actress, the essence of the kind of success story of The I’m A Bright Kid Foundation, the theater group presenting “Gypsy.” IABK is dedicated to the performing arts but specifically committed to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of long-time director-teacher Ronald E. Bright, or Mr. B, to his students.
Dr. Ligaya Stice, sister of Jade Stice and the executive director of the IABK Foundation, said,”When our team decided on producing‘Gypsy‘ this year, we all had one actor in mind to play the part of Rose, and that person was Jac.”
Jac, left, huddles with Ahnya Chang, director-choreography of “Gypsy.” Photo courtesy of Tracy Larrua..
“The role is demanding, in every way,” said Jac about Rose, whose ambitions and dreams parallel her personal goals as an entertainer who sings. “It’s all about survival.”
Jac, born and raised in Kailua and a Castle graduate, has sustained a 30-year career on the Las Vegas and Broadway stages.
Jade Stice played Louise, Jac was Mama Rose, in Castle’s “Gypsy” 38 years ago. Photo courtesy IABK.
Jac earlier played Mama Rose, so she has history with the story. “It’s a beautiful show,” she said. “I did the role 38 years ago with Jade Stice (as Louise, who evolves as Gypsy Rose Lee) and Mr. Bright directed.” The musical was one of many Mr. B. directed on the Windward Side, mentoring hundreds of youthful actors while at Castle High School, whose auditorium now bears his name, Ronald E. Bright Theatre. Bright also directed adult casts in musicals at Paliku Theatre before his death on Nov. 26, 2015.
As she assumes the role of Rose, she feels entrusted with the part, and she seeks to bring out her character’s colors and layers. “My goal is storytelling, and I want to lift everybody with the process (of acting),” she said.
Rose can be a tricky character, since she is selfish because of her situation, said Jac. “It’s easy to be angry with Rose. You can love her, but she’s kind of a late bloomer – born too soon, or started too late – and she forces her kids into show biz, fighting for what she wanted herself, and couldn’t get.” All this amid the heyday of vaudeville and burlesque .
Her big number is “Rose’s Turn,” when Rose takes a look in the mirror and finds self-realization.”It’s heartbreaking if you don’t tell the story the right way. It’s a tricky number,” said Jac.
The musical, with book by Arthur Laurents. music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, boasts many hit songs, including “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Some People,” “Small World,” “You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick,” and “Let Me Entertain You.” A Broadway revival is running through Aug. 17 at the Majestic Theatre, starring Audra McDonald.
Jac values what she learned from Mr. B.: “Believe in yourself.” That’s the path to your success, she said. And she adores Hawaii’s mixed plate casting, where Asians and Hawaiians and haole actors and other ethnicities can come together and do a show.
“That decade of shows with Mr. Bright was valuable experience for doing eight shows over six nights in Las Vegas,” she said of her agenda. Jac currently stars as Soap Star in “Menopause The Musical,” the longest-running musical on the Vegas strip.
“Menopause,” her hit Vegas musical, was a personal revelation 10 years ago. “When I started in the show, I didn’t realize that menopause hits between 45 and 55,” she said about that life-changing moment. “I was divorced, had a 5-year-old son, and realized I was living the show. I wondered why the rest of the women were not so energetic, since there’s a lot of uncertainty the body is going through physically and emotionally. I’m not afraid of talking about it. I’m honored to be the messenger of menopause.”
She also starred as Donna Sheridan in the Broadway musical, “Mamma Mia!” from 2005-2009, at the show’s residency at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and not surprisingly, the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2005 named her the “Most Talented Female Entertainer of Las Vegas”
Son Parker is a junior in high school now, “and has lots of time to decide on a career. And he’s home alone, fending for himself, while mom does a show in Hawaii. I’m certain he’ll enjoy his independence,” said Jac. Unlike Rose, however, she’s not nudging him into the business called show…
And that’s Show Biz…
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“Gypsy”
A Broadway musical with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; produced by the I’m a Bright Kid Foundation
What: A fable about an ambitious, determined stage mother, Rose, and her two daughters, June and Louise, who seek fame and fortune in the world of burlesque and vaudeville, in the early 20th Century
Where: Paliku Theatre, Windward Community College
When: At 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, Aug.8 through Aug. 24
Tickets: $34 to $44 for adults, $29 for students 12-18, military and seniors and $24 for children, plus fees; visit https://cur8.com/projects/24380 or imabrightkid.org/ticket
Creative team, cast list
Ahnya Chang is both director and choreographer of “Gypsy.”
