COURTESY OF KIYOSHI UCHIYAMA
Greg Gabaylo flashes a sign of confidence as headliner for the "ONE" show.
Juggler learned craft
with rocks and mangos
Greg Gabaylo discovered juggling when he was 8. He and his brother saw a juggler on television and were intrigued by the challenge of keeping several objects in motion, so they went outside, picked up some "rocks and mangos," and gave it a try.
Thirty-three years later, Gabaylo is headlining the newest show in Waikiki, "ONE," as "The Great Gabaylo."
Challenging act
Greg Gabaylo a k a "The Great Gabaylo," starring in "ONE"Where: Leahi Showroom, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, 2552 Kalakaua Ave.
When: 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Cost: $59 (includes dinner, one standard cocktail and validated parking), with discount for Hawaii residents
Call: 921-5000
"ONE," which had a soft opening on Nov. 10, is still being fine-tuned, but is essentially set. Billie Takaki, Miss Hawaii 2000, has a single showcase number early in the show. A troupe of four female dancers add Tahitian, hula and hula-style dance numbers. Gabaylo's two female assistants provide more eye candy when his juggling routines and illusions require their services.
"I've been working for this a long time but I can't believe it. I'm a headliner! It's like a dream," Gabaylo said. Some of the people he had entertained for free over the years at various fund-raisers and care homes had told him dreams and prayers can come true. Now that it's happened, he wants to show the Waikiki audiences what he can do.
Even though it was Pat Morita's idea to give Gabaylo such an auspicious stage name, as far as he's concerned, Gabaylo still feels he's the same old, down-home local boy he's always been.
Juggling is like a lot of the other specialty acts, Gabaylo says. The basic techniques aren't that complicated, but mastering them can be difficult, and he's always enjoyed the challenge involved in topping his own best routine. Working with objects that glow under black light is one of his most challenging bits at the moment.
"You don't know what the depth (of field) is," he said. Juggling objects of dramatically different sizes and weights at the same time -- a bowling ball, a raw egg and an M&M, for example -- is another tough one.
"Jumping on a pogo stick with a hula hoop and juggling at the same time -- that, too," he says.
Gabaylo's juggling routines are colorful, quickly paced and physically demanding. He says he lost 55 pounds as part of his preparation -- a combination of the Atkins Diet, running and working out -- and now feels like "a brand new Greg."
It's been a long, steady climb for Gabaylo since juggling those rocks and mangos when he was "small-kid time." He and his brother put together an act that later included their sister, Teri, and appeared on "Hawaiian Moving Company" when Kamasami Kong was still its host. Fred Ball, known to a generation of island kids as Professor Fun, gave him his first paid job as a juggler.
Gabaylo also performed in Jack Cione's "Oriental Fantasy" at the Miramar Waikiki and later with master illusionist John Hirokawa. He's also worked as an opening act in comedy clubs and showrooms here, Las Vegas and New York, and on the American Hawaii cruises.
In short, Gabaylo has paid his dues, even if he looks way too young to have been juggling for 33 years.
"You know how us Filipinos," he says. "You can be 65 or 85 and still look like 23!"
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‘Millennium artist’
On juggling on another note, a true conceptual artist, Michael Moschen, will be performing this weekend at Leeward Community College Theatre. Moschen has pushed the bounds of his craft, taking it out of the circus and into the concert hall and theater, with unique, spellbinding acts already referenced as classics, bringing the dynamics of visual, illusion and kinetic design to life for audiences the world over.
Hailed as a "millennium artist," Moschen's work has a mesmerizing, futuristic quality that takes the audience on journeys through time and space. David Van Tieghem's accompanying musical score contributes to the ethereal quality of his work.
The New York Times has said that "in Mr. Moschen's hands, juggling becomes a balletic art ... (he) elevates a minor theatrical art to visionary heights."
"Michael Moschen is a juggler, a kind of dancer-physicist," wrote the San Francisco Examiner, "someone who can bend and twist the visible world out of the norm through the sheer grace of his own movements." The Boston Globe said that "Moschen walks a fine line between entertainment and high art."
>> Place: Leeward Community College Theatre
>> Time: 8 p.m. tomorrow
>> Tickets: $22 adults, $15 students, seniors and military (reserved seating available for an additional $5)
>> Call: 455-0385
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