Show Biz
3 celebs bring smiles to Maui restaurant
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
SIGHT 'EMS: Marlon Wayans ("Scary Movie"), Don Stark ("That '70s Show") and Pauly Shore ("Encino Man," "Son in Law") dined on separate nights at Leilani's on the Beach at Whaler's Village in Ka'anapali, prompting a thought: Is a movie being filmed there? No, just celebs taking it easy ...
Comedian Rip Taylor, ensconced in a Waikiki apartment, got his Thai food fix the other night at Keo's in Waikiki. He also makes Keoni's, Keo Sananikone's other Waikiki restaurant, his breakfast spot daily ...
Ban Daisuke and Ikeda Shinsuke (the actors who once played Japanese action heroes Kikaida and Kikaida 01) journeyed to the Ohana Reef Towers' Polynesian Palace to catch the elastic-bodied Long Twins, who are back in the "Yes" show ...
Jane Campbell, who is retiring from the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, said that a recent Hawai'i Prince Hotel luncheon in her honor was "an excuse for not changing my mind." Several times in her 41-year tenure, she has thought about retiring, so she finally will — after a successor is named ...
Yvonna Balfour, a veteran Broadway backstager, just started a new show, "If You Ever Leave Me I'm Going With You," starring the hilarious Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna. Meanwhile, her daughter, Cindy, the script supervisor on "Law and Order," is readying for a Honolulu trip next month to catch up with family and friends in the Islands.
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WINGING IT: Kaitlyn Metcalf, 16-year-old Punahou junior now dancing in Lisa Matsumoto's production of "On Dragonfly Wings" at Leeward Community College Theatre, leaves July 28 for Orlando, where she will represent Hawai'i in the Miss North America Teen Scholarship Pageant. On a theatrical note, she is the niece of Diamond Head Theatre's costume mistress Karen Wolfe ...
And "On Dragonfly Wings" is drawing lots of youngsters, soaking up not only the eye-filling costumes and set pieces, but the music, as well. The wind beneath the "Wings" surely is the wondrous music of Roslyn Freitas Catracchia, who has created the first Hawai'i-produced musical with songs that have commercial promise. While the overall work is over long and occasionally a tad too preachy, "Dragonfly," inspired by the real-life story of leukemia victim Alana Dung, is an ambitious marvel of imagination and invention.
And the cast is uniformly impressive; in a recent show, Chrissy Naruo was Wendy the Waterbug (normally played by the seasoned Janel Parrish), alongside some stellar troupers: John "JB" Bryan, Dion Donahue, Stephanie Sanchez, Joseph Morales, Jana Anguay, Jennifer Cleve ...
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WEEKEND WRAP: Melveen Leed's birthday bash Saturday night at Chai's Island Bistro was fun (we took in the second show), with Da Tita in her element, calling up folks like Rodney Cazimero to sing, and Puamana Crabbe and Peter Rockford Espiritu to dance (she did hula, he did modern dance to "Waikiki"). Leed is 58, by the way, not 59 as we were told earlier, but she looks 39 and has the energy of a 29-year-old. She says she's hooking up with a French singer for a European engagement in the months ahead; that should be a thriller for those who don't know her ...
And that's Show Biz ...
Wayne Harada's Show Biz runs Wednesdays and Fridays; reach him at 525-8067, e-mail at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.
com or fax 525-8055.
