Permanent circus coming to town!

[Miulang]

Heh. I would have thought watching the denizens of Waikiki were a circus enough, but now there's a plan by a Florida company to convert the former IMAX theater on Seaside Ave. into a permanent circus venue.

"...Mystika Hawaii LLC recently signed a multiyear lease with landowner Robertson Properties Group and is expected to begin twice-daily shows as early as next spring in a deal that will add another new attraction to O'ahu's primary visitor destination.

"It's really going to add a nice entertainment flavor to the area, not only for tourists but for the local people," said Greg Swedelson, Robertson Properties vice president of acquisitions and leasing.

Details of the show are being kept under wraps by Mystika's Florida-based organizers, but it will be sort of a "mini Cirque du Soleil" with vaudeville-style acts including gravity-defying stunts and other amazing human performances, Swedelson said. ..."

If this is anything like Cirque, the tickets are going to cost plenty kala (like somewhere around $50 or more). What local family could afford to take their kids to see something that expensive?

P.S. I think it would be better to have more "culturally sensitive" entertainment like Maui has in Lahaina with 'Ulalena, which interprets one of the legends about the rain on Maui through music (very powerful) and Cirque-like choreography and acrobatics. A circus would not really give visitors a flavor for the culture and traditions of Hawai'i. The only place most tourists get that flavor now is through a hotel luau.

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

I thought the circus was already a permanent fixture in town in the big tent you know...the State Capitol Building on Punchbowl street!

[1stwahine]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

I thought the circus was already a permanent fixture in town in the big tent you know...the State Capitol Building on Punchbowl street!

nah, the circus is a traveling one. It's permanent base is in Chinatown, Honolulu. Then it travels to the neighborhoods, clowns and circus animals galore!

auntie lynn aka auntie pupule

[mel]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

All joking aside, I don't think there is anything wrong with having a circus like attraction in Waikiki. As long as they pull in the visitors, pay the bills and maybe even make a profit, its fine by me. These kinds of attractions are not meant for the local residents to begin with; it is in a tourist district so the primary market are tourists. If they can make it, fine. If not someone else will try something different.

[kimo55]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

yea. sounds like a good idea.
"hey honey, let's fly to Hawaii and visit Waikiki, where we can't see any more ocean, sky, mountains, but we can see world class shopping on every block, housed in very un tropical bunkers, and enjoy a european style circus, where once stood a cool old Hawaii art deco theatre."

Yea. The waikiki improvement association sure is instilling the area with a real '"sense of place"

as in; "uuuhhh, Henry: I can't make sense of this; What place are we in again!?"

[adrian]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

All joking aside, I don't think there is anything wrong with having a circus like attraction in Waikiki. As long as they pull in the visitors, pay the bills and maybe even make a profit, its fine by me. These kinds of attractions are not meant for the local residents to begin with; it is in a tourist district so the primary market are tourists. If they can make it, fine. If not someone else will try something different.

Bingo.

Maybe they can also travel around the island/state, by attending community events and other events so that people who can't go to Waikiki will get a chace to see them.

[mel]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

Maybe they can also travel around the island/state, by attending community events and other events so that people who can't go to Waikiki will get a chace to see them.

The Honolulu Symphony and Hawaii Theater for Youth sometimes take their shows on the road... or at least to Ala Moana Centerstage. The Polynesian Cultural Center does the same thing too... they send a small troupe on the road once in a while to give potential audiences a taste as to what they may get if they visit the main attraction. It's all part of the marketing effort. Free enterprise. Capitalism. Love it.

[hawaiiguy]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

Went to the Cirque Hawaii show this Sunday evening (1st show) in part due to the Pepsi month promotion (2 for 1 with any pepsi product).

We ordered in advance and bought the $65 tickets (adults) regular price (but brought admission for 2 due to the promo). There is also kamaaina price seating for adults and children (but with the Pepsi promo, you had to pay the regular price).

Party of 8 including my 11 yr old son and same aged nephew! They loved it.

It was worth it! Show time was approximately 75 minutes. Great view from any part of the seating arena as the intimate confines are nothing like that of the large auditoriums in Las Vegas' Cirque du Soleil or "O'.

I had seen the 'O' production a few years ago, and this was almost as good, the stage was not as large, but sizable.

Next time I go, i would not mind getting the $55 adult tickets (less since I am a kamaaina), as **all** seats have good views of the stage.

Well worth the price, even if I would have to pay full price!!!

