Sarah Brightman at Abravanel Hall

I love Sarah Brightman (she originated the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera) and I have had the chance to see her twice at the Delta Center.  When I found out that she would be appearing at Abravanel Hall I couldn't wait to see her in a more intimate setting with better acoustics.  I went to the concert last night with my Dad and my sister Kristine and it was every bit as theatrical as the big arena shows but the sound was absolutely amazing!  She had a band, an orchestra, and a choir backing her with lots of lights and other visual effects.  She had nine different costume changes (the sponsor of her tour is Swarovski so you can imagine what her costumes looked like) and every move, look, and gesture was intricately choreographed!  I loved every minute of this concert and I am pretty sure that it will be one of the highlights of this year!  Favorites from the first act include "Stranger in Paradise," "Anytime, Anywhere," which is my favorite Sarah Brightman song, "Misere Mei," and "Figlio Perduto" from Beethoven's 7th Symphony (which was almost unbearably beautiful).  She sang an ethereal rendition of Queen's "Who Wants To Live Forever" which brought a tear to my eye.  I've heard her sing it live before but it was especially poignant for me after watching Bohemian Rhapsody so many times.  She wore a flowing white gown which made her look like an angel and at the end of the song she was enveloped by a cloud of fog.  It was quite emotional. After the intermission she sang several songs from her latest album Hymn, including the title track, "Sogni," my favorite song from the album, with Vincent Niclo, "Better Is One Day," "Fly to Paradise," "Canto Per Noi," and "Tu Che M' Hai Preso Il Cuor."  She also sang "Pie Jesu" from Requiem, which is a piece I love because I sang it in choir when I was in college, and a simplified more intimate version of "Time To Say Goodbye" with her on piano.  The choir sang "Masquerade" from The Phantom of the Opera and then she and Niclo performed "The Phantom of the Opera" which brought the audience to their feet (not for the first or last time)!  She ended the set with a beautiful rendition of "Running."  For the encore, she performed "Deliver Me," "Ave Maria," and a rousing rendition of "A Question of Honour."  The show was simply spectacular and I am so glad that I got to see her in such an wonderful venue (especially with my Dad and sister)!

Note:  Over the years I have been lucky enough to see many powerful singers grace the stage at Abravanel Hall, including Rosemary Clooney, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige, Sissel, Audra McDonald, and Renee Fleming.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11 was on my list of possibilities for Sundance this year but, by the time I was able to purchase tickets, every screening was sold out.  I hoped that it would eventually be released in theaters and, luckily, it has a limited run in IMAX and I was able to see it yesterday afternoon.  It is simply stunning!  This documentary shows us every aspect of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, from wheeling the launchpad into position on an enormous platform with caterpillar wheels to the splashdown of the capsule in the ocean, using previously unseen footage taken by NASA for a documentary that never came to fruition.  It is structured in chronological order as if we are watching this event happen in real time.  There is no narration; rather, the audio comes from the the NASA announcers, the technicians in the control room speaking into headsets, the astronauts in space, and the contemporary news commentary from Walter Conkrite.  I was a one-year-old child at the time of this mission so, of course, I don't remember anything about it but this documentary made me feel some of what it must have been like to watch it unfold!  There are some incredibly dramatic moments, such as the lift-off, the landing on the moon, the lift-off from the moon, and the re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.  Even though I knew the outcome of these events, I found myself holding my breath in suspense and that is due, in large part, to the brilliant pulse-pounding score by Matt Morton used in these moments.  As much as I enjoyed these dramatic scenes, I was absolutely fascinated by the more mundane moments that are also chronicled.  For some reason, I never really knew how long the mission was (I always think of it as taking place in a day or two).  It was so interesting to see the different color-coded teams who supported the astronauts around the clock and I loved hearing them check-in with the astronauts at the beginning of their shifts.  I was so surprised to see how primitive the technology was by today's standards and to see the giant binders with check-lists of tasks that had to be accomplished for the mission to succeed.  It really is overwhelming when you think about everything that had to go right to make it to the moon!  The images on the screen are simply breathtaking, especially the views in space and the images on the moon, but one of my favorite moments is when the screen is split to show all of the different departments giving the "go" for launch.  This is easily the best film that I have seen in 2019 and I urge you not to miss this incredible experience!

Greta

Last night I went to see a late night screening of Greta because I was really intrigued by the trailer.  I love a good psychological thriller but, unfortunately, this movie is not that.  Frances McCullen (Chloe Grace Moretz) finds an expensive handbag on the subway and decides to return it to its owner who turns out to be Greta (Isabelle Huppert), a middle-aged French woman who gives piano lessons in her home.  Having recently lost her mother, Frances befriends the lonely woman who becomes a sort of surrogate mother to her.  When Frances finds out a disturbing secret about Greta, she tries to end the relationship.  However, Greta won't let the friendship end and begins stalking Frances, becoming more and more aggressive until she eventually kidnaps Frances.  Two-thirds of this movie is really good.  It is intense and full of suspense.  Greta is such a fascinating character because at first she is very sympathetic as a lonely woman looking for a friend but then she becomes more and more menacing as her motivation is revealed.  The scenes between Greta and Frances are fraught with tension, especially when Greta visits the restaurant where Frances works, and both Huppert and Moretz give great performances.  Huppert is suitably creepy as the villain and Moretz really makes us feel Frances' desperation.  Regrettably, the final act descends into the absurd as a series of underdeveloped secondary characters enter the action to try and save Frances.  There is one scene in particular, when a private detective (Stephen Rea) visits Greta, that is so absolutely bonkers that I laughed out loud because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  Apparently, all of the acting budget was spent on Huppert and Moretz because every other actor in this movie is abysmal, especially Maika Monroe who plays Frances' roommate.  Finally, I found the final resolution to be be very campy, and not in a good way, which would have been fine had it been marketed as a B-movie rather than a spine-tingling thriller.  I was quite disappointed because, like so many movies I have seen this year (go here and here), it could have been so good if it had kept its focus on the dynamic between the two main characters.  Give this a miss.

