Nicole Scherzinger, the islander who’s the ex-lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, will be the cat’s meow in London this winter. Scherzinger takes on Grizabella, the tarnished Glamour Cat who delivers the show-stopping "Memory" in Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s "Cats," beginning with previews Saturday en route to a Dec. 11 debut at the London Palladium.
The 12-week revival of the award-winning show might be Scherzinger’s ticket to Broadway, as "Cats" is rumoredto return there next year. The show logged 7,485 performances between 1982 and 2002 and is the third-longest-running Broadway musical. In London, "Cats" purred for more than 9,000 performances over 21 years.
In a Daily Mail interview, Scherzinger says of Grizabella, "It’s the part I was born to do; Grizabella’s broken, and I know what that feels like … shunned and mistreated by society and her people … feeling like an outsider and wanting to be accepted." …
PLAY BALL!: After 20 years of competition, the Kapahulu Raiders, a Pop Warner football team, has finally nabbed both the island and state championship in its division. Team coaches Afatia Thompson and Donny Utu, along with team mom and coordinator Ku‘ulei Omura, head a delegation bound for nationals Saturday through Dec. 13 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla.
A second Pop Warner division team, the Manoa Paniolo coached by Daryl Kitagawa, also is headed for Orlando. Kids on both teams are in the 10-11 age group; Kitagawa’s 2012 team earlier made it to the Pop Warner Super Bowl.
Thompson and Utu are former Punahou Buffanblu teammates; Thompson has showbiz creds as an exec with Tihati Productions, producers of Polynesian spectacles and convention shows, and he’s coached the Raiders for three years. Son Matagi Thompson, 11, is on the team.
"I’m truly proud he’s wearing my (University of Hawaii) jersey number 5," Afatia said. Wife Nicole and three other Thompson siblings will make the Orlando journey. B.J. Utu, son of coach Utu, also is a Raider.
UKULELE TALK: The state’s — or possibly the world’s — best-known and prevailing ukulele wizard is Jake Shimabukuro, who is closing his 2014 Uke Nations Tour of 140 shows with a concert at 8 p.m. Friday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. For the first time in more than a decade, Shimabukuro will reunite with Pure Heart, his musical buddies, who will join the concert. Shimabukuro became a breakout artist but clearly still harbors a Pure Heart. …
Also playing: former band-mate Jon Yamasato on guitar and vocals, pals Lopaka Colon on percussion, Dean Taba on bass, Noel Okimoto on drums, along with the Side Order Band comprising Asa Young (12-string guitar), Bryan Tolentino (ukulele), Chris Kamaka (upright bass) and Del Beazley (six-string guitar). Tickets start at $20 at www.blaisdellcenter.com. …
Speaking of the uke: Budding Aussie artist Vance Joy strums the instrument on his "Riptide" hit song. And One Direction, the hot boy band from Britain, is doing a "Sesame Street" promo on YouTube in which the American Music Award winners sing about things starting with the letter "U," and, yep, the ukulele is right up there along with unicorn, unicycle, uncle and underpants. For the educational video with "Sesame Street" puppets, the hit "What Makes You Beautiful" is redubbed "What Makes U Useful." …
THE LOCAL ANGLE: Kurt Nishimura, Roosevelt grad and son of Keith and Carol Dee Nishimura, had a big role in trumpeter Herb Alpert‘s new "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" music video. Alpert, due here with wife Lani Hall for a Damien Memorial School benefit Saturday at Blaisdell Concert Hall, sought a fresh approach and enlisted the local-boy video/filmmaker to create stop-motion images (psychedelic as well as artistic) to suit the sprightly electronic version of the old Glenn Miller classic. Twirling shoelaces find their way to a pair of sneakers, which board the choo-choo (subway) in the video bustling with action, colorful animation and live-action footage. Result: Alpert’s back on the Billboard charts. …
And that’s "Show Biz." …
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.
