Youth revue blends Broadway and blues

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

•	'Music U.S.A.: From Bluegrass to Broadway' A Castle Performing Arts Center production 7:30 p.m. today, 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday Ronald E. Bright Theatre, Castle High School $10 general, $6 students and seniors 233-5626 Also: A portrait of Bright, by Wayne Takazono, will be unveiled tonight for permanent display in the theater lobby.

The show marks Bright's 40th year of directing at the Ronald E. Bright Theatre on the Kane'ohe campus. And it continues a tradition he established early on in his career: to give all Windward area youngsters, grades 5 through 8, the opportunity to experience theater, and perhaps make it an eventual career, as many of Bright's former students have.

"Keeps me young," said Bright, who is mounting a revue jammed with tunes that originate well before his cadre of youths was born.

"We've taken different genres of music, from New Orleans blues to rock, from country to Broadway, and the kids have really picked up on it," he said.

His cast of 58 (it was 60, but two dropped out) comes from the Castle Complex schools in the Windward District, and the production is produced by the Castle Performing Arts Center, which Bright founded but now is run by successor Karen Meyer.

"Although retired, he has been invited back to continue this wonderful program, which is close to his heart," said Meyer.

The program skipped a few years but was reinstated last year. So this year's show is Bright's second since he became a free agent to do a variety of shows for a number of community groups.

"I see sparks in a few kids, who could do well," said Bright. "There's a boy in Grade 7 that looks like another Jordan Segundo." Bright knows "American Idol" contestant Segundo through New Hope Chapel at Farrington High School.

To familiarize his young troupers with music two to three generations removed, Bright customized a CD of tunes to familiarize the cast and parents.

The Orleans segment includes such oldies as "Birth of the Blues," "Blues in the Night," "Stormy Weather" and "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans."

The rock set taps "Surfin' Safari," "Surfin' USA," "Hang on Sloopy," "Johnny Angel," "Leader of the Pack," "Shake, Rattle and Roll." Three Elvises will do "Hound Dog," and Zayre Anguay and Kelly Berinobis are teaming up on "Bye, Bye Love," Everly Brothers fashion.

Country? "Your Cheating Heart," "Tennessee Waltz," "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Cool Water," "Home on the Range," "Yellow Rose of Texas," "Shenandoah."

Broadway? Snippets of "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Another Opening," "I've Got Rhythm," "Oklahoma," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "There Is Nothing Like a Dame," "I Enjoy Being a Girl," "I'm Just a Girl Who Cain't Say No," "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," "Phantom of the Opera," "76 Trombones," "Tomorrow."

"After this show, I start on a history of the musical show that the fifth graders at Kamehameha do every year," said Bright. "This year, my grandson is in the fifth grade — and Grandpa made himself available to help."