Posted on: Tuesday, July 20, 2004

DHT leads theaters for top awards

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Led by "Ragtime: The Musical" and "The Wizard of Oz," Diamond Head Theatre dominated last night's 21st Annual Po'okela Awards with 15 honorees.

A sold-out crowd of about 325 attended the ceremony at the Ko'olau Golf Club in Kane'ohe. The awards, presented by the Hawai'i State Theatre Council, recognize theatrical talent in the Islands, but differ from many programs because more than one production can be recognized in a category. Winners are dubbed "honorees."

"Ragtime," the Tony Award-winning musical of changing times and mores in turn-of-the-century America, paced the competition with six Po'okela trophies, including a tie for Best Overall Musical with DHT's other biggie, "Wizard," which also earned six.

"Ragtime" also garnered a Best Choreographer nod for John Rampage, who also won Best Director of a Musical for "Hello, Dolly!" And "Ragtime's" pair of visiting actors, Jerold E. Solomon and Crystal Williams, were honored as Nonresident Guest Artists, with technical achievement bestowed on Sukey Dickinson (costumes) and Mikel Humerickhouse (sound).

The little theater run by The Actors' Group garnered seven awards, including the past season's best Overall Plays, "The Trip to Bountiful" and "Two Trains Running."

The Army Community Theatre earned four citations and Manoa Valley Theatre and Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College each captured three.

For the first time in recent memory, the Hawai'i Pacific University Theatre was shut out, failing to earn a single nod, and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa won one; two other community groups, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, specializing in youth and family shows, and Kumu Kahua, dwelling on plays with Island themes or roots, no longer participate in the awards program.

In one category (Featured Female in a Musical), three productions were honored, though single "winners" are becoming common.

Yet there were some surprises — like Shannon Kaleo Loo's off-center work as the title figure in the off-beat "Bat Boy: The Musical," for Leading Male in a Musical honors, and Kim Anderson's Dorothy in "Wizard" taking Leading Female in a Musical over a field of four other more established community talent.

Jo Diotalevi of the Big Island, who recently passed away, was awarded the Pierre Bowman Lifetime Achievement Award.

KHNL-8's Jodi Leong and KITV-4's Keoki Kerr, broadcast journalists who have performed on local stages, emceed.

Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.

Correction: Julia Ogilvie and Kathleen Sulieman's names were omitted in a previous version of this story. Also, "The Wizard of Oz" logged six awards, boosting Diamond Head Theatre's total to 15 awards. A previous version of this story had the wrong number of awards for the theater.