Aloha Performing Arts Company

Aloha Performing Arts Company
P.O. Box 794
Kealakekua, HI 96750
322-9924

7/20/06

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jerry Tracy or Sam Valenti, 322-9924

APAC ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON

Aloha Performing Arts Company has announced its lineup of theatrical productions for the 2006-2007 season at the historic Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu. After the 13th annual Original Play Festival in August, the first mainstage production will be "Honk, Jr." a streamlined version of the musical "Honk" by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, designed especially for young performers. This delightful show, playing October 6-22, is a zany modern musical retelling of the Ugly Duckling story, and will showcase a cast made up entirely of people under the age of 18.

To celebrate Halloween, APAC will reprise a hit musical from last season, Richard O'Brien's cult rock fantasy "The Rocky Horror Show." The majority of last year's cast is on board for this hana hou, which will be presented for five shows only, October 27-31.

In January and February of 2007, APAC will present "Bye Bye Birdie," which has been called "the first of the great rock musicals." A joyous product of the 1960's, the show pokes amiable fun at one of its era's most striking phenomena--the emergence in the mid 50's of a rock and roll star by the name of Elvis Presley, and the near hysteria that swept the nation's youth when it was announced that Presley would be drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958. Of course, to protect the innocent, Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, and Gower Champion, respectively responsible for the book, music, lyrics, and staging, cleverly avoided any direct reference to Elvis himself, substituting instead a figure of their own invention whom they named Conrad Birdie. The show opened on Broadway in April of 1960 and ran for a year and a half, making the song "Put On a Happy Face" a household tune. "Bye Bye Birdie" won the 1960 Tony for best musical as well as four other Tony awards. It was subsequently made into a motion picture starring Dick Van Dyke. APAC's production will run January 19 through February 11, 2007.

In April 2007, APAC will bring to the Kona community the newest Broadway musical ever presented on the Aloha Theatre stage: "Urinetown, the Musical" by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman. This show premiered on Broadway in September 2001, a difficult, emotional "rough patch" for our entire country. Broadway actually went dark during the show's preview week. But slowly life recommenced, Broadway lit up again, and "Urinetown" became a huge success, winning three Tony awards: for book, score, and direction. Praised by critics for reinvigorating the very notion of what a Broadway musical could be, it is a distinctive, intelligent, winking love letter to the conventions of the musical theatre, and a biting satire which spares no one. "Urinetown" depicts a world wracked by ecological disaster, caught in the throes of corporate greed, and ultimately felled by good intentions. In a Gotham-like city, a depletion of the earth's water supply has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The privilege to pee is regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid this dismal backdrop, a hero arises from the people and will lead them to freedom. APAC's production of this unique Broadway hit will be presented April 6-29, 2007

The season closes in June with the wacky British farce "Noises Off" by Michael Frayn. This hilarious show is presented in three acts, each referred to in the script as "Act One." The first Act One introduces us to an English touring theatre group in rehearsal for a comedy called "Nothing On." During what is supposed to be the final dress rehearsal, the director emerges angrily from the audience to remind the faltering cast that they open the next day, and the rehearsal finally fizzles to a pitiful end. The second Act One shows us the same act, from a backstage vantage point, after the production has been on the road for a month. The third Act One, six weeks later, is presented onstage again, with the audience seeing the set as they did in the first Act One. They witness a production gone amok: backstage romances spilling onto the stage, drunken performers, fist fights, missed cues, mangled lines, irate director explosions and general theatrical mayhem. Art imitates life and vice versa in this madcap peek at the inner workings of that beloved art form, the theatre. APAC"s season closer will play June 8-24, 2007.

In addition to its mainstage season, APAC will offer Readers Theatre events, student workshop productions, and ongoing performing arts education classes for all ages. For more information, call 322-9924 or visit our website at www.apachawaii.org.