Two Dollar Bill at PTC

Last night I had the opportunity to see the world premiere of a powerful and provocative play called Two Dollar Bill by playwright T.J. Brady at Pioneer Theatre.  It takes place in the present day on an unnamed Ivy League University campus where it is discovered that a well-respected and tenured history professor has falsified his undergraduate degree.  The play opens with Bill Dudley (Mark Zimmerman) lecturing to a U.S. History class on the Treaty of Paris which "officially" ended the Revolutionary War even though the British had surrendered at Yorktown a year earlier.  He states that the fledgling country needed legitimacy, in the form of an official piece of paper, in the eyes of the world.  Thus the central theme of the play is introduced:  what constitutes legitimacy?  Dudley is informed by the dean of faculty, who happens to be his wife, that the University has discovered that he was one credit short of receiving his Bachelor's degree and demands his resignation while an undergraduate student demands that a failing grade be changed because it will ruin her GPA and, therefore, her chances of getting into law school or business school.  In the midst of these goings-on, Dudley laments the loss of a two dollar bill given to him by his father and wonders why the lack of a degree makes him unsuitable for a position he has held for over thirty years and why his student seems more interested in getting a degree rather than learning the material.  Is legitimacy based on a piece of paper rather than knowledge and ability?  In the end, Dudley finds the two dollar bill and gives it to his teaching assistant, asserting that he doesn't need a piece of paper to remember his father.  This play is incredibly thought-provoking, to say the least, judging by the many conversations swirling around me at intermission and, even though this play deals with higher education, I couldn't help but think about the pressure I am under to pass students in my classes when they have clearly not mastered the material because our school is judged on its graduation rate.  I enjoyed this production immensely, not only for the subject matter, but also for the excellent performances by the aforementioned Zimmerman, Lesley Fera as the dean of faculty, Corey Allen as Dudley's teaching assistant, and Ephie Aardema as Dudley's undergraduate student.  Aardema is especially effective as an entitled student who, at one point, calls her Dad to threaten the school over her grade.  I'm sure she prepared for her role by visiting one of the high schools nearby (said without the slightest bit of cynicism).  I highly recommend this timely drama, especially to anyone concerned over the state of public education in this country.  It runs at PTC through January 30 and tickets may be purchased here.

I Heart Snowshoeing

My brother-in-law Trent told me about a snowshoeing trail less than five minutes from my front door (it actually takes me longer to put on my snow boots than it does to drive to the trailhead) and I have certainly taken advantage of it!  I have already gone several times and I absolutely love the fresh air up in the mountains.  I got up early yesterday (a day off from school for MLK Day) and spent several hours on the trail.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  In fact, the only other person I saw was a guy that I have seen on the trail before.  He recognized me and talked to me for a while and then eventually went ahead of me because he was a lot faster.  Ha ha!  It makes me so happy that I can be in the great outdoors doing things I love, like snowshoeing, in mere minutes!  I am also looking forward to hiking this trail in the spring and summer.

Utah Opera's The Merry Widow

Last night I attended opening night of Utah Opera's production of The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar and it was so much fun!  I normally do not like operas with an English libretto and I usually prefer tragedies to comedies, but I must admit that I enjoyed every minute of this delightful romp through Paris at the turn of the 20th century.  The Pontevedrian Ambassador to Paris , Baron Zeta (Michael Wanko), is concerned that a wealthy widow from his country, Hanna Glawari (Caroline Worra), has become the toast of Paris and may marry one of her Parisian suitors.  Zeta seeks to prevent such a marriage because all of the widow's 20 million francs would then leave the almost bankrupt Pontevedro.  He instructs Count Danilo Danilovich (Daniel Belcher), the Embassy Secretary who spends more time at Maxim's than at the embassy, to marry her.  The only problem is that they have a past, and while they clearly love each other (demonstrated in the "Ladies' Choice" dance), Danilo refuses and complications abound.  Will Danilo and Hanna realize that they love each other?  It was so much fun to watch.  Sometimes I think that the comedic elements are overdone in Utah Opera productions but this was really funny and I actually laughed out loud many times (as did the entire audience).   My favorite moment was when the Pontevedrian diplomats performed their own version of the can-can as they lament their inability to understand women (It brought the house down).  The cast sang (and, rather unusually, spoke) their roles beautifully, including Belcher who, it was announced, was suffering from a cold and wore a microphone.  I loved the Belle Epoque costumes (especially the black and white costumes at the embassy in juxtaposition with Hanna's red gown), the opulent sets (especially Maxim's), Lehar's glorious music (conducted by Utah favorite Jerry Steichen) and the lively choreography (all of that waltzing and a wildly entertaining performance of the can-can!).  I certainly had a lovely time at this opera and I highly recommend it!  Go here for information and tickets.

