Bio
QUICK SUMMARY
In the fall of 2010, Loretta completed a two-and-a-half years run as Bloody Mary in the Lincoln Center Theater (LCT) revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. It was the first revival of South Pacific on Broadway since it premiered in 1949 and the longest running revival of an R&H musical.
She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway and NYC debuts in the role and performed Bali Hai on the nationally broadcast 2008 Tony Awards Preview Concert. The run concluded with a live, nationally-televised PBS production of “Live From Lincoln Center; South Pacific.”
Loretta made her London and U.K. debut in late summer 2011 in South Pacific at the Barbican Theatre and appeared in the production’s U.K. tour in cities across England, Scotland and Wales.
The official Broadway cast recording of LCT’s revival of South Pacific was nominated for a Grammy Award. The CD, featuring her performances of “Bali Hai” and “Happy Talk,” is available on Sony Classics. She also is interviewed in the documentary, “Passion, Prejudice and South Pacific; Creating an American Masterpiece” on the 50th anniversary Blu-ray edition of the 1959 movie South Pacific.
In addition to her work on Broadway, Loretta is well-known in Hawaii for her performances in theater, concerts, TV series, commercials and voiceover work.
She released her first CD, “Dreamy,” in December 2001 to public and critical acclaim and was nominated for a Nā Hoku Hanohano Award and received national airplay.
Her Hawaii theater credits include starring as Ma “Pua” Lusa in the Diamond Head Theater musical production of “You Somebody” in 2002 and the 2007 revival and landing the lead role of “Effie White” in the 1989 production of the musical “Dreamgirls,” at the Hawaii Theater.
Loretta has acted in numerous national television series filmed on location in Hawaii such as Beyond The Break, Hawaii, North Shore, Baywatch Hawaii and Byrds of Paradise. In addition, she was featured as a singer in Sex & The City 2 (2010).
SINGING/THEATER
Ables Sayre began singing professionally in 1979 as the first featured female vocalist with Keola and Kapono Beamer in the Ocean Showroom of the Reef Hotel in Waikiki. She was the opening act for comedian Andy Bumatai in the Monarch Room of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1981.
In 1985, she joined Honolulu Theater for Youth in the production of “Song for the Navigator” and toured Micronesia, Australia and the mainland U.S. The tour culminated with performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
In 1989, Ables Sayre landed the lead role of “Effie White” in the musical “Dreamgirls,” produced at the Hawaii Theater. Also in 1989, she began singing as the featured vocalist of the Lewers Lounge in the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki. She performed at the five-diamond hotel five nights a week for 10 years for numerous guests including Luther Vandross, John Travolta, Dick Clark and Natalie Cole. In 1993, she was voted Favorite Female Vocalist by the readers of Honolulu Magazine for their “Best of the Best” issue.
From 1999 to 2006, she performed at The Veranda at the five-diamond Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Among her accolades was a command performance requested by Neil Sedaka.
Highlights in her career as a vocalist include performing as the opening act for world renowned artists including: The Four Tops (2000); James Brown (2001); Beach Boys (2002); and Kenny Loggins (2003).
In 2002, Loretta took a short break from her nightclub performances to go back to theater to portray the lead role of Pua “Ma” Lusa in the Diamond Head Theater production of the Lee Cataluna and Keola Beamer hit musical, “You Somebody.” She reprised her role in 2007 and won the Hawaii StateTheater Council’s Po‘okela Award for Leading Female in Musical.
Ables Sayre released her first CD, “Dreamy,” in December 2001 to public and critical acclaim and was nominated for a Nā Hoku Hanohano Award and received national airplay.
The official Broadway cast recording of LCT’s revival of South Pacific was nominated for a Grammy Award. The CD, featuring her performances of “Bali Hai” and “Happy Talk,” is available on Sony Classics.
TELEVISION
She acted in the ABC series “Byrds of Paradise,” in the role of Parissima Macadangdang; played the recurring role of Aunty Jackson in “Baywatch Hawaii;” performed the role of Nannie Lee in “Hawaii;” was featured in “North Shore;” and had a recurring role of Auntie in “Beyond The Break.”
Loretta has been featured in a variety of television programs regarding South Pacific. She performed Bali Hai on the nationally broadcast 2008 Tony Awards Preview Concert and NBC Today Show national correspondent Jamie Gangel interviewed her for a feature segment that aired on both the Today Show and NBC Nightly News. PBS Hawaii’s Leslie Wilcox also interviewed her for a two-part “Long Story Short” program that aired in 2009.
She also served as a host for Convention Television seen on hotel TVs throughout the state. In addition, she was the voice of PBS Hawaii and frequently emceed their quarterly pledge drives. Loretta was seen in local TV productions of “Titarella” with Frank De Lima , and “Pidgen to da Max,” “Fax to da Max,” and “Seestarella.”
MOVIES
Loretta was featured as a singer in Sex & The City 2 (2010). She also is interviewed in the documentary, “Passion, Prejudice and South Pacific; Creating an American Masterpiece” on the 50th anniversary Blu-ray edition of the 1959 movie South Pacific.
COMMERCIALS
She performed as the waitress character “Loretta” in the Bank of Hawaii series of “Harry and Myra” commercials. She also has been seen in commercials for Pearlridge, Hilo Hattie, Pleasant Island Holidays, State Farm, Hawaii State Department of Health, Oceanic Time/Warner and PBS Hawaii, to name a few.
Loretta continues to be one of the top voice-over talents in Hawaii today with a variety of commercials on radio and TV for a variety of local and national clients.
RECENTLY Loretta has appeared in the television shows, “Magnum P.I”, “Hawaii Five-0”, “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, “The White Lotus” “dress” with Henry Ian Cusick, and the upcoming “Next Goal Wins” with Taika Waititi
