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Posts tagged ‘Maui Arts and Cultural Center’

Miss Saigon at the MACC

A couple years back (ok, make that 20), as a senior in high school, I recall getting a tour around the freshly opened Maui Arts and Cultural Centermiss saigon maui saigon cafe .  I remember standing on the vast stage, staring into a beautiful seating area and an even more impressive back stage.  The tour guide said, “this stage is built to hold Broadway sized productions, we can even have a helicopter like in Miss Saigon.”  This made my heart skip a beat, because just a few years prior (seriously, as a freshman, when I still lived in Maryland) we performed highlights from Miss Saigon in Chorus, and even drove up to the Big Apple to see it live.

If you have any inkling of what Miss Saigon is about (and if you don’t, there’s some adult topics, but I won’t ruin it for you if you are heading to see it yourself – and you SHOULD), you can imagine what kind of indelible impression this might have on a teen.  Spending months singing these amazing songs, packing on a big bus to drive up to NYC with a bunch of your buddies, then seeing this wonderful show with topics your parents would probably rather not discuss, and a dramatic surprise ending, that, even knowing the lyrics to all the major songs, I didn’t see coming.  Although I probably should have.

So lets just say that 20 years ago, I was ready to buy tickets to Miss Saigon at the MACC.  And after seeing what MAPA, the production company, did with Les Mis last summer, I’m even more excited than I was 20 years ago.  I might even go twice.

Here’s more information on the show, courtesy of the MACC:

From the company that brought you Les Misérables… MAPA LIVE presents Miss Saigon – for the first time ever on a Maui stage! This haunting and heart-wrenching love story of a Vietnamese bar girl and an American Marine during the fall of Saigon is a triumph of popular theater. With 45 performers and a live 21-piece orchestra, Miss Saigon explodes with the sweep and passion of opera couched in the gritty musical vernacular of our own time. An intimate story about the shattering effects of war on people who love each other, Miss Saigon is ultimately a moving testament to the power of the human spirit to survive. (Program contains mature themes and language.) Six shows only! Fri-Sat Aug 15-16 and 22-23 at 7:30 pm, and Sun Aug 17 & 24 at 2:00 pm

Pre-show dinner is provided by A Saigon Cafe (who else?)

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Event

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Maui’s Big Events for 2014

MAUI CALENDAR EVENTS 2014 BIG ACTIVITY

Maui has outstanding community events throughout the year – from golf tournaments that are fun to watch or fundraisers that are fun to eat (at).  If you are thinking of traveling to Maui in 2014, here are some events that you might want to consider planning a trip around.  (ok, it might be too late to make it here for the golf tournament, but I bet it will happen around the same time in 2015 as well…) And if you live here, some of these events are the ones you’ll want to start saving your pennies for…

UPDATE APRIL 29  – I’ve gone ahead and DELETED the events that have already taken place – and if you are planning to come in 2015, I’m already starting to put together that calendar soon!

Please note: If you know of other can’t-miss events, please add a comment below with a website for consideration.  Some events happening in the latter part of the year may not have confirmed dates yet.  Will keep this up to date as possible.  All events subject to change/cancellation. 

May 2014 

  • Date: Saturday, May 3
  • Event: Maui Onion Festival
  • Location: Whaler’s Village
  • Admission: Free
  • Chef Demonstrations, Games and Prizes, Recipe Contests, Live Entertainment, Food Booths 
  • Website: http://www.whalersvillage.com/onionfestival.htm
  • Date: Saturday, May 10
  • Event: Seabury Hall Craft Fair- a fundraiser for the scholarship programs
  • Location: Makawao (Upcountry)
  • Admission: $5 (12 and under free)
  • The juried Craft Fair features more than 100 local artisans, live entertainment, great food, live and silent auctions, activities for kids, rummage and plant sales and more
  • Website: http://www.seaburyhall.org/page.cfm?p=981

June 2014 

July 2014

  • July – event dates to be determined (check back for updates)
  • Event: 56th Annual 4th of July Rodeo and Parade
  • Location: Makawao

August 2014 

  • Date: TBD
  • Event: Miss Saigon 
  • Location: Maui Arts and Cultural Center
  • The famed Broadway play, coming to Maui, under the same direction as last year’s memorable Les Mis
  • Website: http://www.mauiacademy.org
  • Date: Friday, August 8
  • Event: Maui Calls-  a fundraiser for Maui Arts and Cultural Center
  • Location: Maui Arts and Cultural Center
  • Food Booths from some of Maui’s best restaurants, wines from wineries around the world, live entertainment, dancing, live and silent auction and more. 
  • Website: http://www.mauiarts.org/ShowCalendars.html?Year=2014&Month=08

September 2014

October 2014

  • Date: October 2-5
  • Event: Maui Fair
  • Location: Fairgrounds, Wailuku
  • A County Fair with the requisite food, carnival rides, games, animals and more food. 
  • Website: http://mauifair.com/2013/

November 2014

  • Date: Saturday, November 1
  • Event: Noble Chef- a fundraiser for the Maui Culinary Academy
  • Location: TBD
  • An elegant affair with celebrity chefs mentoring the culinary students, with auctions, entertainment and an always impressive dessert display.  Did I mention the dessert?  
  • Website: http://noblechef.maui.hawaii.edu
  • Date: November 7 & 8
  • Event: Made in Maui County Festival- First Ever!
  • Location: Maui Arts and Cultural Center
  • Made in Maui arts, foods, produce, crafts, jewelry, gifts, collectibles and more.  Features an invitation-only preview for retailers on Friday, and an open to the public event, including food trucks, restaurants etc !
  • Website: http://www.madeinmauicountyfestival.com

