Elf The Musical at HCT

Last night I saw HCT's production of Elf The Musical and I got a big dose of Christmas cheer! Santa Claus (Josh Richardson) tells the story of Buddy (David Paul Smith), a human who mistakenly believes that he is an elf because he crawled into his bag as a baby and was raised at the North Pole. After discovering who he really is, Buddy decides to find his dad, Walter Hobbs (Douglas Irey), and ends up bringing Christmas cheer to his new family, his girlfriend Jovie (Kelly Coombs), and everyone in New York City. The staging of the musical numbers is so much fun with exciting choreography and energetic performances. I especially loved the use of tricycles ridden by the elves in "Happy All the Time," the taxi cabs and police cars in "World's Greatest Dad," the tinsel used as jump ropes in "Sparklejollytwinklejingly," the confetti made of shredded paper in "Just Like Him," the real ice skates and a spectacular ice rink (with some cool technology that allows the actors to actually skate on it) in "A Christmas Song," the bags of toys in "Nobody Cares About Santa," and, of course, Santa's flying sleigh in the reprise of "A Christmas Song." The dazzling set pieces rise from the pit, descend from the rafters, and come in from the wings and my favorites were the snow globes used to designate the Empire State Building, Macy's Department Store, Rockefeller Plaza, and Central Park. I also loved the giant snowflakes with disco balls inside them hanging throughout the theatre. The costumes for Santa, Buddy, the elves at the North Pole, and the employees at Macy's are colorful and whimsical and I even liked the contemporary costumes worn by the employees at Greenway Publishing because they coordinated in shades of blue, gray, and green. Smith, who has appeared in many shows at HCT and is one of my favorites, is perfect as Buddy because his physicality and facial expressions are hilarious and his interactions with Coombs, as Jovie, are really sweet (they appeared together in HCT's production of Daddy Long Legs). I also really enjoyed Michelle Blake as Emily Hobbs and Cole Young as Michael Hobbs because their voices blend very well in the songs "I'll Belive In You" and "There Is a Santa Claus." However, Joanna Johnson, as Deb, steals every scene she is in because she is a hoot! I had a smile on my face from beginning to end and you would have to be a cotton-headed ninny-muggins to miss this show! I highly recommend it, especially to families during the holiday season (the little boy sitting near me was absolutely enthralled). It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through January 6 (go here for tickets).

Dream Scenario

I was really intrigued by the trailer for Dream Scenario so I went back to the Broadway (my second home) last night to see it.  I found it to be hilarious and thought-provoking.  Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) is a mild-mannered evolutionary biology professor who inexplicably begins appearing as a benign presence in other people's dreams.  When a former girlfriend writes an article about the phenomenon that goes viral he becomes an overnight sensation.  He basks in all of the attention he receives from his daughters (Lily Bird and Jessica Clement) and his students and, even though his wife (Julianne Nicholson) warns that there will be negative consequences, he appears on television and tries to parlay his new-found fame into a book deal by signing with an agent (Michael Cera).  Suddenly his presence in everyone's dreams becomes malevolent which causes him to be feared and then vilified.  He loses his job and his family and finds it impossible to appear in public without being attacked.  Eventually, people stop dreaming about him but he tries to hold on to his notoriety by writing a trashy tell-all book and appearing at third-rate events.  This is an incredibly clever social satire about the fickle nature of fame and how someone or something can quickly catch the attention of the collective unconscious and then, just as quickly, disappear.  The commentary about the devastating effects of cancel culture is particularly fascinating and the scene where Matthews films a tear-filled apology, which seems to be de rigueur for any celebrity embroiled in a scandal, is quite amusing.  I also really enjoyed the scene where his prospective agent tries to get him to take a deal endorsing Sprite, because it perfectly embodies influencer culture, and all of the dream sequences, because they blur the line between the real and the surreal.  Cage, with a balding head, large glasses, graying beard, and over-sized parka, gives one of his best performances as an ordinary man caught up in a situation that he doesn't understand and can't control because his sputtering reactions to what is happening to him (both good and bad) are so funny.  There is a sub-plot in the third act about a device inspired by Matthews that allows people to visit other people's dreams that didn't really work for me but most of this had me laughing out loud.  I definitely recommend it.

Saltburn

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway yesterday was Saltburn.  I was so excited to see this and it definitely did not disappoint!  Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) is a scholarship student at Oxford who struggles to fit in with his wealthier classmates.  He attracts the attention of the popular and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) when he loans him his bicycle but gains his sympathy by describing his traumatic childhood with an alcoholic mother as well as the recent death of his father.  He is eventually invited to Saltburn, the vast estate owned by Felix's family, where he ingratiates himself to his parents Sir James (Richard E. Grant) and Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike) and his sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) but alienates his cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) who is jealous of the attention lavished on him.  Oliver continues his machinations until the current guest, Poor Dear Pamela (Carey Mulligan), is sent packing and he enjoys a summer of excess and depravity until his obsession becomes malevolent.  This is both highly amusing (there were hoots of laughter in my screening) and provocative (there was also a lot of nervous giggling) and I loved it!  Keoghan is incredibly disturbing and you cannot look away as Oliver engages in one debauched act after another (there is an especially titillating scene involving a bathtub), Elordi is so charming and charismatic that it is easy to see why Felix would become the object of a powerful obsession, and Pike is an absolute hoot as the vacuous Elspeth.  However, Madekwe is absolutely brilliant because Farleigh is unlikable but yet strangely sympathetic as someone who is accepted but doesn't really belong and he nails this complexity with a highly nuanced performance.  I loved all of the elaborately composed shots, especially all of the reflections in ordinary objects because they show how much Oliver wants to belong to Saltburn, the opulent production design, and the killer (pun intended) soundtrack.  This features some interesting commentary on the class system but I appreciate the style with which it is presented a lot more!  There are some structural issues (I don't think the final recapitulation is necessary because the twist has been obvious all along) but this is wildly entertaining and I highly recommend it to fans of black comedies. 

