Copland's Appalachian Spring & Billy the Kid

Last night I went to a lovely Utah Symphony concert with my friend Angela.  I didn't pick this concert when I was creating my season package but I've had my eye on it.  When my friend suggested that we get tickets I immediately said yes and I am so glad that I did because I enjoyed the performance so much!  The orchestra began with the Orchestral Suite from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.  I always enjoy hearing this piece, especially the variations on the Quaker hymn "Simple Gifts" which is first developed by a solo clarinet and then repeated by various instruments.  Then the orchestra was joined by soloist James Ehnes for Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by Max Bruch.  I had never heard this piece before but I really loved it.  I found it to be incredibly passionate and just a little bit mournful.  Ehnes performed it brilliantly, almost making his violin sing as it soared to loftier and loftier heights.  He was rewarded with an instant standing ovation and he favored the crowd with an encore.  After the intermission, the orchestra performed a new piece called Transcend by Zhou Tian which was commissioned to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which linked the U.S. from east to west for the first time, 150 years ago.  I liked it, especially when the instruments mimicked the sound of the Morse code in the telegraph that was sent when the railroad was complete.  The concert concluded with Copland's Orchestral Suite from Billy the Kid.  My favorite part of this piece was "Running Gun Battle," which represents Billy the Kid's ambush by Sheriff Pat Garrett, because it features very dramatic percussion!  This will surely be one of my favorite Utah Symphony concerts this season and I am so glad my friend suggested it!

Note:  After listening to Transcend last night and attending the Utah Symphony and Tabernacle Choir performance last week, both of which commemorated the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, I really want to visit the Golden Spike Historic Site!

A Champion

This weekend Tashena competed at the Utah State UHSAA Track and Field Championships at BYU.  On Thursday she competed in the javelin and ended taking ninth place with a throw of 100.01.  She had not competed in javelin all year but her coach asked her to throw at the Region competition to get Bountiful more points.  She ended up getting third place and qualifying for state!  I think placing ninth is absolutely amazing!  Yesterday she competed in discus and ended up taking fourth place with a throw of 115.11.  I know it is not the finish she wanted but I am, and always will be, so proud of her.  She is a champion!

Rainout!

Sean and I have been having really bad luck with the Salt Lake Bees!  We always like to go to a few games during the season so we picked one a few weeks ago and made plans to go.  When I went to get tickets online I discovered that it was an early afternoon game and we couldn't go.  Sean was disappointed but I promised him we would go during the next homestand.  We got tickets to see the Bees play the Las Vegas Aviators last night and, even though rain was in the forecast, the skies were blue so we decided to go.

It was cold so, of course, I had to buy Sean a hoodie!  He picked a really nice one.  As we sat there, the clouds got darker and darker and I told Sean that we could leave any time he wanted if he got too cold.  We usually get ice cream during the bottom of the fifth inning and Sean was afraid that we wouldn't make it that long so he asked me if we could get some before the game started.  This made me laugh!

It was so cold but he still wanted ice cream because it is tradition!  As soon as I said that I thought it wouldn't rain, it started sprinkling!  Sean said that I jinxed it.  We decided to wait it out but then it started coming down really hard with thunder and lightning.  I wanted to wait until the game was called so we could get free tickets to another game but then I saw that Sean was shivering so I decided we should go.  By the time we made it to the car, the game had been called so, hopefully, we can try for another game soon!  Even though we didn't actually get to see any baseball it was still a lot of fun!

Tolkien

I am a huge nerd fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien!  I read all of the books multiple times as a teenager and I stood in line for hours to see all of the movies (back in the day before assigned seating) on opening weekend.  My main motivation for traveling to New Zealand was to see where the movies were filmed!  Needless to say, I've been looking forward to seeing Tolkien, which portrays J.R.R. Tolkien's formative years and how he came to write his classic books, and I finally had the opportunity last night.  John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is played as a boy by Harry Gilby and as an adult by Nicholas Hoult.  His early childhood with an imaginative mother (Laura Donnelly), his later childhood as an orphan in impecunious circumstances, his love for fellow orphan Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), his "fellowship" with Geoffrey Bache Smith (Anthony Boyle), Robert Q. Gilson (Patrick Gibson), and Christopher Wiseman (Tom Glynn-Carney) at school, his study of philology with Professor Joseph Wright (Derek Jacobi) at Oxford, and his experiences on the Western Front in World War I eventually inform his stories of Middle-earth.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie!  As a fan of the books, I took great delight in finding the beginnings of specific characters, places, and events.  I especially liked the scene where Edith introduces him to Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, a major influence on him.  The movie is incredibly beautiful to look at with stunning cinematography and I really loved the atmospheric music composed by Thomas Newman, particularly "Vinatta" which is simply magical.  Many may find this movie to be a bit tedious and cerebral (there are long discussions about the purpose of art and the origins of languages) but I really loved it and I anticipate that I will eventually own it.

Note:  Nicholas Hoult also played J.D. Salinger, another one of my favorite authors, in Rebel in the Rye.

Grease at PTC

When I saw the Broadway touring production of Grease a number of years ago, I have to admit that I was really disappointed because the stage musical is so different from the iconic movie.  I love the movie (I have seen it more times than I can count, even on the big screen) so I just couldn't help but compare it, often unfavorably, to the musical.  I wondered if I would have the same reaction to PTC's current production last night.  Unfortunately, despite great performances from a talented cast and really fun choreography, it just fell flat for me.  I couldn't turn off the voice inside my head which kept pointing out the differences from the movie (I had a similar reaction to the stage version of The Sound of Music).  Like the movie, Rydell High School during the 1950s is the setting for the romance between bad boy Danny Zuko (Pascal Pastrana) and good girl Sandy Dumbrowski (Emma Hearn), but, unlike the movie, the characters hardly spend any time together before the big finale.  Danny has more scenes with Patty Simcox (Lindsie Kongsore) and Betty Rizzo (Alex Kidder) than with Sandy and she doesn't even go to the sock hop where he wins the dance competition with Cha-Cha DiGregorio (Ashley Marinelli).  Many of the songs in this version are different from the movie.  It was very jarring to me when I would anticipate a particular scene and a different song would be performed such as "Rydell Alma Mater" at the beginning of the show, "Freddy, My Love" during the sleepover, "Alone at the Drive-In Movie" when Sandy walks out on him, and "All Choked Up" when Sandy's transformation is revealed.  All of these songs are performed very well but I was expecting to hear "Grease," "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" (which is performed in a different scene), "Sandy," and "You're the One That I Want" (which is added after the bows).  The song "Mooning" is a lot of fun but I didn't really care about the romance between Roger (Michael Schimmele) and Jan (Kate Cassidy Ryan) and "Shakin' at the High School Hop" and "Rock and Roll Party Queen" go on for too long making the second act really drag.  Also, I didn't really care for how "Beauty School Drop-Out" is staged because it is very incongruous and played merely for laughs.  Having said that, I loved "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightnin'," and "Born to Hand Jive" because they are staged very much like in the movie!  To be fair, the actors do a great job with the material and the sets and costumes evoke a fun nostalgic vibe, especially The Burger Palace.  Most people will really enjoy this production which runs through May 25 (go here for tickets).  I think I will just stick to the movie from now on.

Note:  This is truly petty but it even bothered me that Rydell's colors are blue and yellow in this show because they are red and white in the movie!