The Addams Family at The Ruth

I joke that The Addams Family is practically a requirement this time of year so I went to a production at The Ruth last night and it is by far the best version of this show I've seen!  The Addams family is not like other families because they are all obsessed with the macabre and rely on their dead ancestors to hep them through life.  Things start to go wrong when Wednesday (Beatriz Melo) falls in love with a normal Midwestern boy named Lucas Beineke (Ben Hansen) and decides to introduce his uptight parents, Mal (Josh Tenney) and Alice (Brandalee Bluth Streeter), to her family, including Gomez (Benjamin J. Henderson), Morticia (Ashley Gardner Carlson), Pugsley (Caleb Gordon), Uncle Fester (Joseph Paul Branca), Grandma (Annadee Morgan), and Lurch (Thomas Wood).  She arranges a dinner and begs her family for one normal night.  Of course, chaos ensues when a mishap involving a poisonous potion occurs so it is up to Uncle Fester, with the help of the ancestors, to convince everyone that love is the answer.  I loved everyone in the cast but I have to highlight three of my favorites (who also happen to be three of my favorite local actors).  Melo is one of the best Wednesdays I've seen because she has a beautiful voice but she also has a lot of sass so her renditions of "Pulled" and "Crazier Than You" are incredibly compelling and are highlights of the show.  Carlson is literally the perfect Morticia because she looks very slinky in her long black dress and she has a flawless deadpan delivery.  She is also a fantastic dancer and her performances in "Just Around the Corner" and "Tango de Amor" are very entertaining to watch.  Branca is so much fun as Fester (I love him in every role I've seen him play) because you can't take your eyes off him as he gleefully runs around the stage delivering clever one-liners (one line about coming out of the closet made me laugh out loud).  His rendition of "The Moon and Me" is hilarious, especially when he flies!  The ancestors (Bronwell Merrill, Emily West, McKenna Lorane Wright, Mandy Taylor, Garrett Manning, Brock Sorenson, Dallin Curtis, and Mason Lance) are used more in this production than any other I've seen and they have a lot of fun choreography, particularly the Pas de Quatre by the men in "Trapped" and a kick-line in a pinwheel formation in "Just Around the Corner." I also loved the costumes for the ancestors (my favorite is a pilot with an unopened parachute).  The stage, which has been reconfigured to create two runways that extend into the audience, is absolutely spectacular and allows for some fun staging opportunities (definitely keep your eye on Thing).  The sets are all practical (my favorite is the crypt) but there are also several ingenious videos shown at various times.  Even if you have seen this show before, this version is not to be missed because it will blow you away!  It runs in the Smith Grand Theater through October 31 and tickets may be purchased here.

Note:  This was my third show in three days!  I enjoyed all of them.

John Proctor is the Villain at PTC

When I learned that John Proctor is the Villain would open the 2026-2027 season at PTC, I could hardly contain my excitement! It instantly became my most anticipated show this fall and I was so happy to see it last night. Beth (Skye Alyssa Friedman), Nell (Rocky Anicette), Ivy (Adri Cumming), Raelynn (Alex Humphreys), Mason (Gage Martinez), and Lee (Carson Stewart) are high school students in a small rural town in Georgia. Their English teacher, Mr. Smith (Colby Strong), assigns them The Crucible, Arthur Miller's classic play set during the Salem witch trials, and also volunteers to be the advisor for a new feminist club organized by Beth. As the year progresses, their friend Shelby (Allison Dorsey) returns to school after a mysterious absence which fuels gossip about where she has been, Beth is drawn into the #MeToo movement in the media, Raelynn wants to break up with her boyfriend Lee after he cheats on her with Shelby, and Ivy's father is accused of sexual harassment which causes a scandal in the small town. Life seems to be imitating art as they study The Crucible and, during one particularly heated class discussion, Shelby disagrees with Mr. Smith's view that John Proctor is a hero for choosing death over a lie and asserts that he is actually the villain because he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with the teenager Abigail Williams. She then makes an allegation against Mr. Smith which divides the group because he is their favorite teacher. Shelby and Raelynn, the only one who believes her, eventually present their final project on The Crucible which imagines a conversation between Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams (and includes an interpretive dance) during which the characters break free from John Proctor prompting several to break free from Mr. Smith. I found this to be fascinating because Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a lens with which to view the McCarthy era in the 1950s and now it is being used as a lens with which to view the #MeToo era today. It is just so clever in the way it explores the abuse of power, the blaming of victims, and the silencing of young women from multiple perspectives. Despite its powerful themes, it is also quite funny and the audience laughed out loud multiple times (I laughed especially hard when Mr. Smith assigns parts from The Crucible for the students to read aloud and has to keep reminding Mason that it is his turn because I could definitely relate). I loved the use of pop songs by female artists, especially Beyonce, Lorde, and Taylor Swift (I also laughed out loud at a discussion of "Dear John" and a very well-timed quote from "We Are Never Getting Back Together") and the final scene involving the aforementioned interpretive dance to Lorde's "Green Light" had the audience cheering (the energy in the crowd was palpable). The scenes are very quick (I don't know how some of them changed costumes so fast) and take place a single location, a classroom with desks and chairs that are reconfigured by the actors, but so much happens in these scenes and the dialogue is razor sharp. Finally, everyone in the ensemble cast is fantastic but I was particularly struck by Friedman because her character's worldview is challenged the most and she portrays this uncertainty extremely well (she is also responsible for the most dramatic moment in the show in my opinion). I loved this on so many levels and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) but act quickly because, even though the run has been extended to October 3, there is limited availability due to the small size of the theater.

