Utah Shakespeare Festival 2019

Friday my sister Marilyn and I took a road trip to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  Marilyn hasn't been able to come with me for the past several years so I'm glad that we were able to make it work this year.

Marilyn hadn't seen the new Englestad Theatre so, as soon as we got there, we walked around the new Beverly Center for the Performing Arts and she was quite impressed.  This is her posing in front of the theatre.  Can you see her?

Me posing with the Bard.  I'm being a little bit forward with my hand on his knee!

Our first play that afternoon was Hamlet in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.  I have been teaching this play for many years so I know it inside and out and, without question, this is the best production of it that I have ever seen!  Brian Vaughn made some very bold choices based on subtext and I loved it, especially with the characterization of Ophelia (Emma Geer) and Gertrude (Jacqueline Antaramian).  Several scenes made me gasp out loud!  Quinn Mattfeld is outstanding in the lead role!  He is absolutely magnetic and you can't take your eyes off him.  He is able to convey so many emotions with just an expression (we were on the second row) and I especially enjoyed his interactions with Polonius (Armin Shimerman) which are surprisingly humorous.  The opulent set is incredible and I loved the use of snow, particularly in an emotional scene between Hamlet and the ghost of his father (John G. Preston), and the river where Ophelia drowns (one of the scenes that made me gasp).  Vaughn set the play in the Edwardian era rather than the Medieval time specified in the text and that usually makes me crazy but it really worked for me in this instance.  The costumes reminded me of Imperial Russia, particularly the military uniforms.  I cannot recommend this production enough!  

In the evening we saw the Greenshow which had a Scottish theme and then Macbeth in the Englestad Theatre.  Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays because it is very intense (especially seeing it right after Hamlet).  What I loved most about this production is the portrayal of the witches (Sarah Hollis, Emma Geer, and Betsy Mugavero).  They had pagan markings all over their bodies and there were some supernatural effects during their scenes which made them riveting any time they were on stage!  I also really liked the interactions between Macbeth (Wayne T. Carr) and Lady Macbeth (Katie Cunningham), especially when she is encouraging him to kill the king.  Some of her speeches seemed like incantations and this was very effective at setting a sinister mood.  The set is very atmospheric with asymmetrical beams and ripped curtains.  I particularly liked a circular stone dais in the center of the stage which, at one point, becomes a cauldron for the witches.  The lighting and special effects are also very atmospheric, especially a scene involving lightning (everyone around me jumped).  This is another production that I would highly recommend.

On Saturday we began with a backstage tour which I loved because we got to see the deconstructed set for Hamlet and I found it fascinating!  I also really enjoyed seeing all of the weapons used in Macbeth.  Our afternoon show was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.  I suffer from what I call Joseph fatigue because I have seen this show so many times (it is very popular with Utah audiences) but this production restored my love for it.  What I loved most about it is that, while there are a lot of fun elements, there is not a lot of kitsch which can sometimes be very overdone.  The performances are all amazing, particularly Samae Allred as the Narrator, Michael A. Harding as Joseph, and Russ Benton (who steals the show) at the Pharaoh.  The brothers are all fantastic but my favorite was Reuben (Alex Allred) because his rendition of "Those Canaan Days" is hilarious without being over the top.  The set features a backdrop with the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors in stained glass and it is quite spectacular.  The choreography is a lot of fun, particularly in "One More Angel in Heaven" and "Benjamin Calypso."  This show was a welcome bit of fun after the shows on Friday and I especially recommend it for kids.

Our final show of the festival was Twelfth Night in the Engelstad Theatre.  This was a really fun show to end on because I laughed and laughed through the whole thing!  This production features a lot of physical comedy and it is extremely well done!  Some of my favorite moments include Duke Orsino (Rene Thornton, Jr.) dropping to the ground while languishing over his unrequited love for Olivia (Betsy Mugavero), Sir Toby Belch (Todd Denning) finding flasks hidden all over the set in unexpected places, Malvolio (Chris Mixon) practicing his smile, Viola (Sarah Hollis) and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Josh Jeffers) fighting a duel, and Malvolio revealing his yellow stockings and cross garters!  I also loved all of the interactions between Sir Andrew, Sir Toby, Maria (Katie Cunningham) and Feste the Fool (Trent Dahlin) because the actors have such great comedic timing!  Another aspect of this production that I enjoyed was the use of pop songs played on traditional instruments by a trio of musicians (Samae Allred, Ben Cano, and Isabella Giordano) during transitions.  This show is incredibly entertaining and I highly recommend it!

