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Maui dancers are united in movement

Three years ago at the gala opening of Seabury Hall's 'A'ali'ikuhonua Creative Arts Center, I witnessed the debut of Maui's Adaptations Dance Theater. Hallie Hunt, Vanessa Cerrito and Amelia Couture choreographed and presented a magnificent dance piece set to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," arranged and performed by Toby Couture. Their performance was the equal of a small contemporary dance company from a city like New York or Chicago. Over the past three years, ADT has expanded to a troupe of more than 20 dancers.From January to June of this year, 11 separate dance companies were in ...

Seabury Hall ‘Goes ’Round’ with Kander and Ebb

Although Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lennon and McCartney are household names, there are few composing tandems that have achieved more success than John Kander and Fred Ebb.Even in death (Ebb died in 2004), their successes endure. Chita Rivera continues to perform in their final Broadway musical, produced posthumously, "The Visit," which received five Tony Award nominations in June. "The World Goes 'Round: The Songs of Kander and Ebb" celebrates their entire musical catalogue. Kander and Ebb are best-known for the musicals "Cabaret" and "Chicago," but in addition to six decades of ...

Bob Saget and the emerging success of Maui Celebrity Series

Opening night of the relaunched Maui Celebrity Series at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali was a resounding success last Sunday. Bob Saget's "Dirty Daddy" performance had the crowd laughing nonstop during his 90-minute set, and the event was extremely well-attended by mostly young Maui residents.I met with Brian Evans, the event producer who also serves as an opening act, at the aftershow party at the Black Rock Lounge, which is open to the public following every Maui Celebrity Series performance."It's not about competing with other Maui entertainment," said Evans, "it's ...

Get your laugh on with Iao’s ‘Noises Off’

Were I to delve into the plot of "Noises Off" in this review, there would be no room to praise the performances. All you really need to know is an atrocious final dress performance of "Nothing On" (the play within "Noises Off") is presented in act one. Act two is backstage of an absolutely horrible performance of Nothing On, and act three, now back to front of stage, is quite frankly the worst stage performance in theater history.Were "Nothing On" a real production, it would have closed on opening night. But then we wouldn't have the farce "Noises Off."Lisa Teichner nimbly directs and ...

‘Noises off’

"Noises Off" is arguably the most popular farce of all time. It is also one of the most complicated plays ever written and immensely difficult to perform.Its author, Michael Frayn, has said that after spending a year writing a first draft that he was unsure if it could be produced, saying, "I didn't know if actors would even be able to perform it." The idea of "Noises Off" came to Frayn one night in 1970 as he stood in the wings of a London theater watching a performance of a farce he had written starring Lynn Redgrave."It was funnier from behind than in front," said Frayn, "and I ...

On the flip side

It would be easy to assume that the real Bob Saget is the current foul-mouthed comedian. The old family-friendly Bob Saget probably hated doing "Full House" and "America's Funniest Home Videos." He probably phoned it in, collected his checks and longed to return to his true comic style. It would be easy to assume that, but you'd be wrong.The truth is Saget and everyone else from the "Full House" cast have the reputation of being some of the nicest people in Hollywood. They're all still friends and Saget is proud of his work. He enjoyed the experience, but he just happens to have a ...