This was the most touristy ripoff I experienced in Hawaii - yet the talent and enthusiasm of the 25-member cast made it hard to really mind. The Creation show brings to life the long saga of Hawaii's history while you dine on a vile-looking buffet of Continental and Hawaiian dishes. We were ushered into a painfully generic hotel ballroom, with a stage graced by some well-meaning painted sets and fake carvings. A depression engulfed me the minute we walked in and were seated in the far corner, where those who try to save a little money by paying only for cocktails (or just didn't like the look of the food) are so often relegated in these sorts of events.

We noticed our neighbors at the long banquet table had stolen some rice pockets from the buffet and were covertly noshing on them. My heart sank. But things looked up when we were given an entire menu of cocktails. Clearly we were going to need quite a few of them to make this evening bearable. I am not one to turn down a cocktail named Mauna Kea Mist or Fire Dancer, but I couldn't resist the Kahuna. It turned out to be a fantastic and intoxicating blend of kahlua, brandy, vodka, and fresh fruit juice. Delicious!

The show started 15 minutes later than scheduled, if you consider a few musicians in the corner to be 'the show'. This annoyed me no end, for we waited an additional 15 minutes while they played (admittedly quite nicely). We ordered more drinks. Finally, some activity on stage - but this wasn't really 'the show' either - it was a few cast members modeling wraps from the hotel gift shop, which they called "lava lavas" - you've probably heard them called pareu or sarongs, depending on which country you were in. Their shameless attempt to interest us in these cheap squares of rayon by giving them a fancy name and twisting them around a bunch of nubile young Hawaiians of both genders failed, however! The temptation was strong, but the Kahuna was stronger. We resisted, thanks to the many fruity drinks we had consumed while waiting for the show to start.

But start it did, at last, and it was much better than we had expected in such a tired-looking setting. The cast whipped through an eye-popping lineup of dances and skits, narrated by a booming-voiced character in a robe. The only distraction - which turned out in fact to be quite entertaining - was an inadequately rehearsed understudy who was invariably a half-second behind, and kept sneaking sidelong peeks at the other dancers to get her cues.

The highlight of the evening was the Samoan fire dancer, who really did astonish us with his stunts behind a metal net. Creation may not be the best place to see a fire dancer do his stuff, but you owe it to yourself to see someone do it, somewhere!