Over the River and Through the Woods at HCTO

Even though it is a bit of a drive to get there from my house, I am so glad that I discovered Hale Center Theater Orem last year.  Every show that I have seen there has been outstanding including their current production, Over the River and Through the Woods, which I saw last night.  This delightful play is full of laughter and heart and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Nick Cristano (Will Ingram) is offered a big promotion at work but this means that he will have to relocate from New York to Seattle.  His overprotective Italian grandparents (Mark Pulham, Karen Baird, Larson Holyoak, and Melany Wilkins) don't want him to leave so they plot to find a reason for him to stay.  They decide that he needs a girlfriend which involves a painfully awkward set-up with Caitlin O'Hare (Kelly Cook), the attractive and single niece of his grandmother's canasta partner.  Hilarity ensues!  In addition to the humor, of which there is plenty (I was laughing out loud all night), there are some really tender moments involving generational differences. The main theme of the play is that people, especially immigrants, work hard their whole lives in order to give their children and grandchildren a better life but, in so doing, they pave the way for them to leave them behind for lives that are incomprehensible to them.  An especially poignant scene involves Nick's grandfather telling him about coming to America for a better life and then realizing that Nick wants to move to Seattle for the exact same reason and that he needs to let him go.  I was lucky enough to have all four of my grandparents (and my great-grandfather) in my life until my mid-twenties and I recognized many of the situations portrayed in this play, especially when Nick's grandmother tries to feed him all of the time (my grandmother also tried to send me home with food whenever I visited).  The entire cast is fantastic, but I particularly enjoyed Ingram's overwrought portrayal of Nick (I also enjoyed him in The 39 Steps).  His facial expressions are absolutely hilarious, especially as he gets more and more exasperated with his grandparents during the blind date with Caitlin and during their game of Trivial Pursuit!  I am, once again, really impressed with what HCTO is able to do with such a small space because the stage looks just like the fussy living and dining room of an older couple.  I particularly loved all of the little details such as the plastic fruit in a bowl on the table (both of my grandmothers had plastic fruit on their tables).  This is a show that old and young alike are sure to enjoy and I highly recommend it.  It runs through Ferbruary 12 so get your tickets (go here) soon!

Treasure Island at HCT

Last night I saw Treasure Island, a thrilling adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of swashbuckling pirates and buried treasure, at Hale Theatre. I had heard that it was pretty spectacular, which made me very eager to see it, but I have to admit that all of the rumored special effects gave me pause because Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the last show I saw on the Young Living Stage, had so many technical issues that it was stopped twice for long periods of time and I feared the same thing would happen last night. I needn't have worried because this show is, indeed, spectacular. Billy Bones (Rob Fernandez) suddenly appears at the Admiral Benbow Inn and meets the proprietor's son Jim Hawkins (Matthew Sanguine). He confesses to Jim that he has a map that once belonged to the pirate Flint (Bradley Moss), which leads to buried treasure, but that Flint's crew will soon be coming after it. Jim takes the map, eludes the pirates, enlists the help of Dr. Livesey (Roger Dunbar) and Squire Trelawney (Bradley Moss), and hires the Hispaniola to travel the sea in search of the treasure. Jim meets Long John Silver (BJ Whimpey), who befriends him and offers to find a crew for the Hispaniola, much to the displeasure of Captain Smollett (Mark Knowles). However, Jim learns that the crew is made up of pirates and that Long John Silver has more sinister plans just as the Hispaniola anchors off the coast of Skeleton Island. He is helped by Ben Gunn (Ben Parkes), a half-crazed man marooned on the island, to once again elude the pirates, find the treasure, and save the ship and his companions. Director Dave Tinney added a score by J Bateman (with musicians on stage, including Nathan Kremin on guitar, Caleb Hafen on drums, and Julie Beistline on fiddle) and several songs with vocal arrangements by Rob Moffat and this is very effective in enhancing the atmosphere of adventure. The sets by Kacey Udey are some of the best I have ever seen at HCT (and the bar is set really high), especially the set for the Hispaniola and the gallons of water (39,000 to be precise) that surround it and the island. As I previously mentioned, this is an incredibly complicated show, with large set pieces coming down from the rafters, characters being thrown overboard into the water, and special effects such as fog, rain, and fire! Everything was executed flawlessly! The fight choreography is epic, particularly the duel high up in the crow's nest of the ship during a rain storm, and I loved it when characters would climb the ropes on the ship. I was absolutely dazzled by everything that was happening on stage and I don't think I have ever seen a show that was so immersive (I was even splashed by water when a character was thrown overboard). The entire cast is fantastic but I especially enjoyed Sanguine's earnestness as Hawkins and Moss nearly steals the show as Trelawney (he is hilarious). This production is so much fun and I had a huge smile on my face from beginning to end. In my opinion, it is the must-see show of the season but you should definitely get tickets soon (go here) because they are going fast (with good reason). It runs on the Young Living Stage through March 19.

Note:  Don't forget about the hilarious show, One for the Pot, now playing on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through April 2.  Go here for tickets.

