Hamilton in Las Vegas

I absolutely loved the cast of Hamilton when the show made a stop in SLC a few months ago and, even though I had the opportunity to see it three times, I still wanted to see it again.  Luckily the same company is now in Las Vegas and I was able to get a ticket.  Before I left on my road trip from SLC to Las Vegas I learned that Joseph Morales, who plays Alexander Hamilton, would be out of the show all this week and I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed because I loved his performance so much!  However, I really liked Julius Thomas III who played Hamilton last night.  His voice is really beautiful and I especially loved his renditions of "Dear Theodosia" and "Hurricane." I've started judging each each actor in the role by how he makes me feel in "It's Quiet Uptown" and his version was incredibly emotional!  Just about everyone sitting near me was crying!  The show also featured the understudies for King George (Conroe Brooks) and George Washington (Desmond Sean Ellington) and both of their performances were more traditional like the other casts I've seen.  I especially liked Ellington's performance of "One Last Time" because he basically turned the ensemble into a gospel choir complete with choreography.  Like the SLC production, I was blown away by Nik Walker as Aaron Burr, especially in "Wait For It."  I loved all of the humor he infused in "Non-Stop" and "The Room Where It Happens." In this production Kyle Scatliffe, as Thomas Jefferson, blew kisses to the audience in "Cabinet Battle #1," Fergie L. Philippe, as Hercules Mulligan, threw his flowers to the audience in "Satisfied," and Shoba Narayan, as Eliza Hamilton, threw in some wild hand gestures as she was beat boxing in "Take a Break."  All of this business was new to the show since I saw it in SLC and it makes me wonder if the company changes things up when they move on to a new city!   Because I've now seen this show seven times, I am able to notice different things because I'm so familiar with the main action and last night I was particularly struck by the choreography of the British soldiers in "Stay Alive" and by the choreography of "Washington on Your Side."  Every time I see it I also notice something completely new and last night I noticed that the lantern lights flicker when Angelica (Ta’Rea Campbell) sings about Benjamin Franklin’s key and kite in “Satisfied.”  This show is so brilliant!  The excitement in the audience was palpable and I loved it when they applauded after the dance break in "Yorktown."  I've never been in an audience that did that!  A lot of people ask me if it gets old after watching it so many times and I can honestly say that I was just as giddy walking into the Smith Center last night as when I walked into the Richard Rodgers Theatre to see it for the first time.  I love this show so much!

Mary Shelley

Since I teach the novel Frankenstein to my seniors every year I felt that Mary Shelley was required viewing.  Unfortunately, for being a biopic about such an interesting and unconventional woman, I found it to be rather boring and conventional.  Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Elle Fanning) feels overshadowed by her famous parents, the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who died shortly after she was born and the philosopher William Godwin (Stephen Dillane), and struggles to find her own literary voice.  Soon she meets the dashing poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth) and, despite the fact that he has a wife and daughter, she decides to run away with him.  They live a tumultuous life together, plagued by creditors, Shelley's infidelity (possibly with her own step-sister Claire Claremont played by Bel Powley), and the death of her infant daughter.  She also feels overshadowed by Shelley's literary success.  Eventually the couple meets the poet Lord Byron (Tom Sturridge) and are invited to his mansion on Lake Geneva.  Byron issues the fateful challenge for everyone to write a ghost story to pass the time during a stormy evening.  Mary channels her feelings of loneliness and despair into the creation of Frankenstein's monster.  Once the novel is finished, she struggles to get it published because she is a woman.  She settles for having it published anonymously with a foreword written by Shelley, causing everyone to think that he wrote it.  These events are blandly portrayed as if the filmmakers were simply ticking boxes to get all of the biographical information included without taking any risks.  It is more like a made-for-TV movie than a theatrical release (how could they not mention her losing her virginity on her mother's grave?).  Furthermore, I found the narrative to be very disjointed.  Is she a feminist living an unconventional life or is she a victim of all the men around her?  Fanning gives an almost listless performance but even more maddening is the fact that there is very little chemistry between her and Booth.  In contrast, Sturridge and Powley are electrifying (pun intended) together and I was far more interested in them.  This was a little bit disappointing for me and I would recommend giving it a miss.