Napoleon

Yesterday I went to the Broadway for a double feature (I was basically there all day) and I started with Napoleon which I really enjoyed.  This is a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) chronicling his dramatic rise from an artillery officer during the waning days of the French Revolution to become the Emperor of France, his volatile relationship with an aristocratic widow named Josephine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby), and his spectacular victories and stunning defeats in military campaigns across Europe.  The large-scale battle sequences are absolutely incredible and I was particularly impressed by the Siege of Toulon when Napoleon captures a fort in order to break the blockade of the city because it is so immersive, the Battle of Austerlitz when he bombards the Austrians and Russians as they retreat across a frozen lake because it is so visceral, and the Battle of Waterloo when his troops are decimated by the Duke of Wellington because the aerial shots of the British infantry squares (I've always been obsessed with this military tactic) are so dramatic.  These set pieces are are thrilling (Ridley Scott knows how to stage a spectacle) and they definitely compensate for the long runtime and pacing issues.  Phoenix is magnetic in the role and, while many have criticized his characterization of Napoleon and a brooding and petulant despot (in some surprisingly hilarious scenes), I think it really works because he is more noted for being a brilliant military tactician than a good ruler.  Kirby is outstanding, although I would have liked more of her character, and I also enjoyed seeing Rupert Everett as the sneering Duke of Wellington and Paul Rhys as the scheming Talleyrand.  I am a huge fan of historical dramas so I obviously loved the period costumes, numerous locations, lavish production design, and atmospheric score.  There are flaws but I would recommend this to fans of epic period pieces.

Gentri Christmas at the Eccles 2023

Last night I went to my first Christmas concert of the season and I definitely picked a good one!  The Gentlemen Trio, or Gentri as they are more commonly known, was established when Casey Elliott, Bradley Quinn Lever, and Brad Robins were cast in a production of Les Miserables at HCT (they recently reprised their roles of Jean Valjean, Enjolras, and Marius, respectively, in another HCT production) and then continued singing together after the run was over.  My sister Marilyn is a huge fan so we went to their Christmas concert last year and we loved it so much we decided to make it a tradition!  This year's show at the Eccles Theater was amazing!  They began with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and the arrangement included snippets from "Carol of the Bells" and I really liked it.  They continued with "Little Drummer Boy," "Gesu Bambino," and an incredible arrangement of "Still Still Still" with snippets from the score of the movie The Mission (I love this song because I sang it in choir in college).  They were joined by vocalist Yaphet Bustos for "Angels We Have Heard on High" and by the Rise Up Children's Choir for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "What Child Is This?" (which featured the Christmas story acted by several members of the choir in costume).  The first set ended with a bluesy mashup of "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and "Joy To The World" with Brad Wheeler on harmonica.  After the intermission, they performed "We Three Kings" with another guest vocalist, Ellie Barry, and then "I Saw Three Ships."  Next they had their music director Stephen Nelson arrange a piece on the spot from a movie score and a Christmas song suggested by the audience (they did this last year as well).  Our audience picked the score from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and "Mistletoe" by Justin Bieber and, believe it or not, the result was really good!  Next they performed an original song called "Somewhere In Your Silent Night" which is very moving.  A mashup of "Coventry Carol" and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" with dramatic themes played by a cello was definitely my favorite of the night but a close second was their arrangement of "O Holy Night," which is my favorite Christmas song, featuring the Rise Up Children's Choir.  The concert concluded with a powerful rendition of "O Come All Ye Faithful" with Bustos, Barry, and the children.  Both Marilyn and I loved this show and it was the perfect way to begin this holiday season.  There are a few tickets available for both of the shows today (go here) and I highly recommend getting one!

Note:  I always hope that I will hear "O Holy Night" performed live at least once during the holiday season and I am so happy that I got to hear it last night!

'Tis the Season

I actually put my Christmas tree up last week because I like to enjoy it for as long as possible (one year I put it up on Halloween).  One of my favorite things to do during the season is watch Christmas movies with just the tree illuminating the living room.  I am also looking forward to lots of holiday traditions, performances (including several Christmas concerts and four productions of A Christmas Carol), and time with my family (my niece and her fiance will be here for some epic games of Shanghai rummy).

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving 2023

I spent Thanksgiving with my family (Sean came home from college but we were missing Tashena and her fiance Tucker who live in Washington) and it was a wonderful day.  We had a somewhat non-traditional dinner because we had ham instead of turkey but we did have all of the other side dishes including potatoes, yams, stuffing, asparagus, pomegranate salad (a family favorite), a relish tray, and rolls.  Everything was delicious!  In the evening we had pie and lots of other treats (my sisters are very good bakers) and then we played Shanghai rummy (an absolutely crazy card game that really gets going).  I am so grateful for my family and that I am able to spend so much time with them.  I hope that you had a happy Thanksgiving with the people you love!

