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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:16 p.m., Monday, October 20, 2008

"Hawaii Calls" concert coming to Hawaii Theatre

Advertiser staff

Hawaii calls once more, but this time from the stage of the historic Hawaii Theatre.

A live concert version of the once popular radio show "Hawaii Calls" will be presented next month at the theater.

The show will be held at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14.

Tickets, which go on sale tomorrow at the Hawaii Theatre box office, are $35 and $50, with discounts for seniors, youth, students and the military. Tickets are also available online at http://www.hawaiitheatre.com.

Aaron Sala, a Na Hokuhanohano Award winner, will be the musical director for the production. He also will perform.

Organizers hope to make it an annual event, said Burton White, artistic director and general manager for the theater as well as the show's executive producer.

White said the production will be true to the original radio show's strongest attractions — "magical music, charm, and the aloha spirit of the Islands."

"Hawaii Calls" was the creation of Webley Edwards, who first aired the show in 1935 via shortwave radio from under the Moana Hotel banyan tree.

It was an audio postcard that seduced listeners with visions of a tropical paradise. One of the show's regular features involved Edwards giving the air and water temperatures at Waikiki Beach.

The show aired for 40 years, at one point reaching 450 stations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America and the Far East.

Edwards, who was host for 37 years, started every broadcast with the signature opening.

"The people of Hawaii bid you welcome," he would say against a background of crashing surf. "Hawai'i calls!"