BY MIKE GORDON / mgordon@staradvertiser.com
The middle of the night may seem like the worst time to use Hawaii as a scenic backdrop for a national TV audience, but NBC’s “Today” show is going for it Monday, May 20, with a live beachfront broadcast that will include a luau, a fashion show and ukulele sensation Jake Shimabukuro.
NBC News photographer Ray Farmer films at the Arizona Memorial in advance of “Today” visiting Waikiki on Monday, May 20. (Courtesy NBC)
The show starts at 1 a.m. Monday at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki so that it can be seen at its normal East Coast time of 7 a.m. “Today” cast members Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Natalie Morales and Willie Geist will all be there.
“Why not come to Hawaii?” Guthrie said in a phone interview from New York. “It is absolutely beautiful. It was at the top of my list of places to go for the show.”
The time difference had always been a key factor that kept the show from airing here, she said. But “Today” will have a number of taped segments to help compensate.
“And honestly, it is fun and different to do the show live when it looks like the middle of the night,” Guthrie said. “We will have tiki torches and a luau. It will give the show a different feel. I think it will give it a ton of energy.”
The three-hour broadcast will include Shimabukuro on ukulele, a taped segment of musician Jack Johnson as he shows off Hawaii, a fashion show with Crystal Pancipanci along the hotel’s royal promenade, performances by Tihati Productions dancers and a demonstration by chef Jon Matsubara, chef de cuisine of the hotel’s signature restaurant, Azure.
The show, which will be free and open to the public, will set up in the sand and its producers have told hotel management that they would like to have an audience of 1,000 people, said Joanie Matsumoto, public relations coordinator at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which manages the Royal Hawaiian.
Guests of the Royal Hawaiian will have exclusive access to events on property, while members of the public who show up will be directed to areas on the beach, Matsumoto said. The best beach access will be through a right-of-way between the Royal Hawaiian and the Outrigger Waikiki. The hotel will not provide validation for parking, however.
The cast of NBC’s “Today,” from left: Natalie Morales, Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker. Not pictured is Willie Geist. (Courtesy NBC)
“Today” will have a large production crew in place, complete with numerous lights and cables that will transform the Royal Hawaiian into a television studio. But that’s not all.
“We will have a hundred torches to light up the beach,” Matsumoto said. “These are torches they are renting and will put in the sand. This is a huge production. And it’s going to be bright.”
Nearby hotels as well as Royal Hawaiian guests have been notified of the one-night broadcast. Everyone is being invited to attend.
“We are encouraging them that instead of being up in their rooms to come down and enjoy the ‘Today’ show,” Matsumoto said.
The “Today” cast will broadcast from a different location each day next week and will follow its Hawaii broadcast with stops in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Chicago, Orland, Fla. and finally the Jersey Shore in New Jersey.
Guthrie loves the idea, primarily because it gives she and her fellow show hosts a chance to meet viewers beyond their New York City studio.
“It gives us so much energy and enthusiasm,” she said. “I’m hoping the people who live in Hawaii will come and see us. I know it’s the middle of the night and a school night but we are really hoping people will come out and say, ‘Hi.’”
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Mike Gordon covers film and television in Hawaii for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Email him at mgordon@staradvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his weekly “Outtakes” column Sundays in the Star-Advertiser.