Hawaii
Something crazy’s
going on in January’s
performing artsPERHAPS I should call Miss Cleo to find out why January is unofficially "Shrink Month." Over the weekend I watched the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, portrayed by Russell Crowe brilliantly in "A Beautiful Mind." Both the film (directed by Ron Howard) and Crowe's performance have a great shot at an Oscar ... The following night I took in "The Insanity Case of Mrs. A. Lincoln" at the Actors Group's Yellow Brick Studio on Keawe Street. Just as Nash was institutionalized and put in the hands of psychiatrists, so, too, was the wife of the slain president. Jan McGrath turns in a tour de force performance in the title role ... And Sunday afternoon, it was Manoa Valley Theatre's turn with Joe DiPietro's very funny though ultimately moving play about a young man and his relationship with and ultimate separation from his four Italian grandparents, "Over the River and Through the Woods." For a time it was like an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond," but with grandparents representing the generation gap instead of parents. And wouldn't you know, the young man is seeing a psychiatrist ...
THE Honolulu theater world isn't straying far with Diamond Head Theatre's upcoming "Blithe Spirit," featuring the mystical Madame Arcati in a Noel Coward comedy ... Then there's "The Vagina Monologues," opening next week at the Hawaii Theatre, in which three women discuss at length their issues with -- well, let's just say their issues and let them explain the hows, whys and wherefores ... A regular show-goer ran into Hawaii Theatre manager Burton White downtown the other day and said, "I hear you're doing 'The Virginia Monologues.' I'm from Virginia." Rather than just let it pass, White set the senior citizen straight about the title. Without missing a beat, she replied, "Oh, vagina! Well, I'm from one of those, too." Another satisfied customer to be ...
Speaking of Raymond
KICKING off the New Year in fine fashion was "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Ray Romano. Everybody loved him and his real-life family when they vacationed at the Four Seasons in Hualalai. He and his kids snorkeled in the hotel's large saltwater pool, filled with more than 4,000 Hawaiian fish and manta rays. He just can't get away from "rays." Romano got back to L.A. in time to pick up his People's Choice Award for best actor in a TV comedy (which he shared with Kelsey Grammer) and introduce his twin sons to America in a telecast seen Sunday night ...
Price isn't right
BIG man in isle radio and TV -- he stands about 6-foot-5 -- is Michael W. Perry. After hosting his regular "Perry and Price" show live from the Hanohano Room Saturday morning where he introduced the new CD by Loretta Ables Sayre, Perry showed up at the Halekulani tent at the 18th green at the Sony Open, and we traded stories. Larry Price would normally love to have been there, volunteered Perry, but he was a bit under the weather. Hard to imagine the former UH football coach coming down with anything except maybe a game plan. As for Loretta's CD, "Dreamy," it features jazz standards except for one -- a duet with Robert Cazimero on Kui Lee's "I'll Remember You/She's Gone Again." ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com