Casablanca In Concert

I absolutely love the Utah Symphony Films In Concert Series!  Last night the film shown on the big screen with the score played live by the Utah Symphony was Casablanca, widely considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, and it was simply amazing!  Casablanca is one of my favorites and I've seen it many times, even on the big screen, but last night is definitely the best viewing experience I’ve had!  Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a hard-drinking club owner who is only out for himself in Casablanca, a haven for European refugees desperate for exit visas to escape the Nazis during World War II.  He ably navigates the the world of black marketeers, corrupt officials, and German officers until Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) walks into his club with her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a hero of the resistance in need of safe passage.  Ilsa was once Rick's lover in Paris but she abandoned him, and even though he has documents that will ensure safe passage for her and her husband, he is bitter and refuses to help her.  Ilsa loves Rick but she admires and respects her husband and will do anything to help him continue his work with the resistance, even sacrifice her own happiness, but is Rick willing to sacrifice his own happiness to help them?  I have to admit that I am usually so riveted by the action on the screen that I don't pay much attention to Max Steiner's score.  However, hearing it played live by the orchestra brought the music to the forefront and it added so much to the story!  I noticed that elements of the song "As Time Goes By" by Herman Hupfeld are incorporated beautifully throughout the score as a leitmotif for Rick and Ilsa's doomed relationship, adding to the poignancy of their scenes.  One of my favorite moments in the film is when "La Marseillaise" is sung to drown out a German drinking song and, once again, I noticed that elements of this anthem are used throughout to highlight the political intrigue.  I loved this concert and I highly recommend getting a ticket for tonight's screening (go here).

Muse at the Vivint Arena

I have seen Muse perform live many times and every show is a light and sound extravaganza.  Last night, when the band was in town in support of their latest album Simulation Theory, was certainly no exception.  It was an awesome concert!  I really love Simulation Theory and I was happy that they played quite a few songs from it.  They began the show with the Alternate Reality version of "Algorithm" and then played "Pressure," "Break It to Me," "Propaganda," "The Dark Side" (my favorite song from the album), a rousing version of "Thought Contagion" which got the Vivint Arena rocking, and the Acoustic Gospel version of "Dig Down."  Every song was accompanied by incredibly theatrical lights, lasers, visuals, and choreographed performers in various LED light up suits.  I loved it!  They also played the hits, and some more obscure tracks, including "Psycho," "Uprising," "Plug In Baby," "Supermassive Black Hole," "Hysteria," "Madness," "Mercy," "Time Is Running Out," and an epic version of "Take a Bow."  They ended their set with "Starlight," which is my favorite Muse song, and the obligatory confetti and streamers.  For the encore they played "Algorithm," a kick-ass medley of "Stockholm Syndrome," "Assassin," "Reapers," "The Handler," and "New Born" complete with a giant cyborg skeleton looming over the stage, and "Knights of Cydonia."  Matt Bellamy was in full rock-star mode wearing leather pants, neon shutter shades, and a variety of leather jackets (including several with LED lights) and he spent much of the evening shredding while on a runway extending into the crowd.  It was quite the spectacle and I absolutely loved it!

Once at PTC

When I saw the Broadway touring production of Once several years ago, I didn't know anything about the musical.  However, it quickly became one of my favorites because of the bittersweet love story and the incredibly beautiful music!  So I was thrilled to see PTC's version last night and I fell in love with the show all over again!  A Guy (Roderick Lawrence) is singing one of his songs on the street in Dublin when a Girl (Hillary Porter) hears him and strikes up a conversation.  She really likes his song but he tells her that he wants to give up on music because all of his songs were written about a girl who left him to go to New York.  She encourages him to sing more of his songs and eventually helps him record a demo.  He begins to have feelings for her and tells her that he may have written the songs for another girl but now he is singing them for her.  She knows that she needs to reconcile with her estranged husband for the sake of her daughter and that he needs to go to New York to play his music for his former girlfriend so she convinces him to go.  If you have ever had someone come into your life for just a brief moment but have a profound impact on it then this story will break your heart.  I had tears streaming down my face at the end.   The staging of this show is quite different from the Broadway version but I really liked the use of the turntable and the guitar motif.  The entire cast is unbelievably talented (all of the secondary characters in the show play a variety of instruments live on stage) but I was especially impressed with both Porter and Lawrence (I really loved Lawrence in this role).  They have beautiful voices and are outstanding musicians (piano and guitar, respectively).  Their renditions of my three favorite songs, "Falling Slowly," "If You Want Me," and "Gold," gave me goosebumps!  This just might be my very favorite production by PTC!  There is quite a bit of profanity (they are Irish, after all) but if you are not bothered by that I highly recommend this wonderful show (go here for tickets) which runs through March 2.

