A busy fall awaits Shari Lynn, the 10-time Po‘okela Award-winning singer, actress and educator. She has two major events just days apart in September.
First: Shari’s annual Sunset Jazz, set for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at La Pietra’s Great Lawn, coincides with the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorism. So this year’s evening of jazz and Broadway tunes will reflect the resilience and resolve of the nation and spotlight the resources and riches of the Broadway palette, with numerous music makers joining Shari in the serenade ’neath the stars.
Second: Shari’s musical stage profile goes up a notch when she helps launch Manoa Valley Theatre’s 2016-17 season. She stars as Judy Steinberg, one of two dueling mothers-in-law, in the 2015 Broadway musical with a wedding theme, “It Shoulda Been You.” It premieres at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 for a three-week run.
Shari is no stranger to jazz (she made her Blue Note Hawaii debut this year) or Broadway shows, but her signature event is Sunset Jazz, on the La Pietra campus where she is a music teacher.
Sunset Jazz will assemble the Honolulu Jazz Quartet, the Mike Lewis Big Band, the Sunset Jazz All-Stars (featuring Jim Howard, John Kolivas and Daryl Pellegrini) and the operatic and Broadway voices of Kip Wilborn and Rocky Brown. Doors open at 5 p.m. Tickets: $3,000 and $1,000 for premium tables, $65 for individual tickets. Reservations: 922-2744, ext. 119, or lapietra.edu/giving/sunset-jazz.
“Shoulda” features Suzanne Green as Georgette Howard, mother of the groom; Dusty Behner as Rebecca Steinberg, the bride; Matthew Mazzella as Brian Howard, the groom; Howard Bishop as Murray Steinberg, father of the bride; and Dennis Proulx as George Howard, father of the groom. Bree Kale‘a Peters is director, Kip Wilborn is musical director and Erin McFadden is choreographer. MVT season tickets are $175 for six shows or $40, individual seats. Reservations: 988-6131, manoavalleytheatre.com. …
DATES TO CIRCLE: Frank De Lima, the indisputable granddaddy of local-kine comedy, will stage his Grandparents Day brunch show at noon Sept. 11 at the Pagoda’s C’est Si Bon ballroom. It’s logical that TheCab’s pitchman also will perform his “Pokemon Can” hit song that he launched nearly two months ago at the height of the “Pokemon Go” phenom. Doors open at 10 a.m., with brunch service from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. Tickets: $50 for adults, $25 for keiki 5 through 8, at 948-8370 or pagodahawaii.com. …
This year’s ‘Ilima Awards, a Honolulu Star-Advertiser fundraiser benefiting Diamond Head Theatre, is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 10 at the theater, 520 Makapuu Ave. Award-winning chefs and restaurants will provide food and beverage, with Diamond Head Theatre staging a brief musical revue at 6:30 p.m., preceding the 7:30 p.m. party. Premium patron tables are $10,000, $5,000 and $3,500; individual tickets are $325. Call 733-0277, ext. 305. …
KUBO COMPLAINTS: Guy Aoki, the former Hawaii resident and founding president of the watchdog/advocate group Media Action Network for Asian-Americans, has zapped the makers of the stop-motion animation film “Kubo and the Two Strings” for the “whitewashing” of actors voicing Japanese characters.
Principal roles are voiced by white actors Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes and Brenda Vaccaro; though listed in the end credits, George Takei is an Asian whose voice is heard only modestly. Aoki condemned the filmmakers — Laika Entertainment and Focus Features — for casting an Irish boy, Art Parkinson, from “Game of Thrones,” as the title character.
The film is set in ancient Japan, with an extended family of Japanese characters “that cried out for Asian-American participation,” said Aoki, questioning director Travis Knight (of “Coraline” fame) whether folks like Ken Watanabe, Daniel Dae Kim, John Cho, Ming-Na Wen, Margaret Cho and Lucy Liu were not available. To his list we add Lea Salonga, Loretta Ables Sayre, Jason Tam and Ruthie Ann Miles.
Aoki was a prime critic of the casting of Emma Stone as a part Hawaiian-Chinese character in Cameron Crowe’s island-filmed “Aloha” failure. …
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 staradvertiser.com.