Note:  This production had to be moved to the Courage Theater on the campus of Westminster University because of a flood. I got both my undergraduate and graduate degrees there and I was even an adjunct instructor in the education department for many years so returning to campus brought back many wonderful memories.

The Cycle of Love

Yesterday I went to a matinee of The Cycle of Love at the Broadway (along with all of the other old retired people in the Salt Lake valley) and it is the most life affirming documentary I have seen in a long while.  P.K. Mahanandia is born in a small village as an "Untouchable" in the restrictive caste system in India and, when he is a child, he is told by an astrologer that the woman he marries will come from a land far away, will be a Taurus, will be musical, and will own a jungle.  At age twenty he moves to Delhi to escape the limitations of his caste and becomes a street artist who draws portraits for tourists.  One of these tourists is Lotta von Schedvin and, when he learns that she is from Sweden, is a Taurus, plays the piano, and lives in the middle of a forest, he believes that they are destined for each other.  They spend several weeks together and she also comes to believe in the prophecy (in one my favorite scenes) but she must return to Sweden for school.  They correspond by letter but P.K. eventually decides that he needs to go to Sweden to be with her.  He sells everything he owns, buys a second-hand bicycle, and begins the arduous 6,000 mile journey across Asia and Europe without any knowledge of the geography.  He faces numerous obstacles and starts doubting that he is good enough to be with Lotta but he comes to rely on the kindness of the strangers who not only help him on his physical journey but also help him on a journey of discovery in which he realizes his worth (this will restore your faith in humanity).  In addition to interviews with P.K. and Lotta in the present day, this features reenactments, with Chirag Benedict Lobo as the young P.K. and Mina Dale as the young Lotta, that are so realistic, with a 1970s aesthetic and the grainy look of the film used in that era, that you wonder if it is actual footage.  These reenactments also include ordinary people who tell their real stories to Lobo as a clever way to portray those who P.K. encountered on the journey.  I loved this so much and I highly encourage everyone to seek it out.

