By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
The cast, from left: Tepairu McMoore, Tony Silva,
Adela Chu, Rena Owen and Don Nahaku rehearse
on the three-tiered set.
MAGIC
Cast superb in landmark theatrical event
Review by John Berger
Special to the Star-BulletinAS a story it doesn't sound like much: A battered wife flees her marriage and finds solace dancing with a mysterious stranger in Ala Moana Park. However, "Fine Dancing" is a landmark event for theater in Hawaii. Playwright/director Vilsoni Hereniko tells his tale literally "on the beach" at Magic Island. The performance area is defined by poles and torches; the lagoon and seawall are the backdrop. A small stage provides a hard surface for the cast and aids the audience in viewing the action. Hereniko employs some Western technology but evokes a sense of what indigenous Polynesian theater may have been like before the introduction of formal theater buildings.
The movie "Once Were Warriors" is a natural point of reference. The protagonists in both are battered Polynesian women.
Rena Owen (the victimized wife in "Warriors" ) stars here as Hina the Moon Goddess. Hina finds runaway wife Rani Huffman living in Ala Moana Park and helps the abused woman heal her spirit by rediscovering Polynesian dance.
Rani (Tepairu McMoore) married handsome Keola Huffman (Don Nahaku) while she was pregnant with their first child. He's a Hawaiian and Kamehameha Schools graduate; she's a hapa-haole Tahitian who graduated from Roosevelt (Hereniko seasons the dialogue with many such details).
Keola was unable to survive as an entertainer in the "Thumbs Up, Hawaii!" economy. He became a police officer, and a brutal control freak. Rani endured years of it before a particularly brutal episode drove her into the streets and thence to the park.
Keola's beat includes the beach.
Hina becomes a supernatural marriage counselor and psychiatrist who helps the couple address and resolve a smorgasbord of issues, personal, cultural, past and present.
The other characters are a homeless but plucky transvestite named Alexis (Tony Silva),and the mute Te Maka/Spirit of the Dance (Adela Chu).
Alexis articulates perceptions of gender roles and sexual identity from another angle.
The relationship of Te Maka to the others is unclear. Hina appears to be a fine dancer without any input from Te Maka.
The latter character weighs in as peripheral to the story despite the stated premise that dance reveals one's true nature. (Solo dances by Chu serve to define the breaks between acts).
Percussionists Timi Taupua and Maeva Goo add cultural depth as as the orchestra.
Abusive relationships are inherently ugly. Much of the dialogue is X-rated; the Huffman children are portrayed by puppets so child actors would not be exposed to it.
The dancing is beautiful. Chu and McMoore are professionals; Owen is not, but she's amazingly agile and thoroughly convincing as a powerful and sensual goddess. Hawaii residents should already know the traditional importance of dance throughout Polynesia. Owen and McMoore illustrate it perfectly.
Nahaku is excellent in an unsympathetic but complex role.
Silva's physical gender is never in doubt visually but he gives a superb performance that combines poignancy with comic relief.
Keola turns out to be another victim of childhood physical and emotional abuse; Hina helps him heal as well. The only unredeemed villains are the Christian missionaries who first precipitated the destruction of traditional Polynesian culture.
"Fine Dancing" presents much that should be familiar to Hawaii residents but does so from a fresh and challenging perspective. Presented in three acts without intermission, the two-hour private performance Saturday seemed longer and slower than necessary. That too may be part of the intended experience.
'Fine Dancing'
A play written and directed by Vilsoni Hereniko, features an all-Polynesian cast.
Time: 7 p.m. Aug. 14 to 17, and 21 to 25
