The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 14

B-2 luesday. December 9, laatt The Honolulu Advertiser Sherman's 'Kui' still needs work hawaii haiku Nu'uanu rains Elizabeth A. Saunders Brush Prairie, Wash. "Ohia bristle Plucked, bear echoes in falling Rain as IVIe t.leeps Brenda L. Wong Kaheuhe A traditional haiku consists of 17 early morning run Suddenly a ebra-flah tiger swallow-tai syllables five in the first line, seven CO Anderson carnnr1 and fivn in th thlrrt Haniilutu spnd original poems (traditional or centipede slithers modern) to the Haiku column, P.O.

under my rubber zoris 3110. Honolulu, HI 96802. i "No-onc sliould be nervous on their wedding Nobody ever said it was easy to write a musical show. And the new Eddie Sherman musical on the life of Hawaii entertainer and songwriter Kui Lee shows the strain of creation in its staged reading at the Honolulu Community Theatre. "Kui" orgmated as a screenplay, and has been reworked as a theater piece by Sherman and HCT artistic director Jim Hutchison.

Still far from being a fully staged musical, the show is presented on a bare stage without costumes and only the actors and a small orchestra to give it shape. While a lot depends on imagination, the presentation is a good test of whether the material has potential for full treatment To be a success it will need good music, eye appeal, and a tight book. The Kui Lee songs are a given and the production numbers and stage effects are suggested and left to our imagination. The trial at HCT proves that the plot needs a lot of work. In a show as heavy with songs as this one is, there is not much room for dialogue.

What there is of it must be economical and swift. The story and the characters must be advanced in a clear shorthand that sets purpose and theme, on Kui's songs. There is obvious jealousy between them, but claimed affection as well. But the feelings the two men shared are never clearly developed or articulated. Act two ends with plenty of sentiment, and some of it is effective.

Kui finally receives an honorary diploma after having been expelled from Kamehameha Schools. His acceptance speech is the first attempt at stating why his life has special meaning, and when illness prevents him from com- pleting his song, the student body rises to finish it for him. It's a moving moment and the best drama in the show. The play ends, as his life ended, with his loss to cancer. Kimo Kahoano and Shaunne Gallipeau make an attractive couple as Kui and Nani.

and Esmond Chung is amusing and subtle as Don Ho. The chorus is well coached and musical director Emmett Yoshioka keeps good control. There is plenty of raw material in "Kui," but the key to unlocking the man and making him accessible to a general audience remains elusive. Without it. "Kui" will remain a sentimental Hawaiian revue.

The show will have one more performance at 8 tonight at HCT's Fort Ruger Theater. producing a Polynesian show at the Lexington Hotel. There he meets Nani and leads a bohemian life in the New York entertainment world until his cancer is diagnosed and he decides to return home to Hawaii. The plot covers a lot of territory, but never begins to touch Kui the man. Act one ends, and we're still looking for a reason to care.

The act one finale gives a small hint, stressing power and determination beneath the words to "I'm Going Home." but act two slips backward into a medley of familiar songs. "One Paddle. Two Paddle." "Lahainaluna," and "Kanaka Pete" are each successful in themselves, but constitute a mini revue, and not a dramatic progression. There is a basis for good character interaction in the second act. but the script at this stage only questions and hints, without tying down the answers.

We need to know more about Kui and Nani. Why she stays with him, why she leaves him, why she comes back to him. Why Kui claims he loves her, but shows it by acting the part of a wastrel. There is fine potential for developing the relationship between Kui and Don Ho. Ho succeeds as an entertainer largely rozmiarek WWMl drm critic and not merely link songs together.

Unfortunately. spends too much time meandering and taking things for granted. Most of its feeling comes from its lyrics, and the skeleton script begins to read like a manufactured transition from one number to the next. The first act has real problems. Young Kui is 9 years old at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, with a battleship-sized chip on his shoulder.

He scoffs at the Japanese attack, since he is too poor to have anything to lose, and leads his family in a hula instead. The image just doesn't wash. The plot continues to wander all the way to intermission, with Kui as beachboy, in the wartime Coast Guard, and finally striking out for a show business life in New York City. After a thief takes all his belongings, he leads the YMCA staff in a chorus of "Ain't No Big Ting" and lands the job of Penny Keli'i, Wedding Specialist Intimacy between elderly sweethearts 4 asK At least, not about the reception. As wedding specialist at The West in ILikai, 1 make sure of that.

With lots of personal, sensitive guidance and care. I know that even though every couple has different needs, there's really only one kind of reception. Perfect. Call me, Pennv Keli'i, for a free consultation at 949-3811. ruth I am 67 and my sweetheart is 74, and I hope you can solve our problem.

We have both been widowed for several years. Right now we go places together and have lots of fun. Ruth stheimer The Westin Ilikai Honolulu Ja You are upset now. I take it that you want to save this marriage and also to get out of it what it isn't giving you. You have to go to a marriage counselor, even if he won't go with you.

You can let him know you are going, and ask him if he will go along. That way he is not the "sick" one who needs help, but you are both going to try to save your marriage. But. in the end. he has to know that you are unhappy and that he has to do something about your unhappi-ness.

I would want to know what you mean by his "faking" it. We know that women fake it sometimes. That is, they fake pleasure to please or flatter i heir men. When men fake it. they usually pretend to have an ejaculation when none has occurred.

It is taken as a sign of holding back from the relationship, often an unconscious holding back. Men who have the sexual dysfunction called retarded ejaculation can be treated through sexual therapy, but they have to want to overcome the dysfunction. Your husband will have to be persuaded that something he wants this marriage with you is endangered unless he learns to give the closeness you want from him. Questions of general interest may be addressed to Dr. Ruth in care of King Features Syndicate, 235 East 45th Sew York, XY 100 IT.

Ruth Westheimer, who holds a doctorate in education, writes on sexuality every Tuesday in the Focus section of The Advertiser. And you can hear her radio program, "Sexually Speaking," at 5-7 p.m. Sundays on Radio KGU (760). Tomorrow in Focus, read Peter Herman's "Family Law in Hawaii." he needs help but I can't suggest it to him. He would be upset.

Westin HOTLIS 8k Rf SORTS nit mm i shi'i tsoi uimi And, after several months of going together, we are in love. Our friends think it's OK and so do our children our carrying on hasn't upset anybody. We are both on Social Security, and if we were to get married, her pension from her late husband would be cut off. As you know, the cost of living on a fixed income is tough. Even owning our own home, we can't afford to get married.

My question is, do you think it would be wrong for us to be intimate? jr- When the government IS penalizes marriage between senior citizens, as it definitely does, it only encourages older people in your position to live together unwed. In the United States, so long characterized, perhaps unjustly, as a puritanical nation, it has become commonplace for seniors to have a menage. I will not be surprised when you write to tell me that you have done so, too. and the children think it's fine. If you and your sweetheart live together openly, you may still find yourselves upset by some grandchildren doing the same thing with their sweethearts.

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