Dear Evan Hansen at CPT

I was especially excited for Dear Evan Hansen at CPT last night because my sister was seeing it for the first time. I love this show so much and I was afraid that I had over-hyped it but she really enjoyed this production (she even had a tear in her eye). Evan Hansen (Josh Call) suffers from anxiety and feels insignificant and alone but his busy single mother, Heidi (Casey Matern), doesn't know how to help him. Jared (Andrew Walker), his only friend, is nice to him so his mom will pay his car insurance and he is too scared to talk to his crush Zoe (Anna Kocherhans). His therapist encourages him to write letters to himself to build his self-confidence but Connor (Ryan Munsey), a deeply troubled young man, intercepts one from the printer because it mentions his sister Zoe. When Connor takes his own life, his devastated parents, Cynthia (Natalie Haddock) and Larry (Thad Weiland), find the letter and, assuming that it is a suicide note left for Evan, they reach out to him. Evan pretends that they were friends in order to comfort Connor's parents and soon he asks Jared to create a history of emails between them to prove the lie. Larry and Zoe struggle to reconcile Evan's version of Connor with the difficult son and brother they knew and Zoe tells Evan that the only nice thing Connor ever said to her was in his suicide note which Evan wrote. Alana (Kenzie Buckway), another lonely girl at school, wants Evan to do more to keep Connor's memory alive so they create The Connor Project and Evan gives a heartfelt speech about loneliness at a memorial assembly that goes viral. He begins a relationship with Zoe and spends all of his time with her family to the exclusion of Jared, Alana, and Heidi.  Eventually the deception spirals out of control and, when the truth is finally revealed, Heidi helps him see that he has never been alone. The casting of this show is exceptional because everyone is very well suited to their role. Munsey is the first actor that I've seen who actually looks the part of a troubled teen and Buckway has the vibe of someone who could be overlooked in a crowd (I was particularly struck by how similar Alana is to both Evan and Connor as a result) but I was most impressed by Call because he is so convincing as a high school student that I was surprised to learn that he is not a teenager.  Call's performance is absolutely brilliant because he has a beautiful voice with an incredible range but he also nails the emotion in the songs "Waving Through a Window," "For Forever," "You Will Be Found," and "Words Fail" (this is especially powerful and it reduced me to tears). He also portrays Evan's social anxiety very well with a rapid-fire delivery and lots of idiosyncratic tics. Kocherhans also has a beautiful voice and I loved her version of "Requiem" and "Only Us" (her voice blends so well with Call's). I also really liked Matern because her anger is palpable in "Good for You" but she is so heart-wrenching in "So Big/ So Small." I really loved some of the choices in the staging, especially when the students circle around Evan during "Waving Through a Window" while looking at their phones and the inclusion of Connor on stage during "Requiem" (it seemed to me that Connor is a lot more involved in this production). This show has an important message about how technology connects people but leaves them feeling even more isolated so the use of social media in an important element. I loved the way that it is integrated into this production! The set features large movable panels which also surround the proscenium and they include three-dimensional geometric forms which give the projections a cracked screen effect. In my opinion, this is an incredibly powerful symbol of how broken teens can become in their online interactions. This absolutely rivals the national tours I have seen and I cannot recommend it enough, especially to teens who might be feeling alone (there were lots of teens in the audience who were very moved by the show). It runs on the Mountain America Main Stage through October 15 (go here for tickets).

Runner

Last night I also saw Runner and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.  Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson) is a former Navy SEAL who is also a recovering alcoholic dealing with the trauma of losing his daughter to leukemia.  He works as a courier transporting both legal and illegal items for paying clients in Brisbane, Australia.  His latest assignment is to deliver a donor organ, needed by a critically ill seven-year-old girl, and its messenger Ben Bishop (Owen Wilson) to a hospital an hour away before it loses viability.  Mayhem ensues when they are pursued by Damian Zadivar (Rodrigo Santoro), the leader of a brutal Colombian drug cartel, who may or may not want to sell it on the black market.  The story is simple but it features some fun and thrilling action set pieces and, even though it seems like they have been edited to get a PG-13 rating, they are still plenty violent for an Angel Studios release.  I especially loved an extended sequence featuring hand to hand combat between Hank and Damian in a hospital corridor that culminates over the gurney of the little girl waiting for the transplant.  It is absolutely relentless (Leila George, who plays the mother of the little girl, even gets in on the action).  Ritchson seems to be the next big action star in the same vein as Jason Statham and he gives an intense physical performance that is fun to watch.  He also adds some humanity to the character with quite a few poignant moments with Wilson who also acts as an obnoxious entertaining foil to his straight man (I laughed out loud at a running bit between them involving an exotic parrot that Hank was unable to deliver).  Santoro is a great villain (although I am not sure why he inexplicably speaks Portuguese throughout) because, even though he is ruthless, he is not entirely unsympathetic because he has a compelling motivation for what he does.  This is something you would usually see on a streaming platform rather than the big screen but it is so much better than I expected.  I recommend it to fans of action thrillers.