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SHOW BIZ By
Wayne Harada
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"Every Little Step," a backstage documentary on the making and mounting of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning "A Chorus Line," bows this Friday in New York and Los Angeles — though the Island premiere date is unsure. However, the Kahala theater is screening a trailer, so presumably, the movie will occupy one screen, hopefully sooner than later.
There is a local connection. Jason Tam, who portrayed Paul San Marco in the last Broadway revival of the show, is the Islander prominently featured in the doc by James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, and he turns in a show-stopping monologue audition prompting the Madison Avenue Journal's Kurt Brokaw to call it "the most painful element of 'A Chorus Line' ... a wrenching performance that nearly stops the audition."
In the film, Tam emotes with tears, while the creators watch 10 feet away and also weep, exposing the process you don't commonly witness. This is a gotta-see. ...
ON BROADWAY: Besides Tony nominee Loretta Ables Sayre, who is in her second season as Bloody Mary in "South Pacific" at Lincoln Center Theatre, four other Islanders are performing on Broadway this season:
STORK REPORT: It's a boy, Kale Jung Ruivivar, for actors Anthony Ruivivar and Yvonne Jung. The tot, the couple's third child, was born April 1 in Los Angeles, where the family lives, and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 19 inches. ...
Meanwhile, grandpa Tony Ruivivar, leader of the classic Society of Seven, is completing a three-night gig tonight at the Sun Coast in Las Vegas, where "American Idol" songstress Jasmine Trias has joined them, following her recent stint with the SOS LV at the Outrigger Waikiki's Main Showroom, which may resume later this year. ...
THE LOCAL ANGLE: Rob Letterman, director of "Monsters vs. Aliens," has Island ties — he was born here, attended Mid-Pacific Institute and the University of Southern California, and is known, of course, for earlier directing the animated "Shark's Tale" but also toiled on "Shrek" before surfacing as a top-tier director. Next up for Letterman: "Gulliver's Travels," with Jack Black as travel writer Lemuel Gulliver, whose assignment in Bermuda winds up in Lilliput. Emily Blunt and Jason Segal co-star. ...
CALENDAR CUES: It'll be a jazzy 'ohana reunion when saxophone legend Gabe Baltazar (now residing in Waialua) joins nephews David Choy (sax, of Kula) and Junior Choy (trumpet, of Ka'u) at 6:30 pm. April 22 at Gordon Biersch, Aloha Tower Marketplace. With Noel Okimoto on drums, Dean Taba on bass and Robert Shinoda on guitar, expect a first-class jazzfest. ...
Master of the slack key Ledward Ka'apana plays in a free Na Mele No Na Pua concert from 4 to 5:30 p.m. April 26, at the Grand Lanai of the Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach. ...
And that's Show Biz. ...
Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.
