Miss Saigon at the Eccles

After I was able to see Les Miserables in London on a study abroad trip, Miss Saigon went to the top of the list of musicals I most wanted to see.  I finally had the opportunity to see it when the Broadway touring production came to SLC several years later and, while I absolutely loved the show, I was a little bit disappointed.  The Capitol Theatre stage couldn't accommodate the helicopter used in the fall of Saigon so a hologram was used instead.  I have always wanted to see the actual helicopter and I got my wish last night when a new production came to the Eccles Theatre.  This musical is based on Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly but it is set in Vietnam near the end of the war.  Kim (Emily Bautista) is a recently orphaned young girl who comes to Saigon from a rural village to be a bargirl at Dreamland, a brothel owned by the Engineer (Red Concepcion).  A U.S. Marine named Chris (Anthony Festa) is disillusioned by the war and is captivated by Kim's innocence.  The Engineer arranges for him to spend the night with Kim and they fall in love and begin a relationship.  Kim's cousin Thuy (Jinwoo Jung), to whom she was betrothed, has become an officer in the North Vietnamese Army and comes to Saigon to take her back home.  She refuses, believing Chris's promise that he will take her with him when he returns home, but he inadvertently leaves her behind in the chaos at the end of the war.  Three years later, the Engineer is in a reeducation camp but is asked by Thuy, now a commissar in the new Communist government, to find Kim.  When the Engineer finds her, Thuy is horrified to find out that Kim has had a son with Chris and tries to kill the boy.  Kim kills Thuy instead to save her son and turns to the Engineer for help.   He ultimately decides to help her because he believes that her son is his ticket to America and the three of them flee to Bangkok.  When Chris, who is now married to Ellen (Ellie Fishman), learns of his son's existence he travels to Bangkok to see him.  Kim believes that Chris is finally coming back to get her but, when she learns that he is married, she makes the ultimate sacrifice and begs him to take the boy with him.  The music in this show is incredibly beautiful and emotional and the principals all have amazing voices!  I especially loved "The Last Night of the World," "Too Much for One Heart," and "The American Dream."  Bautista's powerful rendition of "I'd Give My Life for You" made me cry (and I was not alone).  I loved the dramatic staging for "The Morning of the Dragon" and "Fall of Saigon." The helicopter is only on stage for a few minutes but it is absolutely spectacular and gave me goosebumps.  I loved this revival and I highly recommend it with the proviso that "The Heat is On in Saigon" and "What a Waste" are a bit raunchy (a couple sitting near me left after "The Heat is On in Saigon" which is the first number in the show).  It runs at the Eccles until October 20 (go here for tickets).

Zombieland Double Feature

I am now officially on fall break and I couldn't be happier!  I am not going out of town this year but I do have quite a few things planned and I'm really looking forward to them.  I started my break with a double feature of Zombieland and Zombieland: Double Tap and it was so much fun.  My sister Kristine kept telling me that I would really like Zombieland, but I never went to see it when it was in theaters.  She finally made me watch it when we were all camping one weekend and, of course, I loved watching Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) battle the undead after the zombie apocalypse.  I'm glad I had the chance to see it again (this time on the big screen).  Zombieland: Double Tap picks up ten years later and finds Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock living as a family in the abandoned White House.  However, Wichita feels that she is becoming too attached to Columbus and Little Rock thinks that Tallahassee is overbearing and wants a boyfriend so they leave.  Wichita eventually returns after Little Rock takes off with a hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia).  She convinces Tallahassee and Columbus to go after Little Rock with her and chaos ensues.  They meet other survivors named Madison (Zoey Deutch), Reno (Rosario Dawson), Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch) and discover that the zombies have mutated to become stronger and faster.  There is an epic confrontation with these zombies and the four of them realize that they really are a family who belong together.  In my opinion, this movie is not quite as good as the original (some of the humor is a bit belabored) but there are some really funny scenes, especially those involving characters that mimic the personalities of our main characters, and some fun (and gory) action sequences, particularly the Zombie Kill of the Week (and Month and Century).  I had so much fun watching this movie because the fun and rowdy crowd cheered every time one of Columbus' rules appeared on the screen!  I think fans of the original will like this movie as much as I did.

Alien

The first time I saw Alien, I was in high school babysitting for a family down the street.  It was after midnight and the kids were all asleep so I went downstairs to the basement and started watching HBO.  This movie came on and I distinctly remember everything about it because it was the single most terrifying movie experience I have ever had.  No one can hear you scream in space and, apparently, no one can hear you scream in the basement of a neighbor's house!  I have since watched this movie countless times but never on the big screen (I was 11 when it was first released in theaters) so I was beyond excited when it was announced as a TCM Big Screen Classics selection!  My Dad loves this movie as much as I do so he came along with me to see it last night!  We had such a great time!  The crew of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo is awakened from stasis to investigate a distress call in space.  They land on a moon and find an alien ship which they investigate.  Kane (John Hurt), one of the crew members, discovers a chamber containing hundreds of eggs and, when he touches one, a creature emerges and attaches itself to his face.  Back on board the Nostromo, the creature detaches itself and is later found dead.  Kane seems to be fine but eventually an alien bursts from his chest, killing him, and escapes into the ship.  One by one, the crew members, including Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), and Engineers Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), are killed as they hunt for the alien until Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is left alone to confront it in some of the most suspenseful scenes ever filmed.  In fact, this movie is the standard I use to judge all other science fiction and horror movies and most of them pale in comparison.  The use of lighting and sound design in this movie is absolutely brilliant and seeing it on the big screen made it even more ominous.  I jumped a mile (although, thankfully, I did not scream) when they find Jones the cat while looking for the alien.  This movie is a masterpiece and I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.  Go here for details and tickets.

