Come From Away at the Eccles

I was able to see Come From Away the last time the Broadway touring company made a stop in SLC and I loved it so much!  The only time I stopped crying was when I was laughing out loud!  I was so happy for the chance to see it again last night and my response was pretty much the same because not only is it a touching and entertaining true story about the power of community and the indomitable human spirit but it is also makes me feel incredibly nostalgic for Canada (all of the pop culture references made me smile).  After the 9/11 attacks, U.S. airspace is restricted and 38 international flights have to be diverted to the airport in the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.  The nearly 7,000 stranded passengers almost double the population of Gander but the townspeople willingly do everything they can to provide them with food, clothing, shelter, and comfort.  This show features an outstanding ensemble cast of twelve who seamlessly, with just the addition of a article of clothing or a prop, play multiple roles to tell the stories of both the townspeople and the stranded passengers and crew.  My favorites involve a local woman named Beulah (Kristin Litzenberg) comforting a passenger named Hannah (Candace Alyssa Rhodes) when she cannot locate her firefighter son in New York, two lonely passengers, Diane (Molly Samson) from Texas and and Nick (Stanton Morales) from England, who begin a relationship after being thrown together, and a member of the local ASPCA (Kathleen Cameron) who sneaks on board the empty planes to care for the animals (including a pregnant bonobo chimpanzee).  I love all of the music in this show but my favorite songs are "Prayer" because it incorporates elements of multiple religions into a beautiful message of comfort, "Screech In" because it is a hilarious ceremony to become an honorary Newfoundlander involving copious amounts of alcohol and a codfish, and "Something's Missing" because it perfectly captures that hollow feeling I remember in the days after the attacks (I also have to give a shout-out to a rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" during an impromptu karaoke session).  The set is very minimal but it is impressive how just a few tables and chairs are quickly configured to represent the airport, buses, planes, the legion hall, and emergency shelters and I loved how the lighting design portrays the fear and confusion of the passengers as they arrive in Gander in "Wherever We Are" and "Darkness and Trees."  This is a show that will restore your faith in humanity and I highly recommend it (just bring tissues because everyone around me was also crying).  There are four more performances at the Eccles Theatre through Sunday, April 28 (go here for tickets).

Challengers

I have been anticipating seeing Challengers for a very long time and I was really excited to finally have the chance last night.  I loved it even more than I was expecting to!  Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is a champion tennis player who is in a slump after recovering from an injury.  His wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), herself a former prodigy, suggests that he play as a wild card in a lower level challenger event to boost his confidence before the U.S. Open.  Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) is a down-on-his-luck former prodigy who sleeps in his car and plays in challenger events for the meager prize money.  Art and Patrick end up facing each other in the final of this challenger event and, through flashbacks as they play in this heated match, the audience learns that they have a complicated past with each other and with Tashi and that the stakes are even higher than they realize but not what they imagine.  Zendaya gives an absolutely riveting performance and both O'Connor and Faist match her in intensity.  The three of them have absolutely insane chemistry with each other and I honestly cannot decide what was sexier: a scene in a sauna or a scene involving a churro.  The use of tennis as a metaphor is very clever with all of the back and forth that happens between the characters and I loved the exploration of power and what happens to relationships when the power dynamic shifts.  Having a nonlinear timeline, which can sometimes disrupt the pacing, is very effective in this movie because the flashbacks slowly reveal events that directly inform what is happening on the court in the final match and the tension is palpable (I laughed out loud when I realized how Patrick was going to serve the ball and what it meant within the context of the past).  I don't follow tennis or understand much about the game but the way in which the tennis scenes were filmed is incredibly dynamic and exciting.  I especially loved the scenes from the POV of the ball!  Finally, the techno score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is amazing and really amps up the energy in every scene ("Compress/ Repress" is basically a NIN song and I loved it).  I am sure that this is going to be one of my top movies of 2024 and I highly recommend it!

Abigail

Yesterday I spontaneously decided to see Abigail and I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it!  A mastermind named Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) assembles a group of criminals with the pseudonyms Frank (Dan Stevens), Joey (Melissa Barrera), Sammy (Kathryn Newton), Dean (Angus Cloud), Rickles (Will Catlett), and Peter (Kevin Durand) to kidnap Abigail (Alisha Weir), the 12-year-old daughter of a powerful underworld crime boss, for a ransom of $50 million.  They bring her to a creepy and secluded mansion (with lots of atmospheric lighting and creaking floorboards) and are told to hold her there for 24 hours but, when Abigail starts to kill them one by one, they realize that she is not an ordinary girl.  This puts an entertaining spin (pun intended) on the usual tropes by having Abigail be a ballerina because this adds a lot of visual flair (and a score by Tchaikovsky) to the action sequences.  Abigail is also a vampire (I almost wish that this had not be revealed in the trailers because not knowing anything about the killer would have added a lot more tension to the first act) so these action sequences also feature enough blood and gore to keep horror fans very happy.  While the characters are incredibly one-note (they are each assigned a defining trait, from which they never deviate, when Joey proves that she can read people), the campy performances are really fun to watch, especially Stevens, because he steals every scene he is in as his character becomes more and more unhinged (he is having quite the year), and Weir, because she has a very compelling presence as both a terrified little girl and a terrifying villain.  Despite a few flaws, I had a bloody good time with this and I think fans of the genre will, too.