Wish

I have had the tradition of taking my nephew to the new Disney/ Pixar movie over the Thanksgiving break ever since he was a little boy (we have seen The Good Dinosaur, Moana, Coco, Frozen II, Encanto, and Strange World together) but he did not want to see Wish with me last night so I went by myself.  Maybe I should have listened to him.  King Magnifico (Chris Pine) is a powerful sorcerer who has the power to grant wishes.  He and his wife Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral) establish the kingdom of Rosas and, to keep the inhabitants safe, he has them give him their wishes which he keeps safe until he grants one every month in an elaborate ceremony. A young girl named Asha (Ariana DeBose) hopes that King Magnifico will grant her grandfather Sabino's (Victor Garber) wish in honor of his 100th birthday but she learns that he is very selective about the wishes he grants in order to control the population for their own good.  Dismayed about the fact that her grandfather's wish is deemed too dangerous to grant, she wishes on a Star, instead, and it comes to help her which threatens the power of King Magnifico and he turns to forbidden magic to stop it.  It is only when Asha realizes that the power of stardust is within her and all of the inhabitants of Rosas that they are able to rescue their wishes.  The animation, which is a combination of computer generated and hand drawn, is absolutely beautiful.  DeBose has an amazing voice and I really enjoyed her vocal performance and some of the songs, especially "Knowing What I Know Now."  Pine is a fun and interesting villain who starts out with good intentions but lets absolute power corrupt him absolutely and his song "This is the Thanks I Get?" was a highlight for me.  Having said that, I found the story to be very disappointing.  There is a lot that happens simply to evoke nostalgia rather than advance the plot, including when Star grants the wish of all of the woodland animals to speak (the only wish it actually grants) and the inclusion of unnecessary side characters based on the seven dwarfs.  It seems like an origin story for many other better Disney movies and it is not very compelling or memorable.  I didn't necessarily hate it but I wish it had been better.

May December

Last night my nephew and I went to the Broadway to see May December and we both found it to be incredibly thought-provoking.  Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) is a television actor who inserts herself into the lives of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) and her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) because she will be portraying Gracie in an upcoming independent movie about their scandalous romance.  Gracie had an extramarital affair with Joe, who was then in seventh grade, was arrested, gave birth to their first child in prison, and then married him when she was released.  Twenty years later, as their twins are about to graduate from high school, they seem like the perfect suburban family but, as Elizabeth starts delving into the past, the facade comes crumbling down.  This is really campy, with one of the funniest line readings I've ever heard and an incredibly melodramatic score, but then it becomes absolutely devastating.  All three actors give amazing performances because their characters are so complex and reveal themselves little by little.  Gracie seems confident and happy around Elizabeth and her neighbors and broken and fragile behind closed doors with her family but then we see how passive-aggressive she is with her daughters and how manipulative she is with Joe.  Moore uses changes in her facial expressions and voice, slipping into and out of a breathy lisp, to show her character's intent and it is masterful.  Elizabeth seems like an ambitious method actor trying to understand the character she will be portraying so that she can do justice to the story but then she starts to blur the lines between reality and art to actually become Gracie and her behavior is just as predatory.  Portman's performance is brilliant because she eventually mimics all of Gracie's mannerisms and the transformation is so subtle that you don't realize how unsympathetic she has become.  Joe protests that he is not a victim and that he has been happily married to Gracie for twenty years but he is constantly bullied and belittled by her.  Melton's role is less showy but no less powerful, especially when Joe realizes the full impact of what has been done to him (by both women).  There is so much to unpack with all of these characters and it is fascinating!  I loved the use of mirrors because we eventually see who these characters really are when reflected by others and the focus on Joe's hobby of raising monarch butterflies is the perfect metaphor for the transformation these characters go through.  The more I think about this movie, the more I like it and I would definitely recommend it.

White Christmas at CPT

Last night I got to see CPT's delightful production of White Christmas with both of my sisters and it was so much fun! The three of us grew up watching the movie version because it was our mom's favorite so this show is very nostalgic for us. Broadway stars Bob Wallace (David Simon) and Phil Davis (Craig Williams) meet the Haynes sisters, Judy (Danna Facer) and Betty (Bailee DeYoung), and decide to follow them to Vermont where they have a gig over the Christmas holidays at the Columbia Inn. There they meet their former commanding officer from the war, General Waverly (Eric Millward) , who now owns the inn but is having financial difficulties due to the lack of snow. Wallace and Davis decide to bring their show, with a few numbers featuring the Haynes sisters, to the Columbia Inn and invite the soldiers from their company to a performance on Christmas Eve. Add a busybody receptionist (Melody L. Baugh) and a precocious granddaughter (Scarlett Burt) who want to be in show business, an overwrought stage manager (Ian Wellisch) feuding with a taciturn handyman (Nathan Burt), and love gone awry between both couples and you have a thoroughly enjoyable show full of big old fashioned song and dance numbers! The four incredibly talented leads do a really good job with the singing and dancing in "Sisters" (this is my favorite song in the show and my sisters and I are always ready to perform our version if the actresses playing the Haynes sisters are ever unable to go on), "The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing," "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep," "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me," and "How Deep Is the Ocean." The ensemble is fantastic and I loved the staging and the high-energy choreography in "Let Yourself Go," "Snow," "Blue Skies," "I Love a Piano" (I was especially impressed with the tap dancing in this number because it is pretty spectacular), and the iconic "White Christmas" (complete with audience participation and snow falling throughout the theatre). However, Burt absolutely steals the show with her adorable version of "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" and it brought the house down. The costumes (and there are a lot of them) are really fun and the sets are quite elaborate, especially the lobby and the barn decorated for Christmas at the Columbia Inn and the shimmering curtains in the Regency Room. This show has such a heart-warming message and it is sure to give you a big dose of Christmas cheer! It runs on the Barlow main stage through December 21 (go here for tickets).

