Twelfth Night at PTC

You might think that after a day spent teaching A Midsummer Night's Dream to sophomores I wouldn't want to spend the evening attending yet another Shakespeare play.  If the play in question is PTC's production of the hilarious comedy Twelfth Night you would be wrong because that is exactly what I did last night and I loved it!  Sebastian (Zach Fifer) and his twin sister Viola (Grace Morrison) are shipwrecked in a terrible storm and each thinks that the other is dead.  Viola disguises herself as a man called Cesario and offers her services to the Duke Orsino (A.K. Murtadha) with whom she immediately falls in love.  Orsino is desperately in love with the Countess Olivia (Kelsey Rainwater), who is in mourning for her brother, and sends Cesario to make overtures on his behalf to her but she, in turn, falls in love with Cesario.  Meanwhile, Sebastian is wandering around and is, of course, mistaken for Cesario.  Chaos ensues!   There is a secondary story, which is the source of much amusement, involving Malvolio (David Andrew Macdonald), a priggish steward in Olivia's household.  He makes life difficult for the other members of Olivia's household, most notably Sir Toby Belch (Kenajuan Bentley), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Conner Marx), and Olivia's gentlewoman Maria (Susanna Florence).  To get their revenge they have Maria mimic Olivia's handwriting and send a letter to Malvolio from Olivia professing her love for him, requesting that he wear yellow stockings with cross garters.  These scenes involve a lot of physical comedy and they are so funny!  I was laughing out loud along with everyone else in the audience.  I usually don't like it when the setting is changed in a Shakespeare play (I'm a purist) but I thought that having the action take place in New Orleans after a hurricane during Mardi Gras was incredibly effective and I loved the set design and costumes.  This allowed the character of Feste (Richard E. Waits) to become a sort of Greek chorus singing old spirituals (which Waits composed for this production).  Sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit with this play but Fifer and Morrison look so much alike that it is easy to see why they would be mistaken for each other.  All of the actors give spirited performances and I really enjoyed myself.  I highly recommend this show but the production closes on Saturday so get tickets (go here) quickly!

Note:  Last night's audience was a bit more appreciative of Shakespeare than my sophomores!

Sunday Ritual

Now that spring has finally come to Utah all I want to do is be is outside!  One of my very favorite things to do this time of year is go to my parents' house every Sunday evening to sit by their fire pit.  My sister makes a fire and members of my family come and go and sit around talking, sometimes well into the night, until the fire dies or we get too cold.  We have done this for years and it is such a wonderful ritual.  We have already had two fires this season, including one last Sunday, and I am really looking forward to many more this spring and summer.

Grease

I was nine years old when Grease was released and my Dad went to see it with my aunt and uncle without me.  This was absolutely devastating to me and the only thing that could console me was getting a giant lipsmacker (I chose watermelon).  I have, of course, seen it dozens of times since then but never on the big screen which is why I was so excited to see it yesterday as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series.  It was so much fun!  People in my screening sang along (out loud) to every song and some people were even doing the actions to "Greased Lightnin'" and "Born to Hand Jive."  This movie is the quintessential high school musical featuring a love story between Danny Zuko (John Travolta), the leader of the T-Birds, and Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), a good girl who has recently transferred to Rydell High from Australia.  With a little help from the rest of the T-Birds (Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl, Michael Tucci, and Kelly Ward) and the Pink Ladies (Stockard Channing, Didi Conn, Jamie Donnelly, and Dinah Manoff) they might just get back together by graduation.  This movie is such a nostalgic look back at the 1950s with leather jackets, letterman sweaters, poodle skirts, sock hops, malt shops, drive-in movies, and fantastic cars.  It was fun to see all of the cameos by people who were popular stars in the 1950s such as Sid Caesar, Eve Arden, Alice Ghostley, and Joan Blondell.  I love all of the songs especially "Grease" during the opening and closing credits, "Summer Nights," "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Sandy," and "You're the One That I Want."  All of the musical numbers have a lot of fun choreography and they really stand the test of the time.  The only number that is really cheesy is "Beauty School Dropout" sung by Frankie Avalon but it is so cheesy that it is good.  I had so much fun watching this movie!  In fact, I'm thinking of seeing it again on Wednesday (my sister is bitter that I saw it without her).

Tchaikovsky's "Little Russian" & Prokofiev with Conrad Tao

It was certainly an incredibly dramatic evening at Abravanel Hall last night.  The Utah Symphony performed a concert featuring works by Sergei Prokofiev and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky under the baton of an exciting guest conductor, Karina Canellakis.  I really love the Russian composers so I thoroughly enjoyed this concert (my final two concerts this season feature Shostakovitch and Rachmaninoff so I am looking forward to them, as well).  The orchestra began with Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman) by Cesar Franck.  Although I was unfamiliar with this piece it was very easy to picture the events depicted.  A count disregards the Sabbath by hunting and, as he chases his prey, he is also pursued by demons who wish to damn his soul.  I loved the opening fanfare by the horns, representing the hunt, followed by the chimes, signifying church bells.  It was very dark and atmospheric.  Next the orchestra was joined by the brilliant Conrad Tao for Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2.  Tao is a very popular soloist and I always try to see him when he joins the Utah Symphony (I missed his performance in February because I had the flu) because he is so much fun to watch.  His fingers literally flew up and down the keyboard, especially in the wild and tumultuous first movement.  After the intermission the orchestra played Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 "Little Russian." This piece incorporates many Russian folk songs and I found it to be both stirring and whimsical, especially the final movement with themes played by the woodwinds.  I enjoyed this thrilling concert so much and I recommend getting a ticket for tonight's performance featuring the same program (go here).

A Quiet Place

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of A Quiet Place which was one of my most anticipated films of 2018.  It did not disappoint.  In the near future Earth has been invaded by mysterious creatures who are blind but have a highly advanced sense of hearing.  There is almost no exposition, just vivid images of a town destroyed by an apocalyptic event, and this is highly effective at conveying an atmosphere of terror.  One family has survived this invasion by living in total silence with meticulous preparation and ingenious methods of communication.  However, there are the occasional lapses, one of which has resulted in the death of a son, and situations beyond their control which lead to unrelenting tension in the final act.  John Krasinski and Emily Blunt play the parents who go to extraordinary lengths to keep their children safe and they both give powerful physical performances, conveying absolute terror and incredible pathos with just a facial expression.  Millicent Simmonds gives a highly nuanced performance as a deaf girl who grapples with feelings of guilt over the death of her younger brother and Noah Jupe is extremely affecting as a boy who must overcome his fear to survive.  Beyond the outstanding performances, what elevates this above just another evade the scary monsters movie that we have all seen before is the brilliant sound design.  The first act is conducted in almost near silence, aside from the occasional ambient noise from nature, and it is very unsettling to watch.  My attention never wavered from the screen and, like the characters on the screen, I tried extremely hard not to make even the tiniest sound.  You could literally hear a pin drop in my screening and, again, it was so unsettling!  Another highly effective choice made by Krasinski, who co-wrote the script as well as directed, is to give the audience only brief glimpses of the creatures until the devastating final act.  It adds greatly to the tension.  I am not a huge fan of the horror genre but the unique premise and the fact that the story is about a loving family doing whatever they can to protect each other makes me give it a resounding recommendation.

Note:  Just don't buy any loud snacks to consume during this movie.  Trust me on this!