WHEN Manoa Valley Theatre held auditions for its upcoming rock opera, "Tommy," the role of the titular character as a youngster was double-cast with two Ryans, Ryan Rumbaugh and Ryan Hockenbury. Now Master Rumbaugh has accepted an offer to appear in "Les Miserables," and the MVT people were excited for his opportunity and wished him all the best. To replace him in "Tommy," they've selected Tyler Shinn ... Don't forget, before the stage production of "Les Miz" has its opening in September, you can see the 10th anniversary concert version one more time when KHET-TV presents it Aug. 17 as a major part of a two-night pledge effort. Lea Salonga, who plays Eponine at the Concert Hall production in September, also does the role in the concert version, a one-night-only performance filmed at Albert Hall in London last October. And starring as Jean Valjean here in September is Craig Schulman, who did the role here a few years back and then went on to perform it on Broadway. He represented the United States in the concert version when the parade of Jean Valjeans from 17 nations paraded on stage for a final encore ...
AMFAC president Chris Kanazawa continues to add to the memento treasure chest that helps make up the rich tradition of his company's past. And now 89-year-old Lillian Abe Givens has absolutely delighted Kanazawa by presenting him with a photograph handed down to her by her father. Charles Abe was a salesman in charge of plantation accounts for H. Hackfeld & Company, the firm later renamed American Factors and later Amfac. And his daughter, with the help of former Honolulu City Councilman Herman Lemke, whose father also worked at Amfac, has given Kanazawa a group portrait taken around 1915 of her father and 150 other Hackfeld workers standing proudly in front of the H. Hackfeld office building (completed in 1899) on Fort Street. All but about four workers were wearing coats and ties, and many held hats. Things just aren't as formal around here these days ...
Sean Ching
EACH year the KQMQ morning team of Cliff Richards and Erika Engle give out an award to the "sexiest man on Hawaii TV" as voted on by callers to the station. For the second year in a row, the winner was KITV's Sean Ching, nudging out Alema Harrington on KHNL and Rod Antone on KHON. What happened to my vote for Ray Lovell? Oh well, wait'll next year ...
