Music, humor jazz up local take on Grimm tale

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

The Kona-Town Musicians — from left, rooster Stephanie Kuroda, cat Elizabeth Wolfe, donkey Cynthia See and dog Daryl Bonilla — meet up with a tourist kiosk attendant played by Junior Tesoro. Brad Goda 'The Kona-Town Musicians' 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sept. 18, 25; Oct. 2, 9 Leeward Community College Theatre $16 general; $8 for children under 18, seniors 839-9885

Still, Honolulu Theatre for Youth artistic director Mark Lutwak and playwright (and Advertiser columnist) Lee Cataluna believed the tale had enough backbone for an interesting local adaptation, with the addition of some Hawai'i talent.

Here's a summarized play-by-play:

A donkey, a hound, a cat and a chicken whose advancing age have rendered them useless to their masters meet on the road to Bremen and hatch a plan to form a musical quartet there. In search of a comfortable place to rest for the night, they find a well-stocked and apparently abandoned house temporarily occupied by robbers. The animals scare the robbers out with their amateurish musical skills, which the intruders mistake for ghosts. The robbers return and are summarily frightened out of their wits again. The animals forgo their Bremen plans to live in the house for good.

End of story. Enter Lutwak and Cataluna.

While brainstorming ways to bring the story to a local setting, Lutwak and Cataluna found a 1998 picture-book adaptation, "The Kona-Town Musicians" by Hawai'i artist/children's book illustrator Pat Hall, that localized the tale.

Cataluna took off from there.

A year later, "The Kona-Town Musicians" opens Honolulu Theatre for Youth's 50th season tomorrow at Leeward Community College Theatre.

The setting is now the Big Island. The four unwanted animals are leaving a coffee plantation. Cataluna has added more story and characters to Hall's adaptation.

And thanks to six compositions by Wade Cambern (best known for his work with Hawaiian Style Band), the classic story about barnyard musicians is now an actual musical.

"Lee took a couple of ideas from the book ... but her play is a lot more involved and goes way beyond it," said Lutwak, who is also directing. "There's a lot more establishment of each animal's character and then the conflicts that arise between them."

Cataluna also has creative fun with a collective of humorously-spun, localized characters the musicians meet while on the road to Kona Town. These include a cop, a hunter, a surfer, a tourist-kiosk attendant and several farmers.

The animals still save the day, albeit in an abandoned snorkel shop.

The lessons at work in "The Kona-Town Musicians"?

"Nobody is useless. Everybody's got a useful thing," said Lutwak. "And if you band together, friendship is good. Music is good."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.