Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
If the NBA’s first preseason games in Hawaii in eight years, held Sunday and Tuesday at Stan Sheriff Center, carried a message of any sort, it is that Universit of Hawaii officials should strive harder to have NBA preseason games played at the UH campus more often.
Featuring local favorites the Los Angeles Lakers versus the less-favored Utah Jazz, the two teams played to super excited sold-out crowds of more than 10,000 people each night. Besides ticket sales, income from the games included parking and the usual food and drink concessions.
It’s not often Hawaii sports fans get to see true sports legends up close and personal — Kobe Bryant, anybody? — but that’s what they got on Sunday and Tuesday nights at Stan Sheriff Center, and though the games were only pre-season, they were played with a regular-season intensity that everyone seemed to enjoy.
PC or not, here comes ‘The Book of Mormon’
When “The Book of Mormon” opened on Broadway in 2011, jaws dropped and sophisticated critics swooned. The satirical musical, from the same people who created TV’s “South Park,” follows the adventures of two Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda to preach their faith.
The show drew high praise for both its originality and fealty to the traditions of the Broadway musical, and collected tons of Tony nominations. But some found the show’s over-the-top vulgarity and comic portrayal of the Mormon religion offensive and disturbing.
Politically correct or not, “The Book of Mormon” promises to be a big hit here, as it has been wherever it’s performed. It opens at the Blaisdell Concert Hall April 13.
77