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

I promised my sister that I wouldn't see The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes without her (we are huge fans of both the books and movies in The Hunger Games franchise) and, even though it was really hard to wait, I am so glad that we were able to see it together last night because we both loved it and couldn't stop talking about it on the drive home!  Eager to restore the former prosperity and honor of his family, Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) volunteers to become a mentor to one of the tributes in the 10th Annual Hunger Games, a scheme devised by Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) and the Academy Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dincklage), who created the games, to increase viewership.  He is assigned Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the female tribute from District 12 who is also a member of a traveling musical group known as the Covey.  He wants her to win in order to claim the prize money given for mentoring the victor in the games so he begins proposing changes, such as introducing the tributes to the Capitol and allowing sponsors to send them supplies during the game, in order to help her.  However, he soon forms a bond with Lucy Gray and will eventually risk everything, even his humanity, to save her.  I loved almost everything about this movie!  The story is so clever and compelling because it traces the genesis of the various elements used in the subsequent Hunger Games as well as Snow's transformation into the tyrannical leader of Panem and it is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book (events that are left out, such as the funerals of Arachne Crane and Felix Ravinstill and Snow's search for a guitar for Lucy Gray, are not really necessary in my opinion).  I loved the production design because the Capitol is clearly rebuilding after the devastation of war but there are definitely glimpses of what it will become and the academy, the zoo, and the arena are exactly like what I pictured when reading the book.  The costumes are so dramatic and I especially loved the academy uniforms, Lucy Gray's dress, and Dr. Gaul's wild outfits.  The use the bluegrass music for Lucy Gray's songs is brilliant (I especially loved "Nothing You Can Take From Me," "Pure as the Driven Snow," and, of course, "The Hanging Tree") and I loved all of the callbacks to the original score.  The cast is perfect because Blyth looks the part and portrays all of Snow's conflicting motivations so well, Zegler has an incredible screen presence and her performance of the songs is a highlight, Jason Schwartzman is an absolute hoot as Lucky Flickerman and looks like he could really be a relative of Stanley Tucci's Caesar Flickerman, and Davis steals the show by chewing up the scenery as the evil Dr. Gaul.  My only complaint is that the third act is a bit rushed but I understand the necessity of it (I've heard that there is a four hour cut in existence).  I think this is the strongest movie in the franchise since Catching Fire and I highly recommend it to fans!

Next Goal Wins

Last night I went to see Next Goal Wins because I simply cannot resist an inspirational sports movie and I enjoyed seeing this true story (told with a few wild embellishments according to a priest, played rather amusingly by director Taika Waititi, who breaks the fourth wall to narrate) with a large crowd who frequently laughed out loud.  Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is coerced into to coaching the football team in American Samoa, notorious for losing by the widest margin (31-0) ever during a game against Australia, after being fired from the U.S. men's national team.  The organizer of the team (Oscar Kightley) just wants them to score one goal, which they have never done in international play, but Rongen is a volatile alcoholic with anger management issues and immediately butts heads with the devoutly religious, traditional, and laid back players.  The team eventually finds success but they also teach Rongen that there are more important things than winning.  This is full of the usual sports movie tropes, such as a training montage to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," a motivational locker room speech, as well as a suspenseful come from behind win, and it definitely includes a white savior narrative (although it is somewhat subverted by the fact that the team wins in spite of Rongen).  Fassbender's performance is surprisingly bad and I actually cared about the individual members of the team (especially a transgender player, the first to ever compete in a FIFA qualifying match, brilliantly portrayed by Kaimana) more than Rongen and I wish that their character arcs had been emphasized more.  Despite all of this, however, there is enough heart and humor (I loved all of the references to The Karate Kid) to make this an entertaining watch and I recommend it, especially to fans of the genre, although it is definitely one you can wait to see when it streams.

