Messages trample on environmental play

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'Peril in Paradise' 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and April 4-6 Honolulu Zoo $14, $12, $9 ($2 off advance purchase); 484-8800

"Peril in Paradise" drops the pidgin but shoots for the same energy that characterizes the team's family musicals. But it's at heart a didactic piece that can't seem to drop its proselytizing narrative and latch on to a story.

The show adopts a melodramatic style, pitting its hero, Raymond Rainforest, against invading alien species in three short episodes. The four-member cast spends a lot of time explaining that in melodrama, music underscores exaggerated characters. Roslyn's contribution here consists of several fanfares, a couple of martial tunes, and a surprising tango.

When it's not preaching environmental axioms that sound like Masumoto is paraphrasing an agricultural pamphlet, the cast indulges in a lot of stops and starts explaining staging techniques. Sock puppets figure prominently, but they really don't need to be defined to a young audience.

So let's get started with the stories, OK?

In the first episode, Polly Parrot is released into the wild by a family that tires of her as a pet. There, she survives the bite of a Count Dracula mosquito, but native birds have no acquired immunity to his sting. Only an exterminator superhero can save the day.

The second plot introduces the rat and mongoose, accidental and wrongly imported immigrants, who further decimate the native bird population by raiding their nests. Here, a heroic forest ranger wards off destruction.

The last episode has invasive plants — miconia and banana poka — attacking Raymond Rainforest, who is saved in the last reel by Wanda and her invisible weed trimmer.

Costuming these characters is a real challenge. The best success is Banana Poka, done up as a southern belle complete with hoop skirt and suffocating vines that she wields like a deadly feather boa. Less effective are Raymond's loose assortment of rain-forest greenery and Miconia's floppy umbrella that looks strangely like a giant marijuana leaf.

There is an ultimate message: Keep your tropical fish in their tank, eliminate stagnant water, and clean your shoes before and after hiking (they carry seeds).

It's a good message, but it would have been a lot more fun to focus on stories instead.