The creative team also includes Clarke Bright (music director), Omnia Nova (costume designer), Janine Myers (lighting designer), and Deanne Kennedy (set designer).
Jacquelyn Holland-Wright leads the cast as Mama Rose, and other lead players include Tani Siu as Louise, Rockelle Kim as June, Swaine Kaui as Herbie, Drew Bright as Tulsa, Tom Holowach as Pop, Ligaya Stice as Tessie Tura, Faith Kawai as Mazeppa, Camille Michel as Electra, Katy Akitake and Chelsea Medeiros alternating as Baby June and Liliy Dayao and Hayden Lau alternating as Baby Louise.
“Gypsy,” currently in a revival production starring Audra McDonald as Mama Rose, will close Aug. 17 at the Majestic Theatre. The windup will have played 28 previews ad 269 performances.
The show originally was to be on Broadway through Oct. 5.
While McDonald has been wowing audiences, she didn’t win a Tony earlier this summer and grosses have not been as strong as anticipated. Consequently, “Gypsy” has not earned a Top 10 slo regularly in the weekly tallies.
Audra McDonald as Mama Rose in :=”Gypsy.” The show closes Aug. 17,
I would have loved seeing her, but I missed traveling to New York this year and won’t plan to during the rest of the year.
Ethel Merman originated the role in 1959, but I’ve not seen her. However, I’ve taken in the other revivals, starring Angela Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989, Bernadette Peters in 2003, and Patti LuPone in 2008…
Bright Kids staging ‘Gypsy” Aug. 8 to 24
A Hawaii revival of “Gypsy” will be produced by the I’m a Bright Kid Foundation for three weekends beginning Aug. 8 and continuing through Aug. 24 at Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College. Jacquelyn Holland-Wright, an alumnus of Castle High School, will enacting Mama Rose. Curtain times are at 7:30 p..m Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets are $22 to $44, available at www.iabk.org …
…
The return of the masked Phantom?
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legacy show, “The Phantom of the Opera,” shut down in 2023, after a history-making 35-year residency. It’s Broadway’s longest-running musical of all time.
But that masked hero, who sought the favors of Christine, apparently will make a comeback, specific timetable unknown.
Lloyd Webber, however, has been teasing a sequel from the opera house ghost. While the show’s working title is “Masquerade,” the Phantom likely will be haunting show-goers again, perhaps next season…
‘A Chorus Line’ marks 50th anniversary
A one-night special, celebrating the 50th anniversary of “A Chorus Line,” was staged Juiy 27 by and for the original cast members of the Tony-award winning show.
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, staged the production at the Shubert Theatre, for 15 years – from 1975 to 1990 – the home of “A Chorus Line.”
Original cast member Baayork Lee remounted the original Michael Bennett backstage musical with Bob Avian choreography.
Special guests included members of the original 1975 singers-dancers, including Kelly Bishop, Wayne Cilento, Baayork Lee, Priscilla Lopez, and Donna McKechnie, joined by special guest performers Charlotte d’Amboise, Jessican Lee Goldyn, Robyn Hurder, Francis Jue, Krysta Rodriguea, Jessica Vosk, Anthony Wayne, Tony Yazbeck and Leigh Zimmerman.
The production is known for its icoic finale formation number, “One Singular Sensation,” known for its synchronized formation of the single row of pomp and circumstance dancing, complete with top hats…
TV notables to co-star in murder mystery
They are former Army buddies, and legendary television figures, who have a penchant to take on stage roles, doing dramas, comedies and mysteries.
It’s all for charity, for Fox/KHON lsland news anchor Joe Moore and his former military pal Pat Sajak, the celebrated “Wheel of Fortune” host of the syndicated game show
Pat Sajak, left, and Joe Moore will co-star in “Prescription Murder” ar the Hawaii Theatre.
Moore, still in the news anchor seat, and Sajak, who’s retired but still occasionally appears as a guest host, started co-starring in plays at the Hawaii Theatre. It started 24 years ago, when they starred in Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” and they’re still going strong.
This year, the pair is taking on “Prescription Murder,” the original Columbo mystery thriller by William Link and Richard Levinson, whose work became the inspiration for the “Columbo” mysteries on TV. Performances will be from July 31 to Aug. 10.
