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Backstage

50 years of theater

Long before I began writing Backstage, I read the column every week for many years. Within a few months of living on Maui, I began to hear the name Sue Ann Loudon quite frequently. If there is a beginning to the now vibrant Maui theater scene, Miss Loudon (as she is referred to by her former students), may have been the spark when she founded the Baldwin Theatre Guild 50 years ago. When the Baldwin High School theater department began, Lyndon Johnson was president of the United States, the Beatles invaded America, Muhammad Ali was still Cassius Clay, Nelson Mandela had just been ...

‘Annie Jr.,’ ‘Oliver!’ reveal young stars

Merely managing a youth theater camp of several dozen children with only a small team of adult instructors is a remarkable feat, but to follow that with an organized and entertaining musical is quite extraordinary. With 122 Maui kids involved and only six weeks to put on a show, Theatre Theatre Maui's "Annie Jr." and Maui Academy of Performing Arts' "Oliver!" aren't perfect, but the true objective of these camps is to educate the young actors in all aspects of theater, challenge them with obtainable goals, build confidence and most importantly bring joy and camaraderie into their lives. ...

Maui youth set to shine

It took a child to exclaim that the Emperor had no clothes. Although I thought that I knew Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" like the back of my hand, Preston Summit, who plays the title role in the upcoming Maui Academy of Performing Arts production of "Oliver!," shared a thought with me that I had never considered before."He (Oliver) thought it was right to ask for more food. He took a risk, and there can be great rewards with risk - more gruel," he joked."There are a lot of messages in 'Oliver!' One of them is do what you think is right," the astute young actor conveyed. "Oliver didn't ...

‘The Addams Family’ full of kooky fun and dark comedy

With just two finger snaps, "The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy" takes the audience on a trip down memory lane - but detours into new territory along the way.It's a twisted twist on the "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" theme: Wednesday Addams, now 18, is engaged to Lucas Beineke, a frightfully normal boy from, of all places, Ohio. She begs her father, Gomez, to do the unthinkable - keep her betrothal a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia - and he reluctantly agrees. Wednesday intends to break the news when Lucas and his salt-of-the-earth parents, Mal and Alice, come to the ...

Maui OnStage gets creepy, kooky with ‘The Addams Family’

You may think your family is odd, but when it comes to eccentricities, "The Addams Family" has had the market cornered for nearly 80 years.In 1938, cartoonist Charles Addams created a series of drawings depicting an oddball family with a penchant for the macabre. His eponymous "Addams Family" cartoon, which ran in The New Yorker magazine, was a runaway hit.Little did Addams know at the time that his quirky characters (and they are characters in every sense of the word) would leave their mark on pop culture and inspire a long-running television sitcom, an animated series and two feature ...

A theatrical return

If you've ever been surprised to find out that actors like Hugh Jackman and Meryl Streep can sing and dance too, what you may not know is that most actors start out in youth theater groups, followed by high school and college productions of shows like "Oklahoma" and "Fiddler on the Roof." Amy Hanaiali'i, like so many other local performers, shares that background, and the star will be returning to her roots as Eva Peron in the Maui Academy of Performing Arts production of "Evita" in August.Hawaii's top-selling female vocalist started out as a MAPA kid, with Maui Youth Theater as it was ...