Relatively speaking, "Les Miserables" at Paliku Theatre is truly a family affair. Count ’em: four married couples, three brother-sister combos and one mother-and-daughter team are involved in the hit production.
Add former classmates who gained valuable theatrical experience while either attending Castle High School or performing in a Castle Performing Arts Company production under the mentorship of director Ron Bright, and you’re talking "All in the Ohana."
"It’s a big family," Bright says about his "Les Miz" contingent. Mr. B, as he is called, taps his own kin for his shows. But the magnet extends through the ranks of "Les Miz’s" expansive 120-member cast and crew. One is in the orchestra pit; others do backstage tech work.
All are proud and honored to serve the fabled, still-going-strong mentor who has been directing shows for 50 years.
Bright’s wife, Mo — or Auntie Mo to the gang — takes notes on a computer during rehearsals and watches from backstage during the run. She networks with her blood family, which includes son Clarke Bright, the conductor of the Royal Hawaiian Band by day who is the maestro in the pit at Windward Community College, and Clarke’s wife, Lynell, an orchestra member. Meanwhile, Bright’s son Michael is onstage as Enjolras, the leader of the student revolution in the
musical, while Michael’s wife, Jade, is in the ensemble.
This clan phenom astonishes Kip Wilborn,the leading man in "Les Miz."
"What can I say about Mr. B, except that he is a legend?" saysWilborn,who portrays Jean Valjean. He’s thrilled not just to play the hero seeking a second chance in life, but to earn that first credit under Bright’s directorship.
"He has truly ‘touched the future’ again and again and again by influencing these young performers. Although I mention this secondarily, it’s perhaps primary: Mr. B’s love for the stage and all those who stand on it create the most incredible environment that fosters this amazing sense of family. I felt embraced from the first 15 minutes I was in rehearsal. The culture clearly is set at the top."
The Anguay sisters Jade, Jana and Tori and brother Zare were keiki when they started acting. Now Jana Anguay Alcain is singing “I Dream a Dream” as Fantine in the show, with all her sibs in the ensemble. Oliver deClive Lowe, the lead Gavroche, is the kid brother of Liam deClive Lowe, an ensemble player. Marlise Ahuna and Matthew Walker are sis and bro in the cast, too.
Then there’s Gayln Akaka, mother to Meilan Akaka, who are in the ensemble; Gayln had her first 15 minutes of fame years ago when she played Fate Yanagi in the video of Rap Reiplinger’s fabled parody “Tell Fate Yanagi I Love Her.”
The most illustrious CPAC grad is Cliffton Hall,performing "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" as Marius, the love-struck revolutionary, a role he understudied and played on Broadway as a stage professional.
"We’re all here doing this for the love of theater," says Hall, an Actors’ Equity member here as a guest artist, acting in a Bright-directed show for the first time since his high school days two decades ago. "As far as I’m concerned, this is the major league. With Mr. B."
Hall’s "Les Miz" cast-mates from yesteryear include Allan Lau, Lenny Villanueva, the four Anguay siblings, Alan Kaleleki and Sarah Gamiao-Kekuna.
The alternate Gavroche, Matias Durkin,is the son of former CPAC performer Paraluman Stice-Durkin. He’s the next generation of Stice actors who also include Jade and Ligaya. …
The remaining shows through Sunday are sold out, but 40 seats for each performance go on sale at the box office at 6:30 p.m.
And that’s "Show Biz." …
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Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist; reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com; read his Show and Tell Hawaii blog at www.staradvertiser.com.
