Playwright Lisa Matsumoto’s pidgin fairy tale musicals have entertained several generations of island keiki since her first, “Once Upon One Time,” was staged as a theater-class project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1989. “Once Upon One Time” was followed by “Once Upon One Noddah Time,” “Happily Eva Afta” and several unrelated pidgin musical comedies. Manoa Valley Theatre’s summer revival of “Happily Eva Afta,” presented in the spacious Kaimuki High School theater, brings the magic of her comic characters to a new generation of keiki — and brings back fond memories for parents and grandparents as well.
“We’re trying hard to keep it true to the original shows,” said Brad Powell, who is director/choreographer of the show. Powell directed MVT’s revival production of “Once Upon One Noddah Time” two years ago and says he was a fan of Matsumoto’s work long before that. Matsumoto died in 2007 but several members of her old-time production ohana are helping Powell recreate the traditional spirit of her work.
“One of the things that I fell in love with as a director is that both two years ago and this year I have been able to rely on people who have worked in these shows through the years,” Powell said. “Our narrator, Devon Nekoba, has been in Lisa’s shows for about 30 years and so he has the ability to watch and say if we’re doing it the way Lisa would. Keeping it true to the original shows has been really a lot of fun for me and it endeared me more to Lisa’s work.”
“HAPPILY EVA AFTA”
>> Run dates: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays through July 16
>> Where: Kaimuki High School theater, 2705 Kaimuki Ave.
>> Admission: $40 general, $35 seniors and military w/ID, $22 ages 18-28 and $15 age 5-17
>> Length of play: 2 hours 15 minutes
>> Intermission: Yes
>> Age recommendation: 5 and older
>> What it’s about: Familiar fairy tales scrambled together in the tradition of Rocky & Bullwinkle’s “Fractured Fairy Tales” and MAD magazine performed in classic stage pidgin.
>> Morals and messages: Never break a promise — especially a promise made to the hauna (foul-smelling) Hagemogi Fairy. Words can have power. Reading books and sharing stories is fun.
>> Parental advisory: Be prepared for men dressed as women, insult humor and ethnic stereotypes of Filipinos, Chinese and Caucasians.
>> Kid-pleaser aspects: Wacky characters, broad comic situations, colorful song-and-dance numbers, a pidgin version of Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine, men dressed as women, insult humor and ethnic stereotypes.
>> Director/choreographer says: “(The show) encourages reading and looking for stories, and encourages children to make up their own stories. This is also the largest cast — we have 40 people in the cast. That’s one of the reasons it’s an MVT production but it’s at Kaimuki — we have a stage four times the size of the stage at Manoa,” Powell said.
>> Info: 988-6131 or manoavalleytheatre.com
