NEW YORK >> The Hawaii spirit lives — onstage and offstage — in the Big Apple. During a recent nine-night stay I convened with former islanders over lunch and dinner, to catch up on each other’s lives. In-between the Broadway productions, of course.
I took in nine new shows, and the 10th was the incredible and incandescent “Hamilton” (my third time, in as many years) to watch, then finally meet the Hawaii newbie in the cast. Marc delaCruz, with Waimea, Big Island, ties, has been understudying the lead Alexander Hamilton role and has performed it in select Sunday matinees, the last time on May 5.
The good news: DelaCruz also is understudying the King George role (while actively portraying in the ensemble appearing as Philip Schuyler, John Laurens and the Doctor). The King George launch will enable him to render the hilarious and hummable “You’ll Be Back” tune, surely an audience favorite in Act 1, on par with the titular “Alexander Hamilton” rap and perhaps the dramatic “My Shot” in the opening moments. For most folks, however, “Back” likely is the takeaway ditty.
“It’s a change for me, but I’ve not done it onstage yet,” he said of George, on the “Hamilton” stage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre after a Sunday matinee. Hopscotching from one minor role to another keeps him alert and active, but gaining two key understudy roles after being in the New York company for six months is quite an achievement.
I invited Kevin Iwamoto, a longtime friend and a former Hawaii entertainer who flew in from Los Angeles where he is a business-industry executive and speaker, to see “Hamilton” then do the backstage tour. “It is a lifetime memory I won’t forget,” he said over dinner afterward; he was awed by being in the midst of the show’s set, where Lin-Manuel Miranda created his magic and wizardry. …
At “Be More Chill,” it also was a thrill to catch Jason Tam as The Squip in the energetic fantasy targeting dweebs and dedicated social media/millennial milieu at the Lyceum Theatre. Tam (credits include “Les Miserables,” “If/Then,” “A Chorus Line”) continues to exhibit charisma and charm as he elevates his Broadway profile. …
The lunch bunch
On a beautiful and warm Memorial Day holiday, Willy Falk (Punahou alum, Tony nominee for “Miss Saigon”) and his husband, Andrew Steiner, invited me and my wife, Vi, along with sometimes Hawaii resident Joy Abbott and her companion, Jerry Mirrow (who drove in from Philadelphia) for cocktails and dessert at their West 12th Street apartment in Manhattan, with lunch in-between at Claudette, a block or so away from their digs.
Of course, the chats included Falk mentioning a possible return to Blue Note Hawaii perhaps next February, coinciding with the Punahou Carnival, while he focuses on a new album in the months ahead. He’s been in the recording studio “but they’re doing tracks with synthesizers and instruments and voices, and once this is done, they want me to practice (with the orchestral and vocal tracks) before recording,” said Falk. …
Abbott, meantime, continues to golf but still is in the midst of prepping a permanent Temple University exhibit in Philadelphia that will replicate and re-create her late husband George Abbott’s Miami home office complete with historic, authentic furniture, posters, letters and memorabilia from his illustrious Broadway career as writer, director, producer (his vast credits include “Damn Yankees” and “Pajama Game”). “The project will take 30 months to complete,” said Abbott, who’s currently poring through a myriad of files and documents for the display. She heads to Honolulu starting June 8 for her annual summer residency at the Admiral Thomas condominium. …
On a cooler day with intermittent sprinkles, at an informal lunch at Junior’s on Broadway and West 49th St., Johnson Enos, the Hawaii creator-composer of the “Honu by the Sea” show, is igniting all cylinders on several platforms, giving his environmentally-friendly family show plenty of new visibility.
His mounting Hawaii-Japan partnership between the Hawaiian honu (turtle) and the Nippon icon Hello, Kitty, will include Japan appearances in July. Despite the recent removal of his gallbladder, Enos is simultaneously readying a five-day Honolulu theatrical run of “Honu” in December, huddling with a potential Broadway choreographer candidate to beef up the dancing for his island cast — think tap-dancing, for the wow factor — and finalizing plans for an animated film version of “Honu” with its multitude of under-the-sea denizens. Inspired by the mentorship of the late Ron Bright and by the work ethics of Tihati Productions for whom he was a singer-emcee, Enos has been approached to do modified shows sharing the “green” message of his production with one of his characters. Details will be announced when the agendas have been finalized. …
And that’s “Show Biz.”
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.
