Pounding out the rhythm

It’s the same in showrooms all over the world: The lights go down. The star steps into the spotlight. Applause, applause, applause.

The star of the show is the center of attention, and rightly so, but don’t overlook the band, the musicians doing their jobs off to the side or in the back, somewhere out of the spotlight.

Lopaka Colon, percussionist in the Legends in Concert production of "Rock-A-Hula Hawaii" since it opened in 2011, says off to the side is a great place to be.

"I like it like that; it’s pretty cool," Colon said.

"The other Legends shows (in other parts of the country) don’t have a percussionist. They usually have two keyboards, but since it’s special here in Hawaii, we have a special way of doing the show here as far as the whole tropical ambiance and the culture (so) they decided to open up more of a tribal percussive rhythmic sound."

That includes a giant taiko-style drum, Polynesian drumming and Colon playing a broad assortment of percussion instruments.

Backing the show’s three stars — Johnny Fortuno as Elvis, Damian Brantley (Michael Jackson) and Jackie Wiatrowski (Lady Gaga) — is a full-time job in a town where most musicians are scrambling to find steady work. Colon and the other band members are "on" for about 90 minutes a night, six nights a week, backing three tribute artists who represent very different types of pop music; they play for the show’s new Polynesian dance numbers, too.

Colon describes the complexities of the new show as a great learning opportunity.

"It has so many different styles and parts, the front characters that we have are different genres of music, and the show rotates very fast. It enables me as a percussionist to figure out what works and what doesn’t work."

Musical Director Alfonso West uses a microphone and intercom to talk to the performers throughout the show, Colon said. "He’ll tell us if we’re doing something too busy or not, or to be more expressive or not, to be more quiet or be more loud. That helps a lot."

Doing the same show six nights a week could become routine, by-the-numbers work, but West allows him to improvise and "do a little solo thing at the very end of the show," Colon said. "Everything else, pretty much I try to stick to what we’ve been formatted to do, but every night during that part I can change it up."

Colon got another chance at improv when the show’s choreographer asked him to try a percussion solo near the front of the stage during the Lady Gaga segment.

"He thought if I could pull it off during the practice we would try to implement it in the show," Colon said. "It worked in a rehearsal, so he said, ‘Let’s try it tonight,’ and stuck it in there."

Colon, West and the other band members put in a lot of extra time this year when "Rock-A-Hula Hawaii" was revamped to include more Hawaiian and Tahitian dancing, a "Jailhouse Rock" number for Fortuno, and a performance by one of the fastest young fire-knife dancers in show business.

The return of Brantley and Wiatrowski as Fortuno’s co-stars required additional hours of rehearsal.

"People don’t realize how intense it is for the band and for the dancers," Colon said. "(Wiatrowski) was here prior, but we really revamped the show a lot, and each of the Michael Jacksons have their own personal take on the character. That makes it even more interesting for us. Before they come in we need to have everything prepared."

West created a website where he posts all the material the musicians need about a month and a half in advance — including sheet music and audio or videos.

"It’s there 24/7 whenever we want it, but it’s our responsibility to do our homework," Colon said. "We get it down as much as we can, but when we come here they expect everyone to know their part. We rehearse in here too, but 85 percent or so is done at home. Then we rehearse it here and then with the dancers. We’ll work on it for two weeks, going through the whole motions, before the front acts come in."

He adds that the front acts — in this case, Brantley and Wiatrowski — have 24 hours to acclimate.

"The day after they get here, the next night, we’ll probably run through the show an hour before the show starts and they go right in."

"Rock-A-Hula Hawaii" draws a diverse crowd. When Fortuno (in character as Elvis) asks folks where they’re from, he’s likely to hear Australia, Japan, Canada, England and assorted mainland states, plus a few Hawaii residents as well.

Most of the visitors probably have no idea that Colon is the son of the late Augie Colon, the Hawaii-born Puerto Rican percussionist whose knack for bird calls and other "jungle noises" helped Martin Denny ignite the "Exotica" craze in the 1950s. Or that he is a six-time Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner and a celebrity member of two "lounge music" groups — Don Tiki and the Waitiki 7 — that are promoting and perpetuating the musical traditions that his father and Martin Denny created six decades ago.

Colon doesn’t mind the anonymity at all.

"All the different things I’m doing here factor into my skills (as a percussionist). I come from a Latin background, and my forte is Latin jazz, but since joining the show and learning more about the Polynesian rhythms I’m actually going deeper into the ‘Exotica’ realms on a more cultural-indigenous world-rhythmic side," he said.

"I’m actually more passionate about what I do now (and) I look at entertaining as more of a healing factor, uplifting people’s spirits. When I see their heads bobbing or I see them smile, I feel like I’m doing my job."