ACT ONE<\/b><\/p>\n
◼ <\/span>Prologue<\/b><\/p>\n The three young ali\u2018i (Pauahi, Emma and Kal\u0101kaua) play the string game hei when the ancient prophet Kapihe enters and cuts the string while\u00a0 <\/span>prophesying the eventual fall of the house of Kamehameha.<\/p>\n ◼ <\/span>Scene One<\/b><\/p>\n Kapihe solicits help from the audience to come to the aid of the dying King, William Charles Lunalilo, who has yet to name an heir in \u201cAttend the Majesty.<\/b>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>As the king stirs, he asks who the \u201cshadows\u201d are who surround his bed. He discovers these are loyal subjects waiting to hear his decision on an heir. \u00a0 <\/span>In \u201cShadows on the Wall<\/b>\u201d he dances with the potential candidates, considering their fitness to reign as the next monarch.\u00a0 <\/span>At song\u2018s end he cannot decide and returns to bed to dream.\u00a0 <\/span>In his sleep, he dreams of his ancestors giving him advice on what to do.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cLeave It To the Gods<\/b>,\u201d advises him to choose two candidates, as his ancestors did before, and let destiny decide who is best to rule the kingdom.\u00a0 <\/span>But who will the two be?<\/p>\n First up is Bernice Pauahi.\u00a0 <\/span>Is she really best to rule?\u00a0 <\/span>She was offered the throne once by Lot Kapu\u0101iwa (Kamehameha V) and she turned him down (again!).\u00a0 <\/span>In \u201cNo Can<\/b>,\u201d Keali\u2018i Pauahi considers if this was the best choice.\u00a0 <\/span>Was it selfish of her to refuse the crown and leave Lunalilo to suffer through a year of controversy?\u00a0 <\/span>At song\u2019s end, the spark has been lit in Pauahi to run for queen.<\/p>\n Next there is Queen Emma to consider.\u00a0 <\/span>She is William Charles Lunalilo\u2019s favorite, but does he really want to subject her to the travails of the monarchy?\u00a0 <\/span>In \u201cTake A Tuck<\/b>\u201d, Emma is up to the fight.\u00a0 <\/span>She has just returned from horseback riding and is having a dress refitted for that night\u2019s get together at the home of Charles Reed Bishop and Pauahi.\u00a0 <\/span>Her crosshairs are set on only one opponent and that is Colonel David Kal\u0101kaua.\u00a0 <\/span>She debates her qualifications over his, boasting about how much the people love her more; and that she won\u2019t hesitate to go to the British for help in defeating him.<\/p>\n William Charles begins to drift off.\u00a0 <\/span>He dreams of a future where the Hawaiian culture has disappeared, absorbed into a global community (\u201cKa Nohona Starts to Fade<\/b>\u201d).\u00a0 <\/span>In his despair, he begins to consider his former opponent David Kal\u0101kaua.<\/p>\n \u201cK\u016b Kanaka<\/b>\u201d reveals a rally Kal\u0101kaua and his sister Lydia Kamaka\u2018eha are holding to help support the ailing King.\u00a0 <\/span>But is there an ulterior motive?\u00a0 <\/span>The song celebrates the enlightened return of the Hawaiian culture from the dark ages of Western assimilation, and revels in the wonders of Hawaiian self-empowerment.\u00a0 <\/span>To underscore this, Kamaka\u2018eha sings one of her hit songs (\u201cSanoe<\/b>\u201d) along with Lunalilo\u2019s platinum single, \u201c\u2018Alekoki.<\/b>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>At scene\u2019s end the crowd is stirred to a frenzy and Kal\u0101kaua\u2019s popularity has grown that much more.<\/p>\n ◼ <\/span>Scene Two<\/b><\/p>\n To consider this swing in the electorate, Pauahi and Bishop discuss the Colonel\u2019s growing popularity (\u201cGame Changer<\/b>\u201d) at their small social.\u00a0 <\/span>Queen Emma adds her two-cents worth followed by Kamaka\u2018eha.\u00a0 <\/span>The lines are drawn.\u00a0 <\/span>It is the House of Kamehameha versus that of Kal\u0101kaua.