How to Train Your Dragon in Concert

Seeing How to Train Your Dragon, a movie that I love, while the Utah Symphony performed the amazing Academy Award nominated score by John Powell live in front of an enthusiastic capacity crowd last night was so much fun!  The Vikings on the island of Berk are regularly attacked by dragons but Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the son of the chief Stoik the Vast (Gerard Butler), is deemed too weak and awkward to fight them.  He is apprenticed to the blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson), instead, so he makes a mechanical device which he uses to shoot down the rare Night Fury dragon during an attack.  When he discovers that the dragon was only wounded, he can't bring himself to kill him and sets him free.  He eventually befriends the dragon, naming him Toothless because of his retractable teeth, and makes a prosthetic for his wounded tail fin so he can fly again.  Hiccup ultimately discovers that everything the Vikings know about the dragons is wrong and that they must join together to face an even bigger threat.  The score features lots of booming brass and percussion with elements from Scottish folk music (I wish that there had been a piper on stage) but my favorite pieces featured beautiful themes by the strings, including "Forbidden Friendship" when Hiccup finally gets Toothless to trust him (this received lots of applause from the audience), "Test Drive" when Hiccup learns to ride Toothless, and "Romantic Flight" when Toothless flies Hiccup and Astrid (America Ferrera) through the clouds and the Northern lights.  I also loved the piano in "Where's Hiccup?" in the aftermath of the battle with Red Death.  Since the music is so epic, the experience of hearing it live while watching the movie is incredibly immersive!  I guarantee that if you love the movie you will love the concert!  Due to popular demand, the Utah Symphony has added two more chances to see it (in June) but you need to act quickly because tickets are almost gone (go here).

Fiddler on the Roof at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

The musical Fiddler on the Roof is an old favorite of mine and I honestly don't think I will ever get tired of seeing it (I have seen it so many times I have to stop myself from singing along to every song). Last night I saw the second of three productions of this show that I have scheduled this year at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse and it was delightful. Tevye (Duane Beesley) is a poor Jewish dairyman living in the small village of Anatevka in Tsarist Russia. He and his wife Golde (Logan Peterson) cling to their traditional way of life as a protection from the harsh realities of life until their three oldest daughters, Tzeitel (Bria Snow), Hodel (Candra Young), and Chava (Daphne Dixon), push against these traditions when it is time to find a match. This show features a large ensemble cast and they are utilized very well in the small space, especially in "Tradition," "Sabbath Prayer" (I loved the different groups of families located all over the theater), "Sunrise, Sunset," and "The Rumor" (having the action move around the different areas of the stage as the rumor spreads is really effective). Not only is the ensemble used very well but they do a really good job with the choreography, particularly in "To Life" and in the wedding scene (I always love the bottle dance). There was a tiny little boy who was concentrating so hard on the choreography in "Tradition" and I overheard one of the actors on stage near me whisper, "He did it!" This is why I love community theatre! The main cast is also outstanding. Beesley is much more soft-spoken than other Tevyes that I have seen but this made his version of "Do You Love Me?" with Peterson even more endearing and his version of "Little Bird" even more heartbreaking. Peterson is one of the sassiest Goldes I've seen and her facial expressions are hilarious. Other standouts for me are Carla Lambardo Bambo as Yente, Ethan Snow as Motel, Alex Young as Perchik, and Kelsey Porter as the Fiddler (she is integrated into the story a lot more in this production). My favorite part of the show was The Dream Sequence because Fruma-Sarah (Abbie Webb) suddenly emerges from the middle of Tevye and Golde's bed. I was laughing out loud because that was exactly how I appeared when I played Fruma-Sarah and it brought back so many fun memories (one night a little old man was so shocked when I suddenly appeared that he screamed out loud). The elaborate sets for Tevye's house (interior and exterior) and barn are impressive and I also liked all of the smaller set pieces, such as the village inn, Motel's tailor shop, and the railway station, that are located on the platforms on either side of the stage. I firmly believe that seeing all of the old favorites, like Fiddler on the Roof, when I was young is why I love musical theatre to this day and I really encourage people to take advantage of all of the many opportunities to see community theatre performances in the Salt Lake area. This production runs on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays through June 1 (go here for tickets).