Pumpkin Carving 2026

My nephew wanted to carve pumpkins a little bit earlier than usual this year so we did it last night (he arranged everything including dinner beforehand).  We had a lot of fun (it was the perfect thing to do on a cold, dark, and rainy evening) and I think they turned out great!  I used a stencil for my spider web but everyone else drew their designs freehand.  I especially love Marilyn's cat.

This is a fun Halloween tradition and I'm glad my nephew wanted to do it this year!

Pride and Prejudice at The Ruth

I spent a wonderful afternoon with both my sisters at The Ruth seeing Pride and Prejudice yesterday (we are big Jane Austen fans).  I really love this specific adaptation by Melissa Leilani Larson and I always try to see it whenever it is playing (this was my fifth production).  When Mr. Bingley (Braden Clement), a single man in possession of a fortune, lets Netherfield Hall, Mrs. Bennett (Anne Post Fife) immediately sets her sights on him as a possible husband for one of her five daughters.  Bingley falls in love with the beautiful Jane (Kylee Thurman) but her sister Elizabeth (Elena Belen Shill) takes an immediate dislike to his friend Mr. Darcy (James Carter) because he is so aloof and disdainful.  Elizabeth must overcome her prejudice and Mr. Darcy must overcome his pride for them to realize that they belong together.  The actress playing Mrs. Bennett is deaf and she signs all of her lines while her daughters translate for everyone in the scene and the audience.  I have to admit that when I first heard about this casting choice I thought it would be really distracting but including Fife really adds a deeper understanding of the family dynamic because her daughters translate for her in character.  This is especially true for Lydia (Sydney Claire Olson), because she translates in a bored monotone, and for Mary (Emma Lamm), because she becomes despondent when she translates her mother's praise for Elizabeth to Mr. Collins (Anthony Tibolla).  There are also lots of comedic interactions with Fife, such as when Elizabeth signs very aggressively to tell her mother that she refuses to marry Mr. Collins and when Mr. Bennett (Marshall Lamm) shakes the clacker that she uses to get attention back at her.  However, my favorite moment was when Darcy signs to Mrs. Bennett because this is yet another way for him to show his respect for Elizabeth and her family (everyone sitting near me said "awe" in unison at this moment).  I thoroughly enjoyed Fife's performance and it was very moving to see the audience use the sign for applause during her bows.  I also enjoyed Shill and Carter, because they have tremendous chemistry when they spar back and forth, as well as Tibolla and Lamm, because they made me laugh out loud multiple times (both are absolutely hilarious when they dance).  One of the aspects of this adaptation that really works for me is the inclusion of letters between the characters and I loved the way that this is portrayed in this production, especially the unsent letters between Jane and Bingley (it is so clever and so romantic).  The set is minimal but effective (I liked the way different areas of the theater are used as set pieces are brought to the stage), the regency costumes are gorgeous (especially all of the embellished fabrics), and the lighting design does a brilliant job of highlighting vignettes within scenes. Finally, I loved the orchestral arrangements of pop songs used in between scenes.  My favorites were "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye when Bingley leaves Netherfield and Jane leaves Longbourn, "Royals" by Lorde when Elizabeth visits Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Delayne Bluth Dayton), "Trouble" by Taylor Swift when Elizabeth learns that Darcy separated Bingley and Jane, and "Single Ladies" by Beyonce during the bows.  Both of my sisters and I loved this charming production (we agree that it is our favorite version of this show) and we highly recommend it!  Go here for tickets to one of the remaining performances in the Lindsay Legacy Theatre through November 7.

Note:  The Ruth's current production of The Addams Family is also my favorite version of that show (go here for tickets) so they are two for two!

Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at Hopebox Theatre

Last night I went to see Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at Hopebox Theatre. I don't particularly like this version of the classic fairy tale (Cinderella is a social reformer who rescues the prince from his advisors at court) but I thoroughly enjoyed what Hopebox did with it. The music is really beautiful and, because it is by Rogers and Hammerstein, it requires an impressive vocal range. This cast is definitely up for the challenge, especially Jennica Johnson as Ella and Brianna Skeen as Marie/ Fairy Godmother. I loved their performances of "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible," "Glass Slipper/ It's Possible," and "There Is Music In You" because they imbue these songs with so much emotion. Johnson also has a lot of chemistry with with John Derington, as Prince Topher, and their songs together, "Ten Minutes Ago," "Loneliness Of Evening," and "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful," are incredibly romantic. Other highlights from the cast include Hillary McChesney as Madame, because she is channeling her inner Christine Baranski with her haughty demeanor and over the top line deliveries (she made me laugh out loud multiple times), Alexa Thomas as Charlotte, because her version of "Stepsister's Lament" is hilarious and she just about steals the show with her accordion playing in "When You're Driving Through The Moonlight," and Josh Rogers as Lord Pinkerton, because is is so overwrought (I loved his handkerchief). The choreography is a lot of fun for "The Prince Is Giving a Ball/ Now Is The Time" and "Ten Minutes Ago (Reprise)" and I was especially impressed with the number of synchronized couples twirling on such a small stage during the latter song. I was also impressed by the staging "Glass Slipper/ It's Possible" and "The Pursuit" because the transformations of the Fox and Raccoon into the Coachman (Kira Wootton) and the Footman (McKenna Mills), respectively, and back again are magical (even without the technical wizardry of professional theaters). Speaking of transformations, Marie's change into the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella's change into her ball gown are dazzling (a little girl in the audience squealed with delight). I really loved the set, which features backdrops of Cinderella's cottage, the prince's castle, and the town square created with rotating panels, because they look like the illustrations found in books of fairy tales. This fairy tale aesthetic is continued in the set pieces brought on stage, particularly the spectacular coach and white horses that take Cinderella to the ball. Finally, the costumes are gorgeous, especially the ball gowns (although most of the hems are starting to show some wear and tear), and the puppets are really cute (be sure to watch them). As with every production at the Hopebox Theatre, the proceeds will go to someone battling cancer in the community (go here to meet the recipient for this show, Alan Goodfellow) so you will have a delightful evening of entertainment and support a very good cause by buying a ticket (go here). It runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through October 30.

Other Mommy

I was on the fence about Other Mommy but, when my nephew expressed an interest, I thought it would be fun to see it with him.  We went to a Thursday preview last night and we had more fun discussing how bad it is on the drive home than we did watching it. Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) is a seven-year-old girl who lives with her disinterested mom Ursula (Jessica Chastain) and her distracted dad Russ (Jay Duplass).  She seeks out the supernatural entity hiding in her closet, which she calls "Other Mommy" because it takes the form of her mother, whenever she is left alone.  Other Mommy repeatedly asks Bela to let her into her heart so she can protect her from her dysfunctional family but in reality she just wants to possess her body in order to be reincarnated.  The secrets that have been festering between Ursula and Russ, including the affair she is having with Frank (Arian Moayed), make Other Mommy more and more powerful which ultimately leads to a showdown between her and Bela.  I enjoyed the theme that children often internalize the tension between their parents and there are some interesting visuals that show what is happening from Bela's distorted perspective.  However, this theme is not developed very well and the conclusion is incredibly underwhelming because nothing has changed in the family dynamic (I've heard that it differs from the source material).  The jump scares in this movie have been hyped a lot in the marketing but I did not find it scary at all.  In fact, the only unsettling scene is the one used in the first trailer.  To be fair, the trailer did freak out the audience the first time I saw it but it no longer evokes the same sense of dread after multiple viewings.  The tone is all over the place and the performances are strangely inert (Chastain is weird rather than menacing and I wondered more than once why an actress of her caliber agreed to appear in this B-movie).  This is definitely something you can wait to see when it streams but only if you have nothing better to do.

The Incomer

Last night my nephew and I went to the Broadway to see The Incomer and we both loved this weird, funny, and heartwarming movie.  Siblings Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O'Rourke) have spent their entire lives in isolation on a remote Scottish island being influenced by folktales about the mysterious finman (John Hannah) who demanded that their father sacrifice himself to the sea.  They defend their island fiercely against incomers from the mainland with odd rituals and, if need be, primitive weapons made of stone and bone.  Eventually, the Northeastern Scottish Council sends Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson), a meek and socially awkward land recovery agent, to the island to evict them.  They easily capture and restrain him but first Sandy and then Isla take a liking to him and soon they are sharing their folktales with each other (Daniel tells a folktale from the mainland about a hero named Frodo).  Hilarity ensues as Daniel tries to convince them to leave the island while Sandy and Isla try to get him to stay.  They ultimately discover that belonging comes from more than just a place.  My nephew and I are huge fans of quirky British humor and we were laughing out loud most of the time (as was the large crowd watching it with us).  I especially loved a sequence in which Isla and Sandy initiate Daniel with a "Way of the Gull" ritual (which is a long-standing tradition and not something they made up that morning).  Daniel is as lonely and as weird as the siblings and another amusing scene involves him using his phone, which the siblings have never seen before, to prove that he is a wizard.  In addition to the humor, this is also quite poignant because they find an unexpected kinship with each other and their interactions help them overcome their fears.  This is especially true when Isla realizes that the finman isn't real and that her upbringing and world view may have been skewed by her father's delusions.  The three actors give committed physical performances that are a lot of fun to watch and I loved their impersonations of birds (their bird costumes are fabulous).  Finally, the locations are spectacular (it was filmed in the Scottish Highlands) and the cinematography is beautiful, particularly a sequence on the edge of a cliff.  Some might find this tedious but if you have an offbeat sense of humor you will probably enjoy it as much as my nephew and I did.