Both Marilyn and I had such a great time at the festival this year (I may be back soon to see Hamlet again).  Go here for more information about the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Summer Reading: The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Ruth Ware has become one of my favorite authors (I read In a Dark, Dark Wood as part of my summer reading list a few years ago, I read The Lying Game in one day while I was camping in Hanna, and I am currently reading The Woman in Cabin 10). These books are all intense psychological thrillers involving vulnerable young women isolated in dangerous locations and I find them to be incredibly suspenseful. This is especially true of The Death of Mrs. Westaway, the next selection on this year's summer reading list. Ever since her mother died in a tragic car accident, Harriet "Hal" Westaway has been living a hand-to-mouth existence reading Tarot cards at her mother's stall on the pier at Brighton. She has more bills than she can possibly pay and is threatened by a loan shark wanting the money she owes. Soon she receives a letter from a solicitor informing her that she is a beneficiary in her grandmother's will. She knows that this cannot be true as she was told by her mother that her grandparents died before she was born, but she is so desperate that she decides to travel to the funeral and use her Tarot reading skills to pretend to be the heir. She finds herself at Trepassen House, an imposing and somewhat menacing estate, with all of the rightful heirs, who have dangerous secrets, and discovers that she herself is part of the biggest secret of all. Hal is one of Ware's most vulnerable characters (although I really appreciated the fact that she is not an unreliable narrator) but she has a powerful instinct for survival so she is one of her most interesting characters. I found her situation to be very compelling and I was very invested in the resolution which I found to be quite satisfying. I loved Ware's descriptions of Trepassen House. The atmosphere is so ominous and mysterious and the tension builds and builds until the dramatic final confrontation. The use of Tarot card readings adds to the sense of dread. There are lots of twists and turns and, just when I thought I had it all figured out, I was completely thrown off by the ending. This is an incredibly suspenseful Gothic thriller that I enthusiastically recommend!

Note:  Have you read The Death of Mrs. Westaway?  What did you think?

Beethoven & Dvorak at St. Mary's Church

I really enjoyed seeing members of the Utah Symphony perform at St. Mary's Church in Park City as part of the Deer Valley Music Festival last year so I decided that I needed to add it to my list of fun things to do in the summer (the list is getting really long).  St. Mary's Church has amazing views of the mountains through the plate glass windows in the sanctuary and, when you add beautiful chamber music performed by the Utah Symphony, it is a wonderful experience to attend a concert there.  Last night's concert began with Beethoven's "Serioso" String Quartet arranged by Gustav Mahler for the string orchestra.  I thought is was very moody and atmospheric and I loved it!  Next, Associate Concertmaster Kathryn Eberle joined the orchestra as the soloist for Beethoven's Romance No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra and Dvorak's Romance for Violin and Orchestra.  Both of these pieces were very, well, romantic and I really enjoyed Eberle's performance because she makes it look so effortless.  After the intermission, the orchestra played "Pavane for a Dead Princess" by Maurice Ravel and this was definitely my favorite piece of the evening.  It was beautiful and melancholy and I loved the themes played the harp and the woodwinds.  The concert concluded with Mozart's Linz Symphony which was very dramatic.  I especially loved the timpani!  This concert was so lovely and I highly recommend attending one of the remaining performances at St. Mary's Church (go here for information and tickets).

The Art of Self-Defense

Last night I found myself at yet another dark comedy!  This time it was The Art of Self-Defense and I thought it was an incredibly original social satire that is destined to become a cult classic.  Casey (Jesse Eisenberg), a mild-mannered accountant, is brutally attacked one night and decides to learn karate as a form of self-defense.  The mysterious sensei (Alessandro Nivola) of his dojo improves his self-confidence and teaches him to, literally, become what he fears.  However, all is not what it appears to be at the dojo.  This movie is a scathing indictment of toxic masculinity that is often very brutal to watch but it is also hilarious!  I laughed out loud many times, especially when the sensei tells Casey to listen to metal music instead of adult contemporary, to get a German Shepherd instead of his Dachshund, and to start learning German instead of French (because the French are known primarily for surrendering).  The ending is absolutely bonkers and took me completely by surprise but everyone in my audience cheered out loud!  Jesse Eisenberg is very hit or miss with me (I often grow weary of the twitchy-talk-as-fast-as-you-can-in-a-monotone-voice characterization that he employs for many of his roles) but, in my opinion, this is one of his best performances.  He fully commits to the absurdity, especially as Casey becomes more and more aggressive.  I had a lot of fun watching this movie but it is definitely not for everyone!

Stockholm

I love a quirky dark comedy, especially if it stars Ethan Hawke, so I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Stockholm for months.  This movie tells a fictionalized version of the 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm from which the term "Stockholm Syndrome" originated.  An ex-con named Lars Nystrom (Hawke) shoots a gun in the lobby of a bank with the goal of getting Gunnar Sorensson (Mark Strong), his former partner in crime, released from prison.  He takes several hostages, including Bianca Lind (Noomi Rapace), Klara Mardh (Bea Santos), and Elov Eriksson (Mark Rendall), and demands money and a getaway car (like the one Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt) in addition to Sorensson's release.  The incident becomes a media frenzy and the Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme (Shanti Roney), refuses to comply with his demands and the Chief of Police (Christopher Heyerdahl) seems more concerned with his own reputation than the welfare of the hostages. As law enforcement becomes more and more desperate and erratic in their attempts to resolve the situation, the hostages, especially Bianca, begin to cooperate with Nystrom.  Besides being an entertaining heist movie that becomes increasingly more bizarre, it is an interesting psychological study that explores the unusual relationship that can develop between captive and captor.  The tone is a little bit uneven but I enjoyed it mainly because of Ethan Hawke, who gives another brilliant performance (I think he is so underrated).  It is so much fun to watch him become completely unhinged!  Rapace also gives a strong performance, especially in a scene where she nervously gives her husband instructions on how to make dinner for their children when she is briefly allowed to speak with him.  I also really liked the 1970s aesthetic and the use of Bob Dylan in the soundtrack.  I had a lot of fun watching this movie and I suspect fans of dark comedies will enjoy it, as well.