DeLima's entourage of characters follows to Big D's
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| Frank DeLima did this impression of Imelda Marcos in his 2002 Polyne-sian Palace show. In his current show, Imelda belts out a tune.
Advertiser library photo FRANK DELIMA & NA KOLOHE 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Big D's, Queen Kapi'olani hotel Dinner show, $45 general, $36 children, from 6 to 8 p.m. Cocktail show, $27.50 general, $21.50 children, seating at 8 p.m. 931-4451 |
It's a sobering commentary on the mortality rate of show spaces in Waikiki.
DeLima and Na Kolohe, his backup duo of David Kauahikaua on keyboards and Robert Nishida on electric bass, have been at the Noodle Shop, the Hula Hut, the Captain's Table, and the Polynesian Palace (renamed the Palace Showroom in its last few years of existence).
Those are now gone, and the lament is musically infused in intermittent choruses of "Another One Bites the Dust."
Gone, too, is the Wisteria Restaurant, DeLima's unofficial "office" and nocturnal watering hole for years. A replica of that sign hangs, too.
These reminders of an era of easy-flow laughs and more numerous night spots work their way into DeLima's newest show, launched last month at Big D's Showroom at the Queen Kapi-'olani Hotel. It's the same venue, formerly the Peacock Room, that he inhabited years ago, so he worries about its potential demise. On Fridays and Saturdays, the indefatigable DeLima reinvents, recycles and reflects in his still-ticking 30th year on stage.
If you've seen a DeLima show before, you will likely have experienced one of his multitude of characters. You will have cheered or sneered (yes, some hate his charades) at his good-natured ethnic jibes.
In his new show, you'll find many echoes from the past — reheated, recostumed and reimagined.
Imelda Marcos is back, with an illuminated dress, performing "Downtown" with lyrics (by the late Tremaine Tamayose) favoring Marcos son Bong Bong. Each time the Bong Bong name is sung, the lights on DeLima's costume glow. Who needs a Christmas tree?
Martha Stewart is new to this coterie of cut-ups. But she's wearing an old Imelda costume of sequin-accented horizontal stripes, and flounces and bounces to "Mambo No. 5," with a little bit of fuchsia for domestic-diva color.
Lolobono, the hulky and bulky sumotori, returns and remains a superstar who "rolls like blubber and bounces like rubber," as DeLima sings. The padded costume has withstood the test of time.
SlipperBob PukaPants, a take-off on SpongeBob SquarePants, is totally new, though not wholly successful. Costumer Kathe James has concocted a giant rubbah slipper (in yellow, natch, with orange-print shorts) as the core of DeLima's silly parade, rendered to the theme song from "Flipper" (to rhyme with slipper). Maybe a squished-flat cockroach on the back (along with the existing bubblegum) might provide the visual goofiness the vignette now lacks?
The needling is as fresh as Mayor Mufi Hannemann, as DeLima performs "Honolulu Hale, I'm Coming Back Home Again," pontificating about potholes and the "Royal Hawaiian Band without a certain someone."
Parodies are by Patrick Downes, although DeLima had a hand in a song or two. The targets mirror the prevailing climate of life in Honolulu as DeLima capsulizes history past and present.
Tutu, from TheCab's TV commercial, is DeLima's point of entry; he dons mu'umu'u and hibiscus-implanted gray wig, and speaks like a beloved Portuguese grandma, though his Auntie Maria Tunta character occasionally (and unintentionally) barges in. The character enters from the back of the club and walks through the audience, allowing DeLima to quickly befriend first-time viewers from Australia, re-establish ties with visitors from Las Vegas, and parlay a quickie roll call of hometown responses from his audience.
It's old-fashioned aloha spirit, and it still works wonders.
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