Brahms' Symphony No. 2

Last night I was back at Abravanel Hall for another Utah Symphony concert and it was wonderful.  The orchestra began with a modern piece called Prelude a une nuit americaine by Mathilde Wantenaar.  It is meant to represent a sultry evening with just the hint of jazz in the air and I really enjoyed the energy and vitality, especially the tension created by the themes played by the brass.  Next came Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss and this was my favorite piece of the evening because I could definitely envision a dying man searching for what lies beyond just by closing my eyes and listening to the music.  It begins very slowly with beautiful themes played by the woodwinds and a solo violin to represent dreams once cherished during a lifetime.  Then there is a dramatic change in tone with a crash of timpani and fanfares from the brass leading to some intense passages from the violins to depict the reality of the human condition.  The piece concludes with the stroke of a gong signifying the transcendence needed to achieve the greatness once dreamed of.  The performance was incredibly powerful!  After the intermission, the orchestra concluded with Symphony No. 2 by Johannes Brahms.  Guest conductor Markus Poschner, a world-renowned expert on Brahms, explained that this piece celebrates both the joy of living and the melancholy that exists below the surface.  I was really struck by the notes played by the cellos and basses at the beginning of the first movement which eventually develop into themes by the horns, the woodwinds, and then the violins with underlying hints from the trombones and tuba threatening the calm.  The melancholy themes, which I loved, come from the cellos in the second movement while the oboes play a lighthearted theme recalling the first movement in the third.  The final movement ends triumphantly with the trombones!  What I most enjoyed about this concert is that, like the one two weeks ago, the three pieces were tied together thematically through their exploration of the highs and lows of the human experience.  I highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's performance of the same program (go here).

My Fair Lady at the Eccles

I'm a big fan of the musical My Fair Lady (there is just something comforting about all of the old favorites from Broadway's Golden Era) so I have been looking forward to the Lincoln Center production currently touring ever since the 2023-2024 Broadway at the Eccles season was announced!  I was able to see it last night and, unfortunately, I was a little bit underwhelmed by it.  When Professor Henry Higgins (Jonathan Grunert) and Colonel Pickering (John Adkison) encounter a Cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Annette Barrios-Torres) in Covent Garden, Higgins boasts that he could pass her off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball within six months by teaching her to speak properly.  Even though Eliza is a success at the ball, she becomes a true lady when she compels Higgins to treat her like one.  While I love all of the music in this show and wait with great anticipation for all of my favorite songs, including "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," With a Little Bit of Luck," "Just You Wait," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Get Me to the Church on Time," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," I found the performances to lack energy despite the fact that everyone in the cast has a beautiful voice (especially Borrios-Torres).  The big production numbers, "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time," are the best scenes in the show thanks to Michael Hegarty's comedic turn as Alfred P. Doolittle (and some cross-dressing can-can dancers) but every other number has surprisingly unimaginative choreography and nothing really grabbed my attention.  I especially found the ball scene to be oddly anticlimactic because it features couples dancing without much opportunity for Eliza to practice her correct diction with Professor Zoltan Karpathy (Christopher Isolando).  The costumes at Ascot are usually a highlight of the show for me but the ones in this scene are muted pastels rather than the dramatic black and white ones that you usually see (they are admittedly very beautiful, especially the hats, but they do not have a lot of impact).  I did, however, love the jewel-toned gowns, particularly Eliza's golden one, at the ball and both Higgins and Pickering have some opulent dressing gowns and smoking jackets.  The other aspect of the production that really impressed me was the set, especially the opera house in Covent Garden, Henry Higgins' wood paneled study (I loved the spiral staircase connecting the two levels and the large arched window), and the Embassy ballroom (the lighting in this scene is gorgeous).  I will always love this show and this version is "loverly" enough for me to recommend it but, honestly, I have seen much better local productions (especially this one) with tickets at half the price.  It runs at the Eccles Theatre through November 18 (go here for tickets).

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert

Last night I got to see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse while the score was played live by an orchestra and a DJ with a turntable.  It was awesome!  Seeing it on the big screen again reminded me of how much I love this movie and the soundtrack!  A Brooklyn teenager named Miles Morales (Shemeik Moore) is bitten by a radioactive spider and, after waking up with superpowers which disrupt his life, he returns to the alley where he was bitten.  He finds a secret lab with a supercollider created by Kingpin (Liev Schrieber) to access parallel universes in order to bring back alternate versions of his wife and son who died during an altercation with Spider-Man (Chris Pine).  Spider-Man is ultimately killed while trying to destroy the collider but not before several incarnations of Spider-Man from parallel universes appear.  These include a down-and-out Peter B. Parker/ Spider-Man (Jake Johnson), spunky Gwen Stacy/ Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), the cartoon Peter Porker/ Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), a monochromatic Spider-Noir (Nicolas Cage), and Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) a young Japanese girl who pilots a biomechanical spider.  They help Miles discover his powers and find the motivation to fight Kingpin as well as other familiar villains.  The animation in this movie is absolutely dazzling and the music by David Pemberton is just as exciting.  The score was performed by Broadway Sinfonietta, an orchestra composed of women (mostly WOC) conducted by Emily Marshall, and they were a lot of fun to watch because the music features lots of percussion (the percussion section took up half the stage).  I really loved all of the dramatic and exciting themes punctuated by the percussion, especially "Security Guard" as Miles runs away from school after discovering his powers, "Are You Ready to Swing?" as Spider-Man and Miles swing through the trees at Alchemax, and "Miles Morales Returns" when Miles joins the fight against Kingpin, but I also enjoyed the more poignant themes, such as "Destiny" (I loved the trombone) when Spider-Man asks Miles to destroy the collider before he dies, "On Your Way" when Miles learns the truth about the Prowler, "This Spark in You," when Miles' dad talks to him through his door, and "Saying Goodbye" when all of the Spider-People return to their own universes.  Another really cool element of the score is the use of unusual sounds recreated on a turntable, such as the scratching in "Into the Spider-Verse," the howls in "Green Goblin Fight," an elephant trumpeting in "The Prowler," and the clicking of a pen in "Kingpin Clicks," and DJ Damage was on hand to provide these effects (he was also really fun to watch because was so animated).  It is really cool when the songs featured in the soundtrack blend seamlessly into the score, particularly when Miles sings along to "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee and when "What's Up Danger" by Blackway and Black Caviar (I love this song so much and I am not alone because the audience applauded for it) fades into "Miles Morales Returns."  I love seeing films in concert but I think this one just might be my favorite because the sights and sounds were so dynamic!  I hope Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be next!

