Reunions of popular acts from years past are welcome opportunities to see fan favorites performing together again, and a reunion of the founding members of Na Palapalai — Kuana Torres Kahele, Kehau Tamure and Keao Costa — is no exception.

Na Palapalai was one of the biggest Hawaiian groups of the ’00s, but the group’s reunion is only half the draw this time: Kahele and Marc Turner, the show’s producers, are also bringing 42 holders of the Miss Aloha Hula title from across the years of Merrie Monarch Festival competitions to the stage at the Hawaii Theatre, for performances tomorrow and Sunday.

“I don’t know if everybody realizes the magnitude of the amount of Miss Aloha Hulas there are, but it spans from 1971 to today,” Torres noted, calling from his home on the Big Island. “Six couldn’t make it and, of course, one is deceased.”

Aloha Dalire was named Miss Aloha Hula in 1971, the first year of the Merrie Monarch Festival; she died unexpectedly in 2014. The 42 who will perform with Na Palapalai this weekend are coming from neighbor islands, four mainland states, and as far as Japan and New Zealand.

The project started with Kahele’s idea of a show featuring all the Miss Aloha Hulas who have ties to kumu hula Johnny Lum Ho, with whom Kahele has studied both as a dancer and musician. As Kahele and Turner began working together on the project, it grew.

“When they agreed, it all started to snowball,” Turner said. “How can we turn down a Miss Hula!?”

THE SHOWS this weekend will be filmed for later release as a concert DVD. A different group of dancers will be featured each night.

“If we tried to fit them all into one show we would be there forever. It would be the longest concert in history,” Kahele said, “so we got half the Miss Aloha Hulas one day and half on the other day.”

Na Palapalai will do a completely different show each day as well, presenting songs chosen by the dancers. “They had to choose either a song from Na Palapalai or a traditional song,” Kahele noted. “I think a majority chose a Na Palapalai song.”

The group’s discography gave the dancers a tremendous assortment to choose from.

Na Palapalai’s roots go back to 1995, when Torres and Tamure began playing music together in Hilo. The trio Na Palapalai was formed on Oahu in 2000, when Torres and Tamure partnered with Keao Costa. That’s where this story begins.

With some variation in membership, Na Palapalai recorded a string of highly acclaimed albums and won seven Na Hoku Hanohano Awards between 2003 and 2011.

Since then, Kahele has had a successful and prolific career as a performer, writer and recording artist.

Kahele has a new Christmas CD on the way, and his next project is a collection of original songs about Oahu. The Oahu project will complete an unprecedented “Music for the Hawaiian Islands” series of albums that he started working on in 2014.

“I’m starting on Oahu after this whole concert thing is done,” he said. “One left to go and I’ve arrived.”