Centered in the $32 million Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului (tel. 808/242-7469; www.mauiarts.org), the performing arts are alive and well on this island. The MACC remains the island's most prestigious entertainment venue, a first-class center for the visual and performing arts. Bonnie Raitt has performed here, as have Hiroshima, Pearl Jam, Ziggy Marley, Tony Bennett, the American Indian Dance Theatre, the Maui Symphony Orchestra, and Jonny Lang, not to mention the finest in local and Hawaiian talent. The center is as precious to Maui as the Met is to New York, with a visual-arts gallery, an outdoor amphitheater, offices, rehearsal space, a 300-seat theater for experimental performances, and a 1,200-seat main theater. The center's activities are well publicized locally, so check the Maui News or ask your hotel concierge what's going on during your visit.
People are still agog over 'Ulalena, an extraordinary production that tells the story of Hawaii in chant, song, original music, acrobatics, and dance, using state-of-the-art technology and some of the most creative staging to be seen in Hawaii. There's nothing else like it in the state. A local and international cast performs this $9.5 million production at the comfy Maui Myth & Magic Theatre in Lahaina.
In Search of Hawaiian, Jawaiian & More
Nightlife options on this island are limited. Revelers generally head for Casanova in Makawao and Maui Brews in Lahaina. Because they are in different parts of this spread-out island, you'll either have to drive a great distance to these clubs or explore what's happening in the major hotels near you. The hotels generally have lobby lounges offering Hawaiian music, soft jazz, or hula shows beginning at sunset.
If Hapa, Willie K., Amy Gilliom, or the soloist Keali'i Reichel are playing anywhere on their native island, don't miss them; they're among the finest Hawaiian musicians around today. Most clubs with dance floors play a combination of Hawaiian and reggae, called Jawaiian, with a heated-up rhythm that young dancers love.
At the Movies
Movie buffs still rejoice over the infusion of celluloid at the 12-screen movie megaplex at the Maui Mall, 70 E. Kaahumanu Ave. (tel. 808/877-7559), in Kahului, which comes complete with comfortable reclining seats. The megaplex features current releases. The Maui Film Festival presents "Academy House" films for the avant-garde, ultrahip movie buff Wednesday nights at the Maui Art and Cultural Center, 1 Cameron Way (just off Kahului Beach Rd.), Kahului (tel. 808/572-3456; www.mauifilmfestival.com), usually followed by live music and poetry readings. In the summer, either around Memorial Day weekend or in June, the Maui Film Festival also puts on nights of cinema under the stars in Wailea.
Film buffs can check the local newspapers to see what's playing at the other theaters around the island: the Kaahumanu Theatres, in the Kaahumanu Center in Kahului (tel. 808/873-3133); the Maui Theatre, in the Kahului Shopping Center (tel. 808/877-3560); the Kukui Mall Theatre, 1819 S. Kihei Rd., in Kihei (tel. 808/875-4533); and the Wallace Theatres (tel. 808/661-3347), in Lahaina at the Wharf Cinema Center, 658 Front St., and the Front Street Theatres at the Lahaina Center, 900 Front St.
