You Won't Be Alone

I usually really enjoy horror films based on folklore but somehow I missed You Won't Be Alone at Sundance this year.  Luckily my favorite art house theater eventually screens the noteworthy films from Sundance (and other festivals) so I was able to see it last night.  It is slow and sometimes meandering but I found it to be a fascinating take on witchcraft and the nature of humanity.  In a remote mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a disfigured shape-shifting witch (Anamaria Marinca) comes to claim a newborn baby.  Her distraught mother (Kamka Tocinovski) negotiates with the witch to allow her to keep the child until she turns sixteen and the witch unexpectedly agrees.  However, the mother, hoping to trick the witch, keeps the child hidden in a cave but the witch still comes to claim her at the appointed time (I really enjoyed this fairy-tale inspired prologue).  Nevena (Sara Klimoska) is feral after living in the cave her whole life and, despite being transformed into a witch herself, she is overcome by the beauty of nature.  When Nevena is left on her own, she assumes the shape of several villagers (Noomi Rapace and Carloto Cotta) out of curiosity but it is when she becomes the child Biliana (Anastasija Karanovich) that she discovers the joy of being human.  Nevena chooses to live as Biliana (Alice Englert) and finds happiness as a wife and mother but the witch, whose tragic backstory is revealed, warns her of the evil in the world.  Despite some really gruesome scenes involving body horror (the way the witches assume the shape of people and animals is quite disturbing), the visuals showing the simplicity of village life are beautiful and the score is haunting.  Most of the dialogue is an internal monologue from Nevena's perspective as she discovers the world and the people around her and this is a very effective way to explore many different themes, such as gender roles, community, and cycles of abuse, as Nevena experiences them.  It does get a bit repetitive and it definitely won't be for everyone but I thought it was very compelling.

Ballet West's Carmina Burana

I usually prefer seeing full-length ballets that tell a story but I have been trying to be bolder with my choices (especially with Ballet West and Utah Opera) so I went to Ballet West's production of Carmina Burana last night.  I am so glad that I did because this performance was simply amazing!  The first ballet was Glass Pieces with choreography by Jerome Robbins and music by Philip Glass.  It is meant to represent the random movements of New York commuters passing through Grand Central Station.  I really liked the entire ballet but my favorite was Movement 1.  The music is very chaotic and almost discordant as several groups of dancers walk back and forth across the stage in opposite directions.  Three main couples, Katlyn Addison and Dominic Ballard, Amy Potter and Hadriel Diniz, and Jenna Rae Herrera and Jordan Veit, dance individually and as a group before they begin interacting with the other dancers.  At first the other dancers simply step around them to get to their destination but the couples eventually begin to have an impact on select groups who join them and dance with abandon.  It is incredibly dynamic and I especially enjoyed seeing Addison, my favorite dancer in the company, perform a main role.  After the intermission, the entire company performed Carmina Burana with choreography by Nicolo Fonte and music by Carl Orff.  The text, which is based on a collection of medieval poetry, describes a wheel of fortune as it turns and features themes of luck and fate.  It is unbelievably dramatic and I had goosebumps multiple times!  The Cantorum Chamber Choir, under the direction of Chorus Master Steven Durtschi, is elevated above the stage on a platform with arches and columns holding it up and there were audible gasps from the audience when the curtain rose to reveal it for the first time.  Soprano Melissa Heath, Tenor Christopher Puckett, and Baritone Christopher Clayton also perform on stage, and even interact with the dancers at times, during several of the sections.  My favorite was "O Fortuna" at the opening and conclusion because it is so powerful!  The first section is about the rebirth found in Spring and the choreography is really energetic.  The second section is about feasting and drinking and the dances include a bit of debauchery which had the audience chuckling.  The third section involves romantic love and the movements of the dancers are incredibly tender.  I really liked Glass Pieces but Carmina Burana is absolutely brilliant and is not to be missed!  There are only three more performances so act quickly (go here for tickets)!

Note:  Ballet West has had an incredible season!  I have loved every production but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Dracula.

The Sound of Music at the Empress

Last night I went to the Empress Theatre for the first of three productions of The Sound of Music that I have scheduled this year.  Obviously I really love this show (although I actually prefer the 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer to the stage musical) and I had so much fun watching an aspiring nun sent to be the governess to the seven children of Captain von Trapp bring music back into his household.  I love every song (they are all so instantly recognizable and I really had to try hard not to sing along), particularly "The Sound of Music," "Maria," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "Edelweiss," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and "Somthing Good."  Laura Strong, who plays Maria, has a really beautiful voice (although there were lots of problems with her microphone) and I really enjoyed her interactions with the von Trapp children, Liesl (Kimberly Allred), Friedrich (Sam Selcho), Louisa (Brynlee Dalton), Kurt (Bridger Dalton), Birgitta (Mabel Utley), Marta (Roux Carter), and Gretl (Daphne Carter).  All of these young actors do a wonderful job, especially in "The Lonely Goatherd" and "So Long, Farewell."  I wish that there had been more interaction between Strong and and Don Smith, as Captain von Trapp, because their romance seems to come out of nowhere but I think that is a problem with the show itself rather than the actors.  Kacee Mickelsen, as the Mother Abbess, and Morgan Hekking, as Baroness Schrader, are the other standouts from the cast because they both are very powerful (even though Mickelsen also had issues with her microphone).  I really enjoyed the choreography, especially the entrance of the nuns in the opening number and the interplay between Liesl and Rolf (Patrick Hawkins) in "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."  The entire space is utilized very effectively, especially the stairs and the areas behind the top row of seats which feature a beautiful mural of mountains (it felt like we were actually sitting in the middle of the Alps), and I particularly loved the final scene as the vop Trapps climb to freedom.  This is the most elaborate set I've seen at the Empress and I was quite impressed with both the abbey and the von Trapp mansion.  Community theatre can sometimes be very quirky but this show equals many professional productions I've seen.  My only complaints are the aforementioned issues with the microphones and some of the transitions run a bit long (all of which will probably be resolved as the run continues).  I highly recommend this show which runs through April 16 (go here for tickets).

