Thriller 2025

Last night I had so much fun at Odyssey Dance Theatre's Halloween-themed dance extravaganza Thriller.  It is one my favorite Halloween traditions and, even though most of the dances are the same every year, I eagerly anticipate every one of them.  My favorites include a group of the undead cavorting in a graveyard in "Thriller" (I love this because it incorporates the choreography from Michael Jackson's iconic music video), a breakdancing mummy and his maidens in "Curse of the Mummy," misbehaving pandas at their first dance recital in "Miss Alli's Nightmare" (I love the one that slowly removes his costume and the once that sits down and refuses to dance), a Pas de Deux that goes horribly wrong in "Frankenstein & Frankenstein" (I love the inclusion of Gene Wilder's overwrought monologue about giving his creation life from Young Frankenstein), tap dancing skeletons that glow in the dark in "Dem Bones," a trio of serial killers who wield a variety of weapons in "Jason Jam" (this is a huge crowd favorite and they seemed even more deranged because they chased a victim through the aisles), scarecrows that terrorize a group of teens in a cornfield in "Children of the Corn" (I love that the cheerleaders' uniforms are from a different school every year), a coven of condemned witches seeking vengeance from beyond the grave in "Salem's Mass" (this is my favorite number), demonic dolls that come to life in "Chucky-Rama" (this features a different youth cast from various dance schools around the valley every night and they are always fantastic), acrobatic vampires stalking an unsuspecting victim in "Lost Boys," and an elaborate costume parade in "Trick or Treat" (my favorite was the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man).  There were also a few new dances and my favorite was a sexy tango in "Gomez & Morticia" (this was especially fun after seeing The Addams Family earlier in the week).  I was happy that Bubbles the Clown once again appeared in between numbers because he is hilarious (I was equally happy that Giggle Girl did not appear this year) and I laughed out loud at a new short film by Scott Winn featuring a dance-off between the wizards from Harry Potter and the vampires from Twilight judged by Gandalf ("You shall not dance!").  There was a large and enthusiastic crowd (it was at the Grand Theatre once again) and I loved cheering along with them for every number!  I highly recommend this for some Halloween fun (go here for tickets) but act quickly because there were very few empty seats last night.  It runs at the Grand Theatre through October 25 and at Tuacahn from October 28-November 1.

Note:  Every year I try to avoid eye contact with the undead who roam the aisles before the show but this did not save me last night because one of them kept sneaking up on me to hiss at me (at one point I jumped a mile out of my seat which made her laugh).  It turns out I was sitting next to her parents.

Utah Opera's The Shining

To say that I was intrigued when Utah Opera announced The Shining as the opening production for the 2025-2026 season would be an understatement!  As a huge fan of the novel by Stephen King, I have been counting down the days until I could see it and I was so excited to finally have the chance last night.  I admit to being a bit skeptical about how well the novel would translate to the stage but this production is outstanding and I think it brilliantly captures the terror of the Overlook Hotel.  Jack Torrence (Craig Irvin) is a recovering alcoholic tormented by the memory of his abusive father and by the fact that he is now perpetuating the cycle of abuse with his own son.  He hopes that a job as the caretaker for the remote and isolated Overlook Hotel while it is closed for the winter will be a new start for him, his wife Wendy (Kearstin Piper Brown), and his son Danny (Bella Grace Smith).  However, Danny immediately senses an evil presence in the hotel with a sixth sense that the hotel's cook Dick Hallorann (Patrick Blackwell), who possesses the same abilty, calls "the shining."  Dick assures Danny that he can use "the shining" to contact him if things get too dangerous for him at the hotel.  Jack finds a scrapbook detailing the hotel's infamous past full of murders, suicides, and Mafia hits and the ghosts haunting the hotel use his insecurities about being a good husband and father to influence him.  Eventually, the ghosts of Delbert Grady (Christian Sanders), the former caretaker who murdered his wife (Stephanie Chee) and daughters (Eva Peterson and Lilah Burrell), and his father Mark Torrence (Christopher Clayton) urge him to murder his family but, in a moment of lucidity, Jack implores them to leave with Hallorann, who has responded to Danny's call for help, and finds redemption by destroying the hotel and its ghosts.  I think the movie adaptation is a cinematic masterpiece but it is definitely the story Stanley Kubrick wanted to tell rather than the one Stephen King wrote so I was pleased that the libretto follows the novel because I prefer the more sympathetic portrayal of Jack.  Irvin gives a powerful performance and, while much of what he sings involves recitative, he does have a soul searching aria where he wishes to be a better husband and father in Act I and it is very affecting.  He also portrays Jack's slow descent into madness with nuance and it is very chilling to watch.  Brown gave me goosebumps with her beautiful performance of the aria "I never stopped loving you" in Act I and I also liked her characterization as both a loving wife and a fiercely protective mother because her Wendy is much stronger than the movie version.  Blackwell has a moment to shine in the epilogue and his deep rich tones in the aria exhorting Danny to be strong was the highlight for me.  The music itself is very atmospheric and it gets more ominous as the opera progresses but the sound design also adds to the unease (particularly the steam coming from the boiler because it foreshadows the tragedy to come).  The stage is configured as the lobby of the Overlook Hotel with a grand staircase leading to an upper level and various rooms made out of scrim to allow for eerie digital projections (some of which replicate the iconic images from the movie).  The costumes for the Torrence family have a fun 1970s vibe but I especially loved those worn by the ghosts attending the New Year's Eve Masquerade Ball.  I thoroughly enjoyed this opera and would definitely recommend getting a ticket to one of the two remaining performances (go here).

