Fringe Festival

January 31, 2013

If you read this column regularly (both of you), you are well aware that I work in and write about theater.For the past three years, I have coordinated the Maui Fringe Theater Festival, so therefore it is my job (on two fronts), to talk you into seeing a bunch of plays you've never heard of, or as a friend of mine puts it, "You never know what you'll see at the Fringe Festival!"Fringe theater is exactly what the word implies, "on the edge." The cutting edge of theater rarely makes money, but it usually pays for itself, and every once in awhile an unknown playwright or performer strikes ...

Maui Academy of Performing Arts presents Man of La Mancha

January 24, 2013

I spent the better part of the week trying to figure out an angle on "Man of La Mancha." It's been done before - a lot - just eight years ago on Maui to be exact.So what exactly is "Man of LaMancha" about? It started as a teleplay on the "DuPont Show of the Month," in 1959. Rather than tell the straight tale of "Don Quixote," creator Dale Wasserman sets the story through its author's eyes, Miguel de Cervantes, who was imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition. Cervantes and his servant are attacked by the prison population whom desire his possessions. Wasserman abandons vast chunks of ...

Keigwin + Company

January 17, 2013

Don Hendley once said, "Why do we have to give people what they want? Why can't you give them what they need?"Alright, so maybe Maui didn't need a live-action graphic novel play, but I adore that the powers that be at the MACC constantly present unique, New York-quality productions regardless of the fact that there might be 800 empty seats on any given night. I didn't go gaga over "Intergalactic Nemesis" last Wednesday, but couldn't take my eyes off of it. Creator Jason Neulandor has fashioned an entirely unique new form of theater, and that achievement alone is almost unheard of.Aside ...

‘USHER, a Totally Teen comedy’

January 10, 2013

Edgar Allan Poe tales are generally thought of as dark, disturbing, depressing and downright creepy. So how does one transform that into a teen comedy? I suppose I'll have to find out this weekend when King Kekaulike High School's beginning acting class, under the direction of Chris Kepler, performs "Usher, A Totally Teen Comedy" by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus.The production is described as a skillful adaptation and mix of Poe's writing and characters, weaving them together into a teen-savvy comedy loosely based on "The Fall of the House of Usher." "Usher" also touches on some issues ...

‘Intergalactic’

January 3, 2013

Back in August in this column, I listed all of the shows planned for the 2012-13 season.At the time, there were several to be announced (TBA) dates, which have recently been filled with new shows.None, however, is as exciting as the Maui Academy of Performing Arts recent announcement to stage "Les Miserables," with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and an English language libretto (text) by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the novel by Victor Hugo.MAPA plans to produce the mammoth production in August, which will mark its first, and ...