Just because it's the season and he's doing his first Christmas concert — themed "Maluhia" — tomorrow night at Blaisdell Concert Hall, don't expect Kealii Reichel, the award-winning singer, composer and kumu hula, to don a red malo.

"Absolutely not," said the Maui-based entertainer and educator. "For me, Christmas always is a challenge. There's a fine line between having fun, being creative — and being corny."

Reichel will appear in his traditional malo for kahiko elements of his Hawaiian-heavy production, thank you.

"I'm actually trying to keep that (Christmas factor) as low as possible," he said — as an alert and an apology.

You see, this performance will have a sprinkling of Christmas tunes, because it's the season and the folks expect the merriment. After all, Reichel's "Maluhia," his best-seller holiday CD in 2006, boasts a stash of genuine gems for the show.

"But we're doing our Hawaiian, as usual, and since we're going to Merrie Monarch again next year (last year was his hälau's first), we'll feature Miss Aloha Hula, Henoheä Käne (full name, Cherissa Henoheanäpuaikawaokele Käne), because her reign is coming to an end next April."

Reichel said he couldn't easily do a full slate of holiday music. "Christmas is a different ballgame," he said. "I'm not that creative; maybe five or six songs?"

The venture is "baby steps for me. I'm learning," he said.

His main seasonal endeavor is a Maui tradition — the annual Feb. 13 Kuukahi — usually tied to Valentine's Day and romantics. "We pull out all the bells and whistles with that," he said.

Not that he's scrimping on Honolulu's holiday show. "We'll have 21 dancers, a large group of hälau-trained dancers. It would have been a great challenge for them, to learn Christmas numbers, too, at the height of hälau planning for Merrie Monarch." Next year's competition will be held April 4 to 10 in Hilo.

Reichel reflects, with mixed feelings, about his Merrie Monarch debut last year. "It was horrifyingly stressful," he said. "I think the big part of the stress was that we've been around for a long time — almost 30 years," he said of his Hälau Ke'alaokamaile, which earlier was known as Hälau Hula O Ka Makani Wili Makaha O Kaua'ula. "As an older, more established hälau, we gained a reputation of dancing and chanting, but that's my own baggage," he said. "It's going to be a little easier now, though we're still green in Merrie Monarch."

It was one of his late aunts who nudged him to finally take that Merrie Monarch leap. " 'When you guys going?' my auntie always asked, every year, for years. When she passed, it was pretty hard for us in the family. So we put the baggage aside, and it's been good for me — a growing experience for me, my students, the hälau — to be competing," said Reichel.

Competition over concertizing?

It's been a double-edged sword, said Reichel.

"You go into competition the mind and intent to win," he said. "But you fully expect not to at the same time, so you walk the fine line, with a different mindset.

"In the 1980s, we competed in the Kamehameha hula contest. In the 1990s, when we came out with 'Kawaipunahule' (the landmark 1995 CD that changed Reichel's course as a kumu and singer), I couldn't swing the production concerts and the competition at the same time."

Reichel is beginning to "wind down my singing career, and focus on my hälau again, and I am not good at multi-tasking. But I want to be part of the hula community again and focus on hälau."

So how do concerts differ from competition?

"With concerts, the approach is: you cross the t's and dot the i's. You have creative freedom," he said. "With competition, it's a little more narrow path in so far as you do a presentation. You can do what you like, within a context, and you have to keep within perimeters. The approach is similar but the end result is a little different."

During competition, the kumu in him fully blossoms. "I find myself being tougher on my dancers. Competition does that," said Reichel. "It pushes us to a different place. It's just a human thing."

Competition also requires bucks. "And fund-raising has been part of my learning process. Hälau pays for everything, so we have fundraisers constantly. Like, five or six cookie sales a year, our main money-maker. We sell 40,000 cookies each time. If we're lucky, we hit 50,000. School Kine Cookies — those are the ones. Ono."

Cookies also can add an inch to the waist and as kumu and centerpiece of his kahiko segment, Reichel has additional challenges. "Gotta stay in shape — that's my own personal issue — so I go to the gym a couple of times a week, watch what I eat, and try really hard to stay in shape," he said.

It's all for the malo moments in the show, where he displays his body tattoos.

Reichel has a few treats planned, too.

The Sinfonietta Kamehameha, an ensemble of classical musicians at Kamehameha Schools, will perform during the second act. And Reichel's Hawaiian buddies, Ho'okena, will be guest-singing.

"My voice is good with them," he said of Manu Boyd, Horace K. Dudoit III, Glen H.K. Smith and Chris Kamaka, who comprise Ho'okena. "We've worked well together before but haven't done this together for a while."

Reach Wayne Harada at 266-0926. Read his Show Biz column Sundays in Island Life. Read his blog at http://showandtellhawaii.honadvblogs.com.