Avatar: The Way of Water

Last night I went with my family to see Avatar: The Way of Water and, as a huge fan of the first movie, I almost couldn't contain my excitement!  It is an immersive spectacle with unparalleled visual effects and I absolutely loved it!  Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is the chief of the Omaticaya tribe and he and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) are the parents of an adopted daughter named Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), sons Neteyam (James Flatters) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and daughter Tuktirey (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss).  They are also the guardians of Spider (Jack Champion), the son of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who was left behind when the humans were forced to leave Pandora.  After a decade of peace, the Na'vi are once again threatened by another invasion of humans wanting to prepare Pandora for resettlement because the Earth is becoming uninhabitable.  Sully also faces a personal threat from a group of recombinants, Na'vi avatars with the memories of the dead marines, including Quaritch, he and Neytiri killed in battle.  Fearing for the tribe, Sully makes the decision to leave the forest and take refuge with the Metkayina tribe, a reef dwelling people led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his wife Ronal (Kate Winslet).  As Sully and his family attempt to adapt to a new way of life, it is only a matter of time before Quaritch finds them.  This movie is visually stunning, espcially the underwater diving sequences, and I felt completely immersed in the world of the reef (we saw it in 3D HFR).  However, it is more than just a spectacle because I really loved the focus on what it means to be an outsider, particularly the relationship between Lo'ak and Payakan, a cetacean who has been shunned by his species.  I also really loved the journey that Sully and Neytiri take as parents because they focus so much on protecting their children but ultimately end up being saved by them and the emphasis on the father-son relationship between between Sully and Lo'ak is incredibly poignant.  Finally, the theme of respect for the environment is very powerful, especially the scenes where whalers hunt tulkuns merely for the sake of acquiring a valuable resource.  My only complaint about the plot is that Kiri's story seems very underdeveloped (but there are three more sequels planned).  The action sequences in the third act kept me on the edge of my seat and I was very impressed by the emotional performances of Worthington and Saldana.  Watching this was a thrilling experience (but doesn't quite live up to that of watching Top Gun: Maverick) and I highly recommend it!  I already have tickets to watch it again with my niece!

Gingerbread Houses 2022

Yesterday afternoon Sean, Tashena, Marilyn, and I made gingerbread houses which is a tradition we have had ever since Tashena joined our family and, as always, it was a lot of fun!  This year I got kits for these elaborate gingerbread manor houses because I thought they looked so cool but they ended up taking a long time to decorate!  None of us even bothered to decorate the backs of our houses (Sean didn't even decorate the sides) because they were so big.  They came with lots of candy (I still bought more) and royal icing in bags with piping tips.  It turns out that I am not very good at piping (I even had a major incident in which I got icing everywhere and I had to have Sean get it all back in the bag) but I think it would be fun to learn how to do it better.

I always have to get the traditional picture of Sean eating the icing!

Sean's house.

Tashena's house.

Marilyn's house.

My house.

Our gingerbread village!  I think they all turned out great this year!

Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir 2022

I am a huge fan of Lea Salonga!  She is an incredibly talented vocalist who originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon on Broadway and provided the singing voices for Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan but I love her because she performed the role of Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway and was handpicked by Cameron Mackintosh to appear as Eponine in the 10th Anniversary concert at the Albert Hall.  It is not an exaggeration to say that I have watched the DVD of this concert hundreds of times (she also appeared as Fantine in the 25th Anniversary concert but I prefer the former because I love her version of "On My Own" which my favorite song from the show).  When I learned that Salonga would be the guest for this year's Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir concerts, I desperately wanted a ticket but, alas, I was not selected in the lottery.  No matter because I was able to do the next best thing by attending the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast featuring Salonga and Sir David Suchet yesterday morning.  Even though it was only a 30 minute performance and not the entire concert, I got to hear Salonga sing "O Holy Night" and that will definitely be a highlight of 2022 for me!  The broadcast began with "When the Shepherds Saw the Light" featuring the Tabernacle Choir, the Orchestra at Temple Square, the Bells at Temple Square, and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble.  It was quite stirring!  Then Salonga sang "Payapang Daigdig," a Christmas song beloved in her country (the Philippines) because it was written as a symbol of hope during World War II.  Even though I didn't understand the words, it was so moving.  Then the orchestra and the choir performed "Hosanna in Excelcis," which is a beautiful arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon in D.  Next came "O Holy Night" and, for those of you keeping score at home, this was the fourth time I got to hear my favorite Christmas song (I have loved it since I was a child) this holiday season.  I don't know if anyone can beat Salonga's performance!  Sir David Suchet read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then we heard "Angels from the Realms of Glory" which was also very stirring!  After the broadcast ended, the audience got to hear another portion of the concert featuring the Nicholas Winton story as told by Sir David Suchet.  Winton helped to evacuate hundreds of children, mostly Jewish, from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II.  It wasn't until 50 years later when he was reunited with several of those he helped to rescue that the full extent of his actions were known.  The message of this story is that you never know when a little spark will fill the world with light and we were asked to hold up the lights on our phones as the choir sang "Once in Royal David's City."  It was amazing!  I am definitely glad I decided to get up early (and put on a skirt) because I loved this concert so much!

