Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 8, 1 August 2004 — and colorful history in the islands [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

and colorful history in the islands

"and, hopefully, great spectacle." Although Hawai'i is hardly known as an international opera powerhouse, a number of Native Hawaiians have been among the art form's stars. Most notable was tenor Tandy Ka'ohu MacKenzie, who was born in Hāna in 1892 and went on to heeome a star of the international opera stage star after he was discovered by an Irish singer who happened to drop in on a performance by MacKenzie's Kamehameha School glee club. Hawai'i also has a current native star in Keith Ikaia-Purdy, another Kamehameha graduate who is a soloist with the Vienna State Opera. And the next generation is represented by rising young baritone Quinn Kelsey, an alum of Honolulu's Hawai'i Youth Opera who is now a member of Chicago's Lyric Opera company. In addition to its regular winter season, this year Hawai'i Opera Theatre has added some light summer fare in Gilbert and Sullivan's Far East

farce "The Mikaāo ," directed by Akina and premiering Aug. 6. As it happens, Gilbert and Sullivan's Victorian comedies have their own royal tradition in the islands: in 1880, Princesses Miriam Likelike and Bernice Pauahi Bishop sang in a performance of the British duo's "H.M.S. Pinafore." "We're trying to be eclectic and have fun," says Akina of his Mikaāo production, whose supporting cast includes a sumo wrestler and Japan's diplomatic counsel to Hawai'i. "But we're also very serious about being true to the absurdities of the original text." Performances run Aug. 6-15. For ticket information, eall 596-7858, or visit hawaiiopera.org. ■

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HOT Artistic Director Henry Akina hams it up with singer Cathy Foy, who will play Pitti-Sing in Akina's production of "The Mikado."

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