Blue Note Hawaiʻi is trading its usual lineup of jazz and island music for something it has never presented before: a play. On Thursday, August 20, the Waikīkī venue will host Duke, a one-man theatrical production written and performed by Hawaiʻi actor and writer Moses Goods that traces the life of Native Hawaiian athlete, waterman and ambassador of aloha Duke Kahanamoku.
According to KHON2, the show marks Blue Note Hawaiʻi's first-ever theatrical production, a notable expansion for a venue that opened inside the OUTRIGGER Waikiki Beach Resort in January 2016 and is marking its 10th anniversary this year. The showroom itself is an intimate space, with a 6,300-square-foot, 326-seat tiered layout designed for column-free sightlines to the stage, according to Eventective. That intimacy suits Duke, a solo performance in which Goods embodies not just Kahanamoku but 11 to 12 other characters who crossed paths with him during his lifetime, according to New Native Theatre.
A Play With a Decade-Long Track Record
Duke is not a brand-new script. Goods originally premiered the 60-minute production at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth in October 2015, where it drew more than 10,000 attendees over a five-week run before later touring to Yale University and New York's Pregones Theater, according to Outrigger Resorts. The Blue Note engagement brings the show back to Oʻahu with its original creative team largely intact.
That includes the music. The Liliʻu Project — musicians John Signor, Starr Kalāhiki and Honybal Sosa — composed and recorded the original score for Duke alongside Goods back in 2015, and the trio will reunite live on stage as the opening act for the 2026 run, per the same Outrigger account. The group's name nods to Queen Liliʻuokalani, tying the evening's music to another chapter of Hawaiian history even as the play itself centers on Kahanamoku.
Kickoff for a Four-Island Fundraising Tour
The August 20 date is more than a single-night engagement. It serves as the launch of a nine-show tour spanning Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi Island and Maui over the summer, with proceeds benefiting INAMONA, the Native Hawaiian storytelling nonprofit that Goods founded, per KHON2 and Outrigger Resorts. Goods has built a career around using theater to share stories rooted in Native Hawaiian history and culture, having previously portrayed other significant Hawaiian figures on stage. He is also known to television audiences as Moku in the Apple TV+ series Chief of War, and Hoodline has previously covered his work bringing ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi to a wider audience through a free ‘Moana 2’ screening night.
Blue Note Hawaiʻi will host two performances on opening night, with doors at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and showtimes at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., according to KHON2. Tickets range from $25 for the bar area to $30 for loge seating and $40 for premium seats, with tickets and information available through Blue Note Hawaiʻi's website. The show is sponsored by Outrigger Resorts and the Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest.
Kahanamoku's Legacy Beyond the Waves
The premiere's timing is no accident: it lands during the 2026 Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest, a nine-day festival of ocean sports competitions and tributes running in Waikīkī from August 14 through August 24, according to Go Hawaii. Hoodline has reported separately on state tourism officials directing $1 million toward supporting island festivals including OceanFest, underscoring how central the event has become to Waikīkī's late-summer calendar.
Kahanamoku became an international figure through his Olympic swimming success and his role in popularizing surfing worldwide. He won five Olympic swimming medals across three Games between 1912 and 1924, including gold in the 100-meter freestyle at both the 1912 Stockholm and 1920 Antwerp Olympics, according to Olympics.com. But his legacy extended well beyond athletics: he served 12 consecutive terms as the elected sheriff of the City and County of Honolulu, holding the post for nearly 30 years from 1932 to 1961, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
One of the most enduring stories from his life took place far from Hawaiʻi. On June 14, 1925, Kahanamoku rescued eight people from a capsized fishing vessel off Laguna Beach, California, paddling his 16-foot wooden surfboard into rough swells across three separate trips, according to PBS American Masters. It's the kind of episode the play leans on to highlight what KHON2 describes as Kahanamoku's athletic accomplishments, character, humanity and spirit of aloha — qualities organizers say continue to symbolize Hawaiʻi and the values he carried while traveling the world.
The Blue Note run also arrives as the venue's home, the OUTRIGGER Waikiki Beach Resort, continues a $100 million property overhaul. Pairing a first-of-its-kind theatrical debut with a story as locally resonant as Kahanamoku's gives the venue a distinct way to mark its 10th anniversary while the resort around it keeps transforming.