A Soulful Holiday with the Utah Symphony

This holiday season I have been incredibly lucky to be able to see some wonderful Christmas concerts!  I had an opportunity to see another one with the Utah Symphony last night and it was amazing!  The orchestra was joined by Broadway star and former member of Postmodern Jukebox Morgan James.  She has a very classic soul sound and I loved her bluesy arrangements of Christmas songs (I was definitely tapping my toes throughout the concert).  The orchestra began with a medley of Christmas songs called "A Christmas Festival" and then James took the stage with a sultry rendition of "Cool Yule."  She continued with "White Christmas" and then performed an original song written for her Christmas album A Very Magnetic Christmas (so-called because it was recorded on analog tape) called "Long as I Got You."  She mentioned that she didn't think a Christmas concert was complete without the next song and I immediately hoped that it would be "O Holy Night."  I was absolutely thrilled when I heard the opening notes (I agree with her assessment).  This was the third time that I have been able to hear my favorite Christmas song this season and her rendition was brilliant because she built to a powerful conclusion (including timpani!) that just about blew the roof off of Abravanel Hall!  James took a break to change into another fabulous vintage gown (the second of four) while the orchestra played "Waltz of the Flowers" from Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky.  James returned to the stage with "This Christmas" and then performed my favorite song of the evening, "River" (I love Joni Mitchell).  She concluded her first set with a lively version of "Winter Wonderland."  After the intermission, the orchestra performed "Sleigh Ride."  I've heard them perform this before and my favorite part is when the trumpet mimics the neighing of a horse at the end while the player wears the head of a horse!  James continued with "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday" after which the orchestra performed the Suite from Polar Express.  In her final set, James explained that she chose the songs "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "The Christmas Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" because they reminded her of her childhood and she hoped that we all had happy memories of Christmas, too.  She concluded with "All I Want For Christmas" because it has now become the most popular Christmas song of all time!  James was really personable and quite funny and when she returned to the stage after thunderous applause, she told us that she didn't have anything planned and then immediately began "What Are You Doing For New Year's Eve?" as an encore!  It was a great night!

A Christmas Story at PTC

Yesterday afternoon I was able to see Ralphie Parker (Mack Boyer) try to convince his Mother (Stacie Bono), the Old Man (Danny Bernardy), his teacher Miss Shields (EJ Zimmerman), and even Santa Claus (Paris Alexander Nesbitt) to get him an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas for the second time in as many days. Unfortunately, this was a rare miss for PTC because I found it to be completely underwhelming in almost every way. Even if I had not just seen a vastly superior production at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts the night before, I still would have been disappointed with this show. I don't like to criticize an understudy but I think a theatre company the caliber of PTC should have understudies who are prepared to go on stage at a moment's notice.  Howard Kaye (as the understudy for Jean Shepherd) did not seem at all prepared for today's performance because he read from a script during the whole show and he still frequently stumbled over his lines. This was really distracting because Shepherd narrates the story and appears in almost every scene. The rest of the cast was fine but no one really stood out to me, except Zimmerman who was hilarious as the uptight Miss Shields.  Boyer has an incredible voice and I liked the vocal performances of the children in the ensemble but the big production numbers that I usually enjoy, such as "When You're a Wimp," "Ralphie to the Rescue," "Up on Santa's Lap," and "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana," were incredibly lackluster because the choreography in these numbers was very minimal. Even the showstoppers "A Major Award" and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" were surprisingly bland (I am normally a huge fan of Karen Azenburg's choreography). The stage was configured to look like a giant snow globe and this is really fun but, with the exception of the classroom at Warren G. Harding Elementary School (which featured the artwork of local students on the bulletin board), the sets were a bit bland and very unwieldy to move on and off the stage. There were also some technical difficulties (it was quite disappointing when the all-important lamp didn't light up) and the production did not use real dogs to portray the Bumpus hounds (one of my favorites scenes). Maybe I am being too hard on this show but I expected a lot more for the cost of the ticket (especially since I saw a better show for a fourth of the price).  If you are looking for some Christmas cheer, I suggest skipping this and seeing Scrooge: A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, A Christmas Carol at either HCT or HCTO, or Elf The Musical at CenterPoint Theatre instead.

Note:  I was able to see 80 theatre productions this year (not including the other performing arts such as the symphony, opera, ballet, etc.).  My favorites have been Hadestown at Broadway at the Eccles, See How They Run at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder at the Empress Theatre, Camelot at HCTO, and Clue at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  I have renewed all of my subscriptions so I am looking forward to more great theatre in 2023!

