By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Among the cast of "Ghost Stories: Believe It Or Not"
are, from left, Rachelle Amparo, Kit Palmer, Daniel
Nishida and Travis Rose.
Spirited cast can’t
By John Berger
save ‘Ghost Stories’
Special to the Star-Bulletin
Ghost Stories: Believe It Or Not: At 11 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 6 and 7, Earle Ernst Lab Theatre, University of Hawaii-Manoa. Ticket are $3-$6. Call 956-7655.
TALES of the supernatural are played strictly for laughs in the University of Hawaii at Manoa Late Night Theatre production of "Ghost Stories: Believe It Or Not."
At a running time of about 90 minutes without intermission, the show is a few laughs short. Many in the sold-out house Friday were restless -- and quite audibly so -- by the time the opening night performance crawled past an hour.
The problem is that director Hannah K. Schauer-Galli and the cast exploit the same techniques in every segment, and there are too many segments. Exaggerated mannerisms, the use of a peculiar noise and gesture to indicate passage of time, a little slapstick and a few simple sight gags, are repeated and repeated and repeated well past the point of tedium.
Yes, classic melodrama involved exaggeration of gesture and emotion. Yes, melodramatic techniques were important during the silent film era. Someone involved with this production underestimated the sophistication to be found and enjoyed in the best of both traditions.
The cast members are not credited individually for their performances on a segment-by-segment basis. They are Rachelle Amparo, Ed Dyer, Daniel Akira Nishida, Kit Palmer, Jeremy "Pip" Pippin, Travis Rose, and Sadie Yi. The show is hosted in a style that is equal parts Rod Serling and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The other actors camp it up almost interchangeably in a variety of roles. Many of the roles involve labored stereotypical ethnic accents.
The play is a collection of unrelated weird tales apparently culled from the archives of the old "Ripley's Believe It or Not" column. The tales leapfrog through several centuries of mysterious messages, ghostly visitors, lost treasures and other "believe it or not" events.
The first event took place a round 1600, the last a few years before World War II. Most occurred at least a century ago. Sticking in such anachronisms as a "Star Wars" light saber, a "Star Trek" phaser, a melody from "West Side Story," and a few bits of local slang, doesn't add sufficient comic content to justify their use.
It isn't that the concept of "believe it or not" ghost stories doesn't have dramatic and/or comic possibilities. The problem is that too few of those possibilities are realized.
One of the most memorable visual bits is the use of a rubber ball to represent an engagement ring. A woman announces that the engagement is off and throws the "ring" at her ex. It hits the floor and bounces off stage. It's a quick laugh and a clever idea. If only the show had 100 more.