Fighting With My Family

Last night I went to see Fighting With My Family and I really enjoyed this biopic about WWE wrestler Saraya "Paige" Bevis.  Saraya (Florence Pugh) lives in the working class English town of Norwich and wrestles with her father Patrick "Rowdy Ricky" (Nick Frost), her mother Julia "Sweet Saraya" (Lena Headey), and her brother Zak "Zodiac" (Jack Lowden) in their own wrestling league, the World Association of Wrestling.  Both Saraya and Zak are invited to try-out for the WWE by Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) but only Saraya is signed to NXT, the developmental league for the WWE.  Zak must deal with the loss of his dream and Saraya, who changes her name to Paige after a character on her favorite TV show Charmed, must survive a grueling training program as an outsider and an underdog.  She is a skilled wrestler but doesn't know how to brand herself or relate to the crowd.  The movie ends when Paige is given an opportunity to fight for the Divas Championship in some scenes that will make you want to stand up and cheer.  Zak must learn that teaching kids with nowhere else to go how to wrestle is important and Paige must learn that all she needs to do is be herself.  It is a bit formulaic but it is also funny (especially the scenes with her parents), inspirational, and heart warming.  Pugh and Lowden give earnest performances that make it easy to cheer for their characters while Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is quite funny in a cameo.  I don't know much about wrestling but I had a lot of fun watching this feel-good movie and I would definitely recommend it.

Ballet West's Swan Lake

Last night I got to see a glorious production of my very favorite ballet, Swan Lake, and I got to see my favorite dancer with Ballet West, Christopher Ruud, perform for the final time on the Capitol Theatre stage as Prince Siegfried.  Needless to say it was a lovely evening!  The ballet begins when Princess Odette (Katherine Lawrence) and her handmaidens are transformed into swans by the Baron von Rothbart, an evil sorcerer.  Many years later Prince Siegfried (Ruud) is celebrating his 21st birthday with friends.  His mother, the Queen, presents him with a crossbow and reminds him that he must soon take a bride which fills him with dismay.  He decides to go hunting with his friends and follows a flock of swans to a lake where he captures one of them.  The swan struggles and then transforms into a beautiful woman.  It is the Princess Odette and she begs Siegfried to spare the other swans.  She is a swan by day but becomes a human in the moonlight and only the true love of a human man can break the spell she is under.  Siegfried is captivated by her and they dance the most beautiful pas de deux, which is filled with such longing and emotion, as they fall in love.  Before Siegfried can declare his love, the dawn comes and Odette is transformed back into a swan.  At Siegfried's birthday ball he is introduced to princesses from around the world but he is not interested until the Baron von Rothbart appears with his daughter Odile, who has been enchanted to look exactly like Odette.  Thinking that she is Odette, Siegfried dances a pas de deux with Odile, which mimics many of the same movements with his pas de deux with Odette but is more powerful and seductive, and he declares his love to her.  Rothbart then reveals his treachery.  Siegfried returns to the lake in despair and begs Odette for forgiveness, which she grants, before they hurl themselves onto the rocks breaking the spell.  Tchaikovsky's magnificent score was performed brilliantly and there were moments when the music was so heart-wrenching that it brought tears to my eyes.  The choreography is exquisite and the artists of Ballet West performed so passionately.  Ruud gave one of the best performances I've ever seen in the iconic role.  Lawrence was alternatively demure as Odette and provocative as Odile and I loved many of the swan-like mannerisms that were incorporated into her portrayal.  The opulent sets and lavish costumes transport the audience into another world and I was absolutely riveted throughout the whole performance.  My very favorite moment came when all of the swans emerged one by one from the mist.  It was magical!  I'm so glad that I was able to see my favorite dancer end an incredible career in such a beautiful production and I highly recommend getting a ticket to his final performance tonight (go here).

An American in Paris at HCT

If you need a little joie de vivre in your life (and who doesn't in the middle of winter) then might I suggest attending An American in Paris at Hale Centre Theatre. It is a song and dance extravaganza set in Paris after World War II featuring the music of George and Ira Gershwin. 'S wonderful! 'S marvelous! Jerry Mulligan (Wesley Valdez) is an American soldier who decides to stay in Paris after the war to pursue his dream of becoming a painter. He sees Lise (Juliet Doherty), a Parisian shopgirl with aspirations of becoming a ballerina, on the street and begins to pursue her. They meet every afternoon along the Seine and inevitably fall in love but complications arise. Lise feels a duty to the Baurel family for hiding her from the Nazis and accepts a proposal of marriage from their son Henri (Taylor Morris). Jerry is indebted to his patron Milo Davenport (Ashley Gardner Carlson), a rich American heiress who promotes his art and falls in love with him. It takes several more dazzling dance sequences for Jerry and Lise to realize that they belong together! The choreography, which is used to tell the story, is simply amazing! I especially loved the big production numbers "I've Got Rhythm" in the middle of a Parisian cafe, "I've Got Beginner's Luck" in the Galleries Lafayette where Lise works, "Rhapsody Ballet" at a costume ball, and "Stairway to Paradise" at a Parisian nightclub. I loved how the choreography incorporates props such as umbrellas, benches, lampposts, and perfume counters into the numbers. The cast features incredibly talented dancers, especially the two leads. Doherty (who is single-cast) performs the demanding choreography, much of it on pointe, effortlessly and with so much passion while Valdez is charismatic and captivating to watch. I was so impressed with their performance in the final ballet because it requires a lot of stamina coming at the end of the show. I also really enjoyed Carlson's characterization of Milo as a formidable, yet vulnerable, woman and she provides quite a bit of comic relief with her delivery. The costumes are fantastic, especially Milo's elaborate gowns, the dramatic black and red costumes at the ball, and the sparkly showgirl costumes in "Stairway to Paradise."  The set is very clever and incorporates inventive choreography as pieces are moved on and off the stage. Who could ask for anything more? This production is a beautiful love letter to the City of Lights (my favorite city) and I highly recommend it. An American in Paris runs at HCT on the Main Stage through April 6 (go here for tickets).

