U.S. Rep. Hirono sends letter of praise to Ables Sayre

In Wednesday's column I wrote that Loretta Ables Sayre deserves praise for winning a Tony Award nomination for her role of Bloody Mary in "South Pacific" on Broadway. U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono agrees and Cara Mazzei of her office called to ask how they could get a letter of congratulations to her. [art]

I steered Cara to Loretta's husband, David Sayre, who provided contact info, leading to Hirono's letter of praise. Some of it reads: "Aloha Loretta: It is with great pleasure that I send you this letter, recognizing your 2008 Tony Award nomination for 'Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.' I join your husband David, family and friends in congratulating you on this achievement. It's not every day someone from Mililani earns a Tony nod and receives such positive industry reviews for their first Broadway role. Your start at Diamond Head Theatre, to now performing at world famous Lincoln Center known for its great performers -- what an extraordinary journey and accomplishment" ... On Thursday, Theater World named Loretta as one of its 12 award winners for performers making their Broadway and Off Broadway debuts this year. The awards will be presented June 10 at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre ...

Murchie gets belated birthday surprise

Margaret Murchie, a Coldwell Banker VP, was surprised by real estate pals at a belated birthday party May 8 at Pearl. Margaret went to the nightclub to be a judge in a "Sex in the City" shoe contest. She was surprised to see her friends there and appeared confused when they started singing "Happy Birthday" to her. Margaret's birthday is really April 14 but her sister Barbara Bishop and Dale Bordner, Myra Brandt, Eleanor Otake, Jeff Fox, Karen Robertshaw, Andrea Kia and Carl Smigielski enjoyed springing this on her ...

A couple of well-to-do surfers from California purchased Duke Kahanamoku's old home in Kahala's Royal Circle area and remodeled it. Gordon Thompson and Kevin Korney talk about their second home in this month's issue of "Town and Country" magazine ... In the summer issue of "Town and Country Travel," former Star-Bulletin reporter Stewart Yerton has a story about Kauai real estate ...

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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