THEATER
COURTESY KUMU KAHUA
"California" Harry (Allan Okubo) checks out the bling on the finger of his date, Violet Tamburrano, as Wally Fukuda and Polly Moorehouse (Dann Seki and Sylvia Hormann-Alper, in the background), dance the night away, in Edward Sakamoto's "Mahalo Las Vegas."
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Jackpot!
"Mahalo Las Vegas" succeeds, thanks to skilled actors who give characters depth
Few sequels are a good as the original story -- be it book, movie or play. "Mahalo Las Vegas," Edward Sakamoto's long-anticipated follow-up to his 1992 hit, "Aloha Las Vegas," is a rare exception. No knowledge of the original is required to enjoy it, and Sakamoto's appreciation of the importance of comic subtlety makes even the more improbable subplots work better than they might. Unlike some of the other local playwrights whose work Kumu Kahua presents on a regular basis, Sakamoto doesn't bludgeon the audience with heavy-handed comedy or go for cheap laughs.
'Mahalo Las Vegas'
Place: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant St.
Time: 8 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Sept. 23
Tickets: $16 general, $13 seniors and $10 students. Discounts available for groups of 10 or more
Call: 536-4441
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A brief introductory scene gets things rolling. Japanese-American widower Wally Fukuda is living happily in Las Vegas. His son, Butch, is happy working as a security guard, and his daughter-in-law, Deedee, is making good money selling real estate to other expatriate islanders.
Things aren't as bright for Wally's high-living friend, "California" Harry, who has won and lost a fortune gambling, and then gambled away his home and another $30,000 in "markers," trying to recoup his losses. Harry is now staying with Wally and hoping to avoid his creditors.
That's where things stand when June, Wally's 40-something schoolteacher daughter, comes visiting with her good-natured but dim-witted husband, Alvin Kawabata. June is pregnant with the couple's second child, and Butch confesses to Harry that is he going to divorce Deedee because he wants to give his father a grandson and Deedee can't get pregnant (anyone who doesn't remember this subplot from "Aloha Las Vegas" soon learns that the reason for Deedee's apparent sterility is that Butch "doesn't have enough tadpoles in his juice.")
The success of the production is largely due to three Kumu Kahua regulars who played the same roles in Kumu Kahua's revival of "Aloha Las Vegas" in 2002. Dann Seki (Wally) and Allan Y. Okubo (Harry) reprise their working relationship in superb style. Seki can always be counted on, Okubo characterizes a sense of humanity that makes the hapless gambler more than a buffoon, and Janice K. Terukina (June) plays the no-nonsense teacher with such finesse that she reaps laughs with a quick double-take or raised eyebrow.
Ron Encarnacion (Alvin) does surprisingly well taking over the role that Tony Solis made his own in 2002. Encarnacion doesn't have Solo's natural goofball persona, but plays up the physical comedy anyway. His portrayal of a rapist was key to the most disturbing scenes in Kumu Kahua's "Age Sex Location" a year ago; he now proves equally adept as a comic actor.
Sakamoto shifts the mood from sitcom-style family comedy to sexual farce with the introduction of two new characters, Polly Moorehouse and Violet Tamburrano, who, to put it politely, want to have physical relationships with Wally and Harry. Kumu Kahua board member Karen Kuioka Hironaga plays Violet as enough of a diamond in the rough that her unrelenting pursuit of Harry takes on a light, romantic touch. Sylvia Hormann-Alper plays Polly as far more predatory and much less appealing; a scene in which Polly forces herself on Wally is one of the most appalling "seductions" in a local production in the last two decades. Yuck! If there was ever a time and place for a man to defend his honor, this is it!
Few sequels are as good as the original, but based on this production of "Mahalo Las Vegas," a third play in the series might be welcome.