'Aloha Las Vegas' really sparkles

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

Edward Sakamoto's "Aloha Las Vegas" examines the Hawaiian love affair with that gambling Mecca in Nevada and the exodus of retirees and young people willing to leave their island roots for the Promised Land in the desert.

Its pivotal character is a recently retired and widowed Liliha baker, Wally Fukuda. Having just turned 65, Wally is tempted by an old boyhood friend to try his luck in a place where Hawai'i folks who are house rich but cash poor can live like kings.

Kumu regular Dann Seki brings his usual offhand charm to the central role, giving the character of Wally a genuine naivete and every line of dialogue the sense of innocent discovery. Still, the initial premise is simply too commonplace and predictable to excite much interest.

Wally has met his life's obligations and he owes himself a bit of fun. He seems too easily tempted by his old pal Harry — excellently portrayed by Allan Okubo as a third-rate lounge lizard and transparent blowhard. Yet Wally is concerned about the effect his move may have on his grown children: Butch (Eric Mita), an immature and self-absorbed security guard, and June (Janice Terukina), a rigid 41-year-old spinster with a daddy dependency.

But before the action can become mired in the banal, in walks the play's most delightful character, Alvin "Vinnie" Kawabata (Tony Solis), a 51-year-old fishmonger and admitted mama's boy — a role played by Seki in the 1992 production.

It's a blind date arranged by Wally's neighbor Gracie (Jennifer Vo), in a long-shot attempt to find a good man for the spinster June and free up Wally to make his move.

The combination of Solis, Wong, and Sakamoto's character explodes exponentially into a Big Bang of laughs that shakes Act One and fuels the rest of the play all the way to the final curtain.

Solis makes "Vinnie" into several hundred pounds of nervous sweat and absolutely uncorrupted good intentions. The pure antithesis of marriageable material, "Vinnie" clicks with the scowling and nearsighted June as Solis and Terukina embark on an understated exchange of nonverbal communication that has the audience howling.

Magically, they get the subtext just right. Sakamoto's dialogue becomes secondary to pauses, facial expression and body language that transform two unattractive characters into wonderfully comic focal points. The rest of the action almost fades into the background of anticipating what "Vinnie" and June might do in the next scene.

As a result, a commonplace situation becomes less predictable and everyday characters become a comic gold mine. The result is gentle, warm, and embracing.

Wong also coaxes excellent ensemble work from the entire cast.

Mita exposes Butch's vulnerability without diluting the character, Michelle Kim is supportive as his understanding wife, and Vo (as the good neighbor Gracie) closes the play like the servant in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" — abandoned and undervalued.

"Aloha Las Vegas" is slice-of-life theater at its best. It's approachable, and it illuminates.