FRIDAY-MARCH 11

>> ‘Happiest Song’ closes out story of Iraq War vet’s life

“The Happiest Song Plays Last,” the last play in a trilogy on the life of a Marine in the aftermath of the Iraq War, opens Friday at The Actors’ Group.

Written by Quiara Alegria Hudes, “Happiest Song” follows the two main characters from her 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Water by the Spoonful”: Elliott, an Iraq War veteran, and his close cousin Yaz, the upwardly mobile member of theclose-knit Puerto Rican family. (The cultural connection is enhanced through a lively music score, performed by local group Latin Amigos.)

The play jumps back and forth between the Middle East, where Elliott, an aspiring actor, manages to land the lead role in an action film, and their hometown of Philadelphia, where Yaz, a music professor, has moved to her old neighborhood andhas decided to work with the poor. Both find romance and obstacles along the way but, through the wonders of cellphone technology, manage to help each through their challenges.

“Hudes’ diffuse but warm-blooded play … underscores how the disorienting flux of life can be navigated with the help of carefully tended family ties,” wrote the New York Times in a 2014 review. “Whether our families are blood connections or apatchwork of friends and neighbors, it is the bonds of affection and sympathy that help us beat back our demons and strive to become our better selves.”

The play stars Becky McGarvey as Yaz, Brandon Caban as Elliot, David Greene as Yaz’s romantic interest Agustin, Victoria Brown Wilson as Elliot’s romantic interest Shar, James Roberts and Paul Yau. Peggy Anne Siegmund directs.

SATURDAY

>> Brazilian musicians and feathered costumes hit Hawaiian Brian’s

Samba over to Hawaiian Brian’s to celebrate Carnaval, the annual Brazilian bash.

The Brazilian Carnaval 2018 Tour, presented here by Hollywood-based producer Ariel Del Mundo, is bringing a bevy of musicians and feather-adorned dancers for the annual celebration, which is supposed to be a time to party before Lent, aperiod of fasting and sacrifice. (Don’t worry, you can attend and not do the sacrificing part.)

The tour brings Pierre Onassis, a singer known for promoting the music from his home Brazilian state Bahia, and the famous Bahian band Olodum, who collaborated with Michael Jackson on the Brazilian version of the video “They Don’t Care AboutUs.” Also performing is Jahgun, another Bahian native who performs roots reggae as well as Brazilian styles; reggae/dancehall star Pato Banton with the Samba Reggae Drummers mixing classic Bob Marley tunes with Afro-Braziliandrumming; and local band Flor Da Pele.

An acrobatic troupe, the Flying Cirque Capoeira, provides additional fun, and feather-clad samba dancers provide an eyeful of entertainment. Costumes are encouraged, and authentic Carnaval masks will be on sale for $10.

SUNDAY

>> Top local musicians hold benefit concert

Several of Hawaii’s top island contemporary musicians, including Grammy-nominated vocalist Josh Tatofi, join talents to help a friend and a fellow entertainer on Sunday.

The Friends of Kristie Ching Concert features music, pupus and a raffle, with all proceeds going to Ching, a second-generation entertainer who is fighting a rare form of breast cancer. Nightlife veterans know that Ching is the daughter of BeverlyMendoza Orbello, longtime lead vocalist of the group known first as the Nomads and then Aura, and the niece of seven of the other members of the classic Nomads/Aura group. Ching and her husband, drummer/record producer Wendell Ching, are members of the contemporary bar band Pocket.

Tatofi’s first Hawaiian album, “Pua Kiele,” won two Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in 2017 and was a finalist for a 2018 Grammy Award in the Regional/Roots category. Also performing are Hoku Award-winners Kapena, Fiji, Mana‘o Companyand Penidean Puaauli (who is a multi-Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winner as a member of Natural Vibrations), plus Maoli, the Jimmy Weeks Project and Kiwani Vaitai.

Clothier HiFinest, which is promoting the show, is also promising “very special guests.”

WEDNESDAY

>> Rockers Derringer, Winter head to isles

Power rockers Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer join their musical talents to tour the islands starting next week.

Derringer, known for his slick guitar work and production for many top rockers, had a hit in the 1965 with his group The McCoys and a cover of “Hang On, Sloopy,” a 1964 tune first popularized by The Vibrations, an African-American group, as“My Girl Sloopy.” Derringer was just a teenager back then, but “Sloopy” has followed him around ever since. He performed it on tour with the Rolling Stones in 1966; 40 years later, he was playing it with Ringo Starr. The tune, whose origins aresomewhat of a mystery — the identity of Sloopy has never been confirmed – was an international No. 1 hit and has been adopted as the unofficial song of the Ohio State University Buckeyes football team.

Derringer’s aggressive guitar work and production skills brought him to Johnny Winter and then his brother, Edgar. Johnny Winter first recorded Derringer’s hit “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” but it also became a standard for Edgar Winter, aversatile musician who played rock, blues, jazz and pop. Edgar Winter is known for putting a strap on an electric keyboard so that he could play it standing, as if playing the guitar.

Derringer was part of Winter’s group throughout the 1970s, producing and performing on several of their albums, including “They Only Come Out at Night” in 1972. The album featured the energetic “Free Ride,” as well as “Frankenstein,” a drivinginstrumental tune that would become Winter’s best-known song.

Derringer and Winter also perform at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on March 1, the Kauai Beach Resort on March 2 and The Honoka‘a Peoples Theatre on Hawaii island on March 3.