December 2014

  • Date: Saturday, December 6
  • Event: Haleakala Waldorf Holiday Faire
  • Location: Haleakala Waldorf School, Kula
  • Festive crafts, silent auction, food, kids activities, live entertainment and more 
  • Website: http://www.waldorfmaui.org

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Event, Food and Beverage

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Taken by Wonder at the MACC

When was the last time you went to an art exhibit where bringing kids is encouraged, you can get down on your hands and knees to explore, and even use a power tool if you like?

I don’t even know if my words can fully describe how fun and magical the new art exhibit at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center is – but ‘wonder’ is a good place to start.

Wes Bruce spent much of his formative youth building forts and structures in the forests of Northern California. Now, as the MACC’s first artist-in-residence, he’s created a fort inside the Schaefer International Gallery, and the name of the installation is ‘Taken by Wonder’. 

This isn’t your average fort, though.  There are secret rooms, tiny nooks, thousands of ‘treasures’, like antique Singer sewing machines and upright pianos… It’s a very sensory experience – with most of the exhibit lit by Christmas lights, hallways with hanging eucalyptus branches which you get a whiff of just as you walk by, and rooms with leather scraps padding the floor… We explored for quite a while and there’s still an upper room that I’m not sure how to access.  We’ll have to go back, but that’s part of the fun.  With older children, or as adults, make sure you grab a ‘decoder’ paper – there are phrases written all around the fort that you can decode.

Outside the fort, the remainder of the gallery space is full of interactive art activities areas – with everything from ‘construct your own fort’ with hammers, screwdrivers, and all sorts of materials, a poem station, water colors, and a tiny tots area with crayons and building blocks.

And the best part – its totally free. We may come back often…

The gallery has NEW HOURS  – Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm – and the exhibit runs through November 2.  And, if you fall in love with any of the fort’s treasures, you can return during the deconstruction, November 4-7, from 10am to 2pm, to take home a piece or two.

Still searching for more?  here’s some text from the MACC website:

Wes’ enduring concept for “Taken By Wonder” has many pulls centralized around the fictional research space of a group of outsiders and the discovery of their existence on an unknown island. There are blurred boundaries and hypothetical concepts alluding to origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs. Clues within the layers will lead us to believe that the inhabitants have only just left the space, stirring up a curious voyeurism and questioning.

Visitors will be free to explore the caverns and chambers of the space, finding artifacts, maps, and remnants of world civilizations, photographs, field samples, illustrations and writings. They will be invited to become part of the response in an interactive mapping room adjacent to the structure, with opportunities to share ideas through mark making and word offerings. This community collaboration will evolve through the duration of the exhibit, with public lectures and education tours facilitated by the artist and gallery staff and will be documented by video and photography.

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Margaret Raffin. Additional funding provided by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and County of Maui, Office of Economic Development.

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Event, fine art, Kids

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Maui Brewers Festival

This Saturday marks the 5th Annual Maui Brewers Festival at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, one of the Center’s fundraising events. This year, the event starts off with a Beer Fest Dinner at the MACC on Friday night. The five course meal by Chef John Memering of Oahu’s Cactus Bistro will feature locally sourced ingredients, and each course will be paired with a craft beer from Maui Brewing Company, one of the event sponsors. Tickets are $140 per person.

This year’s Brewers Festival takes place from 4-7pm.   Admission includes eight samplings (4 oz.) of over 30 craft breweries from around the country, and appetizers from many of Maui’s favorite restaurants and food trucks.  Tickets are $50 for general admission or $60 for that day.  Plus, live music of course!

Each of the breweries in attendance will feature two of their brews.  Maui Brewing Co, as event sponsor, will get four :

BARREL AGED RED COCK DOPPEL BOCK,  LEMONGRASS SAISON, MAUI MAIBOCK, and PAU HANA PILSNER SHIFTING WINDS IPA

Other breweries in attendance will include Rogue, Stone Brewing, Dogfish Head and Lost Coast.

Some of the pupus include Buffalo Chicken and Veggie Flatbreads by Flatbread Co. and gelatos by Ono Gelato. Both of these companies always feature locally sourced ingredients and the freshness is always evident in every bite (and the lines out the door!)

I was unable to attend the festival last year but heard that there were so many last minute ticket purchases that the food vendors were unprepared and food ran out quickly.  Let’s hope that this year everyone plans a little better, and I’m not sure if it’s new, but this year’s increase in ticket prices for day-of purchases should help a bit.   Also, I asked on the MACC’s facebook page and they confirmed that there is a ‘designated driver’ ticket if you dont want the beers (there is root beer!) for $40, but not sure if its available online or in person or phone… but good to know!

Here are the breweries and restaurants in attendance this year (subject to change!)

Which Beers and Foods are you looking forward to the most?

maui-brewers-festival-breweries-2013

maui-brewers-fest-2013-beer Maui Brewers Festival Menu 1 maui-brewers-festival-2013

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Event, Food and Beverage

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