Sunday, January 19, 2020
Rock-A-Hula is best described as a luau themed musical variety show with singers and dancers backed by a rocking good band. This years show is an improvement over the last time which was also satisfying. Like last time, tickets were for a luau dinner and show.
There are two dinners. The first dinner is buffet style and is held outside on the Royal Hawaiian Center rooftop under a big tent. The evening air was pleasant and the winds calm. No rain. Dinner was lovely in part because the food was better than last time and the dining area was less crowded than before. Also, there was plenty of food. They didn’t run out of roast beef.
The second and much more expensive dinner choice is dining in the orchestra pit while being served by waitstaff. After dinner, these guests just stay put to watch the show.
The show starts with song and dance numbers reflecting Hawaiian music and hula dance set to a rock-and-roll beat by the rock band toward the rear of the stage.
Every musical set seemed to have different costumes.
There were three headliners, an Elvis Presley impersonator, Michael Jackson impersonator and Hawaii singer/songwriter Sienna Souza.
The Elvis Presley impersonator brought energy to his performance. He did an excellent job of channeling the real Elvis Presley’s performance style. While moving through the audience during a song, he handed out scarves to a few of the guests. A nice touch making the performance feel personal in a good way.
This year’s Michael Jackson impersonator was a better singer than before. While his dance technique wasn’t quite as advanced as the last Jackson impersonator, it was still good enough for him to play the part convincingly.
Sienna Souza’s performance was good but she seems to have been included to appeal to younger audiences as her music was more contemporary pop sounding than the other two headliners.
Two years ago, the fire dancer really nailed it. He was better, stronger, beefier and more exciting than this year’s. Still, no Luau is complete without the fire dance so it was a fitting end to the performance.
At the end, guests invited to congregate in the theater lobby to meet the cast.
All in all, this is a fun activity for an evening out on the town. The food is good. The performances is good. The staff is nice.
Next time in Waikiki, we will return to see what’s changed in the show and have a pleasant evening of good clean fun.
Hope to see you on the road ahead!