\u00a0 <\/span>As the discussion concludes, Pauahi seems to be leaning towards running for the throne.\u00a0 <\/span>Bishop, Kamaka\u2018eha, and Queen Emma question her strength to be a strong leader.<\/p>\n Pauahi rebukes them by explaining all this talking will get them nowhere in \u201cH\u016b Hewa<\/b>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Emma agrees.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi starts to come into her own as she lays out her platform, which has to do with educating the future generations before the culture disappears.\u00a0 <\/span>Bishop argues that an election can be dirty and aspersions may be cast.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi argues back, but is finally silenced with the off-handed, unintended comment that one requirement of a monarch is an heir.<\/p>\n Princess Ruth Ke\u2018elik\u014dlani steps in at this point to salve things over.\u00a0 <\/span>She has a new strategy that she borrowed from Aristophanes\u2019 play, Lysistrata<\/b> in \u201cAi Kapu<\/b>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>She rallies the women to empower themselves against the misogynistic patriarchy, who believe wahine are too weak to guide the very race they, themselves created.\u00a0 <\/span>In the end, the women chase the men to their cave and the women rally behind Pauahi.<\/p>\n The social concludes with Pauahi and Kamaka\u2018eha agreeing to disagree, yet remain forever sisters in \u201cE Kamaka\u2018eha<\/b>.\u201d<\/p>\n Act one closes with William Charles Lunalilo waking from his dream.\u00a0 <\/span>He asks if any of the shadows have decided to come forward and dance with him and relieve him of his present burden.\u00a0 <\/span>In \u201cNo Ke Ano Ahiahi<\/b>\u201d his wish comes true.\u00a0 <\/span>But who will the gods choose to be the next Monarch?<\/p>\n ACT TWO<\/b><\/p>\n ◼ <\/span>Prologue<\/b><\/p>\n The act begins again with Kapihe\u2019s plea (\u201cCome Elect Your Majesty<\/b>\u201d).\u00a0 <\/span>Except now, it is not to attend his majesty, but to come elect the next monarch.\u00a0 <\/span>He lays out the choices:\u00a0 <\/span>Emma, Kal\u0101kaua, or Pauahi.<\/p>\n ◼ <\/span>Scene One<\/b><\/p>\n At his campaign headquarters, Kal\u0101kaua is distraught because Pauahi is ahead in the polls in \u201cWhitebread<\/b>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>There seems to be no stopping her, especially with Emma supporting her.\u00a0 <\/span>His opportunist associate, Walter Murray Gibson \u201cKipikona,\u201d suggests he attack Pauahi with a slanderous article in Gibson\u2019s newspaper\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Ka N\u016bhou Hawai\u2018i, questioning her pedigree.\u00a0 <\/span>Kal\u0101kaua hesitates at first, but agrees when he realizes the \u201cend will justify the means.\u201d<\/p>\n ◼ <\/span>Scene Two<\/b><\/p>\n Pauahi is hosting a gathering at her place under the tamarind tree.\u00a0 <\/span>It is an all -wahine social (except for Charles Reed Bishop who is serving food and tending to the needs of the women) and they are creating campaign slogans and items for her election.\u00a0 <\/span>Queen Emma, in her way, is showing the other women how to play croquet.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi is uncomfortable with this because she feels it is too soon after the death of Lunalilo.\u00a0 <\/span>In \u201c\u2018Ohi \u2018Ohi N\u0101 Liko Lehua<\/b>,\u201d Emma assures her that William would have approved because he was a \u201ccarpe diem\u201d type of guy.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi remains uncomfortable because of the play and the materialistic nature of the campaign.\u00a0 <\/span>Ruth steps in and helps assuage Pauahi\u2019s apprehension.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi agrees with reservations.<\/p>\n Enter the Colonel.