Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
MVT looks at the flaws of
By Tim Ryan
fame in 'As Bees in Honey Drown'
Star-BulletinFAME comes at a cost: lack of privacy; alienation of old friends; a host of expendable sycophants. "As Bees in Honey Drown," a sophisticated comedy at Manoa Valley Theatre, satirizes one of the most relentless industries in our celebrity-obsessed society: the creation of "hot" young things, mass-produced with efficiency and zeal.
The production stars Sheilah Sealey and Braddoc A. DeCaira in an ensemble cast. Here's the story: Evan Wyler, played by DeCaira, is a young New York writer savoring the success of his debut novel when he captures the attention of Alexa Vere de Vere, played by Sealey, a woman of mystery who makes the world of celebrity her home.
A record producer, actress and film agent, she seems to have connections to everyone, and she offers Evan a handsome fee to write a screenplay of her life story. Spend time with me, she says, and you'll learn everything you need to know. What follows are all the trappings of fame: Armani suits, the best hotels, the fanciest restaurants.
Evan's novel is an instant success and the media have labeled him the man of the moment.
"The play shows how we're all so easily fooled by the media, caught up in what the culture deems important and exciting," said Sealey, who for the last five years has worked with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth. "How often are we assaulted by minor incidents blown out of proportion?"
Sealey, 30, describes her character as "Auntie Mame, Sally Bowles and Holly Golightly, all rolled into one."
"Alexa is sexy and smart and charming, but also a woman with a mission," she said. "She's determined to transform Evan from an earnest struggling artist into a suave and savvy player, exactly the right man to pen the screenplay of her life."
For a guy who's been planning to look for a day job, Evan is more than ecstatic to have found a patroness. When he falls in love with Alexa, he finds that he's not the only one that has fallen under her spell.
"And he learns that success is not all it's cracked up to be," Sealey said.
Director R. Kevin Doyle calls the play by Douglas Carter Beane "a satire of a society whose values are primarily based on brand name recognition."
"I think the play is a very amusing look at what happens when we're blindsided by fame and fortune and we lose sight of our more humanistic instincts," Doyle said.
It's a shared responsibility between media and society at large, the pair agreed.
"We all help to extend the hype," Sealey said. "At its worse, people may even try to live their lives according to what they think is real, and, in the case of Evan, their art suffers."
The Alexa role has been a challenge, said Sealey, who received her undergraduate degree in musical theater from Ithaca College and her Master's from Cal Art near Los Angeles.
"It's a major departure from what I have been doing the last five years," she said. "It's forced me to delve into deeper emotions, using my imagination more creatively in how we go about getting what we want through different levels of manipulation.
"There be a little Alexa in all of us."
On stage
What: "As Bees in Honey Drown"
Click for online
calendars and events.
