The Maui Film Festival will shower love on Nick Robinson, the young star of “Love, Simon,” with a Rising Star Award on Thursday at the event’s Celestial Cinema, located at Wailea Gold and Emerald Golf Course at the Wailea Resort.
The honor taps a budding actor on the ascent for greatness; Barry Rivers, founder-director of the Maui festival, said of Robinson: “We’re willing to bet the farm on him. Just wait and see.”
Robinson, now 23, played the closeted teen in the tender, endearing and realistic rom-com with a difference. The film follows Simon as he seeks to identify a dude he meets via social media. 20th Century Fox, which released the film in March, touted it as the first gay teen romance from a major studio.
Robinson’s ledger includes 2015’s “Jurassic World,” appearing as a young brother, in the Chris Pratt–Bryce Dallas Howard flick partially filmed here; and two 2016 films, “Being Charlie” with Common and Morgan Saylor, and “The 5th Wave,” with Chloe Grace Moretz and Liev Schreiber.
The 19th annual Maui Film Festival runs this Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets: mauifilmfestival.com. …
BROADWAY AND BEYOND
Earlier word that Ruthie Ann Miles would recreate her Tony Award-winning performance as Lady Thiang in “The King and I,” in the planned transfer to the West End in London starting June 21, was incorrect, according to show producers.
The Hawaii actress still has the option to rejoin her original castmates, Tony-winning Kelli O’Hara as Anna Leonowens and Japanese native Ken Watanabe as the King of Siam. But a final decision has not been made, producers said, as Miles still is grieving the loss of her two children — a daughter and the unborn son she was still carrying — in that horrific Brooklyn accident.
The producers consider her a beloved member of “The King and I” family and she is “welcome to join the production at any point,” according to a statement. The intention was that Miles would share the role with Naoko Mori, who earlier played Kim in “Miss Saigon” in London. Local boy Greg Zane is associate choreographer of the show. …
Joy Abbott, who splits time between Honolulu, Miami and Philadelphia, is back in Honolulu for the summer and attended Wednesday’s Punahou School reunion; she’s from the Class of 1948.
The widow of Broadway legend George Abbott, Joy, took in “Hello, Dolly” in Manhattan — and had a backstage visit with pals Bernadette Peters (as Dolly) and Victor Garber (as Horace Vandergelder). She renewed ties with Garber who played the Devil in her husband’s “Damn Yankees” some years back. …
HONU ON THE MOVE
“Honu by the Sea,” Johnson Enos’ environmental and educational music about sea creatures threatened by ocean pollution, continues to evolve.
A new single, “Imagine,” premiered in a World Ocean Day celebration Friday at Sanrio Puroland in Japan, with Hello Kitty participating. It’s the second single from the show’s score — the first was “It’s Beautiful,” issued in 2017 — and showcases island ki hoalu (slack key guitar) and ukulele accompaniment, and shares a theme of aloha and ocean sustainability, in both English and Japanese.
“Imagine” also will have a pivotal role in a Marine Day observation July 16, with seven cast members from Hawaii journeying to Puroland, located in Tama, a short distance from Tokyo. Again, Hello Kitty will join Honu, the musical’s ambassador mascot, in performances at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. July 15 and 16. …
NAME-DROPPING
Danny Kaleikini, Hawaii’s ambassador of aloha, will be honored at this year’s Ukulele Festival July 15 at Kapiolani Park Bandstand. Kaleikini has emceed the event — now in its 48th year — for the past 40 years. …
Nanci Chinen, widow of entertainer Teddy Tanaka, recently lost a gold cross with sentimental value; Teddy gave it to her and it fell off a gold chain she was wearing on May 20, in outings to the First Chinese Church, Walmart and Sam’s Club. It has a numerical inscription on its back; she’s offering a reward, as posted on Craigslist and Facebook. …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.
