Pulse of the Community
Also Showing: ‘Rosie’s’ Returns
Fresh off the success of Fiddler on the Roof, director Joyce Maltby’s final musical production at HPU theater, she’s returning to her roots with a musical at Temple Emanu-El (May 24; 595- 7521, shaloha.com). Maltby recalls that her first show after being hired at HPU full time in ‘93 was a musical she co-wrote with husband Norm Boroughs, Rosie’s Place.
“Shortly after we were married — he had never done theatre, but Norm decided he wanted to write a musical,” recalls Maltby. “He had a vague idea that it would take place in a honky-tonk in West Texas.”
Dr. Kalani Brady, Ethan Okura, Shari Lynn, Jim Tharp, Becky Maltby and Mickey Graue in a 2005 production of ‘Aloha Rosie’s’ — all will appear in the current incarnation as well. PHOTO FROM TERRY OLIVAL
Maltby had never written a play and Boroughs isn’t a musician, but she went ahead and wrote the narrative and he created the lyrics and music.
“He would hum a few notes and I play by ear, so I’d pick them out on a piano,” she laughs.
The first installment of Rosie’s was such a hit that the duo followed up with A Night At Rosie’s in ‘97 and Aloha Rosie’s in 2005. The current offering is A Rosie Reunion, featuring songs from the original trilogy, centered around characters who frequent Rosie’s Bar and Grill.
“People have been saying for years, ‘We’d love to see another Rosie,’ so we got Shari Lynn and Jim Tharp and a lot of people who have been in the shows before,” says Maltby.
Performers reprising roles from the original trilogy also include Kalani Brady, Becky Maltby, Ethan Okura, Allan Okubo, Blossom Lam Hoffman, Melinda Maltby and Mickey Graue. Don Pomes and Larry Bialock join the cast for the first time.
Glenn Cannon Foundation, named for the late actor-director (who appeared in the original trilogy), is producing the musical, with 100 percent of ticket sales going to repair Temple Emanu-El’s Torah scrolls, including one given to the Jewish community by King Kalakaua and another from Czechoslovakia that survived the Holocaust.
