I love going to the Utah Shakespeare Festival and I try to see at least one show every summer. I especially enjoy it when my sister Marilyn is able to come with me and I was so happy that it worked out for her to come this year. We were literally counting down the days because we were so excited!
We drove down Friday morning and got to Cedar City at noon. We wandered around for a little while, attended a seminar, and then saw our first show in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. I didn't really know what to expect from Clue but it was one of the funniest plays I have ever seen! Even Marilyn (who is very reserved) was laughing out loud! Six guests, including Colonel Mustard (Rex Young), Mrs. Peacock (Bree Murphy), Professor Plum (Michael Sharon), Mrs. White (Melinda Parrett), Mr. Green (Michael Doherty), and Miss Scarlet (Cherita Armstrong), are invited by Mr. Boddy (Andrew Fehrenbacher) to his manor on a dark and stormy evening. Mr. Boddy has been blackmailing each of them and, after providing them with weapons, he tells them that he will return the evidence he has against them...if they kill his butler Mr. Wadsworth (Aaron Galligan-Stierle). Murder and mayhem ensue! I loved the staging! There are two doors which open up to reveal the lounge, the study, the kitchen and the billiards room at various times with set pieces for the library and the conservatory coming from above. There is very elaborate choreography as the characters move from room to room and it is hilarious. The entire cast has outstanding comedic timing but Doherty's physicality, especially when a chandelier falls on him in slow motion, was my favorite part of the show. We loved it!
Friday night we saw Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in the Engelstad Theatre. After being unjustly convicted and sent to a penal colony in Australia by the unscrupulous Judge Turpin (Tim Fullerton), a barber named Sweeney Todd (J. Michael Bailey) returns to London hoping to be reunited with his wife Lucy and daughter Johanna (Lucy Austin) but, when he learns their fate, he vows revenge against the judge. He is aided by Mrs. Lovett (Bree Murphy), who has a pie shop below his former barbershop, but things take a sinister turn when he begins killing all of his customers and she begins using his victims in her meat pies. This is an amazing production with a phenomenal cast. Bailey and Murphy, especially, have beautiful voices that are well-suited to the operatic score but they also give sympathetic performances even though their characters become more and more depraved. I really loved their rendition of "A Little Priest." The set and costumes vividly bring Victorian London to life and the dramatic red lighting emphasizes the horror of what is happening. I loved the staging of the murders with Sweeney's barber chair in the balcony and a large lever sending the victims down to the bake house through a chute. It was a little bit too macabre for my sister but I loved it!
Saturday morning we saw The Sound of Music at the Randall L. Jones Theatre. The story of a spirited nun named Maria (Daria Pilar Redus) who is sent to be the governess to the children of Captain von Trapp (Michael Sharon) never gets old for me and I loved this production. Redus is wonderful as Maria! She has a beautiful voice in "The Sound of Music" and "My Favorite Things" but she is also just a little bit sassy in her interactions with the von Trapp children, Liesl (Julia Kuzmich), Friedrich (Brooks Mellen), Louisa (Shelby Fawson) Kurt (Mack Lawrence), Brigitta (Liv Harter), Marta (Penny Hodson), and Gretl (Gwynn Christ), in "Do-Re-Mi" and "The Lonely Goatherd" and she has tremendous chemistry with Sharon in "Something Good." I was also impressed with Lisa Strum as the Mother Abbess because she almost blows the roof off of the theatre with her rendition of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." I really enjoyed the choreography, especially for "Do-Re-Mi," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and "The Lonely Goatherd," because there are a lot of really fun and unexpected details. My only complaint is the set because a large curved staircase is on stage during the whole show and it is sometimes a bit confusing, particularly during "The Sound of Music" because it seems like Maria is inside the abbey rather than on the mountain and during "I Have Confidence" when Maria travels from the abbey to the von Trapp residence because there is very little difference between the two, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment. This show is lovely and is sure to appeal to everyone as a nostalgic favorite (Marilyn and I had tears in our eyes because it reminded us so much of our Mom).
Our final play was King Lear in the Engelstad Theatre Saturday night. It was my most anticipated show at the festival and it definitely did not disappoint! King Lear (Anthony Heald) divides his kingdom between his daughters Goneril (Lisa Strum), Regan (Stephanie Lambourn), and Cordelia (Kendall Cafaro) with disastrous results while the Earl of Gloucester (Chris Mixon) is fooled by his illegitimate son Edmund (Philip Orazio) into denouncing his legitimate son Edgar (Freedom Martin) which leads to tragedy. Heald is absolutely brilliant as Lear and I really loved his characterization because he is incredibly arrogant at the beginning of the play and imperious when he visits his daughters so his downfall and descent into madness is even more dramatic! Orazio is an absolute hoot and I loved his knowing looks at the audience every time he is about to do something despicable. I also loved Strum's performance because she is the perfect embodiment of exasperation and Aidan O'Reilly's performance as the Fool (he was brilliant in Richard III last year) because he has such a presence. The costumes in this show are exquisite with lots of jewel tones, patterns, and embellishments and this provides a huge contrast to the tattered rags worn by Lear and Gloucester when they come undone. The lighting and sound design is very effective at creating an oppressive atmosphere (I wrote a paper about the use of weather in this play in college) and the staging of certain scenes is incredibly dramatic, especially the blinding of Gloucester (the audience gasped). This is the best production of King Lear I have seen and my sister, who struggles with the Shakespeare tragedies, really enjoyed it!
This was a great trip, despite the heat and my disappointment with the tarts this year, and I had so much fun! I am already excited for the festival next year!
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