A Christmas Story at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

Last week I saw three different productions of A Christmas Carol and this weekend I have two different versions of A Christmas Story planned. I started with the one at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts last night and it was so much fun! This musical is a pretty faithful adaptation of the movie of the same name (one of my favorite Christmas movies) and it is narrated by radio personality Jean Shepherd (Ed Eyestone) as he recounts a memorable Christmas from his youth. Ralphie Parker (Tate McBeth) desperately wants an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas but his Mother (Celeste Harris), the Old Man (Mark Buffington), his teacher Miss Shields (Caitlyn Galvez), and even Santa Claus (Garrett Smit) tell him that he'll shoot his eye out. All of the well-known scenes from the movie are brought to life on stage including when Randy (Porter McCormick) eats like a piggy, when Schwartz (Mitt Harris) triple dog dares Flick (Isaac Hael) to stick his tongue to the flag pole, when the Old Man wins a major award, when Ralphie says the F-dash-dash-dash word while helping the Old Man change a tire, when Ralphie gets into a fight with Scut Farkus (Elias Kahler), when Ralphie gets a bunny costume from Aunt Clara, and when one of the Bumpus hounds eats the turkey forcing the Parkers to eat Christmas dinner at the Chop Suey Palace. I don't think that the songs in this musical are particularly memorable but I really enjoyed the staging, especially the numbers featuring the children such as "It All Comes Down to Christmas," "When You're a Wimp," "Ralphie to the Rescue," "Up on Santa's Lap," and "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana."  The choreography in these songs is a lot of fun and McBeth and the children in the ensemble (over 20 of them) execute it very well. With the exception of "A Major Award" with Buffington and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" with Galvez, I think the songs featuring the adults, namely "The Genius on Cleveland Street," "What a Mother Does," and "Just Like That," are less compelling because they take the focus away from Ralphie. This is not a criticism of Harris or Buffington, who do an outstanding job, or this production but, rather, it is a weakness in the show itself. The humor works best when we see Ralphie's parents as he does not as they are. I loved McBeth's performance because not only is he incredibly endearing but he is also an excellent dancer, particularly in "Ralphie to the Rescue" and his dance off with Galvez in "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out." McCormick made me laugh quite a few times with all of his antics and I enjoyed it when Eyestone, as the narrator, gets involved in the action. I was really impressed with the elaborate sets, including the two-storey Parker house (I loved the smoke coming from a vent when the furnace acts up) and the impressive Santa display at Higbee's department store complete with a slide. This production also has the best Oldsmobile (with working lights) I've seen! I thoroughly enjoyed this show (it is on par with the Broadway touring production I saw several years ago) and I would highly recommend it but, unfortunately, there is only one more performance and it is completely sold out (with good reason). This seems to be a yearly tradition for SCERA so put it on your list for next year.

A Kurt Bestor Christmas at the Eccles 2022

Another one of my favorite Christmas traditions (I seem to have so many!) is the Kurt Bestor Christmas concert and I was able to go last night.  He began with his arrangements of "Sing We Noel," "Angels We Have Heard On High," "What Child Is This?" and "Joy to the World."  Then he performed one of my favorites, "Still, Still, Still," on the flugelhorn and dedicated it to his father.  He told the audience that he considered removing his next song, "Let It Snow," because we have been inundated with snow for the past few days but he decided to perform it anyway!  He premiered a brand new arrangement called "Ukrainian Christmas" which features "Carol of the Bells" and several Ukrainian folk songs.  His first guests were Makenzie and Eliza Hart, both on violin, for this number and it was so moving!  His next guests were members of the One Voice Children's Choir and they sang Bestor's best known song "Prayer of the Children."  This moved me (and many people around me) to tears because it was so beautiful!  He ended the first set with "Christmas Concerto for Woodwinds" which is a fun medley of different Christmas carols featuring musician Daron Bradford on a variety of woodwind instruments.  Whenever Bestor performs this piece he always likes to add another instrument and apparently Bradford broke the Guinness World Record by playing 40 of them!  After the intermission, he played "Coventry Carol" and then pianist Josh Wright joined him for a duet of "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful."  He featured his guitar player Michael Dowdle, bass player Carlitos Del Puerto, drummer Eric Valentine, and percussionist Todd Sorenson on a jazz version of "Christmas Time is Here" and then played "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella" which is another one of my favorites.  His special guest for the evening was the Tony Award-winning soprano Lisa Hopkins Seegmiller and her rendition of "Ave Maria" gave me goosebumps because it was so effortless!  She then sang a really fun medley of "Welcome Christmas," "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," and "Where Are You Christmas?" from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  Finally, she sang an emotional rendition of "I Wonder as I Wander" (Bestor often asks his special guest to sing his arrangement because it is his favorite Christmas carol).  It has become tradition for Bestor to perform his amusing arrangement of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and he usually picks someone from the audience to be the narrator.  Last night he had his 91-year-old mother Phyllis Bestor narrate and to say that she was adorable would be an understatement!  He ended the evening with "Silent Night" featuring all of his guests (and the audience) and it was lovely.  I love hearing Christmas music performed live so I enjoyed every minute of this concert.  There are three more performances (go here for tickets) and I highly recommend getting a ticket.

