Friday, January 24, 2020
For our first magic show, Magic Of Polynesia was a fun Hawaiian themed introduction to this entertainment genre. The Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger hotel hosted the magic show and has an appropriately large theater. The Beachcomber, with a well run catering service, makes the dinner and a show option an excellent choice for a date night out.
With Internet reservations, we showed up at the ticket office and picked up our tickets. Because we signed up for the Deluxe Dinner Show, we were also given a Kukui Nut Lei.
We weren’t the only early ones and were obliged to wait in the lobby for the theater doors to open.
Once the doors opened we were able to be seated. Drink orders were taken and soon drinks arrived. Dinner choices were made. Salads came first followed by the main entrees. Finally, desert was served. The waitstaff was wonderful. Very attentive and we were checked on several times during the show to see if we needed any drinks or refills.
For this type of venue, the food was especially good as was the service.
The couple who joined us at our table made for especially satisfying conversation. For a date night, one couldn’t ask for more.
There was only one non-cool aspect to the show. Normally when a venue doesn’t allow photography during their show or exhibits, they let you know up front by both signage at the venue and on their website. There was no notice.
As the show started, I used my cell phone to take some pictures. A theater employee showed up right away and told me to stop. Photography wasn’t allowed.
The show itself was at times amusing and at other times astonishing. Some of the magic bits were special. For example, making a car appear and disappear followed by a helicopter doing the same.
At one point early in the show, John Hirokawa, the head magician/illusionist, went into the audience and selected a man to ‘help’ him with the next illusion. The man didn’t speak English at all. The man might have accepted the invitation expecting Hirokawa, who is ethnically Japanese, to speak to the man in Japanese. Hirokawa doesn’t speak Japanese. The language barrier and the clumsiness of the communication made the illusion that much more endearing and comical.
The show was good but at some point the illusions became repetitive. More is not more. Toward the end of the show, a fire dancer showed up and performed the same sort of fire dance done at luaus. The fire dance lacked the magic needed for a magic show.
All in all, we were glad that we went. We had a good time. If we ever go to the show again, it will be more about the dinner than the show.
Hope to see you on the road ahead!