SHOW BIZ
The Brothers Cazimero tickets on sale Friday

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

DATES TO CIRCLE: The eagerly awaited tickets go on sale Friday at the Blaisdell box office and Ticket Plus outlets for The Brothers Cazimero's 25th anniversary May Day concert, 7:30 p.m. May 1 at the Waikiki Shell. Reserved seats, $23.50; general admission grass seats, $15. Robert and Roland Cazimero will feature their stellar parade of Hawaiiana, with surprise guests. Information: 526-4400 ...

Jay Larrin offers a St. Patrick's Day concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Honolulu Suite of the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Larrin will sprinkle his repertoire with some Irish brew, but expect his signature songs, too. Tickets: $30. Reservations: 371-2910 ...

Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar in Kihei opens April 1 in the old Chuck's Steakhouse location. Tom Selman, executive chef, will prevail. If you think the April 1 debut is a joke, don't ask proprietor D.K. Kodama why. His characteristic response is the same when you ask him about his famous initials: Don't Know ...

Also due in April: the return of Sergio's, the Italian eatery, in the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Rainbow Bazaar. Owners George and Wini Vandeman have retained the original management team of GM Larry Schmaus and chef John Stack ...

WEEKEND WRAP: Too bad The Brothers Caz's exquisite Hana Hou show last Friday at Hawai'i Theatre didn't have a hana hou, a second night. It was one of the best in the series to date, with imagination and illumination to spare. Roland's "Pele" suite, highlighted by "One Small Favor" (with four voices: his, Robert's, sister Tootsie Cazimero's, and Carolyn "Sky" Perkins'), was a moment of great expectations and grand execution. Keo Woolford, back home after playing the king in London's "The King and I" revival, was stunning as Lohiau, clearly confident and seasoned as a theatrical veteran rediscovering his hula roots. In fact, the whole shebang had a very theatrical spirit, with the Royal Dance Company and Halau Na Kamalei providing extraordinary ensemble work. And an only-in-Hawai'i moment — Robert beckoning kumu hula Victoria Holt Takamine, who emerged from the audience to dance in the absence of Mihana Souza (the announced soloist, who had a conflicting paying gig) on "Puamana" — added a measure of spontaneity ...

BACKSTAGE BITS: When director-choreographer John Rampage, of Diamond Head Theatre, was 8 and living in Chicago, his mother took him to his first Broadway musical, "Mame." Enamoured of the show, he went back weekly and learned every word of the production. So it's not surprising that he's imparting his love for the Jerry Herman evergreen to his DHT cast, which can't fudge on the lyrics since he knows this one backward and forward. Curiously, Rampage recalls that Loretta Swit, in town last month for "The Vagina Monologues," made her professional theater debut in the "Mame" role of Gooch, performed here by Zenia Zambrano. The play premieres with a March 20 benefit, at which Bob Marvit and his Dr. Jazz and the Band will perform, and the public opening March 22 ...

Art Freedman, lyricist for "Santa Claus Lives in Hawai'i" (which Army Community Theatre produced in December), now is living in Nashville, where he's peddling his new country musical. A man of rhyme (and reason), Freedman said in a note: "I'm selling my condo, though the deed makes me ill, so I can search my fate, which I believe is in Nashville ... I've written 15 song lyrics, for my new 'Country' play, and all good 'Country' composers live in Nashville, they say." So, bon voyage to the man with a dream; may your name make the marquee, with well-deserved gleam ...

And that's Show Biz ...

Wayne Harada's Show Biz runs Wednesdays and Sundays. Reach him by e-mail at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, phone 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.