For the second time in as many weeks, "Waikiki Nei," the highly anticipated high-tech show at Waikiki's new Level 4, has pushed back its formal opening to Aug. 5 due to technical difficulties.

It had planned to formally launch tomorrow night — after an earlier postponement due to construction problems — as the multicomplex main attraction at the refurbished multi-use fourth floor entertainment space at the Royal Hawaiian Center.

"At the end of our soft opening last week, we had a problem with the UFO," said show producer Roy Tokujo, about the mammoth rotating set that is integral to create visual imagery vital to the production, which observers hope will boost showroom traffic in Waikiki.

"The UFO is the big piece of our show and and is crucial to a number of scenes, including the surfing one. It's high-tech," he said.

The huge gizmo symbolizes the extravagance of the $22 million remake of Level 4; to house the UFO — a platform that hosts the projected images to tell the story of Hawai'i with synchronized song and dance — the showroom's ceiling had to be raised 30 feet and the walls reinforced to bear the weight of the contraption, which weighs a hefty, 8,900 pounds. Like all other technical elements, including the platforms of retracting seats at Level 4, the UFO was built, piece by piece, in Montreal, Quebec, by crews that similarly produce sets for Cirque du Soleil productions, then shipped to Hawai'i.

"I suspect we had problems after we had that flooding," said Tokujo of the mechanism to work the UFO, which was damaged after a sprinkler flood. "We had to fly in new parts and they have been replaced, but we want to make sure that the UFO is completely fixed," he said. "The delay gives us time to make it right, and get (the show) tight."

Also, a benefit performance of "Waikiki Nei," sponsored by the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, the University of Hawai'i Travel Industry Management and Ke Ali'i Pauahi Foundation, scheduled for this Thursday at Level 4, has been postponed till Aug. 21. Call 534-3966.

The good news is that the after-hours nightclub and ultra lounge elements of Level 4, which normally would function following prime-time staging of "Waikiki Nei, will continue to operate Wednesdays through Saturdays, after last week's kick-off.

"The nightclub does not require the use of the UFO," said Tokujo.

Information: 931-6100.