Stage review
'Aloha Friday' entertains delightfully

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Theater Critic

If you missed Lee Cataluna's "Aloha Friday" at Kumu Kahua last fall, you have one more month to make up for it. The comedy has been remounted, with direction by Bulldog (yes, just Bulldog) and half a dozen of the original cast returning to reprise their roles.

Pemarina as Aunty Evangeline Pavao is part of a hilarious cast in the remount of Lee Cataluna's "Aloha Friday." Kumu Kahua Theatre "Aloha Friday" 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 12, Kumu Kahua Theatre $12 for Thursday shows, $15 all others, some discounts available. Call: 536-4441

Much of the delight comes from video clips of the station's locally produced programming: "Goat Hunting with the Moniz Brothers"; Auntie Evangeline's cooking show, "Use Up Da Milk Before He Spoil"; and the Kaua'i Police Department's own creation, "Shoot First, Go Eat Hamura's Afta."

Some of the video characters appear in the live action, and enough of the principal roles bring back favorites from last year to give this new production a familiar feel.

Daryl Bonilla returns as Stanton, the super-macho cable installer, "I'm a cable installer. I install cable. It's what I do. It's who I am." Keith Kashiwada is Dilton Moniz, a camouflaged goat-hunter forced to play host to a shopping program. Clarie Antenorcruz is the local girl with a business degree from a Mainland college, Stu Hirayama is the spineless manager and Karen Hironaga is part of the office staff that flunked customer courtesy.

JEDI (yes, just JEDI) is new to the part of Norris, chief engineer. A master stroke by the playwright, the character communicates only through grunts, but is everywhere in the action — dangling from the ceiling and crawling under the floorboards — as he patches together the station's flimsy electronics and installs his own secret spy devices.

Tammy Baker plays the driven executive Squire Coldwell, the love-smitten sales manager, and Craig Howes, the Mainland buyer. Meredith Desha and Des (yes, just Des) complete the office staff, whining over oppressive paperwork and the lack of toilet paper.

Cataluna has done some minor tweaking with the end of the show, upping the absurdity without changing too much of the original conclusion. The remount of "Aloha Friday" turns out to be satisfying summer fare — tasty, but not too filling.