Utah Opera's La Traviata

Last night I was able to attend opening night for Utah Opera's production of Verdi's tragic masterpiece, La Traviata, and it was a magnificent performance!  Violetta Valery (Anya Mantanovic) is a beautiful and glamorous courtesan who lives only for pleasure.  Even though she is suffering from consumption, she hosts a lavish party at her home and encourages her guests to sing a wild drinking song.  When she grows too tired to dance, a young man named Alfredo Germont (Rafael Moras) stays behind and declares his love for her.  She resists him because she likes her simple life of pleasure.  However, when he leaves she realizes that she is in love with him.  They leave Paris and live happily together until Alfredo's father Germont (Michael Chioldi) comes to ask Violetta to leave Alfredo because their relationship is scandalizing the family and ruining his daughter's prospects for marriage.  Violetta tearfully agrees to sacrifice her love for the sake of Alfredo and returns to Paris.  She attends a masquerade ball hosted by her friend Flora (Quinn Middleman) with one of her former patrons, Baron Douphol (Christopher Holmes).  When Alfredo sees her with the Baron, he treats her with such contempt that his father tells him of her sacrifice.  Later, Alfredo begs Violetta to forgive him and she dies in his arms.  I loved everything about this production!  The music in this opera is very well known and the three leads sing their roles brilliantly.  Mantanovic is incredibly passionate as Violetta in Act 1, especially in the aria, "Sempre Libera," and tragic in Act 3 when she sings "Addio, del passato bei sogni rrdenti."  Moras has such a beautiful voice and I enjoyed his interpretation of the impetuous Alfredo.  His version of "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" is incredibly stirring.  I was also very impressed with Chioldi because his rendition of "Di Provenza il mar" gave me goosebumps!  The chorus is also outstanding, especially at the end of Act 2 when they denounce Alfredo for his treatment of Violetta ("Di donne ignobile insultatore").  As always, the sets and costumes are wonderful and I especially liked the juxtaposition between the opulence of Violetta's Paris home with the more modest villa she shares with Alfredo in the country.  Another aspect of this particular production that I enjoyed was the collaboration with the Ririe Woodbury Dance Company.  Members of this company (Dominica Greene, Nicholas Jurica, Megan McCarthy, Brian Nelson, Bashaun Williams, and Melissa Rochelle Younker) perform a waltz during Violetta's party and the gypsy and matador dances at Flora's masquerade and these dances are exquisite.  Even if you are not a big fan of opera you are sure to recognize many of the arias in La Traviata and I highly recommend seeing Utah Opera's production!  It runs at the newly renovated Capitol Theatre through October 20 (go here for tickets).

Lucy in the Sky

It seems like I have been anticipating the movie Lucy in the Sky for such a long time.  Even though it was panned at TIFF, I decided to see it anyway last night.  Astronaut Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) has a transformative experience during a mission to space.  When she returns to Earth, she finds it difficult to adapt to ordinary life again.  Everything feels small and insignificant and she feels disconnected from her husband (Dan Stevens) and the rest of her family.  She decides that the only solution is to go back to space and begins obsessively training to be a part of the next mission.  She also begins an affair with fellow astronaut Mark Goodwin (Jon Hamm).  When a training incident grounds her and Goodwin abandons her in favor of another astronaut (Zazie Beetz), she suffers a breakdown culminating in a cross-country road trip to confront Goodwin.  This movie is a total mess and I was actually really disappointed because it has such an interesting premise.  At first it is a haunting, if jumbled, portrait of a woman going through an existential crisis and I didn't mind the overly stylized shots, the skewed perspectives, and the bewildering changes in aspect ratio (director Noah Hawley is trying so hard to be a serious artist).  However, in the third act there is a huge tonal shift with an incredibly trippy scene where Lucy floats through a hospital corridor after her grandmother has a stroke with a psychedelic version of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" playing underneath it.  After this scene the movie becomes absolutely bonkers as Lucy becomes more and more hysterical while driving to San Diego to pursue her lover.  This suggests that it is not really her experience in space but a failed relationship that causes her undoing. There are moments that are so bizarre I actually laughed out loud, especially a manic shopping trip for kidnapping supplies and an extended sequence showing Lucy running in slow motion.  It is so inconsistent that it seems like two separate movies with a meditative beginning exploring the meaning of existence and then a campy ending about a love triangle.  I was also really confused by a belabored metaphor comparing Lucy to a butterfly that gets destroyed by wasps.  This leads to a strange ending which shows Lucy working as a bee keeper three years after the incident with a final shot of her gazing at a butterfly.  What is this supposed to mean?  Ugh!  The audiences at TIFF were right about this movie and I recommend giving it a miss.