Update: After this column was posted this morning, I got an email from Joe Moore, announcing yet another postponement of “The Sunshine Boys.” Thus, the following column has been revised.–Wayne Harada
For the second time since the pandemic shutdown began nearly two years ago, the production of “The Sunshine Boys” — which was listed in an email announcement from the Hawaii Theatre — has been delayed again.
New performance dates are June 16 through June 26…in 2022.
The comedy, by Neil Simon, will feature Joe Moore, Hawaii’s longtime most-watched news anchor on KHON-TV, and his one-time Army buddy, Pat Sajak, the host of the wildly popular syndicated “Wheel of Fortune” game show.
“Mighty kind of you featuring ‘The Sunshine Boys’ in today’s Show Biz column online…and I hate to disappoint, but for the second year in a row, the Covid pandemic has forced us to postpone the show for a year,” said Moore in an email. “Large gatherings are still not allowed under the state’s restrictions, so rather than perform the show to a widely spaced, one-third capacity audience who might might not feel comfortable in a large crowd yet, Pat and I along with Greg Dunn, head of Hawaii Theatre, decided it best to postpone the benefit run as we want to raise as much money as possible for the theatre.”
On a family note, the play also will mark the professional acting debut of Bryce Moore, son of the newsman. Bryce previously co-starred in “Under the Blood Red Sun,” a made-in-Hawaii film.
The supporting cast also will include Therese Olival, Robert Duvall, Jeanne Wynn Herring, Matthew Mazzella, Bart DaSilva, and Robert Doan.
Moore and Sajak have frequently performed together on stage in Hawaii. Because one lives here and the other on the mainland, rehearsals are frequently done virtually.
Moore portrays Willie Clark and Sajak is Al Lewis in the play about the reunion of vaudevillian vets tapped by CBS to do a TV special. Willie Clark’s nephew (Bryce Moore) attempts to bring the duo together, but longstanding grudges and friction resurface, and the question of ageism raises doubt about whether the duo can succeed and mend the broken bridges of the past.
Rob Duvall, a multiple Po’okela Award winner, will direct.
Performances will be at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, with additional matinee shows at 2 p.m. Saturdays, through June 27.
Tickets; $30 to $75, available at www.hawaiitheatare.com.
Chai opens newest, KALO, with Hawaiian food
Chai Chaowasaree, owner-chef of Chef Chai’s, has opened a new restaurant, KALO: Hawaiian food by Chai’s, in the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Waikiki Beach, at 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue at Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki. Spada Bar and Restaurant previously occupied the site.
KALO offers a range of Hawaiian small plates, side dishes and entrees including a Hawaiian sampler, pineapple lobster curry, grilled rib eye steak and oxtail soup, served from 4 to 10 p.m.
“I chose the name KALO because it honors one of the most important staple foods among native Hawaiians,” said Chaowasaree of taro, the iconic diet item among Hawaiians.
A breakfast menu – with variations of eggs and Portuguese sausage, pancakes, poke bowls topped with fried eggs, beef stew with rice – will be served beginning July 1 , from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Reservations: 931-6222…
And that’s “Show Biz.”…
Hope you can get to see Pat and Joe in the “Sunshine Boys”, They should make a video of it for all to see on you tube!
Congrats and good luck to Chai on opening a new restaurant in Waikiki.
Aloha Dolores