STAGE REVIEW
'Hawaii Tales' engage youngsters in theatrics
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic
Sometimes all it takes to create a magic experience is passion and a hand puppet.
That's what happens in the new Honolulu Theatre for Youth production of "Hawaii Tales for Young People," aimed at the preschool set and playing at McCoy Pavilion.
"Hawaii Tales for Young People" combines passion and hand puppets to good effect.
The HTY program notes the difficulty in crafting a show for youngsters who may be as fascinated by the theater's folding chairs as the onstage action.
The answer: Unlock their imaginations. It worked at the first public performance and promises to do the same for school audiences.
Based on stories by Kimo Armitage, directed by Daniel A. Kelin II, and alternately featuring HTY company actors BullDog and Monica Cho C., the one-hour performance selects two Armitage stories and adds a third tale that the audience makes up as it goes along.
In the performance reviewed here, BullDog deserves awards for both enthusiasm and stamina.
He takes some time with the warm-up, getting the kids to make the sound of ocean waves and to pantomime motions that rise and fall. He also promises wonderful things to come out of a property box painted with ocean scenes.
'Hawaii Tales for Young People'
The first story in the opening performance was Armitage's "Limu the Blue Turtle," about a creature who learns it's not easy to look different from everybody else. A hand puppet becomes the central character, and tiny opihi supporting characters stick to his shell as he swims through audience waves to nibble seaweed from the kids' heads.
Limu befriends a giant whale, represented by a large banner, and outruns a pack of hungry sharks. The chase scene has BullDog running in circles, spurring himself on with the turtle puppet in one hand and a shark pennant in the other.
The moral is that friends take care of friends, and the finale is that they all lived happily ever after.
The second story is that of "Manuli'i and the Colorful Cape." The central character here is a young mamo bird that falls out of its nest before it is ready to fly. Manuli'i is swept along by a river and befriended by boy named Kimo.
Audience participation has the kids practicing flying motions with a paper feather handed out by stagehands. When it comes time for Manuli'i to repay Kimo's friendship, they give up the feathers so they can be pasted into a colorful cape for Kimo.
For the last story, the outline of a plot is offered up, and the kids are invited to determine where it may lead. The kids get a kick out of shaping their own story. BullDog seems to relish the precariousness of the action line, and brings it all home to a satisfying conclusion.
