Hawaii actress and entertainer Loretta Ables Sayre received a Tony Award nomination today for her portrayal of Bloody Mary in the hit Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

Ables Sayre’s nomination for best featured actress in a musical was one of 11 nominations earned by the critically-acclaimed revival of the pioneering Broadway musical. It’s Ables Sayre’s first-ever Tony nomination for her first-ever Broadway role.

“I’m over-the-moon. It’s such an honor to be nominated," Ables Sayre wrote HawaiiMagazine.com via via e-mail this morning. "For this to be my first show in New York and on Broadway and then to get this nomination is more than a dream come true. And, I want to thank everyone in Hawaii for their love and support.”

Said her very-elated husband, Honolulu-based publicist David Sayre, “She called me from New York this morning at 3 a.m. (Hawaii time) to tell me. It’s amazing! We’re just on cloud nine. We’re so excited. I’m so proud of her.”

Ables Sayre, 50, has deep roots in the Honolulu theatre community, and a full resume of Hawaii television and commercial work. She is also a noted jazz vocalist, having held longtime residencies at the Halekulani and Kahala Hotel & Resort.

“The entire cast, crew and production is just really incredible, and I would encourage folks to head out to New York to see it," said David Sayre. "It’s just an amazing show.”

Rodgers and Hamerstein’s South Pacific is playing at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. The Tony Awards will be broadcast on CBS on June 15.

A complete list of Tony Award nominations is here.
 
Congratulations, Loretta!

 

HawaiiMagazine.com readers have been asking for an update on events at the Big Island’s Kilauea volcano.

After a flurry of summit activity in the last couple of months—steam vent explosions, vog, evacuations, two temporary closures of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park—life there has seemed a bit quiet the last three weeks.

So we caught up with park ranger Mardie Lane to see if life for scientists and rangers at Kilauea had quieted down, too. Not a chance, said Lane.

“This park is never quiet. It’s the park that never sleeps. Not to take anything away from other national parks but, honestly, I’ve been known to stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and go, ‘Well, what happens next?’” said Lane, chuckling. “We’re so used to the dynamic nature of active volcanism here.”

Business as usual at Kilauea this week includes activity at the Halemaumau vent—still spewing a plume of steam and ash into the air 24/7 at the summit—and the Pu'u O'o vent—dumping molten lava into the ocean off the Puna coastline.

Breaking news crews are no longer camping on Lane’s doorstep, but international film crews still arrive every week to capture life at Kilauea.

On the day I spoke to Lane, there were crews from Tokyo Broadcasting and National Geographic roaming the park. A couple of crews from Discovery Channel were about to arrive.

With fewer questions from major news media to field, rangers like Lane have returned to editing and writing copy about Kilauea for magazine articles and books, hosting tours for visiting VIPs (politicians, apparently, love the park), and arranging cultural demonstrations (music concerts, lei-making classes, etc.). Rangers meet with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s incident command team daily to reassess the eruption and safety issues.

After 27 years on the Kilauea’s summit, Lane still loves her job. She even called me on her day off—a gorgeous one, as it turns out.

“The trades are blowing. The skies are blue. The lehua blossoms are in bloom. And the little scarlet apapane are just in heaven with all of the nectar they’re finding in each little flower,” marveled Lane.

The rest of her day? A sunset visit to Kilauea’s summit, or, perhaps, a trail ride on her park horse, Ohia.

Color us seriously jealous, Mardie.

  

Gladys Knight loves Hawaii. And Hawaii loves her.

Knight rocked the Neal Blaisdell Arena this past Saturday at “The Rhythm of Romance 2” concert. As part of the second annual Hawaii Romance Festival, HAWAII Magazine was invited to hear the R&B superstar perform with the Matt Catingub Orchestra of Hawaii.

We were also serenaded by singing sensations Aaron Neville and American Idol’s Kimberly Locke. Even Hawaii’s own Na Hoku Hanohano music award winner, Fiji, romanced the crowd with a couple of songs.

Knight’s older brother and former Pip member, Merald “Bubba” Knight, made a brief appearance—bringing laughter with his jokes and his James Brown impersonation.

The three-hour concert inspired the audience to dance and sing along. The performers received several standing ovations. Of course, we had a great time.

If you missed it, check out Aaron singing “Everybody Plays The Fool” and Gladys singing “Midnight Train to Georgia,” minus the Pips.