Empire of Light

As a huge fan of both Sam Mendes and Olivia Colman I figured that a collaboration between the two of them would be amazing so I went to see Empire of Light at the Broadway last night.  Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed.  Hilary Small (Colman) is a sad and lonely middle-aged manager of a beautiful Art Deco cinema in the seaside town of Margate in the early 1980s.  Stephen (Micheal Ward) is a young Black man with aspirations of attending university to study architecture who is hired at the cinema as a ticket taker.  They eventually begin a secret relationship but it is threatened by the racial tensions in Thatcher's Britain and by Hilary's worsening depression.  The one thing that helps them both heal is the community they find at the Empire Cinema.  Colman gives an incredibly subtle but powerful performance and the most compelling moments occur whenever the camera is focused on her face, especially in a scene where she is overcome by emotion while watching a film by herself.  Ward is also very affecting and his scenes with Colman are so tender.  The images on the screen are absolutely gorgeous (Roger Deakins just does not miss) and I loved the use of the piano in the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross because it is so haunting and plaintive.  My biggest problem with this movie is that it lacks focus because there are some extraneous sub-plots, such as Hilary's degrading sexual relationship with her boss (Colin Firth), and a few elements that I wish were explored more, such as Hilary's previous experiences with mental illness and Stephen's experiences with racism.  Also, the message about the power of film is not developed beyond a great monologue from the cinema's projectionist (Toby Jones) and the aforementioned scene where Hilary watches a film.  There are so many ideas and none of them are tied together in a cohesive manner so this movie is more like a series of beautiful vignettes.  I wanted to like it more than I did.

White Noise

When I read the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo in a Contemporary American Lit class in college I did not like it at all (I suspect I was too young to really appreciate the topic of existential dread).  When I heard that Noah Baumbach was directing an adaptation starring Adam Driver, I decided to read it again and it resonated a bit more with me this time around for many reasons.  I have been anticipating the movie ever since and I finally had a chance to see it at the Broadway last night.  Jack Gladney (Driver) is a professor of Hitler Studies at College-on-the-Hill in a small Midwestern town living a suburban life with his fourth wife Babette (Greta Gerwig) and a collection of his, hers, and ours children (Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, and May Nivola) while trying to bury his fear of death in the mundane.  However, when a train derailment creates an airborne toxic event and Babette reveals that she has been taking an experimental drug called Dylar, Jack is forced to confront his fears.  Even though it explores serious themes, this is a comedy of the absurd and its surreal tone might not work for others but it really worked for me and I had a lot of fun watching it.  It is a very faithful adaptation of a somewhat unwieldy novel and I think Baumbach does a great job with the material even if it does go off the rails a bit in the third act.  The best part, for me, is Driver's performance because he really humanizes a character that I found remote in the novel.  He plays Jack as a pontificating intellectual who is also a bit of a buffoon to his family and his deadpan delivery is perfect.  My favorite scene is when he and a fellow colleague, played by Don Cheadle, give a lecture together about the pervasive themes of death in the lives of Hitler and Elvis because he is so over the top (the editing in this scene is brilliant).  I also enjoyed his scenes with Gerwig (who is also outstanding) and the children because he has such a great rapport with them and they seem like an actual family in their chaotic interactions.  There are some amazing action sequences (this is Baumbach's most ambitious project), particularly the train derailment and the evacuation sequences, and the production design, especially the A&P, is a lot of fun.  I predict this will be a movie that people will either love or hate but, since I love it, I will recommend it to fans of dark comedies (it will begin streaming on Netflix on December 30).

Note:  Definitely stay through the credits because there is a dance sequence with the whole cast in the A&P to a new song by LCD Soundsystem (their first music in five years) and it is hilarious!  Be sure to watch Jodie Turner-Smith (who plays a professor).

