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Pretend princess
By John Berger
met her prince in
pidgin paradise
Special to the Star-BulletinDiamond Head Theatre's encore staging of Lisa Matsumoto's pidgin fairy tale, "The Princess and the Iso Peanut," is part of a real-life fairy tale for Patrick and Colleen Fujioka. The couple met when they performed in an earlier Matsumoto play; he proposed when they were reading for last year's production of this one, and they celebrated their first anniversary just before the revised "Iso Peanut" opened last week.
"The show has kind of followed our entire relationship so doing it this year has a lot of meaning for us," Patrick said.
With performances sold out even before the musical opened, new dates have been added so the show now runs through Aug. 13, making "Iso Peanut" the biggest hit of DHT's 1999-2000 season.
Colleen Fujioka is reprising her leading role as Princess Alexis, who travels from a medieval European kingdom to a "local" Japanese-American realm where she finds true love and happiness ever after with stolid Prince Yoshi (Bryan Y. Yamasaki).
Patrick has two great roles, as Da Mean Mongoose, who makes a crucial contribution to the tale, and as Granny MacGregor. Both characters are new to "Iso Peanut."
"I think Lisa wanted to add more depth to the traditional (European-American) side because the local side is so strong the audience really identifies with it. I haven't had to play a woman for years but it is fun and challenging, especially with a Scottish accent."
Granny is one of several new characters that help make the new "Iso Peanut" a much better show than the 1999 edition. The pacing has been improved, the choreography tightened, the new musical numbers are stronger, and the script relies less on stereotypes and more on imaginative writing.
The addition of wise King Alfred (Alfie Huebler) adds more depth to the Allyrian family, and a new comic character, Uncle Masa, reinforces awareness that the "local" kingdom's culture is Japanese-American in a yakudoshi segment that involves the traditional banzai cheer. (Mark Ikenaga was excellent subbing for Michael Ng on opening night.)
Fujioka has a superb partner in Stephanie Sanchez (Isabel) who reprises last year's Po'okela Award-nominated performance for Female in a Musical as Alexis' feisty Scots maid.
Dion Donahue (Peter the Pirate), Shawn K. Forsythe (One-Eye'd Jack), Dwayne T. Fujitani (King Yuichi), Eddy Gudoy (Nathan), Andrew Keoni Lai (Princess Eteokalani) and Jill Y. Shimabukuro (Janice/Princess Titaele) do stand-out comic work elsewhere. Matsumoto again does double-duty as director and as abrasive Queen Yumiko.
Patrick Fujioka has been one of the most consistent stars of Matsumoto's productions ever since she "translated" familiar fairy tales into pidgin in "Once Upon One Time" in 1991. But he has yet to play a romantic lead.
"Lisa had Da Mean Mongoose chased by three mongoosettes who were played by guys, so that's the closest I ever came to hooking up but I think I prefer being the villain or the comic relief. It's more fun and it's more me."
Fujioka teaches theater at St. Louis School and enjoys having his wife's help with productions. He reciprocates by helping with the drama program for her special education students, and says he also enjoys "serious" drama. He starred in DHT's production of "Golden Boy," appeared in "Othello" at Kumu Kahua and "Blood Brothers" at Manoa Valley Theatre.
"If I do a lot of this popular kind of theater I really get an itch to do something serious, (but) I enjoy doing these plays and I'm very, very happy that the public likes them as well."
On stage
What: "The Princess and the Iso Peanut"
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