Voice coach Neva Rego, beloved by many local entertainers for her wisdom and teaching over the past 30 years, is making progress following a botched surgery that led to an eight-month hospital stay.
"I’m OK but not OK because I will have problems forever for the rest of my life," she said of her lingering ordeal. "But I’m back to teaching, doing only a couple of lessons for those people who really need it."
She’s happy to sleep in her own bed in her voice studio-home in Kaimuki. What was to be a half-hour hiatal hernia procedure in March 2014 turned into a medical nightmare when tubes destined for her esophagus wound up in her lungs, leaving her on a ventilator, sedated and hooked to feeding tubes. For a spell, she was able to communicate only with a finger.
"But I wasn’t going to let myself down," she said. "I have my voice back. I’m hoping to eat yet the food I love, like Japanese, but I can’t chew very well. So everything is blended with a Vitamix or a Bullet (blender); when you grind everything, there are no flavors — just mushy."
Rego needs further surgery but can’t fathom another. She’s trying to get her mojo back, making baby steps to her new normal.
Medical bills mounted, but thanks to Willy Falk, an islander who became a Broadway and opera star (he was the original Chris in "Miss Saigon"), she got community support. "Willy’s like my adopted son," she said of her very first student after she halted her singing career to relocate to Hawaii to share her bel canto teachings with aspiring performers. "Willy helped set up a fund for me." Her students, her friends, her fans opened their pocketbooks and rallied with support.
So she’s making the best of her life. "It wasn’t my time yet," said Rego. "God lives … in my heart." …
THE LOCAL ANGLE: When locals achieve and ascend, don’t you swell with hometown pride? So we extend aloha to Ruthie Ann Miles, formerly of Kaimuki, who earned her first Tony Award nomination for her Lady Thiang role in the hit musical “The King and I,” currently at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. She’s up for featured actress in a musical, the same category Loretta Ables Sayre was nominated in when she co-starred as Bloody Mary in another Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, “South Pacific.” Read more about islanders in “The King and I” on F10. …
And a great leap for ex-popster Glenn Medeiros, new president of Saint Louis School. The Kauai High grad embarked on an academic career, landing teaching jobs at Catholic schools, and his recent appointment to the Saint Louis slot is the pinnacle. I had emailed him, saying "Nothing’s gonna change my mind" about his talent as a recording star notable for his signature "Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You" and his appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. But not to worry: His two kids with wife Tammy are carrying on the show biz banner. As he said:"My daughter Lyric sang with a band for the first time on stage at ‘Iolani School’s fair. She’s been acting and singing in plays for several years. Also, my son Chord is bassist for Aidan (James), the singer-ukulele player. I’m sure seeing him would bring back memories of me when I started singing; the poor boy looks like his dad." …
WHEE, THE PEOPLE: Tom Moffatt, the show presenter and radio jock, has been "Uncle Tom" for decades. But now he’s Colonel Tom, thanks to his pal Jimmy Buffett, who managed to get Kentucky Gov. Steven L. Beshear to bestow a proclamation commissioningMoffatt a "Kentucky Colonel," not to be confused with the KFC Colonel. Moffatt says Buffett has been calling him "colonel" since their first visit together to Tahiti in the early 1980s. …
And that’s "Show Biz." …
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist; reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com; read his Show and Tell Hawaii blog at www.staradvertiser.com.
