Eric Gilliom portrays a kaleidoscope of more than two dozen roles and characters in “White Hawaiian.” He will perform a weekly residency at the ProArts Playhouse in Kihei starting on April 20. Courtesy photo Tony Novak Clifford

Eric Gilliom’s “White Hawaiian” one-man-show has been revamped for a weekly residency at the ProArts Playhouse starting on April 20. It will mark his 100th performance of the longest running theatrical production in Hawaii.

“We have some new, really funny gags,” says Gilliom. “The show now has really beautiful lighting, which I’ve never had before. The show looks amazing. It’s really colorful and beautiful.”

The versatile entertainer is back after being forced to take a year off because of a serious knee injury caused by falling over “portraying my sister in the high heels and down I went,” he explains. “When I tell people that, they say, ‘Wait, you did what?’ So I’m coming back with fresh eyes.”

A not-to-be-missed experience, “White Hawaiian” debuted at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in late 2019, and was revived for a run at Mulligans on the Blue, and then for six months on Kauai.

Based on the foundation of a multi-generation family tribute, it embraces a dizzying array of comedic caricatures, Chaplinesque slap stick, moving drama, multiple hit musicals highlights, and many laugh out loud moments, along with some Hawaiian cultural history, all wrapped up with a knockout performance by its star.

If they ever invented a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for musical theater, Gilliom might win it hands down.

A Hōkū winning artist, Gilliom’s career has included performing with Willie K in the Barefoot Natives, starring in Kohne’s film “Get a Job,” singing with Mick Fleetwood’s Island Rumours Band and teaming with HAPA’s Barry Flanagan.

Attaining success with music, his love for theater stretches back to his days as a student at Baldwin High School.

Co-created by Maui Film Commissioner Brian Kohne, the updated production will appeal to even those who have seen it before. “Eric is coming in with new energy and even for people who’ve seen it five times, people are going to feel like it’s a new show,” says Kohne. “Eric can deliver anything. If you ever saw him do ‘Hamlet,’ he can work with all kinds of material. He is a true actor, a true entertainer, and he can build on anything.”

The first time this reviewer saw the show I was almost crying laughing so much. “That was the experience he and I were having mounting the show,” says Kohne. “It was just hysterical. So much fun. We have a unique sense of humor and we were meeting on a weekly basis, basically trying to make each other laugh. One through line in his family is humor.”

Furiously donning outlandish wigs with gaudy costumes, the story unfolds from his great grandparents to his grandparents on down to his parents then into growing up with his sister, Amy Hānaialiʻi Gilliom.

second photo
Eric Gilliom will also perform April 18 at the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua during the Celebration of the Arts. Courtesy photo

Enhancing the show’s appeal, “White Hawaiian” makes ample use of vintage video, offering a snapshot history of social and political events in Hawaii. With classic scenes of surfing and hula, and the arrival of ocean liners, later images range from Pearl Harbor, the bravery of the “Go For Broke” 442nd Regiment, and the establishment of statehood, to island TV shows like “Magnum, P.I.,” and clips of Elvis on Oahu.

“We’ve reworked some of the films,” he notes. “A lot of it is historical footage and it really moves people. You start in 1902, and we move you forward a decade between every scene. Eventually it gets you up to when I’m introduced, which is in the early ’70s, and all the way up to my college days.”

Gilliom portrays a kaleidoscope of more than two dozen roles and characters from an over-the-top Romeo in a Baldwin High School production to a young Annie belting out “Tomorrow” from the smash musical.

The show reaches a crescendo with an absolutely hilarious cruise ship segment, where merrily singing and occasionally miming and tap dancing, he surreally conjures a rapid assortment of memorable musical characters, all performed on roller skates.

A consummate showman, it would be hard to imagine any other actor in the islands able to so successfully carry off such a triumphant feat. Often bringing the audience to tears of laughter, he furiously dons costume after costume as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Man of La Mancha’s” Don Quixote, an “Oklahoma” cowboy, “The Wiz’s afro-wigged scarecrow,” and a zany disco dancer from “Xanadu.”

“The roller skates now have a brand new twist, which I don’t want to reveal, but you’ve got to come see it,” he says.

Having first worked with Gilliom on the “Get a Job” movie, Kohne recalls “he was determined to create a one man show. We had a strong creative partnership since we were kids. Having worked with him and Willie K, I knew him to be unique. Eric is a dynamic writer, The way he writes it’s taking good material of any kind, and then he can take it to the top. The big breakthrough when I knew the show was probably going to work was once we figured out that the show was about his father, Lloyd Gilliom.”

“The story is really told through his eyes, and he is a central character in the grand scheme of things,” Gilliom agrees. “It’s a story about struggle. It’s the struggle of a family of entertainers going all the way back to the turn of the (20th) century. And it’s about displaced Hawaiians that couldn’t live here. My grandmother couldn’t stay here. They couldn’t survive.”

Exploring universal themes of love, family loyalty and personal ambition, this smart show also captures the success and failures of an island boy who sought fame and fortune on the Mainland, including brilliantly recreating his disastrous moment in the Broadway spotlight in “Carrie: The Musical.”

“I love to make people laugh,” he says. “I love to make people feel. The show is riddled with laughter and emotion. The show’s got a lot of emotion in it. It feels good to share my family’s history, but one of my favorite things about the show is that it reminds people of their own stories. Everybody’s got a story, and everybody’s got a kooky family. Most people come up to me after the show and say, ‘Did that really happen?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it really happened.”

“White Hawaiian” will be presented at the ProArts Playhouse starting at 2 p.m. April 20 and continuing on Sundays through December. Tickets range from $30 to $50. Gilliom also will perform at 6 p.m. April 18 at the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua Celebration of the Arts with no cover.