The next Hawaii Romance Festival is tentatively scheduled for May 1 to 14, 2009.

For more romance, read our March/April 2008 HAWAII Magazine cover feature “Romance Hawaiian Style.” We’ve got stories about romantic adventures and love on the lava.

Need some romantic ideas? Check out our Top 5 Romantic Spots in Hawaii and the 8 Most Romantic Songs from Hawaii.

Photos and videos by Sherie Char

 

A new survey from the American Automobile Association lists Honolulu as the most expensive city in the United States for vacationers.

The average price for meals and lodging for two adults per day, at least according to AAA’s 2008 Annual Vacation Costs Survey? $673.

That’s more than second place New York City, which AAA estimates at $606 per couple, per day; and third place Miami at $370 a day.

Of that $673 per day spent in Honolulu, AAA says $546 goes to lodging and $127 on meals.

As longtime residents, we know that Honolulu (and Hawaii, in general) can be pricey. Still, AAA’s numbers seemed hard to believe. There are lots of places to stay for under $546 a night, and we could eat pretty well on $127 a day.

The numbers don’t match Hawaii’s own surveys, given to all visitors leaving Honolulu International Airport. Couples reported spending an average $368 per day on Oahu, in 2007. That number included not just lodging and food, but activities, shopping and ground transportation.

So how the heck did AAA get its figures, which were widely reported? 

The good news for everyone—except, perhaps, AAA members—is that the company’s numbers are sort of bogus.

Spokesperson Marie Montgomery told us that AAA’s Annual Vacation Costs Survey is based solely on numbers provided by hotels and restaurants requesting to be included in AAA’s diamond rating program or 50-state TourBook series. The company did not have a breakdown of how many Honolulu-based hotels and restaurants reported numbers to them, but said that it currently tracks more than 100 of each throughout Hawaii.

This methodology—which is skewed by a large number of luxury properties seeking AAA’s potentially lucrative five-diamond rating—leaves out many hotels and restaurants in Honolulu. It also doesn’t include condos, timeshare rentals and bed-and-breakfasts.

Further, AAA seems to be averaging high-end suites (of which there are only a few) in with standard hotel rooms (of which there are plenty) at each property, in order to come up with its $673 figure.

“I believe that most seasoned travelers realize, ‘Gosh, I don’t have to pay that much.’ By the same token, it would be nice to have a more realistic average,” said AAA’s Montgomery. “It’s just these are the numbers that the hotels themselves give us. They don’t give us the average rate that all of their customers paid for a room in a year. They just give us the rate that they want us to publish in the TourBook.”

State of Hawaii tourism liaison Marsha Wienert found the AAA survey hard to believe.  

“I thought, ‘How could (visitors) spend that much money?’ That makes no sense to me. Not when I know what they really spend. The (actual) numbers don’t come anywhere close to what AAA is saying.”

Of course, if you’d like to spend $673 a day here in Honolulu, that’s fine with us. We’d opt for a cheaper room and really live it up in the restaurants, however.

What do you think of AAA's numbers? Do you spend as much as $673 per day on just room and meals in Honolulu?

  

Longtime Honolulu-based Hawaiian fashion, gift and souvenir retailer Hilo Hattie was sold today to a California company.

Hilo Hattie’s seven stores on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island—as well as its online retail store—will continue business as usual.

The 45-year-old company—and self-prolaimed “Store of Hawaii”—was purchased for an undisclosed sum by TOC Inc., which also owns the Hawaii franchise of Fantastic Sams hair salons.

"I have the utmost confidence in TOC Inc's ability to successfully grow the company," said Jim Romig, Hilo Hattie’s longtime chairman, in a statement. Romig founded the company as Kaluna Hawaii Sportswear on Kauai in 1963, moving to Oahu two years later to manufacture Hawaiian fashions.

The company changed its name to Hilo Hattie in 1979—in honor of Hawaii musician Clarissa Haili, who took her name from the 1932 hapa-haole song, “When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop.”  The company has grown into one of the largest and most world-recognized retail brands of Hawaiian-themed apparel.

TOC Inc. principal Ted Nelson said in the statement that he would continue building and expanding the Hilo Hattie brand. Hilo Hattie has two stores in Southern California, and will open a new 20,000 square-foot flagship store at Waikiki’s Royal Hawaiian Center in 2009.