Saturday, December 31, 2022
2022: Year In Review
Friday, December 30, 2022
Favorite Movies of 2022
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas at the Eccles
Monday, December 26, 2022
Christmas 2022
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Babylon
Saturday, December 24, 2022
The Nightmare Before Christmas in Concert
Friday, December 23, 2022
The Whale
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
The Circus Train
My December Book of the Month selection was The Circus Train by Amita Parikh (the other options were Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun, Babel by R. F. Kuang, All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham, and The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton). I am a huge fan of historical fiction, especially fiction set during World War II, so I enjoyed this. After his wife dies in childbirth and his infant daughter Lena suffers from a bout with polio which leaves her paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, Theo Papadopoulos takes a job as an illusionist with a magnificent traveling circus. The World of Wonders travels all through Europe in a luxury steam engine with many opportunities for the intelligent and ambitious Lena, but Theo is strict and overprotective because he fears for her safety. When Alexandre, a young orphan boy with a mysterious past, is found hiding on the train Lena feels like she has found her first friend and soon they are inseparable. However, as Europe is plunged into a war, Alexandre and Theo are arrested and become separated from Lena. She is forced to fend for herself for the first time in her life and discovers that she is stronger than she ever imagined she could be. I really loved the character of Lena because she is so strong and resilient. Not only must she overcome her own disability, but she must survive the atrocities of World War II and, when the war is over, she must defy the limitations placed on women to become a doctor and, ultimately, forgive the two people she loves most for their betrayal in order to find happiness. I love it whenever a woman, a disabled woman no less, is able to achieve something that society says she cannot do! I also really enjoyed the romance between Lena and Alexandre because I am a sucker for star-crossed lovers and I like the fact that they are both outsiders who find strength in each other (although I found the resolution to their love story to be rather convenient and a bit rushed). I was very impressed by the descriptions of life in the Theresienstadt Ghetto during the war and I could definitely tell that this aspect of the novel was meticulously researched. I was a bit disappointed that the same care was not given to the circus setting because I had a difficult time visualizing what the various compartments on the train looked like (I especially wanted to know what the giant maze created for Lena looked like and how it fit inside of the train) or how the illusions were performed (particularly the escape from the water tank because it plays such a pivotal role). I've seen this compared to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen multiple times but I think the circus setting is the weakest element in the plot and it does not play any real role in the narrative once the war begins. I loved this novel as a historical coming-of-age story with elements of romance and I definitely recommend it as such rather than the circus story it is being marketed as.
Monday, December 19, 2022
Avatar: The Way of Water
Gingerbread Houses 2022
Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir 2022
Sunday, December 18, 2022
A Soulful Holiday with the Utah Symphony
A Christmas Story at PTC
Yesterday afternoon I was able to see Ralphie Parker (Mack Boyer) try to convince his Mother (Stacie Bono), the Old Man (Danny Bernardy), his teacher Miss Shields (EJ Zimmerman), and even Santa Claus (Paris Alexander Nesbitt) to get him an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas for the second time in as many days. Unfortunately, this was a rare miss for PTC because I found it to be completely underwhelming in almost every way. Even if I had not just seen a vastly superior production at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts the night before, I still would have been disappointed with this show. I don't like to criticize an understudy but I think a theatre company the caliber of PTC should have understudies who are prepared to go on stage at a moment's notice. Howard Kaye (as the understudy for Jean Shepherd) did not seem at all prepared for today's performance because he read from a script during the whole show and he still frequently stumbled over his lines. This was really distracting because Shepherd narrates the story and appears in almost every scene. The rest of the cast was fine but no one really stood out to me, except Zimmerman who was hilarious as the uptight Miss Shields. Boyer has an incredible voice and I liked the vocal performances of the children in the ensemble but the big production numbers that I usually enjoy, such as "When You're a Wimp," "Ralphie to the Rescue," "Up on Santa's Lap," and "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana," were incredibly lackluster because the choreography in these numbers was very minimal. Even the showstoppers "A Major Award" and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" were surprisingly bland (I am normally a huge fan of Karen Azenburg's choreography). The stage was configured to look like a giant snow globe and this is really fun but, with the exception of the classroom at Warren G. Harding Elementary School (which featured the artwork of local students on the bulletin board), the sets were a bit bland and very unwieldy to move on and off the stage. There were also some technical difficulties (it was quite disappointing when the all-important lamp didn't light up) and the production did not use real dogs to portray the Bumpus hounds (one of my favorites scenes). Maybe I am being too hard on this show but I expected a lot more for the cost of the ticket (especially since I saw a better show for a fourth of the price). If you are looking for some Christmas cheer, I suggest skipping this and seeing Scrooge: A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, A Christmas Carol at either HCT or HCTO, or Elf The Musical at CenterPoint Theatre instead.
Note: I was able to see 80 theatre productions this year (not including the other performing arts such as the symphony, opera, ballet, etc.). My favorites have been Hadestown at Broadway at the Eccles, See How They Run at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder at the Empress Theatre, Camelot at HCTO, and Clue at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. I have renewed all of my subscriptions so I am looking forward to more great theatre in 2023!