It's been more than 30 years since the Legislature let “;Hawaii Calls”; die, but for millions of people worldwide who listened to the radio show between 1935 and 1975, the show remains a cultural icon and the soundtrack of their dreams.

Got doubts? Ask Burton White, Hawaii Theatre's artistic director and general manager, who's presenting a multimedia version of the show on Friday.

“;The first ticket we sold was to a woman who called up and said that she was coming here on vacation, and she had heard we were doing 'Hawaii Calls.' She said ... she used to do the laundry at the same time each week so she could listen to 'Hawaii Calls'!”;

White is presenting the show under license from Hawaii Calls, Inc., and with the full support of its chairman, Don McDiarmid Jr. McDiarmid saved the show's irreplaceable archives after they were left in a flooded basement in the Alexander Young Hotel following the collapse of The Hawaii Corporation in the mid-1970s. Add multifaceted entertainer Aaron Sala, who coproduced a tribute to the show at the Moana Hotel, and White's production will be true to the original.

Sala says the show represents an interesting time in Hawaiian music.

While researching that period, he found it was “;a little more inclusive in defining a Hawaiian sound for those outside of Hawaii ... Doing that tribute to 'Hawaii Calls' at the Moana really started me looking at the emphasis on what it was that made that sound iconic for Hawaii (and) for the world.”;

Sala points out that with the exception of Webley Edwards, the show's creator and longtime host, “;the performers were all Hawaiian-blooded. It was a Hawaiian show for Hawaiians, shared with the world.”;

Sala and White are providing an important link to the original show in Nina Keali'iwahamana, a “;second generation”; cast member. She'll be backed by a quintet of young musicians playing original arrangements.

The duo are also drawing from McDiarmid's archives and the UH-Manoa video collection to present film and video clips of performances by Alfred Apaka, Lani Custino, Hilo Hattie, Haunani Kahalewai, Benny Kalama, Ed Kenny, Charles Miller, Bev Noa, Ponce Ponce, Boyce Rodrigues and Webley Edwards.

Edwards' voice will be heard introducing most of the songs.

“;Aaron and I discussed this, and we stay true to the same enduring aspects of 'Hawaii Calls' that made it so accessible and renown for 40 years, even though we are contemporizing it with these young performers—and Nina—in this concept of doing live performances and interspersing it with what I've coined as 'souvenir' performances from the past.”;

White has invited every former member of the show he could reach to come on Friday.

“;We're looking forward to something pretty much fun.”;