Timeless ingredients stir up ‘Stew Rice’

The piquant flavor of recognition simmers within “Stew Rice,” which opens the 40th anniversary season of East West Players. This wonderfully appointed revival of Edward Sakamoto’s populist comedy about six young Hawaiians at the dawn of American statehood is as accessible as it is specific.

A benchmark East West hit in 1988, “Stew Rice” pits friendship against cultural change and the realities of adulthood. Set in Oahu, Sakamoto’s episodic narrative pivots on three lifelong friends, first encountered during junior year of high school in 1957, with Hawaii’s statehood lurking on the horizon.

Narrator Russell Shima (Shaun Shimoda)spouts Tennyson and is eager to attend UCLA. Heartthrob Benjamin Lee (Keo Woolford) seems bound for Harvard and the medical future his parents have determined for him. Roland “Zippy” Ching (Michael Sun Lee) makes noises about joining them, as they prepare for the upcoming interscholastic dance and, especially, the girls-school attendees.

Vibrant Sharon Uchida (Millie Chow) is “almost not a virgin,” which shocks perennial wallflower Donna Wong (Kaliko Kauahi). Beautiful Ruby Ogawa (Chanel Akiko Hirai) isn’t scandalized, but then, she already knows what she wants: a career and ticket out of Hawaii.

From here, “Stew Rice” mixes the populist sass of “American Graffiti” with authentic details of region and behavior. The interactions of each set of friends make up Act 1, which ends with a pledge of fraternal loyalty.

Act 2 leaps to 1978 and the 20-year class reunion. Assimilation, misfired dreams and the aftermath of Vietnam are now driving issues, which push the broad humor into deeper terrain, an unexpectedly emotional climax and a bittersweet coda.

Sakamoto need not universalize this parable; his knowingly handled characters do that most efficiently. Director James A. Nakamoto maintains the Pidgin-heavy dialogue and physical humor with light-handed skill, suggesting the movie that this property could easily become.

Mina Kinukawa’s impressionistic set, its faux-proscenium inset with iconic palm trees and surfboards, takes Jose Lopez’s lavish lighting beautifully. Maiko Nezu (projections), Ken Takemoto (costumes) and Miles Ono (sound) expertly locate the shifting milieu.

The excellent cast makes convincing teens, then nuanced adults. Lee’s bumptious Zippy and Kauahi’s brittle Donna almost steal the show. Chow inhabits Sharon with raucous skill, Woolford dovetails Ben’s bravado effortlessly with Hirai’s underplayed appeal, and Shimoda seems incapable of a false note. There are odd quibbles -- notably, insufficient aging makeup -- but these are trivial, given the heartfelt point of this charming, eye-misting luau.

*

‘Stew Rice’

Where: David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (except Sept. 10)

Ends: Oct. 2

Price: $30 and $35

Contact: (213) 625-7000 or www.eastwestplayers.org

Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes