Posted on: Tuesday, August 24, 2004
SHOW BIZ
Hirota sisters big hit on Mainland
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
The local angle: Local theater-goers who recall seeing sisters Jessica Hirota (now Jessica Niles) and Rebecca Hirota in community productions will be delighted to learn about their growth and progress nationally. Jessica, married to actor Drew Niles, is now portraying Julie Tanaka in a recurring role on ABC-TV's soap opera "One Life to Live." She's also featured in a national commercial for Avon's Marc line. Rebecca, meanwhile, has graduated from Boston University and has been spending her summer at Forestburgh Playhouse in Forestburgh, N.Y., appearing in five musicals, three cabaret shows and two children's plays. Latest role: Dolly Tate in "Annie Get Your Gun." The sisters are Punahou graduates. ...
Meanwhile, Keala Settle, who lists La'ie as her hometown, is portraying the lead chubette, Tracy Turnblad, in the Tony Award-winning "Hairspray" musical at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco. She stars opposite Bruce Vilanch, a sometimes visitor and prolific comedy writer, who is playing her mom, Edna Turnblad (the role originated by Harvey Fierstein in New York). ...
And at the University of Birmingham's Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Joe Curdy, a BYUH grad, is playing a soldier in "Hamlet" at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which runs through October. Toby Stephens has the title role, but earlier Curdy played Hamlet. "I am confident that years from now, someone will mention the 'Toby Stephens Hamlet' with pride and I will be able to say that I was a part of it," Curdy said. ...
Random notes: Looks like KHUI-FM, at 99.5 on the FM dial, has taken on "Kamakani" (the wind or breeze, in Hawaiian) as its catch phrase. And the station really boasts a breath of fresh air in the lilting spoken tone of morning-till-noon host Jacqueline Rossetti, also known as The Honolulu Skylark. Rossetti was a mainstay at the original KCCN-AM when the late Ronnie Hope was general manager. With T.J. Malievsky, current g.m. of Salem stations here, including KHUI, Skylark's sort of gone full circle. ...
Greg Poirier's "Kamehameha" script, the Hollywood production that likely will star The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson), has been retitled "Battle for Paradise." ...
Over at the Halekulani: Dancer Kanoe Miller — a 26-year veteran at the fabled House Without a Key — is on vacation, so she's not doing her hula this week. In her place: tonight, Debbie Nakanelua; tomorrow, Aureana Tseu; Thursday and Sept. 1, Nakanelua again. ...
And that's Show Biz. ...
Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.
