Broadway performer Francis Ruivivar dies at 40
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
Francis Ruivivar, who played the leading man in two Broadway musicals and is said to have inspired many other Islanders to seek roles on the Great White Way, died Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was 40.
Advertiser library photo • June 1997
Ruivivar, the younger brother of Society of Seven leader Tony Ruivivar, had been battling chronic myelogenous leukemia at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas.
Francis Ruivivar was a Kalani High graduate who was the first Asian performer to portray the engineer in "Miss Saigon."
He also is survived by his wife, Cathryn Croft, a Las Vegas singer.
"Of all of us, he was the most talented," said Tony Ruivivar, who returned from Las Vegas to perform with the SOS on the Big Island this weekend.
"He was special, he always lit up the place," he said. "We always liked to be around him; he was always full of fun."
Francis Ruivivar was the first Asian actor-singer to portray the engineer in the long-running "Miss Saigon" musical, taking over the lead role created by Jonathan Pryce, who was cast in the Eurasian role amid controversy among the Asian-American community who objected to the producers hiring a non-Asian for the part.
Ruivivar also originated the role of Lord Toranaga in "Shogun, the Musical," a short-lived musical based on the novel by James Clavell.
Fran Kirk, executive vice president of Outrigger Entertainment, which manages the Society of Seven showroom, said the SOS family is grieving its latest tragedy. Tony is the sole survivor of the Ruivivar clan. Cancer claimed both parents as well as the other two sons: Benny, who was lead singer of the SOS precursor band, the Fabulous Echoes, in 1998; and Danny, the SOS drummer, in 1971.
Kirk's oldest son, Michael, grew up with Francis and a group of SOS offspring that came to be known as the "Rock House Gang." The name came from a large stone house the SOS rented when the group was playing Lake Tahoe, she said. Francis, born Dec. 21, 1960, was the eldest in the group, primarily consisting of the band's children, including Martin Nievera, son of Roberto Nievera.
"The kids would sometimes get together," she recalled. "They would try to do 'Goin' Out of My Head' the way the SOS did it... you could tell that Martin and Francis were little hams.
"He (Francis) opened doors for so many other Asian performers."
After graduating from Kalani High School in 1979, Ruivivar earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Loretto Heights College in Denver. He bypassed the traditional actor's routine of toiling in community theater productions before making the big leap to the Broadway scene. His success spurred the local acting community to aspire for Broadway roles, particularly in "Miss Saigon," the production that ultimately hired scores of local performers before closing last New Year's Eve.
Advertiser library photo • September 1997
Over the years, Ruivivar co-starred in Stephen Sondheim's "Passion," played Old Deuteronomy in a touring company of "Cats" and did off-stage vocals for the Broadway hit, "Starlight Express." He toured extensively in "The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber," co-starring with Sarah Brightman, the original Christine in "The Phantom of the Opera," in a popular montage of Lloyd Webber music from his hit shows.
Francis Ruivivar made the leap to Broadway without the traditional actor's routine of toiling in community theater productions.
Ruivivar also played the Cowardly Lion in a revival of "The Wizard of Oz." His most recent theatrical extravaganza was the Las Vegas-based "Notre Dame de Paris" — the show ended its seven-month run at the Paris Las Vegas in July.
He made brief Waikiki appearances in special musical revues at the Outrigger Reef Towers' Polynesian Palace, where he also coached and directed segments of the "Yes! Encore" production still in residency there. Before becoming too weak to work in March, he had been mentoring and choreographing the new Society of Seven Las Vegas show band.
But Kirk still can recall the young child whom she met when the SOS first moved to Honolulu.
"My memory of Francis is this impish, talented child with the big brown eyes," she said, adding that he exhibited his humor at his brother's birthday party in Las Vegas a few years ago. The group rounded up some lighted yo-yos; Francis played with them while everyone sang "You Light Up My Life."
"Frank was a light in a lot of people's lives," she said.
Funeral services, planned for Honolulu and New York, are pending. Survivors also include nephews and nieces.
Advertiser staff writer Vicki Viotti contributed to this report.
