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

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.

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.

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.

Conductors Hate Spacing Rehearsals

To combat boredom and crankiness in spacing rehearsals, I have brought: computer with internet connection, thank you notes, electronic keyboard, camera, blank music staff paper, Honolulu Advertiser, bottled water...

We are in the theatre!

At last we are in the theatre. The first rehearsals in the theatre are for spacing--translating what was done in the rehearsal hall into the actual space. There are portals, levels, and scenery to be worked with now. All in all, it is a very tedious rehearsal for the conductor--hence my ability to blog from the pit while they do their work onstage.

Yesterday we started South Pacific

Hawaii Opera Theatre's offices, rehearsal space, and shop are in a neighborhood called Kaka'ako. The area used to be filled with auto garages and other light industry--there is still an indoor firing range one block over. The district is rapidly gentrifying.

Although the digs are modest at HOT, the quality is consistently top notch.