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Hawaii
LOCAL girl makes good -- really good! That would be Punahou grad Amanda Schull, who began being noticed during productions of Ballet Hawaii, the Hawaii State Ballet, Diamond Head Theater and at Punahou. Schull takes
‘Center Stage’She's now starring in the soon-to-be-released Columbia film, "Center Stage," about a young ballerina from the Midwest seeking to make it in New York. Schull, who attended Indiana University and at 21 is now a member of the San Francisco Ballet, was discovered by film producer Laurence Marks and director Nicholas Hytner of "Miss Saigon" fame. Schull has agreed to be guest of honor at Ballet Hawaii's benefit premiere of the movie May 10, a slam dunk since her mother, Susan Schull, is chairman of the Ballet Hawaii board. Attendees can meet the youthful dancer at the post-show party in a Central Park-like setting at Dole Cannery. Call 988-7578 for ticket information ...
JUST last Friday an item here revealed how localite Charlie Pietsch III called his bride, Diana Wiley, "Dr. Sex," since she holds a doctorate in human sexuality and clinical sexology and has a radio show on the subject. He saw the item and chuckled about it before the two headed off to a class reunion in California. On Tuesday, while they were doing aerobics at the Cal-A-Vie Spa near San Diego, Charlie had a massive heart attack and died at the age of 57. He was one of the Associates Four along with Jerry Seo, John Spierling and his late father, Charlie Pietsch Jr., who developed the Kahala Hilton (now Mandarin Oriental) and Harbor Square among other projects. Spierling described Charlie III as being "as strong as an ox." When the heart goes, it goes. A shaken Wiley returns home today ...
Past and pluperfect
THREE women who are more diva-like than the pop singers rather grandiloquently calling themselves "The Divas" have put together a new act. All veterans of various stage productions in Honolulu, Stefanie Smart, Yvonne Filius and Shari Lynn were asked to sing for a Hadassah fund-raiser honoring Mrs. Hawaii Dede Guss, named Hadassah's "Woman of the Year." They'd never worked together before, but held a planning session over a few glasses of wine and the result was "Perfect Relationships." It's a collection of songs ranging from the blissful stage of marriage (Smart) to the difficult middle years (Filius) to the older set-in-her-ways married broad, assigned to Lynn since she'll celebrate 25 years of marriage in June. Emmett Yoshioka is arranger and accompaniest. Some tunes are from Broadway, some anecdotes from experience and they hope it can come together as a cabaret piece in the near future. In the meantime, the Hadassah fund-raiser Friday at the Hanohano Room of the Sheraton Waikiki at lunchtime will serve as a sneak preview of their new act ...
Tall orders
NOT only were heads being turned at Zanzabar of late, they've been tilting upward as well. Many of the NFL footballers who played a group of amateurs in a charity basketball game for Big Brothers Big Sisters have been popping into the Waikiki club. Turns out J.J. Stokes is a good pal of owner Peter Maharaj and brought in many more of the players, including Tim Harris, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Terell Owens and Derek Loville. True to my prediction of last week, the amateurs beat them soundly, as the footballers aren't used to a round ball ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com