Lower Lights Christmas Concert 2022

One of my many favorite Christmas traditions is the annual Lower Lights Christmas concert and I have really missed it for the past two years!  I was thrilled to be back at Kingsbury Hall last night for this concert and I think it was the best one yet!  The Lower Lights is a supergroup of insanely talented songwriters, musicians, and singers, many of whom are popular in their own right, who periodically join forces to record folk and bluegrass renditions of hymns and Christmas carols.  I really love their sound and I especially love their Christmas music (any time you can add a mandolin and a banjo to a Christmas song you should definitely do it).  They began with "I Saw Three Ships," "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Away in a Manger," and "The Holly and the Ivy" which were absolutely beautiful!  Then Marie Bradshaw, Kiki Jane Sieger, and Cherie Call sang "Still, Still, Still" which is my favorite song at every Lower Lights Christmas concert because the three of them harmonize so beautifully that it gives you chills!  The group also performed "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem," "Maybe This Christmas," "Mary's Boy Child," and "A Cradle in Bethlehem."  Dustin Christensen performed a lovely rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and Sarah Sample's "White Christmas" got many people slow dancing in the aisles at her request.  I really loved the instrumental versions of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "What Child Is This?" and I found it incredibly amusing when every member of the group played the banjo during "Once in Royal David's City" (another Lower Lights favorite of mine).  In the middle of their set they performed a number of their gospel songs, including "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," "The River Jordan," "This Little Light Of Mine," and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"  These songs turned Kingsbury Hall into an old time revival and some people were really moved by the holy spirit (especially the people siting by me!).  They also performed a rocking version of "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" during which they jammed for a good ten minutes!  My favorite moment of the concert came during a beautiful and affecting acoustic version of "Happy X-Mas (War Is Over)" because it brought tears to my eyes!  During the encore they performed a hilarious version of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (which has become a tradition), an upbeat version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and a rousing rendition of "Go Tell It On The Mountain" with lots of audience participation.  They brought all of their family members to the stage for an acoustic performance of "Silent Night" (another tradition) to conclude the evening.  I loved every minute of this concert and highly recommend it!  Unfortunately, last night was their final performance this year but definitely put it on your list for next year!

Note:  This has been an incredibly festive week with three different productions of A Christmas Carol and two Christmas concerts!  I am overflowing with Christmas spirit!

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.2

Last night's Utah Symphony concert was so phenomenal that I had goosebumps the whole time!  The guest conductor for the evening was David Robertson, who is very popular with both audiences and the orchestra, and I loved watching him on the podium because he was so expressive!  The first piece on the program was The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra by John Adams.  This is an outtake from Adams' opera Nixon in China and it depicts a dance between Madame Mao and Chairman Mao after the latter climbs out of his portrait and comes to life.  What I loved about this piece is how Adams plays with rhythm and tempo because it sometimes seems as if she is enticing him seductively and at other times they are dancing energetically.  I also really enjoyed the jaunty themes played by the brass!  Next, pianist Behzod Abduraimov joined the orchestra for Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Prokofiev.  This piece is considered to be one of the most technically difficult piano concertos in the repertoire and Abduraimov performed it brilliantly.  The piece is incredibly dramatic and I especially loved the first movement because it begins with a melody that becomes more and more intense and then the piano takes over for a cadenza that is as much fun to watch as it is to listen to.  Then the orchestra joins the piano once again with so much force that it is almost overwhelming (the brass!) until the piano ends the movement with a soft repetition of the melody.  It is so tempestuous and emotional!  The audience (and Robertson) responded with thunderous applause at the end of it!  The rest of the piece is just as spectacular and I also enjoyed a very melancholy theme in the final movement followed by an explosive ending!  I loved this performance so much (I feel like I was holding my breath through most of it) and I was amazed watching Abduraimov's fingers flying up and down the keyboard!  After the intermission, the concert concluded with Symphony No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.  This piece was written as a requirement for graduation from the Leningrad Conservatory and it is very inventive.  I love the themes played by the woodwinds (particularly the solo clarinet) in the first movement, the dramatic themes played by the brass in the second movement, the solo cello in the third movement, the snare drum roll at the beginning of the fourth movement, and the epic fanfares that end the symphony.  I was blown away by this concert and I definitely recommend getting a ticket for the same program tonight (go here for tickets).

