Weekend Features Hula, Hamlet and Clowns

By Vanessa Wolf

We warned you about the clowns. Photo courtesy Modern American Circus

So we meet again. Again.

What’s that you say?

You have no idea what to do with yourself this weekend?

You’ve come to the right place. Pull up a chair and allow us to fill your ears with the sweet, sweet sounds of this weekend’s happenings.

Send in the Clowns

The Modern American Circus is a “highly acclaimed world-class troupe of over 30 circus performers from various locations around the world.” They perform together in a 105-minute show in a traditional, giant big-top circus tent that can accommodate well over 1000 people.

The 30 plus performers perform acts varying from acrobatic flights, comedy, magic, drama, dance, daredevils, strength and balance and, of course, clowning.

On the upside, no animals are used – or harmed – as part of the show.

The Modern American Circus will be performing all weekend at the Maui Tropical Plantation in Wailuku.

Tonight’s show is at 7:30 p.m. with repeat performances at 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and a final engagement at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets are $16-$84.

But Break, My Heart, For I Must Hold My Tongue.

Who doesn’t love watching performances of classic Shakespeare plays?

Agreed, but how about what the promoters call a “swift, modern dress version of Hamlet, directed by Todd Van Amburgh of Seabury Hall. Set in modern times and cut to two hours, this is Hamlet as Shakespeare’s audience knew it: a swift and entertaining ‘revenge tragedy.’”

Now we’re talking!

The plot centers around young Hamlet, who – returning home – finds his recently widowed mother has quickly remarried her deceased husband’s brother. Hamlet has been seeing the ghost of his dad and begins to seek revenge on whomever murdered him. Obviously the uncle/step-dad is a likely suspect.

Random thought: Hamlet would be an excellent name for a pet pig.

Anyway, the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students.

Dance Like Nobody’s Watching

Or like you’re being judged. Either way.

The Hula O Na Keiki, a children’s solo hula competition, is held on the grounds of the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. This weekend of Hawaiian arts and music aims to educate children in the ways of the ancestors so the culture can be carried forward.

Children from ages 5 years old to 17 years old compete for awards and titles. The process beings with what organizers call “a somewhat nerve-wracking interview in front of a panel of judges” (Where were you the night of the 11th!?) and are also required to memorize a chant in the native Hawaiian language. Later that evening they will perform either a kahiko (traditional) or auana (modern) style hula.

Then, on Saturday night, the true dance off begins.

Canoe rides, hula workshops and craft displays started this morning and go until 2 p.m. with the hula show at 3:30 p.m. and continue tomorrow, Saturday the 9th, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the hula show at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $25 and $6 for children 12 and younger.

Life is Uncertain. Eat Dessert First.

Once again, nothing to do with Life is Sweet but dessert nonetheless. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

Dessert-lovers have more than one good reason to attend The Shops At Wailea’s 4th annual “Life Is Sweet” event on Saturday, Nov. 9 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Desserts created by renowned chefs from South Maui’s resorts and restaurants can be sampled as part of a community fundraiser for Best Buddies Hawaii.

Celebrity judge Maureen McCormick (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia of The Brady Bunch) is returning to determine the winner of the dessert competition. She will be helped out by local comedian and actor Andy Bumatai.

Along with live Hawaiian music, there’s will be a silent auction and a complimentary wine-tasting accompanied by pupus where guests can meet and geek out over the celebrity judges.

Tickets for “Life is Sweet” are $50 per person and limited to 200 guests.

All the World’s a Stage

On Saturday, Nov. 9, take in the premiere of The Legend Of Ko’olau, a play by local author Gary T. Kubota.

The one-man play, acted by Ed Ka‘ahea and directed by Keo Woolford, “tells the story of a Hawaiian man who became an ‘outlaw’ while trying to protect his family’s right to live on land in Kaua‘i after the loss of Hawaiian sovereignty in 1893.

“The enforcement of leprosy laws at that time would have consigned Kaluaiko’olau and his son to the ‘Living Grave’ settlement at Kalaupapa, but Ko‘olau’s wife Pi‘ilani was resolved to keep the family together. Ko‘olau had been a cowboy and fought against the militia, and he was an excellent marksman. These factors – as well as the vast wilderness of Kaua‘i’s Kalalau Valley – contribute to his cause.”

Tickets to The Legend of Ko’olau are $25.

No Culture Can Live, If It Attempts To Be Exclusive.

A scene from one of the Kuleana films. Courtesy image.

Gandhi said that and it’s at least mildly relevant to the fact that on Sunday Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. the MACC will be screening the first installment of the Kuleana film series.

Billed as “a contemporary view of the efforts to keep Hawaiian things Hawaiian,” Kuleana is the first of the two-part Heritage Films series conceived by Kumu Hula Hokulani Holt, the MACC’s cultural director.

The MACC explains that the films highlighted in this Kuleana session “take the audience on a huakaʻi throughout the paeʻāina: to shine the light on good work being done by many in the community to ensure that laws are being followed to protect iwi kupuna, precious resources, sacred sites, and traditional/customary rights, among other issues.”

Following the films there will be a talk story session.

Tickets are $10 and more information can be found here.