Note:  There was a couple sitting across the stage from me who were very obviously the parents of one of the children.  They literally beamed every time the children were on stage and I thought that was so sweet!

Noises Off at the Grand Theatre

Noises Off is one of my very favorite plays and I have seen it many times, including productions at PTC and the Utah Shakespeare Festival, so I was thrilled when I found out that the Grand Theatre was performing it this season.  I saw it last night and it wasn't quite up to par with those other productions but I definitely enjoyed it.  Lloyd Dallas (David Hanson), a temperamental and sarcastic director, is staging a play called Nothing's On starring Dotty Otley (JJ Neward), an aging television star, as Mrs. Clackett, Gary Lejeune (Nick Dunn), a scatterbrained actor incapable of improvising, as Roger Tramplemain, Brooke Ashton (Taylor McKay Barnes), a young and inexperienced actress involved with Lloyd, as Vicki, Frederick Fellowes (Michael Scott Johnson), an insecure and accident prone actor, as Philip Brent, Belinda Blair (Amy Williams), a reliable actress who knows all of the gossip about the cast, as Flavia Brent, and Selsdon Mowbray (Richard Scott), an accomplished actor who has a drinking problem and a tendency to miss his cues, as the Burglar.  Poppy Norton-Taylor (Anne Louise Brings) is the put-upon assistant stage manager who is also involved with Lloyd and Tim Allgood (Alvaro Cortez) is the overworked stage manager tasked with fixing every problem.  Act I involves a disastrous dress rehearsal before opening night involving missing props, a malfunctioning set, an actor questioning his character’s motivation, and a missing contact lens.  Act II takes place backstage while the show is on tour and features the deterioration of a relationship between Dotty and Gary where they do everything to sabotage each other's performance and Lloyd's ill-fated attempts to keep both Poppy and Brooke happy (and multiple attempts to have Tim buy them flowers).  Act III takes place at the end of the run and features a complete breakdown with the actors ad-libbing the entire scene.  I thought the performances were a bit uneven and the pace was sometimes sluggish (especially in the first act) but the physical comedy throughout had me laughing out loud.  I especially enjoyed it when Gary has a spectacular fall down the stairs (the audience spontaneously applauded after this), when two different understudies play the Burglar after Selsdon misses his cue and then finally enters, and when Frederick tries to perform with a head injury and a broken arm.  The elaborate set, especially backstage, and the costumes work really well for a play-within-in-play that fails so dramatically.  It has flaws but it is a lot of fun!  It runs at the Grand Theatre on the south campus of Salt Lake Community College through April 16 and tickets may be purchased here.

X

Last night I finally had the chance to see X and it was not at all what I was expecting.  It was so much better!  A group of free-spirited filmmakers decide to make an adult film in the late 1970s.  Maxine (Mia Goth) is hoping to use this film to escape her mundane existence and become a star, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi) are more seasoned performers in it for the thrill, Maxine's boyfriend Wayne (Martin Henderson) is a wannabe producer hoping to cash in on the burgeoning home video market, RJ (Owen Campbell) is an idealistic director who believes that porn can be elevated into serious art, and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) is RJ's timid girlfriend who disapproves of the genre but acts as his sound technician.  They travel to a remote farm in rural Texas to stay as paying guests but they film secretly without the owner's knowledge.  When the elderly owners Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl (Mia Goth, in a dual role) witness what is going on, things turn deadly.  This is very definitely an homage to the slasher films of the 1970s (particularly The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) but the narrative also manages to be entirely original and fresh.  It is tense and atmospheric with some gruesome kills but underneath it there is a very powerful message about regretting one's lost youth.  This theme is subtly, but brilliantly, emphasized by having Goth portray both Maxine and Pearl (I actually didn't realize this until almost the end) because it is appears as if Pearl is looking at her younger self whenever she sees Maxine.  The structure is also absolutely brilliant because there are quite a few moments that seem to be incongruous but ultimately pay off later in a big way, particularly an accident on the road involving a collision with a cow.  The technical aspects are outstanding, especially the lighting and sound design, and I think the editing is highly effective because there are many quick cuts between images that mirror each other throughout.  This movie is really good on so many levels but it might not be for everyone because of the subject matter.  I had a blast watching it and, if the post credits scene is to be believed, I will definitely watch the prequel!