The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake

Showing live theater, opera, and ballet productions from world-renowned companies, such as the National Theatre, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera, on the big screen has become very popular.  As someone who loves the arts, I have been intrigued by this but I've never had the opportunity to see anything.  When I saw that my favorite ballet, Swan Lake, was going to be screened at a movie theater near me I decided to get a ticket.  It is a brand new production by the Royal Ballet using Tchaikovsky's magnificent score with choreography by Liam Scarlett and sets and costumes by John Macfarlane and it is simply stunning!  In the Prologue, the Princess Odette has been turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart.  In Act I, Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with his tutor and friends when his mother, the queen, appears and condemns his carefree lifestyle.  She demands that he pick a bride at the ball the following night but he is weary of the responsibilities at court and escapes into the woods to go hunting.  In Act II, Siegfried ends up at a lake and sees a group of swans.  One of them, Odette, turns into a beautiful woman and Siegfried falls in love with her.  Rothbart tries to separate them and she tells Siegfried that she has been cursed and that it will be broken if someone promises to love her.  In Act III, assorted princesses from various lands come to Siegfried's ball and perform for him hoping to become his bride.  Rothbart has disguised his daughter Odile to look like Odette and she beguiles Siegfried into declaring his love to her.  In Act IV, Siegfried finds Odette at the lake and apologizes but the curse cannot be undone.  She chooses to die rather than remain a swan forever.  Siegfried retrieves her lifeless body from the lake in despair.  One change from versions that I have seen that really worked for me was having Rothbart be a member of the court because it gives a bit more motivation for his actions.  A change that I didn’t like as well was having Siegfried survive at the end because I think having him die with Odette is more dramatic.  Marianela Nunez is brilliant in the lead roles.  She is beautiful, graceful, and demure as Odette and sly, seductive, and playful as Odile.  The Pas de Deux with Vadim Muntagirov, a passionate Siegfried, in Act II is hauntingly beautiful as they fall in love and the one in Act IV effectively portrays her heartbreak and his remorse with the choreography.  I loved the set design, especially the opulent palace during Act III.  I felt like I was the Queen sitting in the royal box because the views of the stage were incredible.  I could see every facial expression and that added so much to my enjoyment of the story.  I loved seeing Swan Lake on the big screen and I will definitely be checking out more of these productions in the future.

Note:  I had the chance to see Swan Lake at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.  This was almost as good!

Across the Universe

As a huge Beatles fan I jumped at the chance to see Across the Universe on the big screen again!  To say that I love this movie would be an understatement!  The narrative is informed by the lyrics of Beatles songs and tells the love story of Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).  With a little help from their friends Max (Joe Anderson), Sadie (Dana Fuchs), Jo-Jo (Martin Luther McCoy), and Prudence (T.V. Carpio), they navigate the turbulent 1960s to discover that all you need is love.  I think the screenplay is extremely clever with lots of references to the Beatles (I find more every time I watch it).  I love every single Beatles song used but I especially love the staging of "I've Just Seen a Face," "If I Fell" "Let It Be" (which makes me cry), "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Something," "Revolution," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Hey Jude," and "All You Need Is Love."  However, I'll be honest and say that I wait for the whole first half of the movie for Bono, who plays Dr. Robert, to sing "I Am the Walrus."  That whole sequence with the psychedelic bus is just so awesome and when he says, "You're either on the bus or off the bus," it just about kills me.  Words to live by!  The first time I saw this on the big screen I developed quite the crush on Jim Sturgess because he reminded me so much of a young Paul McCartney.  Seeing it again yesterday may have revived that crush because I couldn't take my eyes off him whenever he was on the screen.  I had so much fun watching this again and I had to stop myself from singing along.  I recommend that all Beatles fans take the opportunity to see this movie musical on the big screen as it was meant to be seen (go here for more information about screenings).  A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I am a huge fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise and it seems like I have been waiting all summer for the latest installment, Mission: Impossible - Fallout.  It was worth the wait because it is an adrenaline rush from beginning to end and, in my opinion, it is the best movie in the bunch.  Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team have a mission to intercept some plutonium bound for a terrorist group made up of members of the former Syndicate.  However, the mission fails when Hunt chooses the life of a team member over the plutonium.  When Hunt gets a tip that an arms dealer named the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) is brokering a deal for the plutonium, he and August Walker (Henry Cavill), a CIA agent assigned to shadow him by the Director Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett), infiltrate her organization and learn that the price of the plutonium is the release of Hunt's arch-nemesis Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).  As they attempt Lane's release, they encounter Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who has her own reasons for wanting Lane.  There are moves, counter-moves, and betrayals which keep you on the edge of your seat and no one, even possibly Hunt, is who he or she appears to be.  The action sequences are intense and unrelenting, including hand to hand combat in a bathroom, the much hyped HALO jump (which is spectacular), multiple car and motorcycle chases through Paris, a foot race across the roof of the Tate Modern, and an aerial helicopter chase through the mountains of Kashmir.  It goes without saying that Cruise, who performs the majority of his stunts, is absolutely amazing in the action sequences but he also gives Hunt some vulnerability as he deals with the consequences of his actions in both the present and in his past.  I saw this movie in IMAX and I recommend that you do the same!  It is an absolute blast!

One Last Camping Trip

My sister and her husband are bringing their trailer home from Hanna at the end of the month so I had one last opportunity for a quick camping trip.  I love it in Hanna and I had such a relaxing time.  I spent most of the day sitting outside reading and then at night I would build a fire and make s'mores.  My idea of heaven!

I'm so glad I had one last camping trip before school starts in a few weeks!

Summer Reading: The Chilbury Ladies' Choir

The next selection on my summer reading list was The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan. It is delightful! The story takes place in a sleepy little English village during World War II. We learn about the goings-on through the letters and journal entries of our main protagonists: a timid widow who is worried about her son on the front, the self-absorbed town beauty who is embarking a real romance after flirting with the boys of the village all her life, her awkward younger sister who inadvertently discovers an intrigue, a young Jewish refugee hiding a secret, and a midwife in over her head in a sinister plot. With so many men away, the women must pick up the pieces to keep life in Chilbury as normal as possible. When a music teacher named Primrose Trent comes to the village she decides to revive the church choir with just the women, much to the consternation of the village busybody. The choir provides solace when the events of the war impact Chilbury and it emboldens the women to change their lives for the better. I loved this book because it has a definite Miss Marple feel to it with a charming little village with more intrigue going on than meets the eye. All of the characters are very well developed and each have a unique voice. They all have very satisfying character arcs, including Edwina Paltry whom I found very unsympathetic in the beginning. As someone who enjoys World War II novels I really appreciated the perspectives of ordinary women in ordinary circumstances trying to cope with the devastation of war and I really enjoyed the hopeful tone. The Chilbury Ladies' Choir is humorous and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it!

Note:  Have you read The Chilbury Ladies' Choir?  What did you think?