Forget peace on earth. Tonight, as the last page of the 2006 calendar falls to the recycling bin of history, two heavyweight fireworks companies will square off in the skies above our southern shores for what is sure to be a memorable Battle of the Exploding Stars.

Displaying out of the Waikiki corner, weighing in at a gorilla-like 800 pounds, the internationally acclaimed and still champeen ... Fireworks by Grucci of New York!

And in Honolulu Harbor, with a record of 150 shows and hundreds of thousands of dropped jaws a year, the oohs-and-ahhs-on local favorite ... Hawaii Explosives & Pyrotechnics!

Now, touch fuses and come out firing.

"Sure, we're competitive," says Hawaii Explosives' Bruce Albreicht. "The Gruccis are a big, multinational corporation in New York, but we have a bigger presence in Hawai'i. We definitely like to show them up when we can."

That won't be easy, of course. The Grucci family has been in the fireworks biz for more than 150 years, dating back to patriarch Angelo Lanzetta's early years in Barra, Italy.

The Gruccis were the first American fireworks family to win the prestigious Monte Carlo Fireworks Competition, sort of the Olympics of pyrotechnics. Over the years, they've produced fireworks programs for six American presidential inaugurations, centennial celebrations for the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, three Olympic Games and three World's Fairs. They also produced the memorable fireworks display in Hawai'i that heralded the release of the film "Pearl Harbor."

They're big-time, in other words.

But Hawaii Explosives isn't some glass-jaw, soda-can challenger.

The Big Island company produces about 150 shows a year throughout the Pacific Rim and has been the go-to company for scores of local event organizers.

This year, president and owner Donald Pascual promises something "spectacular, fantastic, outrageous and very impactful" for the thousands of spectators expected to flock to Aloha Tower Marketplace to watch the show.

The production takes about 14 hours to set up, but the planning began well before Thanksgiving. Albreicht will lead an eight-person crew responsible for making sure the production goes off without a hitch.

Each event is customized according to strict safety guidelines and the specific parameters of each site. Staging the show from a fireworks-loaded barge 600 feet offshore, Albreicht and crew will have more freedom than usual to be creative.

"It's a great art form," Albreicht says. "It's unique because my canvas is the sky. I get to produce a picture up in the air and it only lasts seconds."

HIGH ENERGY SHOW

The Aloha Tower show will be set to music simulcast on KSSK. The complexity of the show is a reflection of technological advances in the industry.

The complicated process of calculating precise timings for the electronic launch and fuse-driven detonation of thousands of fireworks shells is made manageable by computers, Albreicht says.

"There was a day when you would go out there with a flare and light all the fuses yourself, but those days are long gone," Albreicht says.

Still, managing and executing the show calls for the strict accounting of thousands of seemingly minute details. If one thing goes wrong, the entire effect can be compromised. If all goes right, as it usually does for Albreicht and his team, the payoff is worthwhile.

"We'll be 600 feet away, but when you hear the crowd roar when something goes well, it's amazing," he says.

Even with all of the Grucci family's accomplishments, producer and "chief operating brother-in-law" Philip Butler says he feels the same sort of satisfaction when a show goes well.

"It's always fun when the audience reacts and you know you're taking their breath away," he says.

The Gruccis will stage their show from a barge 1,000 feet off Waikiki, making the show visible to anyone who can see Diamond Head.

The Waikiki show will also be closely choreographed to high-energy party music, with special effects set to key words and phrases. In other words, don't be surprised to see a tiger's eye during "Eye of the Tiger" or a pair of hearts during "Two Hearts."

"We'll do that if a song suggests a particular shape," Butler says. "When audiences recognize that, they're more apt to dial in to less obvious choreography.

"The traditional fireworks performance is just boom, boom, bang, bang," he says. "What (the Waikiki audience) will get is a rare opportunity to see a state-of-the-art fireworks performance with music and choreography."

BLACK SKY BEST CANVAS

Despite the size and scale of their productions, the Gruccis are more concerned with the quality of effect versus the quantity of shells fired. Hence, Butler's sniffy response to queries about how many fireworks will be used in tonight's production.

"It's like asking Michelangelo how many buckets of paint he used to paint the Sistine Chapel," Butler says. "If the eye doesn't perceive the entertainment, the quantity of what we use doesn't matter."

Butler says the best canvas for the Gruccis' work is a clear, black sky. Too many explosions will produce too much smoke, which will alter the vibrant colors emitted by the exploding shells.

Tonight's performance will also likely include the signature Grucci "gold split comet," in which a barrage of cylindrical fireworks shells are fired over a 30-second interval, each streaking across the sky then exploding to release a shower of smaller gold comets.

"It creates a golden Milky Way effect," Butler explains.

But will it be a knockout punch? Or will the guys at Hawaii Explosives & Pyrotechnics come back with a flurry of their own?

Let's get ready to rummmbbbble the heavens.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.