Lina Doo was the musical theatre advocate here at KapCC. She music directed and ensured that the school put up one student musical per year. Since her passing, musical theatre classes are no longer offered at KapCC by the music or theatre departments. Hopefully, her program will continue on, but she certainly has left some big shoes to fill. It is not easy producing a student musical of the magnitude that Lina put on.
KapCC’s music and theatre departments will never be the same. While the student body, faculty, and community still mourn her loss, there is an opportunity coming up to partially fill the void of community college musical theatre productions.
Les Miserables logo courtesy of http://windward.hawaii.edu/Paliku/
I met with Windward Community College’s (WCC) Paliku Theatre Manager, Tom Holowach, to talk about their upcoming production of “Les Miserables.”
Unfortunately, the show opening this week on Sept. 20 is sold out.
Holowach said, “I feel like a student at the barricades,” from the famous scene in the show because people calling every day to purchase tickets and none are available.
People are calling to beg for tickets for good reason.
“When we had auditions,we had 150 people show up,” Holowach said. “I could have sold tickets to the callbacks because we seldom get that many good voices in one room at the same time trying to beat each other.”
“When we were all done cutting it down to a cast of 46,” Holowach said, “It’s the cream of the crop.”
He’s not exaggerating when he says that this show is brimming with talent. Kip Wilborn, a professional touring actor is part of the cast.
“Kip Wilborn, who is our Valjean, is typically touring this time of year in Vienna,” Holowach said. “He promised his wife that he’d take a year off from touring (and) he was actually supposed to take over (the part) in Toronto.”
Wilborn is not the only star power to boost Paliku’s version of Les Miserables. This is the first time that Paliku Theatre has had a guest equity artist contract. They are only necessary when a theatre professional who is part of the union does a non-union performance, like the one at Paliku.
Holowach shared that, Clifton Hall, a legitimate Broadway star, who was just in “Wicked,” the touring version that came to Honolulu in January, will be playing Marius.
“People are saying just take this to the Blaisdell, just move it to the Blaisdell,” Holowach said. “If it were only that easy. But from a quality standpoint, this will absolutely stand head-to-head against the shows that come to Blaisdell.”
While tickets are currently unavailable, keep your fingers crossed that the paperwork will go through and ears open because when Holowach gets approval to add performances to the run, tickets will go fast.
But keep the faith. Even if the show doesn’t extend, there may be an opportunity for people who wait in line on the night of each performance to get in.
“I started putting in these plastic chairs,” Holowach said, for the “people who would just randomly walk up to the box office during the night of a sold out show.”
If you’re willing to camp out, Black Friday style, in front of the theatre for a chance to see this amazing show, the odds are in your favor that you’ll get in.
To get on the waiting list to buy tickets, call (808) 235-7310.