O.C. Tanner Gift of Music

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music concert in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.  It was quite the experience!  Over thirty years ago, Obert C. Tanner and Gordon B. Hinckley created and endowed this concert series as a way to share performances of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony as a gift to the community.  I have been lucky enough to attend several of these concerts (including the 30th Anniversary concert featuring James Taylor in 2013).  This year Thierry Fischer conducted the Utah Symphony, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Choristers of the Madeleine Choir School and soloists Orla Boylan, Celena Shafer, Amy Owens, Charlotte Hellekant, Tamara Mumford, Barry Banks, Markus Werba, and Jordan Bisch in a stirring rendition of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8.  Oh my goodness, it was absolutely spectacular!  I had never heard this piece before and I had goosebumps from the very first note of the magnificent organ to the final crash of the cymbals!  I absolutely loved it.  I can't even describe how beautiful this performance was, especially in such a gorgeous setting, and I am profoundly grateful for the generosity of Obert C. Tanner and his wife Grace in providing such a memorable experience for the community and for the opportunity to have world class organizations like the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir right here in Salt Lake City!  This event is free, but all available tickets for tonight's performance have been claimed.  However, stand-by seating is available and the line will begin at the flagpole by the Tabernacle.  I would plan on being there as early as possible (the concert begins at 7:00 pm).  It is well worth the effort for a chance to see this unbelievable performance!

The Pirate Queen at HCT

When HCT announced their 2016 season, I think I was most excited to see The Pirate Queen. After all, it is composed by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (better known for a little show called Les Miserables). I couldn't wait to see it and I got my wish last night.  It is, essentially, the story of two women who are enemies yet face the same limitations as women and ultimately triumph. Queen Elizabeth I (Cecily Ellis-Bills) has just assumed the throne of England and needs to prove herself by conquering the Irish barbarians. Grace O'Malley (Heather McDonald) becomes the chieftain of the O'Malley clan after proving herself in battle on her father's ship The Pirate Queen and fights to keep her people from submitting to the English Crown. It is an incredible story and, of course, the music is absolutely magnificent! I loved McDonald's voice (I thought she was a hoot as Ado Annie in Oklahoma) and I especially loved how her voice blended with Jacob Theo Squire's, as Tiernan, in the songs "Here On This Night" and "If I Said I Loved You" and with Ellis-Bills' in the songs "She Who Has It All" and "Terra Marique Potens." There are so many powerful scenes in this show but my favorites are "Dubhdara's Farewell" when Grace's father is given his final send-off to sea (the candles and the torches are incredible), the scene between Grace and Queen Elizabeth where the woman in the regalia of a monarch wants what the woman in chains and rags has in her life, and "I'll Be There" when Tiernan has to watch the woman he loves marry someone else to unite the clans. The show is staged very well, especially all of the battle scenes.  It is always so amazing to me what they can do on such a small and intimate stage and the battles are very realistic, especially in the song "Surrender." The choreography is so much fun to watch, particularly the Irish dancing during the wedding and the christening and I absolutely loved the staging of the song "Boys'll Be Boys." (Nathan Gibb Johnson is very easy on the eyes as Donal O'Flaherty, even if he does betray Grace to the English).  Brad Schroeder, the fight choreographer, and Alan Scariff, the Celtic choreographer, are to be commended. The costumes are fantastic, especially all of the over-the-top gowns worn by Queen Elizabeth and her attendants.  I love stories about powerful women and this story is told very well by HCT.  I highly recommend getting a ticket!

