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Polished ‘Lady Pirates’ are gold on KKHS stage

"What high school student will say no to sword fighting?" asks King Kekaulike High School drama instructor Chris Kepler.As promised, "The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree" delivers humor, conflict, great music, and a fun plot line and theme. What it also has going for it is a great deal of joy and energy. It's obvious these 30-plus students are having the time of their lives, delivering one of King Kekaulike's most joyous productions.The first large-scale musical number, "They're a Nasty Lot," works tremendously well with swordfights in the aisles, multiple belting voices and a flawless ...

Look out for ‘Lady Pirates’

Gangway for "women of opportunity, wenches gone astray, a sisterhood of thieves" and the "vile scourge upon the sea." These are some of the lyrics from King Kekaulike Drama's upcoming "The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree."Not to be confused with a pair of perfectly fitting jeans, this sisterhood of mean and nasty rebels, when not seeking pirate booty, auction off male prisoners to do their dirty work. Though a light-hearted teen production, "Captain Bree," as well as a few subplots from Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean," are based on a considerable amount of 18th century ...

ProArts saves best for last with ‘Carnage’

There is real-life drama, and there is stage drama. Stage drama is supposed to have exposition, conflict and resolution - neatly constructed in chronological order.Yasmina Reza deconstructs a play like a modern chef might deconstruct a classic sandwich. In life, we don't need exposition. Firstly, because we've probably heard you hated your childhood a million times; and secondly, in life, we get to the point.Reza's "God of Carnage" has more in common with the real world than with drama. It gets to the point, there is no intermission, and resolutions are suspect.We all deal with conflict ...

Stage & Song

In 1904 when George M. Cohan sang, "Give My Regards to Broadway," our modern image of Broadway didn't exist yet. Dreamers like Cohan, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern merely hoped to make their mark someday with a new sound, a sound rooted in African-American music likely invented by Scott Joplin and W.C. Handy.More than a century later, Cohan's statue, the only one honoring a Broadway star (at the behest of Oscar Hammerstein II in 1959), stands as a landmark in Times Square to honor "the King of Broadway."In 1904, Broadway theaters showcased imported shows, primarily from London's West ...

‘Ridiculous & Real’

Next week, ProArts Playhouse presents Maui's debut of Yasmina Reza's multi-award winning "God of Carnage" in Kihei.Reza is a literary anomaly of sorts. The Persian-Hungarian-French actress, author, political commentator and playwright is arguably the most successful playwright of the 21st century thus far. Her characters are beloved by actors, her minimalist set and technical needs are adored by producers, designers and crews, and her peers have lauded her with every theater award there is.The problem is many a dramatic critic considers her to be a fluke and one-dimensional. Though a ...

Peachy

April is blooming at the Historic Iao Theater with five performances of three plays this week, and a fourth, "The Miracle Worker," in rehearsal for its May opening.On Saturday afternoon, Maui OnStage presents the slightly dark but immensely original children's tale, "James and the Giant Peach," by Roald Dahl. Dahl's imaginative mind also created "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "The Witches," "Matilda," and the screenplay for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."Published in 1961, the tale centers around English orphan, James Henry Trotter (Carver Glomb), who enters a ...