By JOHN BURNETT
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The 1989 film “Steel Magnolias” enjoys an iconic stature, especially in the Deep South, where it seems many women can recite its dialogue.
The story revolves around a small-town Louisiana beauty parlor where “anybody who’s anybody gets their hair done” and gossip among friends flows like moonshine on the bayou. Then, there’s the cast: Dolly Parton as beauty shop owner Truvy Jones; Sally Field as M’Lynn Eatenton, a Southern mom with a heart of gold; Julia Roberts as Shelby Eatenton Latcherie, the central character who’s a diabetic; Shirley MacLaine as Ouiser Boudreaux, the “richer than God” gossip one loves to hate; Olympia Dukakis as Clairee Belcher, a Southern charmer who enjoys being a thorn in Ouiser’s side; and Darryl Hannah as Annelle Dupuy Desoto, a shy but talented young beautician.
Safety Pin Productions presents the original stage version of this classic at the East Hawaii Cultural Center, 141 Kalakaua St. in downtown Hilo. Performances are tonight and Saturday and May 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m., plus 2 p.m. Sunday matinees this weekend and May 27. Tickets are $10 general, $8 for students, seniors, and EHCC members, and are available at the East Hawaii Cultural Center.
Christian Pa is the director while Jessica Takayama serves as producer and stage manager. Taking on the daunting roles as the finest ladies of Chinquapin Parish are: Justine Thompson as M’Lynn; Daisy Willis as Shelby; Susan James as Ouiser; Kathy Emery as Clairee; Callalilly Finglas as Truvy; and Soraya Elena Perez as Annelle.
“I feel like these ladies were born ready,” Takayama said Thursday.
Robert Harling wrote the play, as well as the film adaptation, so the similarities between the stage and screen versions outweigh the differences.
“In the movie, you see the whole town, so you get to see everybody they’re gossiping about in the shop. But in the play, it all takes place within the shop, so you just have to imagine the people they’re gossiping about,” Takayama said.
EHCC’s upstairs theater is cozy, which creates an intimacy between performers and audience members.
Our ‘fourth wall’ in the show, we think of as the mirrors of the shop,” Takayama said. “Pretty standard beauty shop behavior, everybody makes eye contact in the mirror, ao there’s gonna be a lot of eye contact in the audience. You wouldn’t have that in a bigger theater, such as UH or the Palace.”
Takayama said that the cast has pulled through some illnesses, which sounds a bit like like imitating art.
“One of the strongest themes in the play is that one of the characters (Shelby) is a diabetic,” she said. “… Diabetes is one of those things that has definitely touched many of our cast members. My grandfather passed away from diabetic complications. One of the other cast members, her mother is a diabetic. We have a little information booth in front for people to visit. It’s not something to be ignored, especially here, where diabetes is very prevalent.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.