Posted on: Sunday, January 13, 2002

Tip-Off
Avant-garde artist to bring 'Happiness' to Hawai'i

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

Musician. Performance artist. Sculptor. To the avant-garde set, what U2 is to rock 'n' roll.

Whatever hat you care to hang on her, Laurie Anderson is coming to Hawai'i next month for three performances of her latest solo theatre piece, "Happiness."

Anderson's Honolulu appearance will be Feb. 23, 8 p.m., at Leeward Community College Theatre. Performances are also scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Feb. 21, at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and 8 p.m., Feb. 22, at the Kahilu Theatre in Kamuela on the Big Island.

Tickets for Anderson's O'ahu date are $40 for limited reserved seating, $35 for general seating and $25 for seniors, military and students. Call 455-0385.

For ticket information on Anderson's Maui date, call 242-7469; for her Big Island date, call 885-6868.

Perhaps the most visible avant-garde figure to crawl out of New York's early 1980s boho art scene, Anderson is a performance-art chameleon like no other. Though happy to flirt on occasion with rock and pop compositions, Anderson truly shines with her adventurous multimedia projects, incorporating spoken word, music, film, mime and dance.

"Happiness," a less theatrically ambitious work featuring stories and acoustic instrumentation, aims to look at contemporary culture through various filters: love songs, synthetic language, animal communication and techno burnout. Anderson even gets to dabble a bit in a new realm: deejaying.