Posted on: Thursday, November 25, 2004

SHOW BIZ
Producer visits Pearl memorial, Martha

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

SIGHT 'EMS: TV producer Mark Burnett, creator of such mega-hit reality series as "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," and actress Roma Downey of "Touched by an Angel" fame visited the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor last Saturday. Their tour included a stroll on the "Surrender Deck," the site of Japan's surrender that brought an end to World War II on Sept. 2, 1945. ...

Burnett, by the way, visited imprisoned domestic diva Martha Stewart in Alderson, W. Va., to huddle about a post-release TV special. ...

Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Belgium native who has done a string of action flicks, was spotted at the Outrigger Waikiki last week. He chatted with Jessica Warfield, marketing manager for Hula Grill Waikiki, when the restaurant was passing out free lunches to O'ahu cab drivers in celebration of "Cabbie Appreciation Day." Van Damme was en route to seek out a pair of rubber slippers at the International Market Place. He returned to enjoy cocktails at Duke's, also in the Outrigger. ...

Kristoffer Polaha, who plays Jason Matthews on Fox-TV's "North Shore," was checking out the computers in the Apple store at Ala Moana Center last week. His casual duds didn't exactly hide the fact that he's a cool TV dude; wife Julianne and baby Kristoffer Caleb also were with him. ...

The Peter Fondas were in town recently and dined with Barry Flanagan of Hapa. The actor befriended the local musician years ago, when Fonda had his boat anchored off Lahaina and Flanagan was a Maui entertainer. ...

And that was actor Adrian Paul, here for "Tides of War" filming (and previously on "Highlander"), working out at the Punahou spa with Gaylord Rieta (the singer-sensei) and his brother, Vernon Rieta (the martial-arts Hollywood stuntman). Vernon hosted Paul while he was here; they had collaborated on some "Highlander" projects (when Vernon taught Paul the use of sabers). ...

ALL HAIL THE "KING": The Army Community Theatre's "The King and I," playing to sold-out audiences at Richardson Theatre, is something wonderful. Ray Bumatai inhabits the king with just the right mix of arrogance and heart, which, of course, makes Tina Shelton whistle a happy tune as the schoolteacher Anna. In lesser roles, Sherry Chock Wong is a study in grace and beauty as Tuptim, a perfect match for Elitei Tatafu Jr. as her suitor Lun Tha. Cheryl Toma Sanders, a former Miss Hawai'i, is the epitome of reason and regality as Lady Thiang, and Michael Zachary Yasunaga is delightfully naive as the king-to-be Prince Chululongkorn. ...

It's no puzzlement that Jim Hutchison (director and choreographer) was the logical choice to impose his wisdom and experience on a beloved chestnut that is "The King." He mounts splendor and pageantry, to fill the eyes and ears and ultimately the heart, with help from Tom Giza's expansive and exotic sets, Kathy Kohl's rich costumes, all bathed in John Parkinson's atmospheric lights. And the music, extracted from a 23-member orchestra directed by Daren Kimura, is the stuff that makes musical theater grand. Besides the rousing support during the production, go early enough to soak up the medley of "Miss Saigon" tunes prior to curtain — kind of a prelude of ACT director Vanita Rae Smith's February-March production of "Miss Saigon." ...

And folks are flocking to Fort Shafter (advice: go early, since there's a backup at the sentry entry gate). Among the weekend attendees: Jimmy and Vicki Borges, Glenn Cannon, KITV's Keoki Kerr, the Screen Actors' Guild's Brenda Ching, former Broadway actor Steve Harmon, Saab Hawai'i owner James Berger Jr. and his wife Helen. ...

ITEMIZATIONS: Turns out Matthew Fox, in ABC's "Lost" (being filmed here), isn't the lone TV star in our midst making People magazine's recent Sexiest Men issue. Jason Momoa of Fox's "North Shore" made the cut, too. ...

"Andy Bumatai's Pidgin on da Fridge," a local kine take on the magnetic poetry-on-the-icebox craze, was delivered to yours truly the other day, attached to a gently used fridge (which has been donated to Helping Hands). "I learned from Kimo McVay," Bumatai said of his inventive late ex-manager. ...

And that's Show Biz. ...

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