Deadpool

I was on the fence about seeing Deadpool because Ryan Reynolds is hit or miss with me (I hated The Green Lantern).  However, my officers raved about it when we decorated for the dance (one of them has seen it three times) so I decided to see it last night.  It is an irreverent satire of the superhero genre filled with sex, violence, and profanity.  I loved it!  Oh how I loved it!  I started laughing during the opening credits and pretty much didn't stop throughout the whole movie.  I don't think I've ever written a review focused on the opening credits before but, in this movie, they are brilliant.  With Juice Newton's "Angel of the Morning" underneath, the opening features a super slow-motion sequence from the movie with credits that do not show names but, rather, tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the cast and crew.  It is distributed by Douchebag Films, it stars God's Perfect Idiot, a Hot Chick, a British Villain, Comic Relief, a CGI Character, a Sullen Teenager, and a Gratuitous Cameo, it is directed by an Overpaid Tool, it is produced by Asshats, and is written by the Real Heroes Here.  I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe and the credits set the tone for the rest of the movie which continually makes self-deprecating references to superhero movies from mocking the superhero landing (hard on the knees) to a quip about meeting Charles Xavier ("McAvoy or Stewart? The timeline is so confusing.")  Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a wise-cracking former member of the Special Forces who now works as a mercenary.  When he meets call girl Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), his wise-cracking equal, they fall in love and decide to get married.  When Wilson discovers that he has late-stage cancer which has spread to the liver, lungs, prostate, and brain (all organs he doesn't need), he leaves her because he doesn't want to subject her to watching him waste away.  He eventually decides to undergo a treatment which will cure his cancer by unlocking dormant mutant abilities.  However, Ajax (Ed Skrein) and Angel Dust (Gina Carano), former patients themselves, have little regard for the torture they put him through and finally resort to a procedure which disfigures him.  Wilson creates the persona of Deadpool, with a mask to cover his face, and goes after Ajax and Angel to get revenge with the help of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) who are trying to recruit him to the X-Men.  The action sequences are fantastic but it is so funny with great physical humor, references to popular culture (I laughed so hard about the Sinead O'Connor reference to Warhead which many in my audience didn't get), and lightning fast dialogue!  Reynolds frequently breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience with hilarious results ("Fourth wall break inside a fourth wall break?  That's, like, sixteen walls!")  With all of the sanitized PG-13 action in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I give a lot of credit to the filmmakers for going all out with this character.  It's a great movie but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Note:  Stay for a post credits scene spoofing Ferris Beuller's Day Off.  It's hilarious!

Bravo Broadway

I am a huge fan of musical theatre (I'm going on a theatre trip to New York in a few months and I couldn't be more excited) so an evening celebrating the music of Broadway with four amazing soloists and the Utah Symphony was definitely one of the first concerts I chose when creating my season package!  Under the baton of Maestro Jerry Steichen (who I just love) the orchestra played the Overtures to Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, and An American in Paris which was just lovely.  Throughout the evening the orchestra was joined by some incredibly amazing soloists who regularly perform on Broadway, including Melissa Errico, Hugh Panaro (very easy on the eyes), Stephen Buntrock, and Morgan James, to sing some of my favorite songs from some of my favorite musicals.  The highlights included "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma, "There's Nothing Like a Dame" from South Pacific, "Something's Coming" and "Tonight" from West Side Story, "Cabaret" from Cabaret, "The Rain in Spain" from My Fair Lady, "To Life" from Fiddler on the Roof, "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha (which just about brought the roof down on Abravanel Hall), "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from Evita, and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked.  My favorite moment was when all four soloists sang "Seasons of Love" from RENT.  I absolutely love that song (and that musical) and I may or may not have sung along with them!  They ended the program with a fun medley of songs from Mamma Mia (without the spandex jumpsuits, alas) which got Abravanel Hall rocking.  For the encore, Hugh Panaro sang an incredible rendition of "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera.  I still get chills when I hear those distinctive opening notes!  Finally, all four soloists came out for a fun version, complete with costumes, of "Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine In" from Hair.  I loved every minute of this concert and I wanted it to go on all night!  If you are a fan of musical theatre like me, I strongly suggest that you go here to get a ticket for tonight's performance if you can (there was nary a seat to be had last night).

45 Years

I've had a lot going on this week and I really needed to unwind a little bit last night so I decided to see 45 Years at my favorite art house theater.  It is the anatomy of a long and happy marriage in crisis and it is brilliant!  Geoff (Tom Courtenay) and Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) are about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary with a lavish party when Geoff receives the news that a former girlfriend's body has been found in a melting glacier in Switzerland.  Katya, the girlfriend, had been killed while she and Geoff had been hiking together over fifty years ago and he was listed as her next of kin.  Kate reacts to the news with equanimity but soon becomes consumed with jealousy as Geoff begins reminiscing about his romance with Katya, including sneaking up to the attic in the middle of the night to look at photos of her.  In an incredibly powerful scene, Kate goes up to the attic when Geoff isn't home to look at the photos for herself.  Kate eventually confronts Geoff, in another highly charged scene, and they appear to reconcile.  He buys her a beautiful necklace for their anniversary and gives a loving tribute to her at their party but the ending of the film left me absolutely shattered!  I haven't been able to stop thinking about it!  It is an incredible, but devastating, exploration of two people who have spent their lives together but don't really know each other at all.  Their relationship is depicted by their daily routine during the six days leading up to their party (with intertitles designating the days).  It is so well done!  Although very little happens in the film, the tension increases little by little every day until the aforementioned confrontation and I was quite unsettled while watching it.  Courtenay is superb as a man driven to distraction by his memories and Rampling just might be a dark horse contender in the race for the Best Actress Oscar (you can read my commentaries on the other nominees Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, and Brie Larson) for her subtle, yet nuanced, performance.  Her close-up at the end of the movie alone is worthy of an Oscar!  This movie might not appeal to everyone but I found it to be very compelling.