honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, February 22, 2007

SHOW BIZ
Show Biz picks 'Departed' to grab best picture

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Columnist

spacer spacer

THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE: Keeping up a tradition, we hereby offer our Oscar picks in seven categories in Sunday's showdown. Industrywide guessperts also seem to favor these winners:

  • Best picture: "The Departed," a testament to the theory that crime does pay. Martin Scorsese assembled a heavyweight cast, with a lone nominee in Mark Wahlberg, for best supporting actor.

  • Best director: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed." Better late than never.

  • Best actor: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland." A powerful portrait of a merciless, and vulnerable, Idi Amin.

  • Best actress: Helen Mirren, "The Queen." She really did look like Queen Elizabeth — with a measure of humanity. Besides, she's ruled in just about every pre-Oscar competition.

  • Best supporting actor: Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls." Soulful, slippery and surprising as the drug-crazed singer.

  • Best supporting actress: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls." She owned every frame and scene she was in — with a diva stance that eluded her during "American Idol."

  • Best song: "Our Town," by Randy Newman, from "Cars." A second triumph (he won for "If I Didn't Have You," from "Monsters, Inc.") in a category that's revoltingly thin. ...

    TALK ABOUT PEOPLE: Flash and Matty Boy have set a date for their annual White Party; it'll be held June 2 at the Sheraton Waikiki's Hanohano Room, marking Skyline's third anniversary. You must dress in all-white garb to participate. ...

    When "Le Bizarre" unfolds in two performances Saturday night at the Hawaiian Hut, drag queen Brandy Lee and the plumed and bejeweled cast will appear in costumes designed by Bill Doherty valued at more than $50,000. That's a lot of feathers and rhinestones. And though it's billed as a female-impersonator revue, the show will feature some real women — to keep you guessing. ...

    And how times have changed. "Le Bizarre" producer Jack Cione recalls that in 1965, when he was running Forbidden City, where boys were girls on stage, guys were required to wear "I am a boy" buttons while in costume. "All the drag queens had to have these signs on," said Cione. ...

    TONIGHT'S SHOW TIP: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" bows at Army Community Theatre's Richardson Theatre. In the title role is attorney Ethan Okura — who's also a former state fencing champion. Donning the narrator's robe is Shawna Masuda — you remember her as Kim in "Miss Saigon" and Belle in "Beauty and the Beast." She was last seen (and heard) as a featured songstress in Jim Brickman's Blaisdell Concert Hall show. And KITV 4's Keoki Kerr will be the Elvis-like Pharaoh. ...

    IDOL CHATTER: There's a Hawai'i connection in the current season of "American Idol." It turns out that Sanjaya Malakar, 17, the first Indian-American to make it to the top 24, attended Lihu'e schools and participated in Hawai'i Children's Theatre productions in the 1990s. His sister, Shyamali Malakar, 19, survived earlier audition rounds but didn't make the final cut. The siblings are from Federal Way, Wash. ...

    HERE 'N' THERE: Sorry to report the death of Peter Kaina Jr., father of Jonathan Kaina, a member of the Society of Seven Las Vegas. He died last week on Maui, where he was a driver and conductor for Polynesian Adventures. ...

    A benefit for Tesia Worley, 2007 Miss Teen Hawai'i America, will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 3 at Hawaiian Brian's, 1680 Kapi'olani Blvd., to help raise funds for her trip to the national finals in Nashville, Tenn., in June. Worley, a Wai'anae resident, is a 13-year-old Kamehameha Schools freshman with a 4.0 GPA. Admission is $20, including food and entertainment by Ten Feet and Cross Winds. Information: Violet at 946-1343 or www.hawaiianbrians.com. ...

    And that's Show Biz. ...

    Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.