Note:  Don't forget about the hilarious A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder which is currently being performed on the HCT Jewel Box Stage through March 16.

My Fair Lady

After seeing the stage musical My Fair Lady performed as a concert with the Utah Symphony on Saturday night, I spent Sunday afternoon watching the Academy Award-winning film adaptation as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series and I loved it so much!  This is one of my favorite movies from my childhood (I have vivid memories of watching it and other movie musicals at my Grandma Anderson's house) and it was incredible seeing it on the big screen!  Audrey Hepburn is absolutely luminous as Eliza Doolittle, a Covent Garden flower girl, and Rex Harrison is charmingly irascible as Professor Henry Higgins, the arrogant phonetics professor who sets about turning her into a lady.  I love every single scene in this film but I wait with bated breath for the Ascot race with all of those beautiful black and white gowns, especially Eliza's, and the Embassy Ball when Eliza makes her grand entrance in a glittering gown and is mistaken for royalty.  I love all of the instantly recognizable songs but my favorites are "On the Street Where You Live" sung by a lovesick Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett), "The Rain in Spain" sung by Eliza, Higgins, and Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) when Eliza finally makes some progress, and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" when Higgins suddenly realizes that he loves Eliza.  I love the production design for this film and I always swoon over Higgins' library!  This film is simply loverly and I had a huge smile on my face while watching it.  I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen and you have one more opportunity to do so on Wednesday (go here for more information).

My Fair Lady with the Utah Symphony

Last night the Utah Symphony performed a concert version of the stage musical My Fair Lady.  They were joined by Broadway stars Peter Scolari as Professor Henry Higgins (I saw him as the Wizard in Wicked on Broadway), Susan Derry as Eliza Doolittle, Jeff Mattsey as Alfred P. Doolittle, Charlie Tingen as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, and Michelle McConnell and Cree Carrico as the female ensemble.  In a concert setting there is minimal dialogue, limited choreography, and only a few costume changes so the music is allowed to shine.  The orchestra and the performers did an amazing job of bringing the story to life with their interpretation of the score.  Derry has a beautiful voice and I especially enjoyed her renditions of "Just You Wait" and "I Could Have Danced All Night." I also really liked her performance of "The Rain in Spain" with Scolari and I was very moved by his heartfelt version of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."  Finally, I loved Tingen's performance of "On the Street Where You Live" which is my favorite song in the show because I think it is so romantic.  The entire evening was just loverly!

Note:  I've heard a rumor that the Utah Symphony will be performing the musical Singin' in the Rain in concert next season!

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real at the Commonwealth Room

I became a fan of Promise of the Real when I saw them perform with Neil Young on tour.  I thought they had a really great rock-country sound.  Then I found out that Lukas Nelson co-wrote some of the songs for the movie A Star is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and that Promise of the Real performs in the movie as Jackson Maine's band.  I loved these songs and I bought the movie soundtrack and listened to it over and over.  Then I discovered Promise of the Real's latest self-titled album which I also love.  When I found out that they were coming to SLC I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale (which was a good thing because the show sold out very quickly) and I've been looking forward to it for so long!  I had never been to the Commonwealth Room before last night and now I think it is a great venue because it is so intimate.  I ended up right in front of the stage which was fantastic because Lukas Nelson is pretty easy on the eyes.  The older woman standing next to me said that if she was my age she would be chasing after him!  Not only is he good looking but he is very talented and charismatic and he and his band certainly know how to put on a good show!  They played their songs "Find Yourself" (which is my favorite), "Fool Me Once," "Just Outside of Austin," "Carolina," "Four Letter Word," "Little Girl," "Start to Go," "Forget About Georgia," "Turn Off the News," and "Something Real."  They also played a few songs off their forthcoming album, including "Save a Little Heartache" and "Where Does Love Go When It Dies" which I really liked.  I loved hearing all of these songs live because Lukas sounds so much like his Dad (who just happens to be Willie Nelson).  They also performed a few covers including a super sultry version of Tom Petty's "Breakdown," "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, and "L.A. Woman" by the Doors.  The highlight for me came during the encore when they played an amazing version of "Shallow" from A Star is Born.  It was incredibly powerful and it gave me goosebumps (even though it didn't include Lady Gaga).  This was my first concert of 2019 and it was definitely a good one!

