Two internationally celebrated Hawaii-born performers tied for top place in the 2017 Waynies Awards, this column’s annual list of brilliant achievers in the fading year.
>> Entertainers of the year: Bette Midler and Bruno Mars (call ‘em M & M) share the title. Midler, a Radford grad, has been the divine wattage of Broadway’s revival of “Hello, Dolly,” earning a Tony Award for leading actress in a musical.
And “Wow wow wow” — Midler’s return to The Great White Way has been box-office gold, second in weekly grosses only to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” which remains unbeatable and unstoppable with phenomenal $3 million weekly grosses. “Dolly” entered the $3 million elite circle a couple of times at the Shubert Theatre, where Midler winds up her run Jan. 14; Bernadette Peters takes over Jan. 20.
Mars, a Roosevelt alumnus who is still on his “24K Magic” sell-out world tour, astounded television audiences when his first-ever solo prime-time CBS TV special, “Bruno Mars: 24K Magic Live at the Apollo Theatre,” taped in New York’s Harlem district, aired Nov. 29.
Mars — masterful and magnetic, cool and charismatic — is a key contender for several Grammys when The Recording Academy returns to the Big Apple on Jan. 28 at Madison Square Garden. Advisory: Expect new Mars music out this week. …
>> Male singer: Willie K, the wowie from Maui who continues to sell out his monthly Blue Note Hawaii shows. He’s bigger than ever musically, but shrinking a skosh physically (he’s lost 20-plus pounds by watching his diet, and it shows).
>> Female singer: Loretta Ables Sayre, the Tony Award nominee (“South Pacific”) whose recent Blue Note gig was the season’s defining jazz performance there. Smooth, sultry, sentimental. Consequently, expect more revisits in 2018.
>> Instrumentalist: Jake Shimabukuro, whose name is interchangeable with ukulele. And no fretting: He’s got the nimblest fingers in town.
>> Group: Ben and Maila (last names, Vegas and Gibson), the duo known for their Christmas dinner show, numerous radio commercials, convention performances and occasional recordings (their Christmas CD will arrive next year). He’s witty, funny, versatile; she’s melodic, chatty, charming. Who could ask for anything more?
>> Comedian: Frank DeLima, a barometer of who’s and/or what’s hot (or not), strutted out an outrageous Donald Trump character that should emerge as ludicrous and looney as his Imelda Marcus. There’s a companion musical parody (sung to “Rockin’ Robin”) in his show, but you gotta see the tsunami blond wig (with cotton candy texture) and matching paste-on brows; an overlong red necktie completes the picture.
It’s a get-up and a put-down that he shares from the audience, however; he should be on stage, front and center. Nonetheless, LOL!
>> Homecoming: Martin Nievera, the concert king of the Philippines, who — older and wiser, but still with robust pipes — had a triumphant Blue Note gig. Not surprisingly, he will be back. Did you know he revisits his old neighborhood of Hawaii Kai to jump-start his small-kid-time memories?
>> Departures: The exiting of Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park from the ensemble of CBS’ locally filmed “Hawaii Five-0”was about wages but played out with an undercurrent of racial bias. There was a missed opportunity for producers, who could’ve righted an original wrong by hiring bona fide Hawaii actors to fill the gap.
You can’t tell me there aren’t qualified thespians with the chops to become household names. Kam Fong Chun, Zulu and Al Harrington from the original “Five-0” showed it was possible. …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.
