Show Biz: Greg Zane credits Hawaii theater with helping to find his voice

‘Hawaii colors everything I do,” said Greg Zane, who directed and choreographed Diamond Head Theatre’s sellout revival of “The Sound of Music” in December.

“I’m so proud and thankful to call Hawaii my home,” he continued. “I think being from Hawaii makes you more compassionate. It makes you more considerate of other people. Music is everywhere in Hawaii; in the wind, the rain, the mountains, the ocean, the moonlight, the sun. Diamond Head Theatre helped me find my voice as a director and choreographer.”

Zane, a former ballet dancer and singer-actor locally and abroad, is a sought-after choreographer and director these days. He declined a mainland offer to avail himself instead to DHT to spend winter shaping “Music” in his hometown.

“John Rampage (artistic director) and Deena Dray (executive director) gave me the artistic freedom to experiment and hone my craft,” said Zane. “Direction and choreography aren’t just about artistic choices but also about how to communicate those choices.”

He also credited Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher as a key mentor in his prowess and growth on the dark side of the stage lights. He has worked under Sher’s mentorship since 2014, in Lincoln Center Theater’s critically acclaimed revival of Broadway’s legacy show, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I.”

“I’m still working with him, through the various incarnations of his production of ‘K&I,’ ” he said. At last count, there are several productions, on Broadway, the first and second national tours, a residency at the London Palladium, a UK tour, the Tokyu Theatre Orb in Tokyo and a current international tour.

“The man is a genius,” said Zane of Sher, “and watching him shape the production so that each moment of storytelling is honest, coherent and precise, has been so influential in my directing/choreography work. Also being responsible for casting the dancers in the productions, I’ve also been able to observe his casting process. He’s actually inspired me to be fearless when it comes to staging revivals (and not be) afraid to make changes in the script or music or choreography, as long as I stay true to the essence of the piece.”

As a former dancer-actor, he admitted, “Sometimes I do miss being onstage … and that I only had to take care of myself and not be responsible for 40 actors like in ‘Sound of Music.’ I do miss the freedom that comes with being onstage and living in the moment of the character. But what I miss most is standing in the wings, feeling that excitement and anxiety before you enter the playing space, wondering if it’s going to work out. And then you enter that lighted space from the dark wings, and everything fades away except your being in the moment of your performance.”

When Zane directs and choreographs, his challenge is to work out the vision of the piece and how to get everyone in both the performance and creative departments to tell that point of view.

His background in ballet, with companies on the mainland and Canada and an alliance with the Hawaii Ballet Theatre, “taught me the importance of music and how its dynamics can help shape a character and story. Dance is probably the most immediate of the performing arts; you feel the emotion through the music and let that carry you.”

Zane was cast in a 1996 “K&I” revival on the Great White Way and knew then the importance of dance to convey a story, notably in the Act II dream sequence choreographed by the late Jerome Robbins. “This was noticed by Robbins’ dance supervisor, Susan Kikuchi (daughter of Yuriko Kikuchi, who originated the solo dance as Eliza); in the tradition of handing down choreography to the next generation, she picked me to stage subsequent productions of ‘K&I,’ ” he said.

That put him on the radar of director Sher and lead choreographer Chris Gattelli, who tapped Zane as associate choreographer of the 2015 “K&I” at Lincoln Center. And he since has been entrusted by the pair to cast dancers, and teach, stage and rehearse the show’s choreography and movement vocabulary.

Zane has been a part of the Broadway community for 23 years and counting; when he departed Hawaii to seek work in New York, he had black hair. Now, it’s all silvery and white, as if a snowstorm blanketed his head two years ago. While he declined to share his age, he said of his hair: “If Anderson Cooper could embrace his silver hair, then maybe I should try.”

“They say that after you have lived in NYC for 10 years, you can officially consider yourself a New Yorker,” he said, but admitted, “I’m always homesick for Hawaii. I found Hawaiian Sun guava juice being sold at Bed Bath and Beyond, I was so excited to have those sips of home. I listen to Hawaiian music when I’m feeling low: Amy Hanaiali‘i, Keali‘i Reichel, Hapa, The Caz, Olomana; and if I really need to bust out laughing, Rap Reiplinger. ‘Aunty Marialani’s Cooking Show’ — the best-est. I watch ‘Hawaii Five-0’ and ‘Magnum P.I.’ so that I can see glimpses of the Hawaii I love.”

In Hawaii, Zane perhaps is best known for his moving performance of Paul San Marco, who delivers an emotional monologue, near the finale of “A Chorus Line.” It was a part he landed in 1985 when the late Tommy Aguilar, who originated the role in the London premiere of “Chorus,” directed him at DHT.

“What I learned from Tommy is that I have something to offer to the theater-­dance world,” he said. “He also encouraged me to have faith in what my talents are, and to be objective in what my strengths and weaknesses are. Everyone should have someone who believes in them; Tommy was that person for me. He told me that I would make it to Broadway. Sadly, he had passed away before I made my Broadway debut. But he always told me that he knew I would make it. During that curtain call at the ’96 Broadway ‘K&I,’ I looked up (towards heaven) and said, ‘Tommy, I did it. I did what you always believed I would do.’ He’s probably freaking out how far I’ve come on this journey.” …

TWO-GETHER AGAIN

Loretta Ables Sayre will be Broadway star Matthew Morrison’s opening act when he performs at 8 p.m. Friday at the Hawaii Theatre Center. Ables Sayre played Bloody Mary and Morrison was Lt. Joseph Cable when the Tony-winning revival of “South Pacific” was staged at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. She earned a Tony nomination for her portrayal; he earlier was a Tony nominee for his role as Fabrizio Naccarelli in “The Light in the Piazza,” at the same theater. Besides preceding him, she may be doing a duet or two later in his show.

Morrison, who once was on TV’s “Glee,” also has a trivia-type credit; he once sang backup for Don Ho. Tickets: hawaiitheatre.com …

And that’s “Show Biz.”

Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.