Parallel Mothers

Another movie now playing at the Broadway that I have been anticipating for a long time is Parallel Mothers.  I had the chance to see it last night and I was completely drawn in by this story which, on the surface, is about two mothers but, if you dig a little deeper, is a fascinating exploration of what it means to know who you are and where you come from.  Janis Martinez (Penelope Cruz) is a photographer who becomes pregnant as the result of a casual relationship with Arturo (Israel Elejalde), a married man who doesn't want to be a part of the baby's life.  Ana Manso (Milena Smit) is a frightened teenager essentially estranged from her family who is also pregnant and ends up sharing a hospital room with Janis as they both go into labor.  They bond over their similar status as single mothers and their concern for their babies who have been put under observation.  Several months later Janis becomes uneasy about her baby's identity and this brings her in contact with Ana once again.  Janis is also obsessed with excavating the unmarked grave in the village where she grew up in order to find the remains of her great-grandfather who was killed during the Spanish Civil War.  She reaches out to Arturo, a forensic archaeologist, and members of her extended family to help her confirm her great-grandfather's identity.  The narrative is incredibly thought-provoking and I was particularly struck by the fact that both Janis and Ana were raised by someone other than their mothers and struggle to find a connection with them.  I was also impressed by how well Pedro Almodovar was able to weave a personal tragedy with a national one (it reminded me a bit of Roma in that respect).  Cruz gives an incredibly powerful and emotional performance but I was blown away by Smit, especially during a climactic scene between Janis and Ana.  I also really enjoyed the melodramatic score and the bold primary colors used in the production design, all hallmarks of an Almodovar film.  I do tend to over analyze a bit but I haven't been able to stop thinking about this movie and I may need to see it again!  I highly recommend it to fans of Almodovar! 

Flee

I had heard so many great things about the documentary Flee so I was really excited to finally be able to see it at the Broadway last night.  It is even better than I anticipated!  Jonas Poher Rasmussen interviews his friend Amin Nawabi about his harrowing escape from the civil war in his home country of Afghanistan, his years in exile in Russia, an ill-fated attempt to escape only to be sent back, and finally claiming asylum alone in Denmark.  Nawabi relates his experiences so that he can make peace with his past, especially the guilt he feels for abandoning his family and the pressure he feels to succeed to compensate for it, in order to have a future with his partner Kasper.  Amin's story is incredibly poignant, particularly the scenes of him and his family trying to leave Russia, but what makes this documentary even more compelling is that it uses animation to tell the story to preserve his anonymity.  I have never seen anything like it before and I was really struck by the different types of animation employed in order to convey different emotions.  When Amin is being interviewed by Rasmussen, he is shown lying on a couch with an overhead shot so that the audience is looking down on him.  To me, this feels like we are looking into his soul as he reveals his deepest secrets for the first time.  The scenes showing his happy childhood in Kubul and his interactions with Kasper in present-day Copenhagen are very bright and colorful whereas the scenes in Moscow are dark and dreary to depict his state of mind.  Many scenes of terror, including the capture of his father and his sisters' escape on a container ship, are shown in black and white with indistinct and chaotic line drawings as if the memories are too painful to remember clearly.  Archival footage of actual events in Afghanistan and Russia is used very effectively to establish the veracity of Amin's account and the haunting score filled with plaintive violin solos does much to enhance the traumatic nature of Amin's memories.  This documentary, which highlights the power of storytelling as a way to heal, is something really special and I highly recommend it.

Thierry Fischer Conducts Rachmaninoff, Honegger & Nathan Lincoln de Cusatis

I was really excited for last night's Utah Symphony concert because it was the first opportunity for Music Director Thierry Fischer to conduct the orchestra this season (I was also really excited to hear Rachmaninoff).  The orchestra began with Symphony No. 3, Symphonie Liturgique, by Arthur Honegger.  I was not familiar with this piece (or this composer) but I loved it because it was written after World War II and was inspired by Honegger's desire for peace.  Each movement is named after a liturgical text.  The first, which was my favorite, is "Day of wrath" and it is very turbulent and powerful with a bold theme played by the brass.  The second is "Out of the depths have I cried" and it is more lyrical and contemplative and I really loved the almost mournful solo by the flute.  The third is "Grant us peace" which begins as a march featuring lots of percussion and then ends with a beautiful solo played the cello.  What I loved about this piece is that I could really feel each of the emotions suggested by the titles as the orchestra played.  Next came the premiere of The Maze by Nathan Lincoln de Cusatis.  This piece was commissioned by Concertmaster Madeline Adkins and was inspired by a hike through an isolated area of Canyonlands National Park.  The music emphasizes the vastness of the landscape and the geologic forces that created it.  Adkins was the soloist with the violin acting as a guide through the hike and I really enjoyed how the themes played by the violin sound like the flow of the river.  After the intermission the orchestra played Symphonic Dances by Sergei Rachmaninoff and I absolutely loved this piece!  I think the first movement is incredibly romantic with a theme played by various woodwind instruments which is then repeated by the violins followed by a theme played the piano and harp.  During the second movement, which features a beautiful waltz, I always see couples whirling around a red and gold ballroom and the music takes me back to imperial Russia.  The final movement is almost mournful but it ends triumphantly with timpani and a gong.  I really enjoyed all three pieces (and seeing Fischer back on the podium) and would highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's concert which will feature the same program (go here for tickets).