A House of Dynamite

The second movie in the double feature at the Broadway with my nephew last night was A House of Dynamite and it is incredibly tense and thought-provoking if ultimately anti-climactic.  The launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from an unknown country is shown from three different perspectives.  The first perspective introduces the threat as Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) and his team at Fort Greely in Alaska first detect the missile heading inbound to the United States on radar and attempt, unsuccessfully, to neutralize it with anti-ballistic missiles and as Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), the senior  officer in the White House situation room, and her team assess the danger to the population and inform all high-ranking government officials.  The second perspective proposes possible responses as General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), the senior military officer at STRATCOM (the United States Strategic Command), advocates for nuclear retaliation against all known enemies and as Jake Bearington (Gabriel Basso), the Deputy National Security Officer, urges caution after contacting Ana Park (Greta Lee), the NSA's North Korea expert, and the Russian Foreign Minister (Andrei Kouznetsov).  The third perspective conveys the weight of making an impossible decision as the POTUS (Idris Elba) consults with Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris) and Presidential Military Aide Lieutenant Commander Robert Reeves (Jonah Hauer-King) in order to choose between several devastating options.  One of the things I found most compelling is how the narrative humanizes the characters who are responsible for keeping the country safe, often at the expense of their own families, especially when Walker tearfully advises her husband (Neal Bledsoe) to take their son (Nicholas Monterosso) and drive as far away as possible, when Baker calls his estranged daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) after he realizes that she lives in the targeted city, and when the POTUS calls the First Lady (Renee Elise Goldsberry), who is visiting Africa, to ask her opinion.  However, this is also extremely disconcerting because we see that these very human individuals tasked with keeping us safe are also fallible and are the weakest link in elaborate contingency plans. The action is frenetic as the camera shifts from person to person in the large ensemble cast and the suspense is almost unbearable as the countdown to impact is shown three different times with an unsettling score.  I was on the edge of my seat until the ending which I found very disappointing (I may or may not have uttered an expletive under my breath) even though it is probably the only way it could have ended.  I would recommend seeing this in the theater because it is a visceral experience but it will be available on Netflix beginning October 24.

