Cathy Foy won a Po'okela award a few seasons ago for starring in "Kiss Me, Kate" on the tiny stage at Hawai'i Pacific University. Now she proves she can expand the role at least six times over to fill the cavernous Richardson Theatre at Fort Shafter.

The sound system helps, of course, but Foy has the right feel for Shakespeare's braying heroine from "The Taming of the Shrew" and for Cole Porter's haughty actress Lilli Vanessi, who is her alter ego in this musical within a musical.

The show is creaky enough to prove its age, but show-biz stories are always fun and bigger than life. In this one, a pair of divorced actors (Foy and Buz Tennent) transfer their personal antagonisms into a production of Shakespeare's comedy as Kate and Petruchio.

Their warring continues on stage and off during the course of their opening night performance, and anyone wondering what's happening to Shakespeare's play while its major characters spend great chunks of time in their dressing rooms hasn't quite got into the spirit of the piece.

It's not meant to be realistic, merely a satire and a spoof.

Foy's voice is in fine tune, giving an operetta quality to "So In Love" and sharp character bite to "I Hate Men." Tennent finds the right pompously stiff quality to effectively play Petruchio and uses a strong baritone to balance Foy on "Wunderbar" and the title song.

David Starr and Larry Bialock make the most of their character roles as a couple of charming gangsters, especially when stealing curtain calls to their big number, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." Tricia Marciel is an effective Bianca and grasping nightclub dancer.

Jim Hutchison directs and choreographs a sizzling interpretation of "Too Darn Hot" that gives punch to the opening of the second act. In it, Alison Maldonado belts out the vocal and Cole Horibe leads the chorus with dance moves equal to those in any professional company.

Unfortunately, it's Maldonado's only number, and Horibe is otherwise reduced by a baby blue Fauntleroy costume to the status of wimpy suitor for most of the show.

Other dance numbers are not as effective. We long for some real soft shoe for the gangsters and wouldn't miss much if the suitors' and full-company numbers were cut entirely to shorten a long first act.

Cutting 30 minutes from the production's nearly three-hour playing time would tighten things up, and the finale needs a distinctive big finish to bring down the curtain. But, on the whole, the leads are equal to the music and their roles while the chorus and orchestra provide good support.

Friday, February 20, 2004

FIVE QUESTIONS

No business like shrew business for Cathy Foy

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
Cathy Foy knows a good role when it comes down the pike. Why else would she sink her teeth into the title character in "Kiss Me, Kate," the beloved Cole Porter musical opening Thursday at the Army Community Theatre's Richardson Theatre ... a second time?

The Tony-Award-winning favorite, inspired by Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," features a bickering couple, a play within a play, a lot of screeching and tantrum-throwing ... and all those wunderbar Porter tunes: "Another Op'nin' Another Show," "So in Love," "Too Darn Hot" and "From This Moment On."

"When I first did the role at HPU (Hawai'i Pacific University), my husband Aaron (Aaron Mahi, conductor of the Royal Hawaiian Band), said they picked the perfect shrew," said Foy.

She laughed — and answered Five Questions:
Q. You've played Kate before and won a Po'okela Award. How easy is it to go down the same path again, yet breathe freshness in the role for you and audience?
A. "The chance to do it all over again makes it all the more enjoyable. I had so much fun performing Kate/Lilli at HPU (two years ago) that I was grateful to have the opportunity to reprise the roles. By doing so, this allows me the chance to add a lot more color and depth to the part."

Q. Why are you attracted to Kate and this show?
A. "I love the music. The songs feel so good to sing, from a singer's standpoint. I truly believe 'Kiss Me, Kate' is an operetta. Cole Porter's music is wonderful to sing; it's a happy musical with memorable, toe-tapping tunes and everyone leaves the theater humming the songs and smiling. And that's what attracted me — because the fact of playing the shrew allows me to reach for characterizations that bring out the strength and fun of the role. It's a very, very physical role with a lot of yelling and throwing of things. And the script is witty." (She chuckles).

"Also, we have a young but energetic cast; I believe some future 'American Idols,' too. And Buz Tennent is a wonderful Petruchio. And I get to work with Tricia Marciel again; we were double-cast at HPU but she is Bianca now and absolutely sparkling in the show."

Q. You've performed in New York and still maintain roots in Honolulu? How tough is it to make theater a livelihood in both cities?
A. "I'm fortunate to be able to work as a singer quite steadily here in Honolulu and the Neighbor Islands. Theater in Hawai'i is really something I do for love. It's how I hone my craft. When opportunities arise in New York, I will take advantage. But it's tough (to find the right shows)." (She sighs).

Q. What else have you been doing?
A. "I entertain part time on the Norwegian Star; I also work for Tihati Productions. And I also sing with the Royal Hawaiian Band. Doing a show like this demands a lot of sacrifice. The reward? It's nice to look into the audience and see lots of smiles and no question marks. And more fulfilling — you actually see members of the audience singing along."

