Posted on: Thursday, April 28, 2005
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SHOW BIZ
Anguay joins lineup for Bright tribute
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
NAMES 'N' PLACES: Jewl Anguay is joining the performers in the tribute to Ronald Bright, May 7 and 8 at Paliku Theatre, Windward Community College Theatre. As we've noted previously, the 7:30 p.m. Saturday show is sold out, so a 2 p.m. Mother's Day matinee has been added.
Anguay has performed in "Miss Saigon" and "The Lion King." She's a former Bright luminary now recording her first CD on the Mainland. When her mentors heard about the Bright show, they bought plane tickets for her journey back home. (Sister Tori Anguay also will be here.)
For those who wonder why Cliffton Hall is not among the former Castle Performing Arts Center performers at the event: His wife, Deedee Lynn Magno, is very pregnant with their first child, and travel is forbidden at this time. Tickets are $50; call 235-7433. ... Terence Knapp, who is directing the milestone revival of James Grant Benton's "twelf nite o' WATEVA" at Kennedy Theatre, caught up with Ed Ka'ahea, who, with the late Benton and Rap Reiplinger, was in the first production of the Shakespeare adaptation, to invite him to the show. So the Booga Booga survivor will be at the Saturday performance and will speak at the pre-show session from 7 p.m. ... Which reminds me: Nanilisa Pascua was checking out our "WATEVA" story in last Friday's TGIF and noticed the vintage photo of a youthful Benton in the original production, "and looking closer, I suddenly recognized a very young version of me standing in the background looking on." Yep, it was her, when she was "a very young and impressionable college student right out of high school," playing a servant girl. Now, of course, Pascua is a music educator and music director (and an inspiration to many) for the Diamond Head Theatre Shooting Stars, an ensemble of youthful troupers. RANDOM NOTES: John Cruz, one of the performers on the Grammy Award-winning ki ho'alu CD, is part of the just-launched New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which began last weekend and continues this weekend, when his performances are scheduled. Jack Johnson, the Dave Matthews Band, The Roots, James Taylor, B.B. King and Elvis Costello are among the troupers. For details, go to www.nojazzfest.com. ... The Makaha Sons, who just performed in Colorado Springs, entertained a group of National Guard types now at Fort Carson, Colo., in training before being dispatched to Iraq or Afghanistan in the weeks ahead. Steve Edelman, one of the medics in the 29th Support Battalion of the guard, said there was not a dry eye in the house. ... The Makaha Sons' "Take a Walk in the Country," set for June 11 at the Waikiki Shell, is shaping up as an all-star winner. Keali'i Reichel already has been announced as a guest artist, and Willie K and Fiji are among those just added. Ticket details, however, have not been announced. ... The second annual Willie K Charity Golf Tournament recently at the Ka'anapali North Golf Course raised $35,000 for cancer patients at the Maui Memorial Medical Center oncology department. A kanikapila jam session attracted Willie and his band, along with Emme Tomimbang, Eric Gilliom, Kimo Kahoano, Melveen Leed, Nuu Faaloa, Lehua Kalama Heine, Dulce Reyes and Tony Takitani. ... Duane "Dog" Chapman has been on a whirlwind publicity blitz this month on the Mainland. With family in tow, the star of the A&E reality show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" has been doing TV (Montel Williams, Carson Daly, "Inside Edition") and news shows (Fox, CNN) and winds up at a Hollywood Foreign Press Association luncheon tomorrow. WHEE, THE PEOPLE: Tani Lynn Fujimoto, the teen actress-singer from Sacred Hearts Academy, rarely gets rattled. But when she appeared at the Michael W. Perry-Larry Price brunch show at John Dominis recently, she was a bit edgy because front-table patrons, celebrating birthdays, were a group of her religion teachers who didn't know Fujimoto would be a guest. "I was worried that I'd slip and do something immoral. ... I had to hold back today," she told Perry. ... Kaitlin Kiyan was a winner on last Sunday's "America's Most Talented Kids" on Pax TV; the show repeats at 7 p.m. tomorrow on Oceanic 27. ... Sight 'em: Evan Dobelle lunched at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental's Plumeria Cafe the other day. And Jimmy Borges guest-sang with the musicians. ... And that's Show Biz. ...
Wayne Harada prepared this column before going on vacation. Reach him at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.