Orwell: 2+2=5

My nephew was very eager to see Orwell: 2+2=5 so it was the first in a double feature at the Broadway last night.  It is an incredibly insightful (and deeply upsetting) look at the life and writings of George Orwell that is, unfortunately, very relevant in the world today.  It takes a nonlinear approach to show how his life experiences informed his world view and his work, most notably Nineteen Eighty-Four, with Damian Lewis narrating as the voice of the author.  Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote under the pen name George Orwell, was born into what he called the lower-upper-middle-class in which he felt his status very keenly, especially while at Eton, and came to abhor social classes.  His family was unable to afford university and his marks were not good enough for a scholarship so he joined the police force in what was then Burma.  He saw first hand the oppression of the powerless by the British and developed a hatred for imperialism.  He eventually volunteered to fight against Franco's military uprising during the Spanish Civil War where he experienced the evils of fascism and totalitarianism and also worked for the BBC for a time during World War II but resigned after observing media manipulation.  He began writing as a way to call attention to these issues.  The documentary then highlights the themes of Nineteen Eighty-Four by reiterating the motto of Oceania (War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength) and then applying it to the global situation today by highlighting the military invasions of Iraq, Ukraine, and Palestine; the growing income inequality around the world; and the spread of misinformation, anti-intellectualism, AI, and book banning.  For me the most chilling motif, shown multiple times with footage from the various movie adaptations of Nineteen Eight-Four, is when the protagonist Winston is forced to agree that 2+2=5 during his interrogation because I think that people have willingly abandoned what they know to be true in favor of what is expedient in our current political climate.  As distressing as this is to watch, it does end with the belief that people will not abandon their common decency and will eventually heed Orwell's warnings.  I think this is an important documentary for everyone to see and I highly recommend it.

The Addams Family at Draper Historic Theatre

I haven't been to the Draper Historic Theatre since I went with my cousins Emily and Julie to see Once Upon a Mattress in 2009! I returned last night for a production of The Addams Family because is it even October if you don't see this show? I had so much fun (even though I thought it started at 7:30 instead of 7:00 and barely made it after having to park two blocks away). The Addams family is not like other families because they are all obsessed with death and the macabre and rely on their dead ancestors to help them through life. Complications ensue when Wednesday (Olivia Lane) falls in love with Lucas Beineke (Elijah Carillo), a normal Midwestern boy, and wants to introduce his uptight parents, Mal (Jonathan Saul) and Alice (Ayssa Powers), to her father Gomez (Brett Lyman), her mother Morticia (Beth Weber), her brother Pugsley (Kai Sanders), her uncle Fester (Keith Nielson), her Grandma (Laura Shipp), and her family's manservant Lurch (Cameron Hess). She arranges a dinner and begs her family for one normal night but, of course, things go wrong when a mishap involving a poisonous potion occurs during a game of Full Disclosure. It is up to Uncle Fester, with the help of the ancestors, to convince everyone that love is the answer! The cast is fantastic because everyone is perfectly suited to their role! Lyman and Weber have some hilarious interactions with each other and I especially loved their version of "Tango de Amor" because Weber is at least a foot taller than Lyman so their lifts and dips are highly amusing! Lane has both the look (I love that she sports Wednesday's signature braids) and the voice for this iconic character and her renditions of "Pulled" and "Crazier Than You" are really powerful and were the highlights of the show for me. Sanders is adorable as Pugsley (he sings "What If" with a lot of emotion) and Hess is an absolute hoot as Lurch (he is so perfect for the role that he doesn't even wear platform shoes). I also really enjoyed Carillo (he reminded me of the actor George MacKay) because he is endearingly awkward. The choreography is a lot of fun and I liked how the ancestors are integrated, especially in "When You're an Addams," "One Normal Night," "But Love," "Secrets," "Full Disclosure," "Just Around the Corner," and "The Moon and Me" (another highlight of the show). I was really impressed with the costumes and I don't know which I liked more: Gomez's burgundy velvet smoking jacket, Morticia's slinky black lace gown, or Wednesday's black jumper and white blouse. The costumes for the ancestors are also quite elaborate with lots of quirky details to enhance the characterization (I loved the hoop skirt for Marie Antoinette). Finally, the set is minimal but very effective. The stage is configured as a spooky graveyard in the woods with simple pieces brought on stage (my favorites were Gomez's collection of Medieval torture devices) and projections for various rooms in the Addams mansion. I recommend this as a fun show to see with the whole family for Halloween (go here for tickets). It runs on various days through Oct. 30.

Note: I will definitely be back for their production of Elf The Musical because is it even December if you don't see this show?