Cold Pursuit

I went into Cold Pursuit last night thinking that it would be a typical Liam Neeson revenge movie.  While it is an action thriller that revolves around a father seeking vengeance for the death of his son, it is also a strangely compelling dark comedy that I liked much more than I thought I would.  Nels Coxman (Neeson) is a snowplow driver in the Colorado ski town of Kehoe.  His son Kyle (Michael Richardson), a baggage handler at the Kehoe airport, dies of an overdose of heroin.  Believing that his son didn't use drugs, Coxman investigates and discovers that he was killed by a drug cartel in Denver over a misplaced cocaine shipment.  He vows revenge and kills the three men directly responsible for Kyle's death but then decides to take down the leader of the cartel, Trevor "Viking" Calcote (Tom Bateman), as well.  Chaos ensues when Viking mistakenly assumes that his men were killed by the local Ute tribe, led by White Bull (Tom Jackson), who control the drug trade in Kehoe.  When his only son is killed by Viking in retribution, White Bull also vows revenge.  This leads to an epic shootout between Coxman, White Bull's gang, and Viking's gang, leaving an ambitious Kehoe police officer (Emmy Rossum) to sort out the bodies.  This movie is filled with eccentric characters (each with a nickname) who behave in such an over-the-top manner that it almost seems like a spoof of the genre.  All of their bizarre antics are wildly entertaining, especially the irreverent ways in which Coxman kills and disposes of the bodies of his victims, and I laughed out loud at the gallows humor many times.  My favorite part of the movie is when each character gets a full-screen "in memoriam" card, complete with nickname, after he is killed (the entire screen is filled with names and nicknames after the shootout!).  It gets pretty wacky (imagine if Taken and Fargo had a baby) but I enjoyed it.

Note:  This movie even has its own version of Fargo's infamous woodchipper scene.

They Shall Not Grow Old

My great-grandfather fought in World War I with the Gordon Highlanders and was wounded at the Battle of Ypres so I have had a lifelong fascination with this war.  I really wanted to see They Shall Not Grow Old, the Peter Jackson documentary commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, but I missed the original screenings for one reason or another.  I was so excited when I found out that it was returning to theaters for a limited engagement and I went to see it yesterday.  It begins with the black and white, silent, and grainy footage that we have all seen before and then transitions into restored and colorized images with recreated sound.  I know that many people are against colorizing old film footage but, to me, this gave the images an immediacy that I had never experienced before, as if these events had happened during my lifetime rather than one hundred years ago.  It is incredibly powerful to see!  The documentary also includes audio of interviews with 120 veterans about their experiences as British soldiers on the western front and these are incredibly moving.  I was struck by several commonalities in the narrative.  First, the men were very eager to enlist because, not only did they want to do their part for king and country, but they also wanted adventure.  Many of them were leaving the villages where they were born for the first time!  Second, most of them didn't complain about the truly horrific conditions in the trenches because they felt they had a job to do and simply got on with it.  Third, they regarded the German prisoners of war as lads just like themselves and started wondering why they were being asked to kill them.  Fourth, most of them reported that there were no celebrations on Armistice Day and many of them wondered what would happen to them now that the war was over.  Several mentioned that they were more concerned about going home than they were about enlisting!  These anonymous voices make the war come alive and I thought of my own great-grandfather many times, especially when the footage included men in kilts and the sound of a plaintive bagpipe.  I highly recommend seeing this extraordinary film while it is still in theaters!

Lend Me A Tenor at CPT

Last night I had the chance to see Lend Me A Tenor, the current production at CenterPoint Theatre, and it was so much fun.  Henry Saunders (Michael Hohl), the general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, has invited the world-renowned tenor Tito Merelli (Dale Boam) to perform for one night only. He asks his assistant Max (Michael Gardner) to get Merelli to the opera house on time but, when Merelli is indisposed, he has to take drastic action. Add a jealous wife (Holly Reid), an ambitious diva (Kati Paul), a love-struck daughter (Katie Plott), a ditsy opera guild president (Laura Krummenacher), and an opera loving bellhop (Holden Smith) and hilarity ensues. It took a little while for this show to get going but, once it did, it was full of physical comedy and mistaken identity that had the audience howling with laughter. I especially enjoyed a scene where both Tito and Max, who is impersonating Tito, are entertaining women in the hotel suite and then the women inadvertently end up with different Titos. The set, which features a hotel sitting room and bedroom with a connecting door (which are both visible to the audience), is fantastic and really adds to the action as Tito and Max run in and out while slamming doors. The costumes are also a lot of fun, especially the opera guild president's dress ("You look like the Chrysler building!") and the costume Tito (and Max!) wears as Othello. The cast has great comedic timing, particularly Gardner who has great facial expressions as the overwrought Max. As an opera fan, I really enjoyed the arias used at the end of scenes because the subject mimics the action. I'm sure most audience members didn't catch on but I laughed out loud when Mozart's "Lacrimosa" played after Tito is presumed dead!  I recommend this hilarious show for a fun night out (go here for tickets).

Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique"

It seems like it has been such a long time since I've been to Abravanel Hall to hear the Utah Symphony so I was very happy to be there last night for a concert featuring one of my favorite composers!  The orchestra began with the Overture to Tannhauser by Richard Wagner and I absolutely loved it!  This opera is about the temptation and ultimate redemption of a troubadour and the music is incredibly dramatic (I loved the themes played by the brass)!  After this performance I definitely need to put this opera on my list ones I want to see!  Next came a trio of pieces by Hector Berlioz: Sara la baigneuse, Ballade for Three Choruses and Orchestra featuring the Utah Symphony Chorus and the University of Utah Chamber Choir; "La Mort d'Ophelie" from Tristia featuring the women from the aforementioned choruses; and Reverie et caprice for Violin and Orchestra featuring an amazing performance by soloist Philippe Quint.  I loved all of these pieces but I especially enjoyed the second because I am obsessed with the play Hamlet and I could see Ophelia's death scene very clearly as I listened to the beautiful and ethereal music.  After the intermission, the orchestra played Symphony No. 6  ("Pathetique") by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  I love the Russian composers because their music is very emotional and this piece, in particular, is almost unbearably so.  I especially enjoyed the final movement because I think it is so passionate and filled with such longing.  This was the best interpretation of this piece that I have ever heard and I had tears in my eyes at its conclusion!  It was an evening filled with music from three of the best composers from the 19th century romantic era performed beautifully by the Utah Symphony and I loved every minute of it!  I highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's performance of the same program (go here).

Destroyer

Last night I went to see Destroyer, a film I've been wanting to see for months.  The trailer really intrigued me because it seemed to feature a tormented character looking for redemption which is a favorite theme of mine.  The tormented character in this film is LAPD Detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) who, twenty years ago, infiltrated a notorious gang in an undercover operation with an FBI agent (Sebastian Stan) that involved a robbery gone wrong.  She was clearly traumatized by this event and, with her career in shambles and her relationship with her daughter (Jade Pettyjohn) in crisis, she responds to a murder scene which she believes is a message for her that Silas (Toby Kebbell), the leader of the gang, has resurfaced.  On her own, she cruises the underbelly of Los Angeles looking for former gang members Toby (James Jordan), Arturo (Zach Villa), and Petra (Tatiana Maslany) as well as DiFranco (Bradley Whitford), a crooked lawyer who launders money for the gang, to find Silas and exact vengeance.  Interspersed with her search for Silas are flashbacks to her time in the gang and the ill-fated robbery with an interesting revelation about her participation (and another interesting revelation in the present).  It is a fairly standard story of revenge but it is elevated by a transformative performance by Kidman who makes you care about a thoroughly unpleasant person doing reprehensible things.  The rest of the cast is uniformly good as well, especially Whitford and Maslany.  This film, in many ways, reminded me of You Were Never Really Here in that there is a kind of beauty in the brutality (Bell is thoroughly battered and bruised throughout but never wavers in her determination to set things right) and the redemption comes from an unexpected source.  Not everyone will enjoy this movie but I think it is brilliant.