Moore will take on the part of Lt. Columbo, the somewhat disheveled, bumbling detective who made Peter Falk a star, and Sajak will be Dr. Roy Flemming, a brilliant psychiatrist, intent on murdering his wife. The show is a give-and-take, back-and-fourth and cat-and-mouse escapade of thrills, wits and chuckles.
Moore says, this “will likely be our final time on stage together.”
Rob Duval is directing, and the supporting players include Bryce Moore, Therese Olival, Amy K. Sullivan and Aiko Chinen.
Tickets range in price from $42.50 to $87.50, available at www.hawaiitheatre.com/prescriptionmurder or (808) 528-0506…
A steadfast trio dominates the $2 million club
Summertime means longstanding Broadway favorites – the kingpin trio of “Wicked,” “The Lion King” and “Hamilton”—are the lone members of the elite $2 million club. The recent closing of a hot ticket, “Sunset Blvd.,” opened a slot in the Top 5, and surprise, surprise, “Aladdin’s” magic earned the show the No. 4 position.
The Top 10:
1–“Wicked,” $2.386 million
2—”The Lion King,” $2.324 million
3—”Hamilton,” $2.736 million
4—”Aladdin,” $1.610 million
5—”MJ, the Musical,” $1.394 million
6–“Maybe Happy Ending,” $1.382 million
7—“Just In Time,” $1.316 million
8—“Death Becomes Her,” $1.251 million
9—“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” $1.246 million
10—”The Outsiders,” $1.237 million
The complete list, for the week ending July 27, courtesy the Broadway Guild:
Leah Bernstein, the eminent president of the Mountain Apple Company, died in the wee hours of July 4 at Queen’s Medical Center. She was 72.
She was born on Dec. 1952, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cause of death was cancer, an illness she had been battling for the past four-and-a-half years. Her husband Mark Bernstein, an attorney, said the diagnosis was confirmed by a New York doctor during an earlier visit to a Big Apple hospital.
On July 4, Mark summoned an ambulance so Leah could receive ER care. “I couldn’t give her painkillers any more,” he said. They resided in a Makiki Heights home, where an ER crew brought Leah downstairs on a gurney, for hospital treatment.
Leah Berstein, CEO of the Mountain Apple Company, has died at aged 72.
Meantime, Jon DeMello, Mountain Apple Company founder and a life-long work colleague and friend of the Bernsteins, was on vigil duty at Queen’s, settling in a hospital-provided cot nearby Leah. He was playing “Hawaii, in the Middle of the Sea,” a Brothers Cazimero album, on his iPhone “and I knew she was hearing it,” said Jon. He said Leah had texted Mark to bring her home pillows and other comforting items to the hospital.
“It was 3:20 a.m. on the Fourth of July morning when she made the transition, and that was the time when I called Mark at home. It took him just a few minutes to get down to the hospital… so Leah and I were alone when she died.”
Leah and Mark shared a close, tight relationship. “In our 55 years together, there have been only 100 days that we’ve been apart,” said Mark.
Only their families and their closest friends were aware that Leah and Mark were childhood sweethearts who married young and were inseparable. Together, they were the epitome of a power couple in the Hawaii they loved.
“Leah was the finest human being I have known,” said Mark, who first saw her walking the sidewalks of Hollywood in January 1969. “She was eating an orange, and I asked my friend, “Who is that?” he said.
Leah, attending Hollywood High School, ultimately met her future life partner, when she was 16 and he was 17. They became a couple when they moved in together when she was 17 and he was 18.
“Given how horrible it could have been in the end, I’m more than grateful to have had four years to grieve,” said Mark of the quality time they’ve shared amid the cloud of the cancer that surely interrupted their life but made their love for each other stronger.
They were ardent travelers, even taking trips to Japan and Canada when Leah could, after she was diagnosed with cancer. “We also had planned a trip to San Francisco,” Mark revealed, because she had good and bad days like other cancer patients, with a lifestyle including chemotherapy treatments.
Leah joined the Mountain Apple team in 1980. “It was a relationship made in heaven,” said Jon. “Music was in my fiber, and she saw it, and knew it. We merged, a short mold (him) and a tall mold (her).”
“She had an absolute way with numbers; she had world-wide awareness of Hawaiian music, and was a perfect fit for Mountain Apple,” Jon continued. He ultimately named her president and Mark eventually became — and remains — the company’s lawyer.
Mountain Apple initially was a record company but diversified over the decades, taking on publishing music, distributing CDs, managing acts, and producing iconic concerts like May Day at the Waikiki Shell and Christmas productions at Bishop Museum and the Blaisdell Arena.
