GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Jimi Wheeler is the Tinman and Dion Donahue is the Wizard in Diamond Head Theatre's production of "The Wizard of Oz."New role fits
like an old coatActor Dion Donahue will
wear his favorite coat once
again in a local play, this
time in 'The Wizard of Oz'
Dion Donahue so loved the coat he wore as Fagin in Diamond Head Theatre's 1998 staging of "Oliver!" that it's going to make a comeback -- this time as part of his costume in the company's new production of "The Wizard of Oz" that opens tonight.
'The Wizard of Oz'
Where: Diamond Head Theatre, 520 Makapuu Ave.
When: Opens 8 p.m. tomorrow and continues 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 4 p.m. Sunday, through Aug. 3. Additional 3 p.m. performances on July 26 and Aug. 2
Tickets: $10 to $40
Call: 733-0274
"When they made it, I was just in awe. The weight of it, it had pockets all over it. It was just awesome," Donahue recalled.
He found a sympathetic friend in Kyle Metcalf, who bought the coat for him when the show closed. Then, when Donahue reprised his portrayal of Fagin for Army Community Theatre last year, he made sure to get DHT's OK to use the coat for a second time on stage.
Now "Oz" will be the coat's third show. By itself, it's enough to give Donahue's portrayal of the Wizard a distinctly different vibe from the classic character Frank Morgan brought to the definitive 1939 film. But Donahue says that costume designer Karen Wolfe and hair and make-up designer Kathleen Kamakaiwi are "still deciding" whether his shoulder-length hair will go.
"I think I'm known more for doing (comedy), and every now and then, I want to get into something that's kind of heavy drama," he said, explaining how someone who can do Lisa Matsumoto's popular pidgin musicals can also enjoy doing something more serious, as in Vanita Rae Smith's readers' theater shows at the ACT.
Donahue took another break from broad comedy when he appeared in The Actors Group production of "The Weir" earlier this year.
"I find those (roles) very challenging because you're not playing for the laugh, and as a comedic actor, that's what you are doing. Not to play for the laugh is kind of doing it a little backwards, but it's nice -- strange, but nice."
Getting back to playing the Wizard, Donahue says he's being given a lot of freedom in developing the character, and that the show has been running about a week ahead of the normal rehearsal schedule.
"Normally, when you're doing a show, you get one, maybe two nights of a full run-through without costumes, and then you have your dress rehearsal. With Jen (guest director Waldman), we've run the show at least five times from curtain to curtain, and that gives you enough time to get comfortable with the pacing of the entire thing, and I like that."
IT TURNS OUT that "Oz" occupies an important place on Donahue's resume. He made his stage debut in 1968 when a road production played Honolulu and recruited local kids for fill-in roles, playing Munchkins and soldiers.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Dorothy (Kim Anderson), the Scarecrow (Julia Ogilvie), the Cowardly Lion (Agaton Pasion Jr.) and the Tinman are off to see the Wizard."Ever since that (show), I made sure I was doing something in theater, whether it was summer fun or commercials, and then from there, my first stage show was in high school. But every summer, I would do something," he said.
His favorite character roles so far as an adult have been Fagin, Reuben in "Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," the French attendant in Lisa Matsumoto's "Once Upon One Kapakahi Time" last summer, and "any character that I can do in dialect (that) I can have fun with.
"It was fun to play off Kala'i," he said of his experience playing opposite Kala'i Stern in the Matsumoto comedy last summer.
"Stephanie Sanchez is another one who's always fun to work with. She's one of those people you can just feel comfortable with in working a scene. Playing Gunther with Stephanie (in the original production of 'On Dragonfly Wings') was just fabulous."
The onstage chemistry between Donahue and Sanchez was so good that when he chose to do "Oz" over Matsumoto's upcoming and newly revised production of "On Dragonfly Wings," she opted not to do it without him.
Donahue says he wouldn't have done it without her either. As it was, the opportunity to play the Wizard was too good to turn down.
"It's fun to see the show come back. That's why I really wanted to do it," he said.
And, of course, he gets to wear the coat again.
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