A Christmas Carol at HCTO

Last night I saw the reclamation of Ebenezer Scrooge (Ric Starnes) by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Tannah O'Banion), Present (Mark Fossen), and Future (Carter McEwan) for the third time this week at HCTO.  I had never seen this version before and I really loved it!  Much like the production at HCT, this show incorporates music in the form of a group of carolers (Abby Young, Ally Johnson, Ashlyn Patterson, Carter McEwan, Jacob Eich, Jacob Ith, and Kirk Baxter) who sing in between scenes, provide narration for the action, and move set pieces on and off stage.  I really enjoyed their performance of "Wexford Carol" (which is becoming one of my new favorites this year), "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella" (another favorite from my choir days in college), and "Joy to the World" (because it is so triumphant).  I was also really moved by a tender version of "What Child is This" by Bob (Geoff Means) and Mrs. Cratchit (Natalie Killpack-Daniel) at Tiny Tim's grave and by "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by Scrooge after his transformation.  It was really interesting for me to see this show a day after HCT's version because there are some differences that I actually prefer.  The scenes between a young Ebenezer (Aron Naylor) and Belle (Ellie Mellen) are expanded to show show her living her life with a husband and daughter to emphasize what Scrooge has missed out on, the scene between Old Joe (Ethan Freestone) and the Charwoman (Natalie Killpack-Daniel) regarding Scrooge's belongings after his death happens very quickly (I think it goes on far too long in HCT's version), and the scene where Scrooge wakes up in his bed chamber is filled with more gratitude than giddiness.  Starnes is an outstanding Scrooge and I especially enjoyed his reaction to reading his name on the tombstone and his interactions with Cratchit.  I also really enjoyed Doug Kaufman and Ethan Freestone as the solicitors because their facial expressions and physical performances add a bit of levity to the story and, of course, Sawyer Winspear is absolutely adorable as Tiny Tim, especially when he directs his family in a rousing version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  The sets are very minimal with pieces moved on and off stage (I was impressed with how seamless and how well integrated into the action this was) but the costumes are gorgeous with lots of details and embellishments (I loved all of the bonnets).  I fell in love with this production and now I am going to have to add it to my list of holiday traditions!  It runs at HCTO through December 23 with multiple performances each day (go here for tickets).

A Christmas Carol at HCT 2022

I got to see my second version of A Christmas Carol last night at Hale Centre Theatre. I love this production so much (I have seen it so many times that I could stand in for any role should the need arise) and it just wouldn't be Christmas without it! It also tells the well-known story by Charles Dickens of the reclamation of Ebenezer Scrooge (David Weeks) by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Parker Burnham), Present (Benjamin Oldroyd), and Future (Kaden Caldwell) but what makes this production so special is the use of music (Have I mentioned that I love Christmas music?) in between scenes by an octet (Zack Grob, James Duncan, Nathanael Abbott, Ryan Withers, Rachel Worthen Grob, Jordyn Aspyn Durfey, Janessa Gillette Zech, and Keri Vance) and in certain scenes by the characters.  My favorites are "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella" by Fezziwig's party guests, "Greensleeves" by Belle, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" by Fred's party guests, and "What Child is This?" by Cratchit and the octet. Another aspect of this show that I really enjoy is seeing the same actor return to the same role year after year and I was happy to see Weeks as Scrooge and Oldroyd as Christmas Present once again. This year, however, there were quite a few new faces in the cast such as Chase Petersen as Fred/ Charles Dickens, Josh Egbert as Bob Cratchit, Matt Kohler as Marley's Ghost, Dan Hess as Mr. Fezziwig, and Kaden Caldwell as the young Ebenezer. I was particularly impressed with Petersen, because his accent when he is the narrator Charles Dickens is the most consistent in the show, with Egbert, because his interactions with Weeks in the final scene are so poignant that I had a tear in my eye, and with Kohler, because his Marley is incredibly menacing. I also really loved Mason Burnham as Tiny Tim because he is absolutely adorable. I look forward with great anticipation to every scene because the sets are incredibly elaborate and detailed. I love Scrooge's Counting House (the storefront windows are amazing), Scrooge's Bed Chamber, Mr. Fezziwig's Warehouse, Bob Cratchit's House (there are two storeys), Fred's House (the Christmas tree is huge), the Rag and Bottle Shop, and the Graveyard. I also love the opulent Victorian costumes, especially the jewel-toned dresses worn by the female party guests. The special effects, most notably the appearance of Marley's ghost in Scrooge's fireplace and when the Ghost of Christmas Past reveals Scrooge's name on the tombstone, are a lot of fun and the projections are so immersive that you feel like you are in Victorian London. No matter how many times I see this show I always leave the theater vowing to keep the spirit of Christmas all year! I highly recommend getting a ticket but, as always, act quickly because many shows are sold out (HCT has been known to add shows so keep checking here).

Celtic Woman: A Christmas Symphony

One of my favorite things about this time of year is being able to hear Christmas music performed live.  I was, therefore, absolutely thrilled to be at Abravanel Hall last night for a Christmas concert with Celtic Woman and the Utah Symphony!  Celtic Woman is an Irish musical ensemble currently composed of violinist Tara McNeill and vocalists Megan Walsh, Muirgen O'Mahony, and Hannah Traynor.  Their crystal clear soprano voices sounded amazing with the acoustics in Abravanel Hall and their arrangements of both classic and contemporary Christmas songs were incredibly lush with the Utah Symphony backing them.  They performed as a group and individually and their set included, "Ding Dong Merrily On High," "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Do You Hear What I Hear," "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "Deck the Halls," "The Toys' Waltz," "White Christmas," "Amid the Falling Snow," "I Saw Three Ships," "Carol of the Bells," "The Christmas Song," "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear," "Danny Boy," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "Sleigh Ride."  McNeill performed a beautiful instrumental version of "What Child Is This"  and the group was joined by a piper (hearing bagpipes gets me every time) for "Amazing Grace" and "We Three Kings."  I always hope that I will hear "O Holy Night" (my favorite Christmas song) performed live at least once during the holiday season and this year I have been lucky enough to hear it twice because Celtic Woman sang a lovely version (I especially loved the harp used in this arrangement).  Even though I got to hear my favorite song, my favorite performance was "Wexford Carol" because it was incredibly ethereal and their voices blended together so beautifully!  They ended the concert, appropriately, with a rousing rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" which featured the pipes once again.  I am sure that this concert will be a highlight of the season for me because it was simply glorious and I'm so glad that I got to go!

