Shari Lynn, a Hawaii School for Girls teacher and singer-actress, has plenty on her plate.
First, she and hubby Michael Acebedo will mark their 40th wedding anniversary with a New York-France trek, departing this week after classes shut down for the summer. Of course they’ll take in a cluster of Broadway shows, then visit Paris, Alsace and Burgundy. Bon voyage — but not before rehearsing and performing in "A Rosie Reunion," a fundraiser for Temple Emanu-El, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday to benefit the temple’s restoration of Torah scrolls. The show, presented by the Glenn Cannon Foundation, is a musical recap of the "Rosie" trilogy, written by Joyce Maltby and Norm Boroughs, directed by Maltby with musical direction by Don Conover. Original troupers from the Rosie trilogy are in the cast with Lynn: Kalani Brady, Jim Tharp, Becky Maltby, Ethan Okura, Allan Okubo, Blossom Lam Hoffman, Melinda Maltby and Mickey Grause, with newbies Don Pomes and Larry Bialock also aboard. Tickets: $18 at www.shaloha.com or 595-7521. …
Further, Lynn will join the roster of regular performers at Medici’s on July 24, recurring thereafter on the fourth Friday of each month. …
Lynn also will be part of a yet-to-be-announced fall musical revue with an all-star local cast, so stay tuned. Further, her splendid Gershwin musical revue with keyboarder Jim Howard, "George & Ira and Shari & Jim," will be revived as a fundraiser of The Actors’ Group, Jan. 1 to 17 at the Brad Powell Theatre at Dole Cannery. …
PLAYBILL:Terrence McNally, four-time Tony Award-winning director, has granted the Hawaii Theatre first dibs at producing his still-on-Broadway hit, "It’s Only a Play," which opens an 11-performance run June 18 to 28 at Hawaii Theatre. McNally will be here to witness the production, directed by New Yorker Logan Reed, in what unofficially is Joe Moore‘s annual summer theatrical endeavor. Described as a Broadway comedy about the comedy of Broadway, the play combines the backstage and onstage antics surrounding a playwright’s opening-night anxieties.
Linda Purl, a Broadway and TV star in the role of a ditzy producer, tops the ensemble, which features Cathy Foyas the diva, Paul Mitri as the playwright, Tom Holowach as the critic, Desmond Gilla as a newbie coat-check attendant, and ex-islander Ryan Wuestewald (now a New York actor) as the director.
"I saw one of the final previews in New York last year and it’s the funniest comedy I’ve seen on Broadway in years," said Moore, the KHON2 news anchor. The Broadway show, which closes June 7, has featured Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Tickets: $22 to $72, at 528-0506 or www.hawaiitheatre.com. …
And a Broadway tidbit: Julie Andrews, the beloved film and stage icon, took in "The King and I" at Lincoln Center and visited the cast backstage, prompting Greg Zane, local boy who was assistant choreographer for the show, to post on Facebook: "The best moment of this year’s Oscars (referring to Andrews’ appearance on the Academy Awards in February) and meeting her at K&I was one of the best moments of my life!" …
PARTY CIRCUIT: Jack "Tihati" Thompson‘s 70th birthday celebration at Waialae Country Club was a stupendous affair. Ohana members performed hula and grandkids demonstrated haka moves, reflecting the bond and aloha in the lives of Jack and wife Cha, who, naturally, did a hula to "I Love You," the Teddy Randazzo composition, while son Afatia sang. Nearly 150 attended and toasted the birthday fellow, who will donate a tidy sum of gift cash he received and dollars tossed to the young dancers to his South Seas Ministry in Samoa. The crowd included pals June Jones and Roy Yamaguchi and a clutch of financiers, lawyers, South Seas dignitaries and an elite list of dear fellow performers. Afatia and his sister, Misty Tufono, planned and delivered a truly warm-and-fuzzy event — a Tihati production on a very personal level. …
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.
