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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, July 23, 2002

SHOW BIZ
Fresh off war role, Willis heads for cable special

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

PLAY TIME: Bruce Willis, who recently wrapped up his wartime drama, "Tears of the Sun," on O'ahu, will star in Sam Shepherd's dark comedy, "True West," in a Showtime special airing Aug. 12. Willis, playing Lee, a small-time drunk and drift-er, will be joined by Chad Smith as Lee's brother Austin, a Hollywood screenwriter. The stage show is produced by Company of Fools, a nonprofit in Hailey, Idaho, where Willis is a member of the board of directors. He also was executive producer of the presentation, a hit on Broadway last year, with two actors alternating in the parts. ...

Allen Won, a local-boy saxophonist who graduated from McKinley High School, is in the pit orchestra at the Marquis Theatre, where the Tony Award-winning musical, "Thoroughly Modern Millie," is running. There's a moment in the show when an 'ukulele is played in the pit. With the help of Roy Sakuma and his 'Ukulele Festival (Sunday at Kapi'olani Park Bandstand), the pit musicians will be wearing 'Uke Fest T-shirts. "The orchestra always is coming up with outrageous antics," Won says. The local T-shirts will be a fine sight, for sure. ...

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NAME-DROPPING: Konishiki (aka Salevaa Atisanoe), who was in town last week to promote his "Simply Sale" CD, got an energy booster from Morton's of Chicago when he had an appearance at Ala Moana's Centerstage. Before the retired sumotori took the stage, he nibbled a 48-ounce porterhouse steak from Morton's, which, for most of us, would be a main course that two or three could easily share. For the giant in music, it was more of a pupu. ...

Kevin Iwamoto, the former singer who now heads global travel for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, Calif., has been named travel manager of the year by Business Travel News. Iwamoto also is president of the National Business Travel Association. ...

When playwright Lee Cataluna sat and chatted with Danny Kaleikini at a preview of her "You Somebody" musical at Diamond Head Theatre, she hurriedly rushed backstage for a quickie mend of her script, to insert his name in the dialogue. There's a spot in the show where such impromptu fixes may be made, depending on who's in the house, but she and composer-lyricist Keola Beamer have had a field day tossing in names galore, many which have been in this column. (If you haven't heard, this space plays a pivotal role in the outrageously hilarious play.) It's a tour de force for Loretta Ables Sayre, who, in my book will always be a Somebody. ...

And Mark Allen Mauricio, who drops his surname when he's doing magic and comedy, won The Advertiser's "Be Somebody" contest. A poet and essayist at heart, Mauricio teaches at Punahou and is a techie at the Hale Koa hotel, where he sometimes does his craft. His dream: to open up in his own club someday. See his winning entry tomorrow in Island Life ...

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MENTIONABLES: Frank DeLima celebrated his 53rd birthday appropriately, in the Pope's Room at Buca di Beppo. Though a bust of the pope, which serves as a centerpiece, spooked him a bit, and if the Roman Catholic Church weren't in so much deep kim chee during these troubled times, he might have donned his cardinal costume to prevail at the round table. Even without the duds, it was a feast of fun, with even a DeLima look-alike showing up to shake hands and take pictures. A devout Catholic, DeLima could readily identify most of the real-life papal portraits on the wall, but of a mean-looking nun, he said: "My sixth-grade teacher." ...

And that's Show Biz ...

Wayne Harada's Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays; reach him at phone 525-8067, e-mail wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.