PUHI — The antics of the Mokan Nokan Beautiful Hawaii Roadshow will again grace the stage of the Kauai Performing Arts Center on Saturday.
“It’s an entertaining variety show and it’s original, vibrant, wacky, crazy, beautiful; it’s got something in it for everyone,” said Jennifer Bell-Grey, who produces the show with her husband and the show’s creator, Mel Bell-Grey.
Mokan and Nokan are alien characters that Mel created about seven years ago. As of January, the characters are a fixture on Channel 12, with their own kids’ television show.
“It all comes out of our film studio in Nawiliwili,” Bell-Grey said. “And when you watch the TV show, Mel, he’s an actor alongside the puppets.”
The show follows the story of the two aliens who have crash-landed in Poipu’s Gallery 103. Mr. Mel is the curator of the gallery, played by Mel Bell-Grey, and he finds the aliens.
Mokan and Nokan have the ability to make anything they touch come to life, and they transport viewers to different times and places through paintings in the gallery.
Pele and dragons, aliens and history; it’s all on the table at the Mokan Nokan Beautiful Hawaii Road Show.
The show also brings in environmental lessons, like the impacts of trash in the ocean.
“The motto of the show is ‘let your life be an inspiration,’” Bell-Grey said.
Saturday’s KPAC show is a live performance of the TV show, she said, and it will be complete with 9-foot tall puppets, operated by two puppeteers each.
The performances’ 60 dancers are students from the Kauai Dance Center, which Jennifer and Mel have been directing since 1998. They range from three years old through adults.
“There’s a variety of music and dancing, it runs a gamete so that people can relate to it and be exposed to something new,” Bell-Grey said.
This performance of the Mokan Nokan Beautiful Hawaii Roadshow will be the 20th on Kauai, and the intent is to take it throughout the islands.
“We’d probably do auditions when we do take it to the rest of the islands, but right now it’s the Kauai Dance Center students performing,” Bell-Grey said.
The Mokan Nokan Beautiful Hawaii Roadshow will be performed at two showings, at 11 a.m. and at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children 17 and under.
A silent auction will also be held and proceeds will go to the Kauai Dance Center.