The Big Short

The Academy Award nominees for Best Picture were announced last Thursday and there was only one film that I hadn't seen (see my reviews of Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Bridge of Spies, Room, Spotlight, Brooklyn, and The Revenant).  Since I always like to see all of the nominees before the ceremony, I crossed The Big Short off my list last night.  When I graduated from college in 1990, many of my contemporaries, who were just beginning their careers and making approximately the same amount of money as I was, bought big and expensive homes.  I couldn't understand how people my age could afford to live in the same type of neighborhood as my parents.  They couldn't.  Many were given subprime loans (they didn't have to meet income and credit score requirements) and had adjustable-rate mortgages (mortgages would reset with higher interest rates causing much higher payments over time).  Eventually, people who could no longer afford their monthly payments were forced to sell these expensive homes or they defaulted on their loans which, in part, lead to a nationwide banking crisis and recession.  The Big Short follows a group of industry outsiders who predicted that banks would lose money from their collateralized debt obligations (don't worry if you don't understand these complicated banking terms because there are celebrity cameos, such as Selena Gomez, who explain them to the audience) once people began defaulting on their mortgages.  Michael Burry (Christian Bale) is an antisocial genius who figures out a way to profit from the situation and risks his clients' hedge fund on a hunch.  Mark Baum (Steve Carell) is a bombastic crusader out to right the wrongs he sees in the banking industry.  Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) are small-time investors who want in on the action but lack credentials and have to rely on their mentor Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt), a former banker who is paranoid about the collapse of the world economy and advises them to invest in seeds, to conduct their transactions.  Wall Street trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) is the ringmaster who connects all of the characters (and occasionally, and rather amusingly, speaks directly to the audience about what is going on).  The script is full of snappy dailogue and the performances are a lot of fun to watch.  Director Adam McKay uses fast cutting and montage sequences very effectively to create the frenetic energy and chaos of the crisis.  It is an incredibly entertaining film that is also a scathing indictment of the unscrupulous practices used by the banking industry; I laughed all the way through it and left the theater sick to my stomach.  I highly recommend it.

The Revenant

Last night I went with my parents to see The Revenant.  To be honest, I wasn't really that interested until Leonardo DiCaprio won the Golden Globe for Best Actor last Sunday and I decided that I couldn't miss out on such a lauded performance!  I don't even know if I can do justice to this epic tale of one man's survival!  It is simultaneously the most gruesome and beautiful film I have ever seen and DiCaprio gives a tour de force performance that is simply astonishing.  During the early 1800s, a group of fur trappers in the unexplored Louisiana Purchase is attacked by a hostile Native American tribe and all but a small group are killed.  They escape down the river but Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), their guide, recommends leaving their pelts and going overland because they are bound to be attacked again.  John Fiztgerald (Tom Hardy) takes great exception to this as it will mean the loss of their pay  and animosity develops between the two.  Glass stumbles upon a Grizzly bear with her two cubs and is ferociously attacked (in one of the most intense scenes I've ever seen), barely surviving.  The trappers build a stretcher to carry Glass but it soon becomes impossible and the leader of the expedition, Captain Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), asks for volunteers to stay behind with him until he dies.  His son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), a young trapper named Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), and Fitzgerald volunteer and Henry exacts their promise to stay with him and give him a proper burial.  Thinking Glass a burden, Fitzgerald tries to kill him.  Hawk witnesses the attempt so Fitzgerald kills him, telling Bridger that he is missing, and then leaves Glass, who is still alive.  Glass uses his intense desire for revenge to survive in the harsh environment (where everything, and I mean everything, happens to him) and find Fitzgerald.  There are some twists and turns (literally and figuratively) along the way, culminating in a scene that blew my mind.  The cinematography is breathtaking, emphasizing both the destructive power and pristine beauty of the wilderness (it was filmed primarily in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada) and the score is innovative, haunting, and intense.  As previously mentioned, DiCaprio is outstanding is this physically demanding (to say the least) role, totally immersing himself into the world of a frontiersman.  Hardy and Gleeson, who is having quite the year (go here and here), also give memorable performances.  This film is not for the faint of heart (I actually had to turn away in one of the more graphic scenes) but it is certainly a not-to-be-missed adventure.

Note:  I have seen most of the films that are likely to be nominated for Academy Awards and, in my opinion, there is not a performance to equal DiCaprio's.  Not even close.  They might as well just give him the Oscar.