Gosh, I just have to pass this on to everyone and tell all (who can go) to see the show now---especially during the last few days of the Pepsi promotion! Two shows nightly at 6:30 and 8:30pm except Wednesdays. Parking in the parking structure (where one parked to go to the Waikiki theatres) cost $6 (flat fee---good for 10 hours).

[pzarquon]

Cirque Hawaii

Thanks for the thread bump, and the review, hawaiiguy! I'd forgotten about this, despite driving through Waikiki last night and again lamenting the loss of those old theaters. Cirque Hawaii ain't "Hawaii" (did they at least drop the plastic lei and grass skirt?) but I'll take a live stage show over another Gucci store.

Went back and found an early review by the Star-Bulletin:

There are many lovely things to Cirque Hawaii to consider: beautiful costumes, amazing individual and group performances, and good accompanying music. Just don't go in and expect something of the caliber of an "O."

And another by the Honolulu Advertiser:

"Cirque Hawaii" has refitted the former IMAX theatre with a 70-foot-tall staging apparatus that brings a remarkably three-dimensional performance to a space designed for a large flat screen.

Doesn't seem like the clown's got many fans.

It sounds like an entertaining enough show, but even with the kama'aina "deal" it's too rich for me. Of course, locals aren't even a blip on the radar for this production. Tourists who've been to Vegas probably won't be lured, but hey, it's something else to see in Waikiki besides a retail outlet.

I just can't figure out how a circus troupe seized on the space before a PCC-esque Polynesian production, or how contortionists and trapeze artists could draw more tourists than Tahitian dancers. Not that a flashy "Hawaiian" show would be any less cheesy, but it seems more like what visitors trapped in Waikiki would want to see.

[scrivener]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

Yes, but there are plenty of those, and there is plenty of live Hawaiian music, too. I am no fan of shows like this, but it is the only of its kind in Hawaii, and people I know who've seen it have really, really enjoyed it.

I probably won't be checking it out anytime soon, though not because of the ticket price. People paid fifty bucks for the chance to see U2 basically on a video screen.

[pzarquon]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

Yes, but there are plenty of those...

Are there, though? With the production values of PCC's show? You can get a lousy luau buffet and a "show" in a few places, sure, but those are often exactly the sorts of tacky experiences many tourists gladly pay to avoid.

The primary liability the PCC show has got, despite being the most popular paid attraction in the state, is their location on the other side of the island. Meanwhile, you have a subset of visitor -- perhaps weekenders or business travelers -- who never venture more than five miles from their Waikiki hotels. Heck, if the PCC set up shop in Waikiki with their "B crew," they'd still draw crowds and make a killing. And more tourists could go home with memories of a Polynesian dance rather than an acrobat.

But, I agree, the Cirque Hawaii folks do now have the market cornered on what they're doing. I'd be curious at $15 a head, but not for $55 or $65. And hey, if it doesn't work out, at least some stage build-out has been done on the old IMAX building, and another troupe can try their luck.

[LikaNui]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

Heck, if the PCC set up shop in Waikiki with their "B crew," they'd still draw crowds and make a killing.

Isn't PCC actually doing that, at the site of the old Kodak Hula Show near the Shell?

[kimo55]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

no, dass a tour operator wahine goin set up shows and craft booths apparently on weekends. Holoholo waiks, no one seems to know about it wen ya ax em.
I belive the first thing they do, when they land is print up tons o flyers and blanket da area.

[LikaNui]

Re: Permanent circus coming to town!

Hmmmm...
An aquaintance from da mainland was just here and wrote this in a Trip Report:
"The new tourist attraction, "South Pacific Cultural Center" started daily mini-shows, and a craft/flea market type daily show, down in Kapiolani Park at the old Kodak Hula show area. I think it is a great idea to get that area back in use and start something again like the Kodak show. The group has a luau type show for a price, and then the main entertainment is currently free to others who want to go down and check it out. about 6:30 to 8:30, seating in the bleachers for those looking for the free show.
"One of the main guys in charge of the entertainment is Chief Sielu, the great Samoan entertainer and fire knife dancer from the PCC. They pour a lot of energy and personality into the show and the audience, so I hope word gets around. It was outstanding, and should be seen at least once. I've been down there a few times, and not too many people know about it. Saw it previewed on a couple news channels, ads in one of the tourist mags. The Chief left the PCC 3 years ago."
I see that they said "South Pacific Cultural Center" so that must be why I confused it with being a group from the Polynesian Cultural Center. (Plus they mentioned PCC a couple of times too.)