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

I will be attending three different versions of A Christmas Carol this week and I started last night with the musical Scrooge: A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse. I was really excited because I had never seen this version before. I saw the musical by Alan Menken at CPT several years ago and, while I definitely prefer that version, I thought this was very charming and it put a huge smile on my face. It tells the well-known story by Charles Dickens about the reclamation of a miser named Ebenezer Scrooge (Kim Florence) by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Jacci Florence), Present (Don Wilhelm), and Future (Jacob Taft) but it includes original music by Leslie Bricusse. The songs are not especially memorable, my favorites were "December the Twenty-Fifth" by Mr. Fezziwig (Duane Beesley), "The Beautiful Day" by Tiny Tim (Beckett Ronnow), and "Thank You Very Much" by Tommy Jones (Shane Alvey), but the cast is very enthusiastic and the choreography is a lot of fun (especially "Thank You Very Much" because it involves dancing on a coffin) so I enjoyed every number. I was really impressed with the number of performers on the stage, including lots of children! I really enjoyed Florence as Scrooge because, while he is still the curmudgeonly misanthrope we all know, he is more a figure of fun who is ridiculed by those who owe him money than a villain who is feared (at one point several characters stick their tongues out at him). Even though he is a bit of a buffoon, his character arc is still really moving to watch because he becomes more and more affected by every vignette shown from his past, present, and future. I also liked Jim Alvey as Bob Cratchit and Tracie Davies as Mrs. Cratchit because their interactions with each other and with Ronnow (who is absolutely adorable as Tiny Tim) are so tender and genuine. The way the intimate space at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse is used is always really clever and this production is no exception. Scrooge's Counting House is located on a platform to the right of the stage and the entrance to his house (the transformation of the knocker into Jacob Marley's face is a great effect) is located on another one to the left.  The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future lead Scrooge all around the theatre, including behind the soundboard, to various locations.  A cobblestone street in 19th Century London is depicted on a backdrop and various sets are moved on and off the stage.  I was impressed with the attention to detail in Fezziwig's factory, Bob Cratchit's house, and Fred's house as well as the white silhouettes used to depict Scrooge's childhood with his sister Fan and the giant clock in Scrooge's bedroom. The period costumes are really beautiful, with the possible exception of the strange red tutu worn by the Ghost of Christmas Past (I thought she looked like a deranged Sugar Plum Fairy and her shtick went on far too long). This production is filled with so much heart that you can't help but be filled with a big dose of Christmas cheer and I highly recommend it.  There are nightly performances through December 23 with matinees December 10 and 17 (go here for tickets).

Note:  I have seen HCT's version of A Christmas Carol more times than I can count (I almost have the entire show memorized) so it was really fun to see a different interpretation.

Happy 18th Birthday Sean!

Yesterday my family celebrated Sean's birthday (it was actually on Saturday) with dinner, presents, and cake.  I can't believe that he is 18!

He asked for Amazon gift cards and accessories for his computers!  I don't like giving gift cards but he was so happy to receive them!

We have a tradition of having an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins for birthdays and Sean has picked this same polar bear cake three times (go here and here).  We had so much fun celebrating with Sean and I hope that he had a very happy birthday!

Ballet West's The Nutcracker 2022

One of my favorite holiday traditions is attending Ballet West's annual production of The Nutcracker and I am so happy that I had the opportunity to see it last night!  I love everything about this ballet and I await every scene with great anticipation, especially the party where the Christmas tree is revealed to all of the children and Clara (Olivia Humeniuk) is given a nutcracker by Dr. Drosselmeyer (Tyler Gum), when everything is magically transformed to an enormous size and the nutcracker defeats the Mouse King (Jake Preece) with Clara's help, when the nutcracker becomes a handsome prince (Noel Jensen) and takes Clara to the land of the Snow Queen (Jenna Rae Herrera) and the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Amy Potter), and when all of the divertissements arranged for Clara's entertainment are performed.  I always really love the Arabian dance because it is so exotic and the Russian dance because the leaps and spins are so athletic but last night I was also really impressed with the Waltz of the Flowers because Emily Adams and Hadriel Diniz danced the Pas de Deux so beautifully.  As always, my favorite moment in the entire ballet is the Grand Pas de Deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier (Brian Waldrep) because the music by Tchaikovsky used for this dance is one of the most romantic pieces in the classical cannon and William Christensen's original choreography really complements it.  This is the first time that I have seen Potter dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy and I thought her performance was so beautiful because she seemed to glide across the stage and whirl effortlessly through the air!  I also really enjoyed the young dancers in the cast, particularly Bean Shane because he was the naughtiest Fritz I've ever seen and all of dancers hiding in Mother Buffoon's skirt because they were adorable!  The sets and costumes were updated a few years ago and I love the jewel tones used in the party scene and the pastels used in the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy.  All of the special effects are magical, particularly when the Christmas tree grows in size, when the snow falls in the land of the Snow Queen, and when Clara flies away with her prince in a sleigh.  No matter how many times I see this ballet it always puts a smile on my face and I highly recommend getting a ticket.  There are evening and matinee performances at the Capitol Theater through December 24 (go here for tickets).

