Saturday Part 2 - Alice, Superheroes and a night on the town

August 11, 2012

Ok, so let me begin by saying I had an utterly fabulous evening. The whole day was made of awesome to be honest. This is just such a great final weekend for my time here in Hawaii.

Thanks to the generous birthday gift from Kate I was able to attend the Ballet Hawaii production of Alice in Wonderland in collaboration with The Washington Ballet. Here is the YouTube ad.

This was the most absolutely amazing thing I have ever seen. The dancing was far and away the best I have ever seen from the principal dancers of The Washington Ballet. The corps performed by the local ballet school summer intensive program students was very good as well. The choreography was purely brilliant. In any ballet I have experienced personally or seen in an form (TV, movies, DVD's) I have never EVER seen better choreography that so fit the characters yet was shockingly delightful to the senses. The demeanor of the dancer portraying Alice made it so easy to slip into the fantasy of seeing her as a little girl. The dancers portraying the animals and the other characters were just amazing and made you forget they could be anyone other than their character. In short, the dancers were a marvel of delight and engaged the audience into surrendering to the fantasy they wove on stage.

Then there were the sets and scenery. I have NEVER seen such a delightful mixture of sets and scenery. The sheer creativity was astounding. The massive stage productions of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera with their stage sets was breathtaking and intense. For Alice they were just so creative and clever you kept hear the audience gasp and chuckle amidst a chorus of "WOW's". The costuming was equally brilliant and creative. You can see some YouTube snippets of the making of this ballet and some of the choreography and costumes from these clips:

Here is a photo slideshow to see some more costuming.

Here were some photos I took of the evening:

Me at home getting ready for the ballet.

My program and ticket :)

 I bought the LAST Disappearing Cheshire Cat mug. You add hot liquid and the Cheshire Cat disappears. Too awesome to pass up.

 Me at the ballet. The folks upstairs in the general seating balcony were casually dressed. however, In the orchestra (floor level) people were dressed very nicely so i was glad I dressed up.

After The ballet ended Emily, Hiro, Bryan and his neighbor Drea picked me up and we went to Yakitori Glad. We had some meat skewers and I started my evening libations. I have no idea what we ate. They had gone to a fundraiser event beforehand for animal rescue called "Everyday Heroes". It was a superhero themed costume party. Being from Louisiana/New Orleans they are good at the making costumes aspect. Emily went as a hipster Underdog, Bryan was Superman, Hiro was the Green Flash, and Drea was Rogue. So here they are in costume:

 Hiro with a very happy group of Japanese kids and their mom.

 Hiro in the doorway tot he restaurant. He was having a blast.

Emily and Hiro went home and Bryan, Drea and I left and continued on to other venues. We eventually ended up at Kelly O'Niell's Irish Pub where we finished up the night. Bryan dressed as Superman was a huge hit. I was bought drinks by several folks and asked to dance, which I declined due to my ankle. However, we just enjoyed the music, the alcohol and the company. We had a great time. We caught a cab home and finally got to our respective homes about 4:30am. A shower and big bottle of water later and it was almost 5:30 before I got to bed.

A LONG but wonderful day! This weekend has been the absolute best, most wonderful, amazing and fabulous of my entire time here - and probably for a very long time. I am so glad I have gotten to spend time with so many great people I have met here and see so many wonderful things, and try so much great food!!! Mahala for the great bon voyage!

Malama pono, (Take care)
~Melissa