The Helsinki Affair

My Book of the Month selection for November was The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak (the other options were The Last Love Note by Emma Grey, Again and Again by Jonathan Evison, What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez, This Spells Love by Kate Robb, and Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward). In my late teens and twenties I was obsessed with spy thrillers (my dad used to joke that I would read anything with a hammer and sickle on the cover) so I was really excited for this selection (I was even more excited when I learned that the protagonist is a woman). CIA agent Amanda Cole is languishing in Rome as the deputy station chief when a low ranking officer of the Russian FSB walks in off the street to warn them that a powerful U.S. senator will be assassinated in Cairo the next day. She instinctively believes him but the station chief does not and no action is taken. When the senator is assassinated in the exact manner specified, she is recalled to Washington D.C. and promoted to station chief. As she investigates the motive for the assassination, she uncovers a vast Russian plot that takes her around the globe but she also finds a troubling connection to her father dating back to his time as a CIA operative in Helsinki in the 1980s. Eventually, Amanda must choose between loyalty to her country and loyalty to her father. What I loved most about this novel is that it is very much a contemporary story about stock manipulation using the algorithm to promote so-called "meme stocks" but it is also interspersed with flashbacks to the past involving lots of Cold War intrigue (which reminded me of all the spy thrillers by Ludlum, Le Carre, and Forsyth that I read and loved in my youth) culminating in a dramatic and suspenseful confrontation in Helsinki when the two stories converge. There are agents, double agents, triple agents, moles, red herrings, conspiracies, betrayals, and lots of action involving spycraft so I was completely riveted from beginning to end (and the ending is ambiguous enough to suggest that this might be the beginning of a series which I would welcome) and couldn't put it down. While I loved all of the spycraft, I also really appreciated Amanda as a character because she grapples with being a woman in a man's business, the toll that being an operative takes on one's personal life, and the fear of losing one's humanity (I also loved Kath Frost, a legendary Cold Warrior who helps Amanda navigate all of the above, because it is so refreshing to get a woman's point of view on being a spy). As an avid fan of the genre, I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend it!

Sweeney Todd at the Empress

I was thrilled to see the closing performance of Sweeney Todd at the Empress Theatre last night.  It joins The Sound of Music and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder as one of my favorites from this theatre and I am sad that it has now closed because anyone reading this will not be able to see it!  Benjamin Barker (Todd Christensen), a Victorian-era barber, was unjustly accused and condemned to exile in Australia by the lascivious Judge Turpin (Matthew Davids) who coveted his beautiful wife.  He returns to London 15 years later as Sweeney Todd after being rescued at sea by Anthony Hope (Tyler Rasmussen) and, when learns that his wife has died and that his daughter Johanna (Boston Bean) is now a ward of the judge, he vows revenge.  He returns to his former rooms above the pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett (River Robinson) and, when he discovers that she has kept all of his barbering tools, he decides to set up shop and lures the judge in for a shave so he can slit his throat.  However, the judge eludes him when Anthony rushes in to announce his plans to elope with Johanna and Sweeney vows to take vengeance on the whole human race.  He begins to kill all of his customers and Mrs. Lovett uses the bodies in her meat pies!  Eventually, his quest for revenge turns to madness!  The music in this show always gives me goosebumps because it is operatic in scale (with very macabre themes) and this cast is more than up to the challenge!  I absolutely loved Robinson's performance as Mrs. Lovett because she is hilarious with her over the top facial expressions and uproarious physical comedy!  I especially enjoyed her rendition of "By the Sea" because she really leans into the humor rather than the poignancy of the moment (as some actresses do in this scene) and I laughed out loud at her reaction to kissing Sweeney!  She is also really funny in "The Worst Pies in London" and "Parlor Songs" as well as "A Little Priest" with Christensen.  Speaking of Christensen, he really impressed me with his incredibly powerful version of "Epiphany" and he matched Robinson beat for beat in "By the Sea" by acting resigned (rather than oblivious as most actors do) to her advances.  I love how various citizens of London are used to narrate the tale of Sweeney Todd and the ensemble in this production is outstanding in "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and its many reprises and I thoroughly enjoyed their choreography in "God, That's Good."  Rasmussen and Bean also have beautiful voices and do a great job with "Johanna" and "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," respectively.  This is a complicated show and I was very impressed with how they staged moving Sweeney's victims from the barber chair to the bakehouse in such a small space.  I also loved the set, especially all of the iron work on Judge Turpin's house because it actually looks like the metaphorical bird cage that Johanna is trapped in.  Finally, the costumes are some of the best I've seen at this theatre, particularly those worn by the ensemble because they bring Victorian London to life, and I laughed out loud as Sweeney's wig becomes more and more disheveled and deranged!  I really loved this production but, as I mentioned previously, the run is now over.  I will, however, recommend getting a ticket for Sherlock (go here) which is the next production.