Bones and All

The next movie in my Saturday double feature was Bones and All and I have to admit that, while I was really looking forward to seeing it because of all the buzz from the fall film festivals, I was also a bit nervous because a movie about cannibalism did not sound appealing.  It is definitely incredibly thought-provoking (and not as graphic as I feared).  Maren (Taylor Russell) is a young woman with a secret craving for human flesh but it is becoming harder and harder for her to control her urges.  After an incident with a fellow student, her father Frank (Andre Holland) is forced to relocate with her once again but he soon abandons her once she reaches her 18th birthday.  He leaves her a small sum of money and a tape with information about the mother she never knew so, without many options, she decides to go in search of her.  Along the way, she meets Sully (Mark Rylance), another "eater" who takes a proprietary interest in her and tries to introduce her to the lifestyle, but she is unnerved by him and soon flees.  Then she meets a drifter named Lee (Timothee Chalamet) who shares her same proclivities and they begin a relationship as they travel to find Maren's mother.  She is horrified by the lengths to which Lee will go in order to feed but she ultimately participates until she finds her mother (Chloe Sevigny) and learns that she is also a cannibal and that she voluntarily admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital to control her urges.  Maren vows that she will never be like her mother and leaves Lee but, because she loves him, she seeks him out again and convinces him to live a conventional life with her.  But can they overcome the odds?  I really enjoyed the effective blending of the romance and horror genres (I think Guadagnino gets the tone exactly right) and the performances are all outstanding (Russell and Rylance are amazing and this is Chalamet's best work, in my opinion, because he is understated but still incredibly powerful).  The social commentary about people who are relegated to the fringes of society for being different is brilliant and I think cannibalism could be a metaphor for many things (I'm leaning towards addiction but it could also just as easily be queerness, generational trauma, or poverty) that are difficult to outrun.  I will certainly be thinking about its themes for some time to come.  There are some brutal and grisly scenes but the aftermath is often shown rather than the violence itself (characters are covered in blood after feeding).  Honestly, the worst scene for me was more shocking for what was heard rather than what was shown.  This might be too disturbing for some but I definitely recommend it.

Devotion

In an attempt to get caught up on a few movies that I missed last weekend, I opted for another double feature yesterday.  I started with Devotion and I loved this inspirational true story about the friendship between two navy fighter pilots during the Korean War.  When Lieutenant Tim Hudner (Glen Powell) is transferred to Fighter Squadron 32 at the Quonset Point Naval Air Station in 1950, he immediately tries to befriend Ensign Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors), the first Black airman to complete the Navy's flight training program.  Brown has had a difficult time in the Navy, only able to achieve his position by being strong (he keeps a notebook of every racial slur used against him and repeats them to himself to psych himself up to fly) and occasionally by breaking the rules, so he keeps himself at a distance and initially rebuffs Hudner's attempts at friendship.  Brown eventually relents and invites him home to meet his wife Daisy (Christina Jackson) and daughter Pam.  However, as they are drawn into the conflict in Korea, Brown is angry when Hudner intervenes on his behalf after he disobeys orders in battle saying that he doesn't want Hudner to save him but to be his wingman when it really counts.  I really enjoyed the portrayal of friendship because it is incredibly poignant and Powell and Majors have great chemistry together so the emotion at the resolution feels very earned.  Both leads, as well as the rest of the cast, give great performances but Majors is especially powerful in several scenes which brought me to tears.  The action sequences, most of which involve practical effects with actual F4U Corsair planes, are absolutely thrilling!  I actually felt like I was in the middle of an aerial dogfight with anti-aircraft guns firing all around the planes (I found it comparable to the action sequences in Top Gun: Maverick).  Finally, it was really interesting to learn more about the Korean War because it definitely is America's forgotten war.  This movie got a bit lost in the shuffle over the long Thanksgiving weekend but I definitely think it is worth seeking out because it is really good!