Sundance Film Festival 2019

The Sundance Film Festival has concluded for 2019 and I had such a great time!  I am incredibly sleep deprived but I saw some amazing films and had some wonderful conversations with film aficionados from all over the world (including a couple from Sweden and a really cool girl from Toronto).  I was able to see fifteen films this year including two with students!  My first film was a documentary called Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played With Fire which intrigued me because I am a huge fan of the Millennium series of books.  It chronicles Larrson's job as a journalist as he relentlessly investigated neo-Nazis and the extreme right in Europe, wrote books about the subject, and founded a magazine called Expo.  This suggests that he is every bit as interesting as his character Mikael Blomkvist.  I found it fascinating and alarming that so many extreme groups exist in Europe.  My second film was Adam, a comedy about a naive and inexperienced high school student (Nicholas Alexander) who convinces his parents to let him spend the summer in New York City with his older sister (Margaret Qualley) who is hiding the fact that she is a lesbian from them.  He attends a party with his sister and her LGTBQ friends and meets Gillian (Bobbi Salvor Menuez).  He immediately falls in love with her but she is a lesbian and she thinks that he is transgender.  Hilarity ensues as he tries to keep up the ruse.  This film is really funny and what I liked most about it is that a cisgendered heterosexual male is the outsider whose character arc involves learning how to accept others.  My third film was To the Stars which is set in a rural town in Oklahoma during the 1960s.  Iris Deerborne (Kara Hayward) is an incredibly repressed teenager who is bullied by her mother and all of the kids at school.  Her life changes when she meets a new girl from the city with a secret (Liana Liberato).  It was shot in black and white which made it quite moody and atmospheric and, while it did become heavy-handed at times, I enjoyed this coming of age story.  My fourth film was another documentary called David Crosby: Remember My Name.  It is a brutally honest portrait of a man living with regrets with an amazing soundtrack!  As a fan of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young I really loved it!  My fifth film was a free midnight screening of Honey Boy.  The script was written by Shia LaBeouf about his own experiences as a child actor with an abusive father.  Lucas Hedges plays Otis, a young actor on a downward spiral when several DUIs and a drunken tirade land him in court-mandated rehab.  He is forced to confront his past through a series of flashbacks with Noah Jupe playing the young Otis and LaBeouf brilliantly playing his own father.  It is a beautiful and heartbreaking film and I am so glad I got to see it (even though I might be getting too old for these midnight screenings on school nights).  My sixth film was The Souvenir, a huge hit with the critics which I found to be a bit boring.  Julie (Honor Swinton-Byrne) is a young and inexperienced film student from a wealthy and privileged background struggling to find her voice.  She meets an older and charismatic man named Anthony (Tom Burke) and they begin a tumultuous affair.  Julie eventually discovers that Anthony is a heroin addict and their doomed relationship helps her find her voice as a filmmaker.  This film is incredibly episodic and vague and, even though many scenes are incredibly beautiful, sometimes they seem rather pointless.  I think it requires more engagement than I was willing to give it.  My seventh film was a student screening of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (go here for my review).  I really loved this film and so did my students.  My eighth film was Them That Follow, an incredibly atmospheric coming of age story about a young girl in rural Appalachia.  Mara (Alice Englert) is a devout member of a snake-handling Pentacostal community who is about to enter an arranged marriage but is secretly in love with a nonbeliever.  She must choose between her beliefs and the man she loves.  It starts very slowly but, when it gets going, it is very intense (audience members at my screening gasped out loud multiple times).  My ninth film was Midnight Traveler.  One of my colleagues in the English department asked me to chaperone his field trip to another student screening (he chaperoned my field trip, too).  This documentary chronicles the harrowing three year journey that filmmaker Hassan Fazili and his family, including two young daughters, take from Afghanistan to Europe seeking asylum after he receives a death threat from the Taliban.  The students were incredibly affected by everything this family had to go through which is truly heartbreaking.  My tenth film was The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a story about a young black man (Jimmie Fails) and his obsession with a Victorian house built by his grandfather.  It is a fresh, original, and quirky exploration of identity, friendship, gentrification, and urban violence.  I really liked it but it might not be for everyone.  My eleventh film was Clemency, which is my favorite film of the festival.  It is a powerful story about the death penalty (to which I am vehemently opposed) and how it affects those who are required to carry out executions.  Alfre Woodard stars as warden Bernadine Williams who conducts these "procedures" dispassionately and by the letter of the law until she suffers from PTSD over a botched execution.  She then becomes emotionally involved with Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge), the next inmate scheduled for execution who may well be innocent.  Both Woodard and Hodge give brilliant and affecting performances which reduced me, and the entire audience, to tears multiple times.  I highly recommend this amazing film.  My twelfth film, Top End Wedding, is about a young woman's search for her mother and, ultimately, her own identity before her wedding.  I'm not usually a fan of romantic comedies but I had to see this film because it stars Gwilym Lee (who played Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody)!  It is fairly typical of the genre but it is quite funny and I enjoyed the setting in Australia.  My thirteenth film was Brittany Runs a Marathon, another favorite of mine.  Brittany (Gillian Bell) spends her evenings partying at clubs, her mornings recovering from hangovers, and her afternoons going late to her dead-end job as a ticket taker at a theatre.  She goes to a doctor to get a prescription for adderall but, instead, is told that she needs to lose weight or face serious health consequences.  She decides to start running and, eventually, to train for the New York Marathon.  This film is not just about Brittany's journey to run a marathon but it is also about her journey learning to love herself and I think it is not only funny but also incredibly inspiring.  I loved it!  My fourteenth film was Official Secrets which tells the true story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a whistleblower who leaks a classified document to the press hoping to stop the Iraq War.  I liked this film for its important story about an ordinary woman willing to face catastrophic consequences in order to follow her conscience as well as its stellar cast (the aforementioned Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Matt Smith, Jeremy Northam, and Rhys Ifans).  My fifteenth and final film was Love, Antosha, a documentary about the late actor Anton Yelchin.  It begins when his parents, professional ice skaters Irina and Viktor, decide to leave the Soviet Union to give their infant son a better life in the United States.  We learn that Anton suffered from cystic fibrosis, was not just a precocious child actor but a dedicated student of film, and was an accomplished photographer and musician (all of which I did not know before this film).  There are very touching interviews with many of his co-stars (most notably Chris Pine, Jennifer Lawrence, Martin Landeau, and Jodie Foster).  It made me miss him all over again!  Fifteen movies, ten days, five venues, two student screenings, and zero sleep produced countless memories!  I loved every minute!

Note:  It's nice to know that I have good taste!  All of my favorite films won awards this year:  Clemency won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, The Last Black Man in San Francisco won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Prize, Honey Boy won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Vision and Craft, Brittany Runs a Marathon won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize.  Good stuff!

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Wicked at the Eccles

I took a little break from the Sundance Film Festival (a full wrap-up is coming soon) to see the musical Wicked with my sister.  When I found out that the Broadway at the Eccles 2018-2019 season would include Wicked as an add-on to the season package, I thought that, since I have seen it so many times, I didn’t need to get a ticket.  Then I realized how sad I would be if I didn't see it while it was in SLC and decided that I had to go.  My sister Kristine had never seen it before so I got a ticket for her and she was so excited!  Even though I have seen it so many times I think I was just as excited as she was.  This show is extremely clever at telling the story of what happened to the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda the Good, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow before Dorothy makes an appearance in Oz.  Not only do I love the story but I also love every single song ("What Is This Feeling?," "I'm Not That Girl," and "As Long As You're Mine" are my favorites), the elaborate costumes, the choreography, and the steampunk set design.  It is such an amazing show!  This particular production featured two of the best actresses I've seen as Glinda (Kara Lindsay) and Elphaba (Jackie Burns).  Lindsay is so funny and is particularly adept at all of the physical comedy in the role, especially in the song "Popular." Every actress I've seen play Glinda has added some little bit of business in "Popular" to make it her own and Lindsay was hysterical with her high kicks!  Burns has an incredibly powerful voice, especially in "Defying Gravity" and "No Good Deed."   She definitely gave me goosebumps!  The rest of the cast is great and I particularly liked Jody Gelb as Madame Morrible (I love all of the character's malapropisms).  This is a production that I highly recommend (even if you have seen it as many times as I have) and it runs at the Eccles Theatre until March 3.  Most shows have sold out but I have noticed tickets on the ArtTix website.