Ballet West's Firebird

Yesterday I went to a matinee Ballet West performance featuring a trio of ballets celebrating the 60th anniversary of the company.  I definitely prefer full length ballets but, over the years, I have come to appreciate these one-act pieces and I really enjoyed this production.  The first piece, Firebird, is a classical ballet choreographed by Ballet West's founder William Christensen and it is based on a Russian fairy tale with music by Igor Stravinsky (so I obviously loved it).  An Evil Magician (Tyler Gum) keeps a group of princesses captive in his castle and turns the knights who come to rescue them into stone.  A Prince (Jordan Veit) enters the Magician's garden and encounters the Firebird (Amy Potter), a magical creature illuminated by light, and immediately captures her.   In a beautiful Pas de Deux, the Firebird struggles in the Prince's arms so he releases her.  In gratitude, she gives him one of her feathers to use if he is ever in peril.  When the princesses are released into the garden, the Prince woos the loveliest one (Kazlyn Nielsen) in another beautiful Pas de Deux where they vow their love for each other.  He attempts to rescue the Princess but the Magician appears with a group of wild animals, who wear incredible masks created by Logan Long (I especially loved the insects) and wield torches of fire, and tries to turn him into stone.  He reveals the Firebird's feather which summons her to the garden and soon the Magician is defeated (very dramatically), the princesses are released, and the stone knights are brought back to life.  The ballet concludes with the marriage and coronation of the Prince and Princess.  I especially enjoyed Potter's performance as the Firebird, because all of her stylized movements mimic those of a bird, and the traditional Russian costumes in the coronation scene.  Next came the world premiere of Fever Dream which is a modern ballet choreographed by former Ballet West soloist Joshua Whitehead (I liked him when he danced with the company) featuring music that he composed and contemporary costumes.  In this piece, a dreamer is torn between his mundane life and the unsettling and eerie dream world and I loved all of the innovative patterns created by different groups of dancers and the dramatic use of red to highlight some of the dancers.  The final ballet, Stars & Stripes, is a patriotic extravaganza choreographed by George Balanchine with music by John Philip Sousa.  It is divided into five campaigns with three different regiments of dancers, a Pas de Deux, and a thrilling finale and it is meant to mimic a parade with marches in unison and athletic leaps and spins.  My favorite was the second campaign because the regiment was led by my favorite dancer, Katlyn Addison.  The costumes for the women are so much fun because they incorporate military uniforms (I loved the epaulets) with tights and pastel tutus!  This was a wonderful production but, unfortunately, last night was the final performance.  However, The Nutcracker is up next and you don't want to miss this holiday tradition (go here for tickets).

Audra McDonald with the Utah Symphony

Last night I spent an incredible evening with Audra McDonald and the Utah Symphony (and my friend Angela) at a concert featuring lots of Broadway classics and standards from the great American songbook.  I loved every minute of it!  The orchestra began with "Carousel Waltz" from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel and then the incomparable Audra McDonald took the stage with a powerful performance of "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles.  She continued with "Pure Imagination" from the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (which I've heard her sing before) and she told a hilarious story about performing her next song, "Cornet Man" from Funny Girl, in a competition as a 14 year old girl and being criticized for not picking a more appropriate song!  Next came "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" by Duke Ellington, a sultry rendition of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, and then a spirited version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady (a song she has always been hesitant to sing because it is such a standard for all sopranos).  She talked about her hobby of gardening (very badly) which led her to add the song "I Always Say Hello to a Flower" to her repertoire and I thought her performance was really fun!  She ended her first set with "Home" from The Wiz and she just about blew the roof off Abravanel Hall with her powerful vocals!  After the intermission, she returned to the stage with "Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly!  Next, she performed a lovely arrangement of "Bein' Green" accompanied by a guitar and a beautiful mashup of "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" from South Pacific and "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods (I loved this so much).  She continued with "Can't Stop Talking" from the movie Let's Dance and then an amazing rendition of "Somewhere" from West Side Story.  She told the crowd that she found her next song, "I Love Today," on singer-songwriter Emily King's social media (it was written by King's mother Kim Kalesti) and reached out to her to ask if she could sing it.  It is a beautiful song about living in the moment and living life to the fullest and I loved it!  She concluded her main set with a really cool arrangement of "Life is a Cabaret" from the musical Cabaret.  For the encore, she sang a mashup of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Get Happy" with her music director Andy Einhorn and the crowd exploded into an appreciative standing ovation!  Both Angela and I have seen her perform before and both of us agreed that McDonald's vocals were especially powerful last night and we both found her to be even more loquacious than usual with lots of funny anecdotes to introduce every song.  It was an amazing night and, if you are a fan of Broadway, I highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's concert (go here).