\u00a0 <\/span>N\u0101 w\u0101hine are offended that he and his consorts have the temerity to enter their sanctuary.\u00a0 <\/span>Kal\u0101kaua, always the gentleman, greets them in his hospitable manner.\u00a0 <\/span>He is rebuked.\u00a0 <\/span>Finally he lays it on the line in \u201cThe Ebb And Flow Of Politico<\/b>\u201d handing Pauahi an ultimatum to drop out of the race or be exposed in the news.\u00a0 <\/span>Kipikona hands her a copy of the article and they exit, but not without a challenge from Queen Emma.\u00a0 <\/span>Reality strikes home with Pauahi.\u00a0 <\/span>The campaign will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.<\/p>\n Bishop enters and is puzzled why the gathering has broken up.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi hands him the draft of Kipikona\u2019s article.\u00a0 <\/span>She has decided to drop out of the race.\u00a0 <\/span>She realizes that running for the throne was not really her.\u00a0 <\/span>In \u201cOh, My Pauahi<\/b>\u201d, Bishop tries to cheer her up.\u00a0 <\/span>She avoids him because of her shame that he had tried to warn her all along that it wasn\u2019t in her to run for the throne, and now she realizes the truth.\u00a0 <\/span>Bishop convinces her that she doesn\u2019t need to be Queen to help her people.\u00a0 <\/span>He insists that a democracy takes good leadership chosen by an educated electorate.\u00a0 <\/span>With a new goal in mind, Pauahi is convinced and decides on a new course of action.<\/p>\n ◼ <\/span>Scene Three<\/b><\/p>\n The final election scenario is set between Queen Emma and Colonel Kal\u0101kaua. The scene begins with a montage of voices giving their opinion for both candidates.\u00a0 <\/span>This cacophony culminates in 1874.\u00a0 <\/span>This weigh-in allows both candidates to face each other in a final debate before the legislature goes to make their decision.\u00a0 <\/span>Kapihe returns to conduct the balloting, calling off the names of all forty-five legislatures voting on the election of the new monarch.\u00a0 <\/span>As the role call commences, the gloves have fallen, and the two candidates duke it out in a rap battle, boasting about whose qualifications are superior.\u00a0 <\/span>As the voting concludes it has become obvious that Kal\u0101kaua is going to win and Kamaka\u2018eha leads his party in a victory song, \u201cKa Hae Kalaunu.<\/b>\u201d<\/p>\n After the results are announced, 39 to 6 in Kal\u0101kaua\u2019s favor, a protest begins, brought on by the supporters of Queen Emma, who feel the legislature really did not represent the true will of the maka\u2018\u0101inana (\u201cBitter Waters<\/b>\u201d).\u00a0 <\/span>The protest turns ugly.\u00a0 <\/span>It devolves into a riot.\u00a0 <\/span>The riot reaches its climax.\u00a0 <\/span>Pauahi enters and asks \u201cis this the way it\u2019s done: civil minds to savage ones, by self-doubt our race overrun?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Kal\u0101kaua\u2019s supporters celebrate with a chorus of \u201cHawai\u2019i Pono\u2019\u012b<\/b>\u201d as the other ali\u2019i ponder the future of Hawai\u2019i.<\/p>\n The opera concludes with a final anthem, the words penned in 1843 at the resolution of the Paulet Affair and the restoration of Hawaiian sovereignty by Admiral Thomas.\u00a0 <\/span>The song is a declaration of love for the ali\u2018i and the aupuni, as Hawaiians look forward to the future with gratitude for all that came before (\u201cE Mele Me Ka Ho\u2019omaika\u2019i<\/b>\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ACT ONE ◼ Prologue The three young ali\u2018i (Pauahi, Emma and Kal\u0101kaua) play the string game hei when the ancient prophet Kapihe enters and cuts the string while\u00a0 prophesying the eventual fall of the house of Kamehameha. ◼ Scene One Kapihe solicits help from the audience to come to the aid of the dying King, … Continue reading K\u016b I Ka Mana – Synopsis<\/span>