First Reformed

Last night my friend Angela and I went to see First Reformed and I can honestly say that this film left me completely shattered.  It is a brutal portrayal of a man in torment with an incredible performance by Ethan Hawke.  Reverend Toller (Hawke) is the head of the First Reformed church, which is more of a tourist stop rather than a thriving religious community.  It is administered by a megachurch called Abundant Life and its leader, Pastor Jeffers (Cedric the Entertainer), is concerned that the 250th anniversary celebration of First Reformed go off without a hitch.  He has reason to be concerned.  Toller is struggling physically (from a stomach ailment), emotionally (his son was killed in Iraq), and spiritually (he no longer feels that God listens to his prayers).  A pregnant parishioner named Mary (Amanda Seyfried) requests that he speak with her husband Michael (Philip Ettinger), a radical environmentalist, because he is distraught at the thought of bringing a child into a world facing the cataclysmic effects of climate change.  This encounter further challenges Toller's faith, especially when he discovers that a major contributor to Abundant Life owns a company known for environmental violations.  This film was deeply upsetting to me because it grapples with ideas of despair and hope (I really struggle with the darkness in the world right now and sometimes I lose hope) but the ambiguous ending can be interpreted as either damnation or salvation.  My friend and I had different reactions but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and, for that reason, I believe it is one of the best films of the year.  It is not easy to watch but I recommend it.

Note:  Just give Ethan Hawke the Oscar right now.

On Chesil Beach

I am a huge fan of Ian McEwan in general and of his novella On Chesil Beach in particular so I have been impatiently waiting for the film adaptation of it to hit SLC theaters.  It has finally been released here so I saw it yesterday afternoon and I found it to be beautiful and incredibly moving.  Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle play Florence and Edward, a young couple recently married spending their honeymoon at a hotel by the sea.  They are both inexperienced and woefully uniformed about intimacy and as they awkwardly work up to doing the deed there are flashbacks of the two of them meeting and falling in love.  The tragedy is that they are incredibly passionate people and love each other deeply but in the build up to their wedding night he is embarrassed about his inexperience and she is terrified.  The repressive society in which they live (England in the early 1960s) does little to help their situation.  After a disastrous encounter Florence flees in horror and they have an epic confrontation on the beach which is fraught with emotion and causes Edward to make an impetuous decision.  It is only in retrospect, many years later, that Edward realizes that they could have been happy if they had only been able to talk about it without shame.  The final scene where Florence walks away from Edward as the camera pans out is so heartbreaking.  Ronan is absolutely luminous and gives yet another brilliant performance.  Howle, who plays the young Tony in The Sense of an Ending, is also outstanding (the two roles are very similar).  Usually flashbacks take the tension away from the narrative but here the juxtaposition of seeing Florence and Edward so happy and free with each other in the flashbacks and seeing them so tense and closed off on their wedding night is incredibly poignant.  This movie may not be for everyone because it is quite melancholy but I recommend it for the compelling story and strong lead performances.

Ocean's 8

Last week I saw a Thursday preview of Ocean's 8 and I really enjoyed this stylish and entertaining heist movie.  Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) has just been released from prison after five long years during which she has planned the ultimate heist.  She meets up with her former partner in crime, Lou (Cate Blanchett), and they begin forming a crew to steal a $150 million necklace which will be worn by actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) at the Met Gala.  Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter) is a down on her luck designer recruited to dress Daphne, Tammy (Sarah Paulson) is a suburban mom who comes out of retirement to fence the stolen diamonds, Anita (Mindy Kaling) is a jewelry maker who agrees to break down the necklace into smaller pieces, Nine Ball (Rihanna) is a hacker who can infiltrate the security system at the Met, and Constance (Awkwafina) is a street hustler needed to create a commotion at the gala.  All of these actresses are outstanding and they all have individual moments to shine in this movie.  I especially enjoyed Bonham Carter in the kind of eccentric role with which she excels and Anne Hathaway is clearly having a blast with her role as an insecure celebrity (the way they get her to choose Weil as her designer is hilarious). They look amazing with one fabulous costume after another, especially at the Met Gala which is so much fun (I loved the celebrity cameos).  However, these individual moments don't really add up to a great whole.  I found the heist to be rather bland because the stakes weren't that high.  They use high-tech gadgets for everything and actual problems (which are few and far between) are solved very conveniently.  Also, the references to Danny Ocean, from the original trilogy, seem shoehorned in and are not really necessary.  This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it because there is definitely a lot of fun to be had.  It provides exactly what you would expect from the franchise and I recommend it for the cast and the clothes!