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Wood Craft
Ben Wood
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Sai stands out as Bloody Mary in HOT's hit 'South Pacific'
THE BLOODY MARY is not my drink of choice but
Marlene Sai's Bloody Mary is delicious in the Hawaii Opera Theatre's smash hit "South Pacific" at Blaisdell Concert Hall. The biggest stars in the musical are pretty
Michelle Jennings as perky, comical Navy nurse Nelly Forbush, and big, handsome
Louis Otey as Frenchman Emile de Becque, who looks like he played defensive end in the NFL. All three have excellent voices as do other key supporting actors. The large cast is solid throughout. Besides Marlene,
Lenny Klompus as a Navy officer was another localite who held his own with the bigtime performers. Gov.
Linda Lingle was at Saturday night's show giving Lenny, her communications chief, support.
Karen Tiller directed this excellent production. The orchestra, with
Michael Ching wielding the baton, and costumes are top drawer. Directer Tiller had
Manutahi Tahiti performing Tahitian dances on Bali Hai. She also had a Hawaiian-style vocal-instrumental group, made up of cast members, singing "Bali Hai" as the stars were introduced after the show to heavy applause. Nice local touches. Anyone who enjoys musicals should see this show. It winds up this weekend. Youngsters will also enjoy the overall comedy and the performances of
Raisa Butista and
Tyler Ikaika Bayley, who portray de Becque's kids ...
LOUIS VUITTON IS HEAVY HAWAII OPERA SPONSOR
LOUIS VUITTON sponsored HOT's Summer Season and held a reception for key players at its Ala Moana store after Sunday's matinee. LV's Regional Veep
Dale Ruff gave a brief speech and Tiller followed, saying LV gifted HOT with $90,000 ... Michelle Jennings displayed warmth at the reception as she mingled with singers
Anita Hall,
Kristian Lei and others. Her kids,
Daniel, 8, and
Leah, 5, and husband,
Tom, a jazz pianist, flew in from the mainland to join her ...
Kip Wilborn, who plays Lt. Cable, loves but doesn't get to marry Liat, saucy Bloody Mary's daughter portrayed by
Uilani Kapuaakuni. But he found his "Liat" in
Jan Yokota when he sang here last year. They married in February. Jan's daughters,
Camille Heung, almost 21
, and
Tessa Heung, 16, attended the LV party with them ... Stage provides champagne, wine, coffee and cookies for invited guests at intermission at "South Pacific" performances ...
Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin in the streets of downtown Honolulu during World War II, writes of people, places and things in our Hawaii. E-mail him at
bwood@starbulletin.com