'Three Musketeers' with an Asian flair

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Rob Beau Allen, at top of stairs, as D'Artagnan, battles the Cardinal Guards in Leeward Community College Theatre's production of "The Three Musketeers," which opens tonight. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser 'The Three Musketeers' A drama by Paul Raby, adapted from the Alexandre Dumas classic, produced by Leeward Community College Theatre 8 p.m. today and Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday; repeats at 8 p.m. Nov. 14, 15 and 16 Leeward Community College Theatre $15 adults, $12 students, seniors, military 455-0385

So fun.

The show, he said, boasts kabuki-like makeup and generic black costumes festooned with kimono-type add-ons, including stylized obi (the classic kimono belt). The look is modern, with festive color complementing the black, and the costumes are resourcefully theatrical, even suitable for Waikiki club-hopping.

So now.

Director Paul Cravath said although actors have a coat of white on their faces — a cue from conventional Japanese kabuki, and possibly a subliminal homage to Iona Pear Dance Theatre, with whom Chandelier (real name, Sami Akuna) has performed — there are in-red embellishments that give the performers a mask-like facade.

So Halloween.

"We imagined, what if a Japanese company told a French story in the English language?" said Cravath.

So Euro-Asian fusion, n'est-ce pas?

"The influence was anime," Chandelier said of the "look," referring to the Japanese animation genre. The garb also is derivative of manga, the action-adventure comic books of Japan.

"It may be Japanese, but all the characters look haole," he said of the genre that's transferred to the stage.

"He's a genius — doing a lot of effects with just a little bit of cash," Cravath said. "There are no feathers and plumes, yet we have a super, elaborate masquerade ball, with wonderful costumes with really a basic, contemporary look.

"We've worked with Cocoa before. He did 'Rocky Horror Show' and 'The Bacchae 2000' with us before, and we asked him to find a concept for 'The Three Musketeers.' "

"My best friends are always watching sword-fighting video, so I thought it would be kind of cool, doing it (Asian) style, being in Hawai'i," Chandelier said.

"But Japanese fabric is so expensive, $20 a yard. So I didn't use much of it," he said.

He bought a lauhala (pandanus leaf) mat, too, which he hoped to fashion into a garment as well.

"One costume may be controversial," he warned. "It's the garment for the executioner, who traditionally wears a hooded hat. Mine is all in black, but it sort of looks like a Ku Klux Klan costume, which is usually white. I have a feeling some people won't approve."

With a budget of about $2,500 to create about 35 costumes, Chandelier said he had to think thrifty, so he scoured the thrift shops. But, he said, his friends may recognize some specific items on stage.

"Some stuff just came from my closet, just like 'Rocky Horror Show,' which was my coming-out-of-the-closet show," Chandelier said.

Meanwhile, Chandelier is in the process of shooting a film.

"It's called 'Face Mafia," a story on fashion terrorism, kind of like The Gap, which is trying to clone everybody by wearing the same clothes," said Chandelier. "I have a group that I call the Better Brand Brigade, which is the opposing factor made up of makeup artists, hair stylists, costumers and others, trying to save the world."

And how did his showbiz name come about? Cocoa Chandelier said it's derivative of his weakness for chocolate, because his friends called him Chocolate, and also because "when I dress up, I look half black, half Asian, and I'm always eating chocolate," he said.