With Leah’s oversight, Mountain Apple’s music publishing boasted the most extensive library of Hawaiian and Polynesian music, and company’s catalogue included The Brothers Cazimero, Bruddah Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole and Robert Cazimero as a soloist since the death of brother Roland Cazimero. Numerous other acts — Willie K, Amy Hanaiali‘i Gilliom, Emma Veary, Raiatea Helm, Nina Keali‘iwahamana, Jack DeMello, Keola and Kapono Beamer and Jimmy Borges, among others– benefitted from her vision and her marketing skills in sync with Jon’s overall leadership.
Mark arrived in Honolulu in June 1969, and proclaims he’s an “island boy, from the island of Manhattan.” Leah worked at Kendun Recorders, a Burbank-based recording and mastering studio, where she learned her chops before settling in Hawaii in May 1972.
She held a variety of music-related jobs –Tower Records, and Territorial Tavern — which were portals to the local music industry. In May of 1980, Jon hired her to join the Mountain Apple team.
She’s pragmatic, said Jon. She told me, ‘You gotta watch out for Mark,’” Jon said, of the frailty in his life after her death.
“There’s a lot of me in her, and a lot of her in me,” said Mark about their bonding. “Leah was the kind of person who never talked of her illness,” he continued. “She would be upset about how people might react to her situation. She didn’t want to make her friends feel bad.”
Robert Cazimero, the kumu hula and entertainer, commented, “One time in the early ‘80s I had gone to the Mountain Apple Company office with a young student of mine. I introduced him to Leah Bernstein. He took one look at her and said to me, ‘She looks like heaven.’ That nickname was hers for many of us, her whole life. I will miss my friend; I miss my friend dearly.”
Services will be private, per Leah’s request. “I’ll do what she wanted,” Mark said.’
On Aug. 6, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” blockbuster will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a gala performance in the house where it happened — that would be the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
I received an invite, if you can believe it, to partake in the gala on Aug. 6. Guess the show wanted some regular fans to be dazzled by the notable invitees.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Financially, this one’s way out of my reach – tickets are either $5,000 or $2,500 for mezzanine seats –but it will be historical and memorable if you want to splurge. The higher-price ticket includes a pre-show and after-show reception; the less expensive ticket includes the post-show event.
The performance will feature the current cast which, lest you forget, currently features two performers with Hawaii ties, Marc delaCruz, who I have befriended and interviewed, and Reanne Acasio, who I also met via an interview. It would be a hoot to see them in action, but health is a priority now, and I don’t think I could survive the journey.
Marc delaCruz
There’s the airfare to consider, too, and a hotel room is a necessity.
For the record, I’ve seen the Broadway production twice, once with the original cast, a second time with delaCruz, who is an understudy of the title character of Hamilton. Acasio, who joined the cast a few months ago, understudies the three Schuyler sisters in the show, but I have yet to see her.
But I’ve watched another localite, Joseph Morales. enacting the Hamilton role in a touring company when it was ensconced in a Chicago theater. Plus, I watched the touring company that did show at Blaisdell Concert Hall two years ago.
I recall the first time; I couldn’t secure affordable seats, and orchestra tickets were astronomically high. So, I wound up buying two tickets –at $750 apiece – way up in the balcony, in the second-to-the-last row up high. However, it’s still a conversational memory.
For the 10th anniversary, the “Hamilton” logo bears 10 stars surrounding the familiar figure of Hamilton atop the star.
Ultimately, here’s the rub: If you want to be in the room where it happened, on a milestone date, who’s stopping you to go? The Public Theatre, where “Hamilton” first played off-Broadway prior to its Broadway debut, is overseeing the anniversary show. Come to think of it, though I didn’t see “Hamilton” there, I have taken in shows at the Public. Maybe that’s how I got the email invite. If you have been to the Public and weren’t invited, go for it—invite yourself at events@publictheater.org
Scherzinger, ‘Sunset Blvd.’ are No. 1
A new Broadway champ: ‘Sunset Blvd.’
In the final week of “Sunset Blvd.” on Broadway, Hawaii star NicoleScherzinger – performing as Gloria Swanson, talkies star – went out as a winner, with the musical yielding grosses of $2,481,018.
The surge earned the show, and Scherzinger, the laurels of being the No. 1 hot ticket for the week ending July 20, bypassing perpetual chart topper “Wicked,” which was No. 2.