Note:  I ran into my dear friend Karen in the elevator, I saw one of my current students in the lobby, and found one of my colleagues in the English department at intermission (I got her tickets before they went on sale to the public).  I felt really popular!

Sundance Student Screening 2019

Yesterday I had my annual Sundance Film Festival field trip which is always a hit with the students.  I actually had several students ask me about it at the beginning of the school year and I had a group of students who have gone with me all three years (they asked if they could come next year even though they are graduating).  Being able to take my students to see a film is always a highlight of the festival for me and I am so grateful that the Sundance Institute, with support from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, provides these free screenings for students every year!  I derive so much enjoyment from the arts and it means so much to me to be able to share that with my students.  The film that we got to see this year was The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind which tells the true story of how a boy was able to save his entire village in Malawi during a severe drought by building a windmill to create electricity to power a water pump to irrigate the crops.  I really loved this film because, not only is it incredibly life-affirming, it also has a powerful message about the importance of education.  William (Maxwell Simba) is not allowed to attend school because his parents can no longer pay the fees but he sneaks into the school library every day to learn how to create electricity.  Simba is incredibly endearing and sympathetic in the role and there were times when I had tears in my eyes (so did my students), especially when he tries to convince his Dad (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to give up his bicycle to use for parts.  This film is Ejiofor's directorial debut and he was there for a Q & A afterwards.  My students were very taken with him and asked some great questions.  They loved the film as much as I did and talked about it the whole way back to school on the bus.  It was a really great experience for both me and my students.

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Serenity

The second movie in my Thursday night double feature was Serenity which looked like another intriguing psychological thriller.  It wasn't.  Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a down on his luck Iraq War veteran who makes his living taking tourists out on his fishing boat on an island off the coast of Florida.  He is obsessed with catching an elusive fish which sometimes causes problems with his paying customers.  He is often reduced to taking money from Constance (Diane Lane), his sometime lover, to pay for the gas to run his boat and must fire his first mate Duke (Djimon Hounsou) because he can't pay him.  Things change when Baker's ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) approaches him to murder her abusive husband Frank (Jason Clarke) at sea for $10 million.  He initially refuses but begins to consider the offer for the sake of his son Patrick (Rafael Sayegh) who lives with Karen and Frank.  A mysterious businessman in a suit (Jeremy Strong), who has been stalking Baker, causes him to question his reality when he finally does make contact.  I have heard some critics refer to this movie as the worst of 2019 but they have clearly not seen Replicas which gets my vote for that dubious honor.  Like Replicas, this movie has an interesting concept, which could have been a really atmospheric noir thriller, but it is derailed by its execution and a completely implausible plot twist that I saw coming well before it was revealed.  Even though it is ridiculous and full of holes, this plot twist could have provided an interesting exploration of free will but, instead, we get McConaughey emoting in a sugarcane field.  Speaking of which, there is a lot of cringe-worthy dialogue (Hathaway refers to Clarke as "Daddy" more times than I could count) and most of the characters come across as wooden caricatures rather than actual people.  The only reason that it ranks slightly above Replicas is because of the cinematography.  Beautiful shots of ocean waves and sunsets are nicer to look at than sub-par CGI shots of robots any day!  Avoid both of these movies!

Glass

Last night I finally had a chance to see Glass, M. Night Shyamalan's sequel to Unbreakable and Split.  As one of the few people who actually liked Unbreakable, I was very eager to see it and, while there are problems, I really enjoyed this psychological thriller.  The movie begins with David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who, with technical support from his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), acts as The Overseer, a vigilante taking down criminals using his extrasensory perception.  He encounters Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) and learns the location of four girls whom Crumb has abducted.  The Overseer confronts him in the persona of The Beast which culminates in their arrest and imprisonment in the mental institution where Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), known as Mr. Glass, is being held.  Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulsen), a psychiatrist specializing in treating people with delusions of grandeur, tries to convince David, Kevin, and Elijah that they are normal and that their superpowers have logical explanations.  She enlists Joseph, Mrs. Price (Charlayne Woodard), and Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), who survived an attack by The Beast, to help convince the three that they are mentally ill rather than extraordinary.  Glass, acting in the role of a superhero mastermind, plans the escape of all three hoping for an epic showdown between The Overseer and The Beast to show the world that superheroes really do exist but they are ultimately stopped by Staple.  Of course, in true Shyamalan form, there are several plot twists which lead to some redemption.  While there are some rather sketchy plot holes in the narrative, I enjoyed Shyamalan's supposition that comic books are the mythology of real world superheroes.  I also really liked the theme that it is important to see people as they really are.  All three leads give fantastic performances.  McAvoy believably moves from character to character in an instant, Willis gives one of his best performances in recent memory, and Jackson is completely over the top.  The production design is really interesting with each character inhabiting a specific color (carried over from the previous movies) juxtaposed with an otherwise drab institutional color palette and the hand-held camera work reinforces the claustrophobia.  The biggest issue I have with this movie is that it sometimes has way too much exposition, as if Shyamalan doesn't think the audience has seen the prequels.  However, I think this is an interesting and entertaining end to the saga and would recommend it.