Seventeen days, 13 events and dozens of hours of frenetic rehearsals later, the day finally arrives tomorrow night when Hawaii's own Brook Mahealani Lee not so gladly passes her tiara to the 1998 Miss Universe.
The two-hour CBS broadcast from the Stan Sheriff Center -- tape delayed here on KGMB until 8 p.m. -- features 81 contestants from Angola's Emilia Guardado to Zimbabwe's Selina Stuart in the largest Universe pageant ever.
Nana Okumura
Miss Japan"Melrose Place's Jack Wagner will be the host along with "Entertainment Tonight" correspondent Julie Moran and actress Ali Landry -- a former Miss Louisiana -- with entertainment by dozens of Hawaii entertainers, including the group Sunland and singer-song-writer Danny Couch. Half the floor of the center on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus has been transformed into a miniature Hawaiian island from the blue sea facing to a rotating coral sand mountain where Tihati, Polynesian Cultural Center dancers and Brook Lee will perform during the prime-time show.
The opening features a 30-second montage of Hawaii scenic images projected onto five 16-foot square screens, with Lee and six male and six female Polynesian dancers dancing, five drummers, eight warriors thrusting red and white spears, and three sailing warriors who, because of special apparatus they're wearing, are able to sway back and forth at impossible angles without falling. Then comes an almost five-minute, Hawaii-themed dance production by contestants wearing black evening dresses by designer Betsy Johnson. This is followed by contestant introduction.
In another "Meet the Delegates" segment, each contestant's face is projected onto five projection screens that encircle the 80-foot-wide stage.
Joyce Giraud
Leading into the first commercial, Wagner announces, "One of these women will be Miss Universe."
Miss Puerto RicoThe 10 judges are introduced and briefly appear on stage before going to their seats. They are:
Actor and Hawaii resident Rich-ard Chamberlain;
Fourteen minutes into the show, the 10 finalists who were selected by a group of Hawaii judges Thursday, are revealed and Landry and Moran will talk about who made it and who didn't. The number of contestants will eventually be reduced to five, then three.
Expect lots of banter in the show. Early on, Wagner will muse that "The last time I saw so many beauties was 'Melrose Place' during Sweeps," according to sources who have seen the show's script.
There's lot of good aspects to the Universe Pageant, he says later: "I've learned to say 'close up' in 42 languages."
Several 30-second Hawaii segments, called "bumpers," appear throughout the show titled "Air-mail from Paradise" and produced by Al Masini. Masini is the creator of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous," as well as other television programs.
K-Ci and JoJo Hailey, one-half of the platinum vocal group Jodeci, heads the list of performers at tomorrow's 1998 Miss Universe Pageant at the Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Isle performers in the spotlight
Their new album, "Love Always," is K-Ci and JoJo's debut as a duo and features "You Bring Me Up."Sunland, the popular Hawaii pop group, also will perform on the two-hour CBS telecast, singing "Time After Time" from the group's album "Eruption." The group also performed at last week's presentation show. Also appearing is singer-songwriter Danny Couch and the Royal Guard.
Dances from Tihati Productions and the Polynesian Cultural Center will perform throughout the show which features 81 contestants. The show opens with a performance by the Halau Hula Olana from Aiea.
The first "bumper" highlights "Unexpected Facts" about Hawaii's six main islands.
Other bumpers are "National Heritage" with Miss USA and Miss Japan visiting Pearl Harbor and National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl; "Shopping" with visits to various shopping centers; "Business;" "Nightlife" featuring luaus, sunset cruises, dancing and restaurants; "Watersports" like outrigger canoeing, swimming and scuba diving, featuring Miss Australia; and an 80-second piece featuring Couch's song "Have You Seen These Islands?"
There are several "World Tour" segments showing contestants in their home countries; a swimsuit competition/performance of the final 10 delegates called "Swimsuits on Fire!"; an evening gown segment that includes some of last week's competition and "Gowns on Location" at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
There also will be three minutes of "exotic native costumes on location" filmed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village; and a three-minute piece behind the scenes look at the Miss Universe Pageant.
Jose Diaz-Balart, co-anchor of CBS's "This Morning," will conduct the interviews with the five finalists.
Then 118 minutes into the show, the new Miss Universe is announced with good-byes by the hosts, Lee and the contestants.
Several awards also will be presented: "The Distinguished Achievement Award," Miss Congeniality, and the Clairol Award, a $10,000 scholarship to the Miss Universe.
KGMB/CBS will broadcast two programs before the Miss Universe Pageant tomorrow. The pageant, which begins at 3 p.m., will be shown tape-delayed in Hawaii. On the tube
