PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF GERE The tales of "The Arabian Nights" will come to life with, clockwise from left, belly dancer Willow Chang, storyteller Jeff Gere and musicians Steven Rosenthal and Reggae McGowen.

‘The Arabian Nights,’ plus

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By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

Master storyteller Jeff Gere never looks a gift horse in the mouth. Give him a place and time to do his stuff, and he'll perform with all the dramatic flourish he can muster.

'The Arabian Nights' Where: 2 p.m. Sunday at The Doris Duke at the Academy, Honolulu Academy of Arts; also Feb. 23, Mar. 2 and 9; or 8 p.m. Fridays at the Opium Den & Champagne Room, Indigo, 1121 Nuuanu Ave., through Mar. 14 Admission: Free at the academy; $20 at Indigo Info: jeffgere@lava.net

So when the Honolulu Academy of Arts wanted something extra to help celebrate the installation of its Islamic art exhibit and approached Gere for his input, voila!, he suggested something involving the extensive tales of "The Arabian Nights."

But he wanted to do more than tell stories -- how about a couple of musicians? And a belly dancer for good measure!

With financial help from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Asian Art Endowment Fund, "The Arabian Nights" will come to life at the Doris Duke at the Academy featuring Gere, musicians Steven Rosenthal and Reggae McGowen, and belly dancing/ singer-about-town Willow Chang. Their occasional Sunday afternoon performances start this weekend.

But Gere didn't want to stop there. He was also able to interest the management of Indigo restaurant to include "The Arabian Nights" as part of its Friday evening entertainment schedule through mid-March. (With only 30 seats available in the restaurant's self-styled Opium Den & Champagne Bar, Gere suggests calling ahead for reservations; the cost per person includes a bit of bubbly.)

GERE'S ENTHUSIASM over the ancient tales never wanes. "There's such a history with them! When I started reading 'The Arabian Nights,' I just zoomed right through them. They're so good and so bizarre -- you can almost smell and feel the burning campfires as these Indian, Persian and Arabic storytellers weave these shards, interlacing these tales from one to the other."

The framing story involves Scherezade, a girl who agrees to marry a king who kills his cheating wife, and vows to marry a new girl each night and kill her the next morning -- you know, so she won't even have a chance to cheat on him. But Scherezade outwits her vengeful husband by telling stories that are never resolved and link to yet another story that he must wait the following night to hear.

Clever girl, that! The king eventually accepts her as his lifelong wife and they both live happily ever after, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The tales she tells are filled with evil and jealous vazirs, slave girls, genies and one-eyed beggars, against backdrops of busy marketplaces, desert camps and a sultan's palace. High adventure, bloody battles and intrigue, plus passionate love, magic, fate and Allah, are all part of the mix.

Gere promises that the Indigo shows will be a little longer than the free academy performances, giving Rosenthal, McGowen and Chang extra time to showcase their talents.

"It's great to have these guys play music and Willow dance to complement my narrative. There will also be some overhead projections and shadow puppetry, just some of the ways to keep it fresh."

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