COURTESY OF ELISSA JOSEPHSON
Jim Nabors and Karen Keawehawaii will help welcome the holiday season as part of "A Merry Christmas With Friends & Nabors" at the Hawaii Theatre.
Get ready for Nabors
Call it his "good Nabors" policy. Every year since 1996, Jim Nabors has produced and performed his "A Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors" with the Honolulu Symphony and an array of guest stars at the Hawaii Theatre.
And every season, the shows sell out.
'A Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors'
Where: Hawaii TheatreWhen: 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow, and 2 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $45, $55 and $75, with discounts for youths 17 and under, seniors 62 and over, and military
Call: 528-0506
Sitting on the lanai of his Diamond Head beachfront home, the nearly 30-year resident jokes that he never thought the event would last so long "or that I would."
"I guess it's become a Honolulu tradition, so it would be hard to not do it," he says between sips of macadamia nut coffee. "But I just take it one year at a time and see what happens."
Nabors, 72, gained notoriety for his goofy Gomer Pyle character on "The Andy Griffith Show" and the later spinoff series "Gomer Pyle USMC." Nabors also had a morning talk show in Los Angeles and later a network variety show. He also had a recording career, releasing more than 20 albums.
The upcoming show, directed by veteran TV director Tom Hansen, will feature, according to executive producer Burton White, more than 10 new arrangements, new set pieces designed by Wally White and "a special invited guest."
There will also be returning "Friends" guest artists in Jimmy Borges, Karen Keawehawai'i, Emma Veary, Philip Huber and the Huber Marionettes, plus the Company Singers, directed by Chuck Anctil; the Diamond Head Theatre Shooting Stars, directed by John Rampage; Halau Hula 'O Kawaili'ula, led by kumu hula Chinky Mahoe; and Hula Hui O Kupunahala 'O Nu'uanu YMCA, led by kupuna Carolee Nishi.
COURTESY OF ELISSA JOSEPHSON
This year's show features more than 10 new arrangements and new set pieces.
Highlights will include "White Christmas"; "Christmas Song"; "Taffy, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with the Huber Marionettes and children from the YMCA halau; "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Forever" with the trio of Keawehawai'i, Veary and Borges; and the usual batch of traditional carols.
"You really are very limited when you do a Christmas show, because there are songs you must sing, though this year we have also added six new songs like 'Holy City,' 'Christmas Is for Everyone' and 'Where Can I Find Christmas,'" Nabors said.
Nabors still performs outside of Hawaii, though he limits the number of engagements.
"I am a big supporter of the Honolulu Symphony and the Hawaii Theatre, so I can do it for them. ... It's my way of paying back Hawaii and just being thankful for the great life I have," he says.
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