STAGE REVIEW
'You Somebody' triumphs with spoofs of 'making A'

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'You Somebody' 4 p.m. Sundays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, through Aug. 11 Diamond Head Theatre $40-$10 733-0274 The Advertiser is a sponsor.

She does it with so much obvious warmth and aloha that we laugh at ourselves, knowing that we're being made fun of, but knowing also that it comes from insight and love, rather than sharpness or superiority.

Keola Beamer similarly has a firm grounding in the Hawaiian musical soul, and a playful spirit that can make a production number out of a Latin rhythm and a lyric like "Sucked down by the undertoe (sic) of my love." He also has the comic audacity to fashion a pseudo-romantic love song around a flaccid anthurium blossom.

The Cataluna and Beamer combination almost guarantees success. Their collaboration on the original musical "You Somebody" succeeds in enough departments to make it a warm summer evening at the Diamond Head Theatre.

The show has a great premise: A pushy mom will do anything to get her family mentioned in Wayne Harada's Show Biz column, including browbeating them to enter contests for which they have no talent.

It has appealing characters, including a suffering husband, a stubborn older daughter, a threadbare master of ceremonies, and a trio of delightful and authentic former Miss Hawai'is.

And it has some musical numbers that could find a life outside the theater. "Dream a Small Kine Dream" is based on an intricate lyric and marching/conga beat, and the title song "You Somebody" punches up the finale and gives a glow that lasts past the final curtain.

The musical also pulls together elements that are unashamedly derivative: a domineering stage mother ("Gypsy"), performing families ("The Sound of Music"), singing fairy godmothers ("Sleeping Beauty"), and a dream sequence filled with misguided lives ("A Christmas Carol").

But Cataluna doesn't try to hide her small thieveries; she parodies them — "You mean I'm in a pidgin version of a classic novel?" This adds extra charm, "making A" calculatedly.

Director Mark Lutwak, usually associated with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, shows a good grasp for making the material play well, and has assembled a fine cast.

Loretta Ables Sayre is the pushy mother, Ray Bumatai is the long-suffering father, and Zhan Hunt is the resisting daughter. Elitei Tatafu Jr. shows natural charm as the boyfriend, and Keith Kashiwada nicely underplays the desperate master of ceremonies.

But the prize for collective performance goes where you might least expect it — to the Miss Hawai'is. They are integral to the plot, perform as a trio rather than individuals, and — most importantly — really are former Miss Hawai'is. Patricia Lei Murray (1962), Cheryl Toma Sanders (1990) and Candes Meijide Gentry (1999) provide exponential delight as they hover about the reluctant daughter, figure prominently in a production number that spoofs everything in sight ("It Sucks"), sing in beautiful harmony and become a genuinely self-effacing comic triumvirate.

There is also a kids' chorus that sings awfully well and (a dozen roses to director Lutwak here) moves smartly, adds an almost adult comic irony and is never exploited.

Peter Rockford-Espiritu adds smart choreography, and John Kolvas and Donald Yap share the musical direction. Patrick Kelly provides a bold cartoon set (note the borders stamped with rubber slippers) and Puamana Crabbe fills it with colorful costumes.

Now, the show's not perfect or yet ready for Broadway. The action is predictable to the point where the audience almost begins to feel clairvoyant. There are some problems with focus while we sort out whether the story belongs to the mother or the daughter. And not all the scenes or musical numbers are successful in sustaining the momentum that the action must have.

But the production is brimming with warmth, self-awareness and good feeling. And if a show can send you out of the theater in a better mood than you had when you came in, it must be doing a lot of things right.