SHOW BIZ
Hawai'i loses a Broadway hit to Vancouver
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
SHOW BREEZES: Hawai'i could have had a "Mamma Mia!" visit this summer, but we lost out to Vancouver, British Columbia. Or so I discovered during a recent visit to Toronto, where I took in two Broadway faves, "The Lion King" at the Princess of Wales Theatre and "Mamma Mia!" at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The SARS scare reduced attendance, although both have had sell-outs in recent weeks because of impending closures. "Lion King" will shut down Sept. 28 for good, so last-minute reservations have been filling seats; "Mamma Mia!" has now closed, to move to Vancouver for a run July 22-Aug. 22, with a reopening in Toronto Sept. 29, when higher visitor counts are anticipated. ...
The decision to move "Mamma Mia!" to Vancouver means Honolulu lost a hottie; Hawai'i was considered as a venue for the Abba-music show, but high overhead and a see-sawing tourist base here were factors in keeping the Canadian company within Canadian borders. This, from Ronald Andrew, now a theatrical consultant for Clear Channel Entertainment, who earlier was the Canadian instrumental in giving Hawai'i its first taste of legitimate Broadway biggies such as "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera." ...
We had dinner with Andrew at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club in Rosedale (just north of downtown Toronto). He had hoped to end the theatrical drought in the Islands by bringing us "Mamma Mia!" But after checking with Blaisdell Center officials, he deemed it too costly — the numbers just didn't work for now. "We're still looking for the right show for Hawai'i," said Andrew, who said it might be another two years before "Mamma Mia!" comes over. "But there are other shows like 'The Lion King' and 'Beauty and the Beast' that could work, too." Stay tuned. ...
Both shows, by the way, are every bit as good as the Broadway originals. In fact, both casts had stellar artists — Bill Perry as Timon and Murray Furrow as Pumbaa gave "Lion" its biggest roars of approval; and Camilla Scott as Donna (the mother) and Marisa McIntyre as Sophie (the daughter) had a lot of chemistry and vocal prowess in "Mamma Mia!" Both shows are produced in Canada by David and Ed Mirvish of Mirvish Productions, the owner of and producer at both the Princess of Wales Theatre and the Royal Alexandra Theatre; they are the ranking Canadian theater producers since Garth Drabinsky's Livent went bust. These Canadians all were early producers of the wave of Broadway shows that splashed onto our shores in the 1990s. ...
NAMES 'N' FACES: We were in Toronto for my wife's American Library Association convention, held this year as a collaborative gathering with the Canadian Library Association. And one Hawai'i exhibitor, Ben "Buddy" Bess of Bess Press of Kaimuki, noted the impact of SARS, too, not only in attendance but in exhibitor fallout. The usually crammed convention space had numerous unsettling vacancies. ...
If you're Toronto-bound in July, you might want to know that Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones will gather no moss as they do an outdoor concert July 30 at Downsview Park, anticipated as a positive boost for post-SARS Canadian tourism. ...
En route home, on our connecting United Airlines flight from Denver, we met Ethel Walker on the plane. She had been in New York, where she caught grandson Anthony "Third Watch" Ruivivar's off-Broadway play, "Safe," which Anthony co-wrote and directed. His wife, Yvonne Jung, was part of the cast. ...
And that's Show Biz. ...
Wayne Harada's Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays; reach him at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
