the programme
The music Rock-A-Hula says it covers, decade by decade
What the production's own programme claims to retrace, checked against the history behind it.
Reserve your Rock-A-Hula night ↗Eras on the Rock-A-Hula stage
| Stop | What's on stage |
|---|---|
| 1920s | The decade the show names as its starting point |
| Hapa haole | The hybrid sound and hula style the show credits as its root |
| Tribute set | A tribute to Elvis, then to the King of Pop |
| Tahitian drums | Tahitian dance alongside hula |
| Fire | A fire knife dancer's finale |
An island invention
Hawaiian steel guitar, kika kila, is credited to Joseph Kekuku around 1889, an instrument that later shaped country and blues recordings on the mainland.
Hapa haole, the show's own starting point
The hapa-haole style blends English lyrics with Hawaiian musical form; Sonny Cunha's 1903 'My Waikiki Mermaid' is often named its first popular hit, and it is the era Rock-A-Hula's own programme opens in.
A sound that reached the mainland
A 1912 Broadway show and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition carried Hawaiian music to American audiences; by 1916, Hawaiian recordings reportedly outsold every other US genre.
Elvis in Hawaiʻi
Presley filmed three movies in the islands, starting with 1961's Blue Hawaii, played a 1961 Pearl Harbor benefit for the USS Arizona Memorial, and broadcast his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert by satellite, a history the show's own Elvis tribute draws on.
The second tribute act
A second tribute act follows, built around the catalogue of the King of Pop, carrying the programme from Presley's era toward more recent decades of pop music.
Tahitian dance and the fire finale
The show closes with Tahitian dance and a fire knife dancer, before the cast returns to meet the audience.