SHOW BIZ
Kahala Mall snack spots attract pop singer
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
WHEE, THE PEOPLE: That was Justin Timberlake getting a Cinnabon and Starbucks coffee Thursday at Kahala Mall. No word if Cameron Diaz — yep, they're an item — was along for nibbles and sips. ...
Loretta Ables Sayre and the Steve Jones Band will be the opening act for Kenny Loggins on New Year's Eve at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Ables Sayre, of course, sings Saturday nights at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental. ...
Jazzmeister Abe Weinstein has been invited to the Monterey Jazz Festival from Friday to Sunday in Monterey, Calif., as guest of festival director Tim Jackson.
Mission: eventual cross-promotion with the Hawai'i International Jazz Festival, of which Weinstein is chairman. The Monterey event has booked Herbie Hancock, Clayton Hamilton Big Band, Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone. Weinstein also plans to see Branford Marsalis in a concert at Yoshi's in Oakland. ...
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PLAYING ALIVE: Manoa Valley Theatre's "Bat Boy: The Musical" is worth seeing. OK, the music is forgettable (nothing really hummable) and the storyline is incredible (tabloidmania gone amok), but there are resourceful, tireless actors in the ensemble. Shannon Loo as Edgar, the Bat Boy, possesses a stage voice and dance prowess worth noting; Karin I. Valasek as Meredith Parker and Kevin W. Yamada as Dr. Thomas Parker are convincing as the dysfunctional couple with a dark past; Michael Ng as Rick Taylor (and as the bewigged Lorraine) is an appropriate suitor to Sherry Chock Wong as Shelley Parker, who is deliberately ding-batty in specific moments. And Joey Caldarone, as the Rev. Hightower, Mrs. Taylor and in several other roles, is as versatile as they come. Director Scott Rogers has mounted the evening with the right measure of dementia and dazzle, considering the dark comedy plays like a combination of "Jeckyll & Hyde," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Urinetown" and "Beauty and the Beast," with rape as an uncomfortable surprise element, too. ...
And if you've yet to see "Green Eggs and Ham," the Honolulu Theatre for Youth-Honolulu Symphony-Hawaii Opera Theatre collaboration at Hawai'i Theatre, do so — especially if you do not like green eggs and ham or Sam-I-Am. Once you see the glam, the bright costumes and the bright sets, you will like "Ham" and Sam (Jonathan Clarke Sypert) and, ouch, even Grouch (Julius Ahn). HTY, my oh my, has mounted a real gem in "Ham." Grab a kid, or be one yourself. Director Mark Lutwak serves a sunny-side-up family platter of Dr. Seuss — and that's no ruse. ...
Tickets are all gone for Kumu Kahua's "Folks You Meet in Longs." Even playwright Lee Cataluna's mom couldn't attend on the date of her choice (she since has seen the play). Keola Beamer and wife, Moana, were among first-nighters. Beamer did songs for Cataluna's "You Somebody!" musical last season at Diamond Head Theatre. And folks who work at Longs have been popping in to laugh and make "Longs" a part of their night. ...
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ITEMIZATIONS: TicketMaster's new general manager, Shirley Alexander, donated a new server to the Honolulu Symphony, enabling the orchestra to save at least $6,000 in renovating its computer ticketing services ...
Takeo and Eric Chandler, who have helped many a local beauty ascend to a national title, are back from Palm Springs and San Francisco, happy that Miss Teen Hawai'i USA Camille Peraro wound up in the top 10, earning prizes totaling nearly $4,000. It was the second year in a row that the behind-the-scenesters landed a contestant in the top 10 — the other being Miss Hawai'i USA 2003, Alicia Michioka, in the Miss USA competition. ...
And that's Show Biz. ...
Wayne Harada's Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays; reach him at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.