The Marvels

Last night I saw a Thursday preview of The Marvels and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it!  Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), a Kree leader who is trying to restore her planet after it was damaged by Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) when she defeated the Supreme Intelligence, locates a Quantum Band and uses it to create a jump point in space.  Carol Danvers/ Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) are enlisted by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to investigate the jump point and their light-based powers become enmeshed with each other and with those of Kamala Khan/ Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) because she has the other Quantum Band.  This causes the three of them to switch places when they use their powers (and provides endless amusement and some great action set pieces).  Eventually they realize that Dar-Benn is creating jump points to plunder the atmosphere, water, and sunlight from planets that are significant to Danvers and the three of them must work together to stop her.  I have been vocal in my criticism of the MCU for becoming bloated with too many characters, stories, and timelines for the casual movie fan to keep up with but, honestly, as someone who has only seen WandaVision, I didn't find the story hard to follow (I thought Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was much more convoluted).  Obviously a familiarity with the TV shows (particularly Ms. Marvel) will provide a greater appreciation for the subtleties of each character but I found the quick recaps to be sufficient for my own understanding and enjoyment.  I really loved the deeper exploration of Danvers as a character, especially her relationship with Rambeau and her developing role as a mentor to Khan.  Larson, Parris, and Vellani have really fun chemistry in their scenes together and some of these scenes are absolutely bonkers (in the best possible way).  I laughed out loud so many times!  I think Dar-Benn is fine as the villain because her motivation is understandable (she reminded me of Killmonger in this respect) while Goose the Flerken and Prince Yan (Park Seo-joon) steal the show!  Finally, this movie has the second best use of a Beastie Boys song this year and the best use of a song from the musical Cats ever!  I had so much fun with this movie and definitely recommend it!

Note:  It goes without saying that you should stay for a mid-credits scene.  It's a good one!

Beethoven's Ninth

The program for last night's Utah Symphony concert was curated by guest conductor and creative partner David Robertson to portray all aspects of the human experience from the depths of despair to the pinnacle of joy and it was absolutely spectacular!  The evening began with a piece of sacred choral music called Christus factus est by Anton Bruckner which was performed by the Utah Symphony Chorus unaccompanied.  It was both sorrowful and powerful and featured atmospheric lighting which allowed Robertson to simply appear at the podium without an introduction.  Next, the orchestra and chorus were immediately joined by soloists Celena Shafer (a Utah favorite), Deborah Nansteel, Chad Shelton, and Zachary Nelson for a semi-staged version of Act III from the opera Wozzeck by Alban Berg.  The theme of this opera is the impending doom felt by Berg at the end of the Great War and this act tells the story of a poor and abused soldier named Wozzeck who is driven mad with jealousy over his wife Marie's infidelity with a drum major.  After Wozzeck kills Marie he becomes obsessed with the blood and, in an attempt to wash it away, he wades into a pond and drowns while his child is playing with neighbor children.  There are two crescendos played by the brass and percussion after Wozzeck kills Marie that are incredibly dramatic and convey the enormity of what he has done.  They gave me goosebumps!  After the intermission came what is widely regarded as the greatest symphony ever written!  The orchestra was once again joined by the chorus and the soloists for Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven and I was completely swept up by the emotion of this celebration of the universal brotherhood of man.  I was captivated by the very first hushed note which soon erupts to create a first movement that is incredibly stirring and dynamic.  The second movement is lively and exuberant and the third movement brought me to tears, as it always does, because it is so hauntingly beautiful.  All of this is merely the prelude to the incredible fourth movement featuring the chorus and soloists singing the lyrics from the poem Ode to Joy by Friedrich Schiller to the accompaniment of the instantly recognizable main theme played by the orchestra.  This performance was absolutely amazing and, even though it is over an hour in length, it felt like it went by in an instant.  I cannot recommend this concert enough and I suggest you get a ticket to tonight's performance (go here) as soon as you can because there were very few empty seats at Abravanel Hall last night (with good reason).

Priscilla

I was so excited to be back at the Broadway last night to see Priscilla because I am a huge fan of Sofia Coppola and I have been anticipating it ever since Cailee Spaeny won the Volpi Cup at the Venice FIlm Festival for her performance.  It is a fascinating if melancholy coming of age story that initially left me a bit disappointed but, the more I think about it, the more I appreciate it.  Priscilla Beaulieu (Spaeny) is a shy and lonely teenager living in West Germany, where her father is stationed, when she is invited to a party and meets Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi), who is doing his military service.  She comforts him over the recent death of his mother and they bond over their shared homesickness for the U.S.  Despite the objections of her worried parents, she is soon spending all of her free time with him and grows despondent when he is discharged from the Army.  She eventually visits and then moves into Graceland where she is completely controlled, manipulated, isolated, and ignored by Elvis.  She becomes a wife and mother before she finally finds the courage to create a life for herself.  This reminded me, beat for beat, of Marie Antoinette and that is both a good thing and a bad thing.  The compelling story is similar in that a young and naive girl is thrust into a situation for which she is completely unprepared, is forced to mold herself into someone else's ideal, and is not allowed to have a voice while living in a rarefied environment of luxury.  The gorgeous production design is also similar in that it brilliantly immerses the audience into a different time and place while including anachronistic music to create a vibe (my favorite is the use of "Crimson and Clover").  Unfortunately, it also feels like an insubstantial bit of spectacle because the protagonist still feels like a mystery when all is said and done and this left me wanting to know more about who she really was.  However, upon reflection I think that is actually the point because Priscilla didn't really have an identity while she was with Elvis.  Spaeny gives an incredible performance, literally transforming from a child to a young woman right before our eyes.  She is able to communicate so many emotions with just a glance or one word of dialogue and it always appears that she has so much more to say.  Elordi is unbelievably appealing and charismatic as Elvis and it is easy to see how Priscilla could fall under his spell but he also vividly portrays a darker side to the king of rock and roll so it is understandable why she would leave.  I'm still thinking about this one but I would definitely recommend it.