Lloree Gamiao, her husband, James, and their two sons will be like scores of other University of Hawai'i football fans watching Honolulu's Christmas tree-lighting ceremony Saturday night.

The Warriors' sold-out game against Washington will kick off 16 miles away at Aloha Stadium and will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Gamiao knows that her husband is torn between watching unbeaten UH and enjoying family time at Honolulu Hale. So he'll try to do both.

"Almost every family is like us — divided," Lloree Gamiao said. "I can see (James) now; he'll have something plugged in his ear listening to the game and I'll have to contain him when he starts cheering. I'm sure there'll be a lot of families doing that."

The game kicks off at 6:30 p.m., and the tree lighting is scheduled between 6 and 6:30.

Even Mayor Mufi Hannemann plans to slip into Aloha Stadium with his sideline pass to watch the fourth quarter — after presiding over the Honolulu City Lights Tree Lighting Ceremony, Public Workers Electric Light Parade, Tom Moffatt holiday concert and other activities, city spokesman Bill Brennan said.

"I wouldn't say the mayor is torn because the city lights are his first priority," Brennan said. "But he will, himself, be keeping tabs on the game before he makes his way to Aloha Stadium where the game will end with a UH victory."

Honolulu City Lights is always scheduled on the first Saturday of December, Brennan said, and city officials never considered moving this year's festivities because of the Warriors' unprecedented success and hopes for a Bowl Championship Series appearance.

Brennan said that none of the dozens of city employees scheduled to work Saturday night at the city lights festivities requested the night off to watch the football game.

The events at Honolulu Hale last until 10 p.m. But Brennan said it's possible for UH fans to show up at City Hall by 5:30 p.m. and see most of the major events by 7:30 "and still be home before the end of the first half of the game. There'll be plenty of time to do half of one and half of the other."

50,000 EXPECTED

Honolulu City Lights typically draws more than 50,000 people, and Brennan said city officials expect a similar crowd this year.

But some UH fans have already begun to cancel other events Saturday night to watch the game. Diamond Head Theatre's performance of "Meet Me In St. Louis" is sold out tomorrow night and Sunday.

But the Saturday night performance is only two-thirds full, and 50 ticket holders have rescheduled, specifically citing the UH-Washington game, said Deena Dray, the theater's executive director.

"I can't ever remember that many people calling in saying, 'We're going to switch our tickets' for a single event,'" Dray said. "It is definitely the result of the UH game. I don't ever remember a local football game having this kind of impact on ticket sales at Diamond Head Theatre."

Theater officials will remind the 29-member cast on Saturday that the low turnout isn't their fault, Dray said.

"If they see a two-thirds full house and they're used to seeing a full house, they should know it's not because of them," she said. "Everybody's rooting for the Warriors, and we are, too."

Backstage, Dray would not be surprised to see a "stray radio on. But even though they're amateurs, the cast is professional and they will put on the best possible show. But they might be quietly rooting for the Warriors."

Across town, the Honolulu Symphony will perform "Great Composers: Copland and Dvorak, a Halekulani MasterWorks Concert," featuring Vadim Gluzman, violin, performing Beethoven's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major.

The symphony's performance already was bumped to the Hawai'i Theatre because of the ongoing "Lion King" show at the Blaisdell Center. Now some Hawai'i Theatre subscription ticket holders are changing performances from Saturday night, said Ryan Sueoka, the theater's assistant manager.

"We may see a greater pickup on Sunday," he said.

"In terms of going up against the football game, it's not necessarily our business to tell the symphony that they might have a bad night if the 'Bows go undefeated," Sueoka said. "Some people might not come because they're engrossed in the game. But it's hard to say how much overlap there is between a theater audience and a symphony audience and a football audience."

'TAPE THE GAME'

Months ago, long before the Warriors began their season, Castle High School's Castle DanceForce dance group scheduled Saturday's hip-hop/contemporary interpretation of "The Nutcracker," called "The Knightcracker."

But as this weekend's performance drew near, "We just kind of smiled and told the kids, 'Those of you in the show will have to tape the game,' " said Karen Meyer, director of the Castle Performing Arts Center.

Meyer expects the 670-seat Ronald E. Bright Theatre to have about 500 people tomorrow and about 400 Sunday.

But Saturday night looks sketchy.

"We're definitely selling more tickets for Friday than Saturday, and we've already had a few calls from people saying they're going to the game," Meyer said. "I don't think a lot of the dads will be coming that night."

Meyer plans to record the game on her DVR. And yesterday, she was considering modifying the theater's usual pre-show announcement just for Saturday night:

"Please silence all your cell phones, pagers and any other device that can be used to tell the score of the game because some of us would like to enjoy it later," Meyer said.

Gamiao spoke for her husband yesterday and said that, in his heart, he would rather be with his family marking the start of the Christmas season.

But in his head, she knows James will be listening to the sounds of the UH-Washington football game.

"If I took away that headset," she said, "I just don't know. Maybe we'd have our own football game going on."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.