Q. Being married to Aaron Mahi ... is music very big on the home front?
A. "Aaron is probably the busiest person I know. When we have the opportunity to work together, we do collaborate. I often look to him for advice and also help in proper pronunciation or interpretation of Hawaiian songs. "He is helping me with my recording, which is a compilation of love songs which hopefully will be out by end of this year. I want to do love songs by well-known Hawaiian composers, like 'Kamehameha Waltz' by Charles E. King. And I want to do 'Ke Kali Nei Au,' with Aaron singing the man's part. We don't talk music that much at home, though he's really helping me with the album, doing the arrangements. It's going to be simple, with piano accompaniment by Alethea Train."


Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Vocals lend wings to musical weighted by anachronisms

Review by John Berger

Strong vocal performances by three leads and a secondary performer are the brightest facets in Army Community Theatre's revival of "Kiss Me, Kate."

Buz Tennent (Fred Graham/Petruchio) and Cathy Foy (Lilli Vanessi/Kate) mesh as the bickering couple for whom a production of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" is an amplification of their tempestuous relationship backstage.

Tricia Marciel (Lois Lane/ Bianca) matches her best work in local theater with her seductive portrayal of an opportunistic actress of easy virtue.

Alison L.B. Maldonado (Hatti) adds another first-rate vocal performance in "Too Darn Hot." The number is one of several that neither advances the story nor our understanding of the characters, but Maldonado makes it a rousing celebration of 1948 musical theater in opening Act 2. Lest there be any doubt about her range, she's best known around town as a singer, but "Too Darn Hot" shows she's also worth watching as a dancer.

Story and character development are secondary in this musical-within-a-musical about complications that ensue when egotistical director-producer Fred Graham casts his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi, as his co-star in a musical "Taming of the Shrew." Graham also casts opportunistic nightclub singer Lois Lane as Bianca, and Lane's boyfriend and nightclub partner, Bill Calhoun, as Bianca's suitor Lucentio.

The complications include Lilli's involvement with wealthy political power broker Harrison Howell (Jack Bates), Fred's flirtatious relationship with Lois and the fact that Calhoun owes $10,000 to a big gambling operation and has put Fred's name on the IOU. Two gangsters -- David Starr (First Man) and Larry Bialock (Second Man) -- stop by the theater on opening night to collect the money.

Lilli assumes a floral arrangement from Fred shows he still loves her, except they were intended for Lois. Lilli then tells Fred she is quitting, but he convinces the hoods that keeping Lilli in the show is in their best interest and they become self-conscious supernumerary members of his production. Foy received a 2001 Po'okela Award for her portrayal of Lilli/ Kate in Hawaii Pacific University's staging of "Kiss Me, Kate"; two other alumni of HPU's "Kate" also appear, which makes comparisons inevitable.

Foy again shows her range in the dual roles of actress and Shakespeare's shrew. She sings "So in Love" with poignant sweetness, then displays her comic chops with "I Hate Men." A spanking scene seems tentative, but she and Tennent are otherwise in synch throughout.

Marciel, Foy's understudy at HPU, is good as Bianca and excellent as Lois. "Tom Dick or Harry," her big number as Bianca in Act 1, is beautifully performed in tandem with Daren Kimura (Gremio), Eric Richards (Hortensio) and Cole Horibe (Lucentio). Marciel's "Always True to You" is a show-stopper as she succeeds in projecting the sex appeal of a woman who uses her body to get what she wants, while shading her performance to make Lois appealing rather than sluttish.

Tennent and director-choreographer Jim Hutchison interpret Graham as more of a straight-arrow guy than Steve Wagenseller and director Joyce Maltby did at HPU, but Tennent's voice and stage presence give his performance equal credibility. He and Foy convincingly segue from rancor to romance in "Wunderbar," and his biggest number as Petruchio, "Were Thine That Special Face," reaffirms his leading-man stature. Add "So in Love Am I" and Tennent's is a winning performance.

Starr and Bialock make a fine team as the gangsters and provide much of the comic content. Their big song-and-dance number, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," runs longer than necessary, but this is true for several other musical numbers. Even "Too Darn Hot," which ran longer than eight minutes on opening night, starts to drag when Maldonado isn't singing. Horibe is an exceptionally light-footed, graceful dancer who adds many wonderful moments to Hutchison's choreography, but his Calhoun isn't a character we care about, nor is there any chemistry between Horibe and Marciel in backstage scenes as Bill and Lois.

Jack Bates plays Lilli's wealthy suitor as such a decent and average guy that Graham's treatment of him passes the point of being mean-spirited long before the scene ends. Tennent has a good scene early when Graham tries and fails to intercept the note attached to the flowers; the slapstick elements in two "Shrew" scenes are effective; and although Starr and Bialock are relatively low key, they succeed as a charming team.

However, this bit of old-school musical theater moves slowly and never gets up to speed as a witty romantic comedy, even with allowances made for the problematic content of Shakespeare's "Shrew" regarding the ways that a man can "tame" a woman.

No one on opening night seemed to catch any of the vintage jokes about President Truman and something about serving borscht at the White House.