A parting word

Every summer I write songs while I'm in Hawaii and I did this one this year. I will post the music on my myspace music page soon. It's a little controversial, but it's the way I feel about how things are going there... more cars, more development, more conspicuous consumption.

BLUE OVER HAWAII

Is that the sound of the surf
Or the noise of the cars?
The lights of the city
Obliterate the stars.
O Hawaii, what are you doing to yourself?

There's more and more for the rich
And less and less for the poor
Is the almighty dollar
Gonna be the only thing that's sure?
Oh Hawaii, What are you doing to yourself?

Pele would cry
And Queen Liliou would too.
Oh stop before it's too late
Oh Hawaii, Oh Hawaii
I'm so blue over you Hawaii.

Is paradise found
Gonna be paradise lost?
Are your land and your people
Going to pay the ultimate cost
Oh Hawaii,what are you doing to yourself?

If the law of the land
Is perpetuated in righteousness
Then it's time to be righteous
It's time for us to stop this mess
Hawaii, what are you doing to yourself?

Pele would cry
And Queen Liliou would too
Oh stop before it's too late
Oh Hawaii, Hawaii, Oh Hawaii
I'm so blue over you
I'm so blue over you
I'm so blue over you
Hawaii

Aloha

Hawaii Opera Theatre uses its summer show to introduce new audiences to the company and to build bridges into the community. It is a real asset to them.

After the final performance at Hawaii Opera, everyone sings Aloha oe onstage. After so many years and so many wonderful friends here, it is actually too hard to participate in...

Back home to Memphis tomorrow!

Last performance this afternoon

4th and 5th shows

The Friday night and Saturday afternoon shows went well. The Saturday afternoon show was promoted as a family performance so the vibe was a little different--less clapping until the very end.

Old Hawaiian Farmers

Fred Cachola's presentation emphasized Kamehameha's skill in logistics, including building heiau and large military operations. Kam I was also good at feeding his people. These furrows, visible near the end of the day in the mountains of Kohala are what is left of large farming operations which supplied things like sweet potatos.

Kohala Coast

For the most part the Kohala coast line is rugged, with few beaches or harbors. It has an isolated beauty that hopefully will not be ruined by overdevelopment.

Lauhala

The native plants at Lapakahi State Park are suffering because the earthquake last year cut off their water supply. Water is being trucked in but some of the plants don't like chorine. All of the lauhala trees looked a little droopy while we were there. This variety has magnificent bark.

Kohala Bound

It is an honor to be taken on a tour of Kohala (the northernmost part of the Big Island of Hawaii) by Fred Cachola. Fred is a longtime member of the HOT ensemble and has been in every show that I have conducted in Honolulu. Fred was born and raised in Kohala and is particularly active in Hawaiian affairs. For example, when we got to the visitor center at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park I found out he was one of the people who was instrumental in the creation of the park, which houses restored fishponds that were created by the Hawaiians. The park also has some extraordinary petroglyphs, including this one of a European ship.

Fred is still involved in Kohala, where is currently building a house. Fred has been part of the campaign to keep the Kohala coastline from being overdeveloped and turned into gated communities. My "tour" coincided with a chance for Fred to pass some of his knowledge on to his grandson and to be on-camera for a distance learning class being created by the Kamehameha Schools.

Three Down, three to go

The Saturday and Sunday performances were stronger than opening and the audience response has been good. This is the chorus with some of the Tahitian dancers.

Elvis in Honolulu

This is a new statue of "The King" that has been put up this week outside the Blaisdell Center where Elvis played in the seventies. South Pacific is in the concert hall in the same complex.

A successful opening

Opening performance--enthusiastic audience. It was, I think, a relief for the performers to be able to deliver their dialogue in front of an audience.

Over at the Honolulu Advertiser site, there is an article about the show by Wayne Harada.
The article focuses on Marlene Sai, our Bloody Mary. Since being discovered by Don Ho at eighteen, Marlene has had a full and storied career here as singer and actress.

Final Dress

Last night's final dress went well. The audience was responsive and most of the balance issues have been fixed.

These are mountain apples, which look like apples, but actually have the texture and look of very mild pears. They say they are too fragile to be commercialized.

Pacific Aviation Museum

Today's focus was an evening event at the Pacific Aviation Museum. The World War II era planes made a great backdrop to talk about the show.

My brief speech was about "Some Enchanted Evening" which was a number one hit in 1949 for Perry Como and was also recorded by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Ezio Pinza--all in the same year. Alas, big hits do not come out of Broadway any more, let alone opera.

Orchestra Dress #1

Last night we had the first orchestra dress rehearsal. There were some challenges with the balances between pit and stage, in finding a level of sound enhancement that is true to an "acoustical" feel vs. a canned, miked one. Connie, the harpist, came in from a visit to the mainland and despite having missed the first two rehearsals, and fighting looming jet lag, she did a near perfect job.

Piano Dress Rehearsal

Today we had our first rehearsal with costumes. It was a very smooth one--no train wrecks. We also had an orchestra rehearsal with singers, so it was a long day. As you can see, it is going to be a good show. I actually took these photos from the orchestra pit during the run through.

Orchestra Reading

Yesterday we had our first orchestra reading. Norman Foster, who is the first clarinetist, makes musical cards. Here's the link.

He also write fun piano rags with names like Ginkgo Leaf Rag.

South Pacific requires flute and piccolo, oboe and english horn, two clarinets, bassoon, three french horns, three trumpets, two trombones, tuba, percussion and drum set, harp and strings.

Balut

After speculating that this delicacy was not available in Hawaii, I ran into balut (fertilized duck eggs) at a local market. The lady explained that you should boil them for thirty to forty minutes and after she sized me up, she said, "you should cook them forty minutes."

Several of us tried these after rehearsal. The taste was a combination of hard boiled egg yoke and liver--definitely rich. The texture was a bit acquired...

Several of our Filipino colleagues in the ensemble said that even they weren't willing to give balut a try, in spite of it being a national delicacy in the Philippines.

Tailgates: Parking Lot Luaus

One of the truly wonderful things about Hawaii Opera is the community created by the chorus which tailgates after every rehearsal. The tailgates get larger and larger and by the time we reach the performances they become full scale parking lot luaus. This is actually a picture from a tailgate after THE MIKADO a few years back.

Cluelessly Classical

Clueless classical musician that I am, I would not have known about Dog the Bounty Hunter were it not for my enthusiastic Opera Memphis colleague, Michelle. Thanks for keeping me au courant on a bit of popular culture, Michelle!

Honey Bun

This is the talented singing actor Curt Olds with a lei made of North Carolina Honey Buns--a play on words with the song from the second act of SOUTH PACIFIC. Curt is Luther Billis in the show. He played Njegus at Opera Memphis a couple years ago in THE MERRY WIDOW.