Catch Me If You Can at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

The musical Catch Me If You Can, based on the movie of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, is a lot of fun so I went to see a new production at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts last night. It is fantastic! The show begins when Frank Abagnale, Jr. (A. J. Nielsen) is arrested by FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Mark Gordon) at the Miami Airport. Then Frank breaks the fourth wall and begins telling the audience his story as if he were part of a 1960s television variety show (complete with go-go dancers) in the big production number "Live in Living Color." When his parents, Frank Abagnale, Sr. (Nathaniel Noyes) and Paula Abagnale (Samantha Frisby), get divorced, sixteen year old Frank decides to run away to New York and he starts forging checks in order to get by (almost two million dollar's worth by the time he is caught). This gets the attention of the FBI, especially Hanratty who is relentless in his pursuit as Frank impersonates a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer (he even passes the bar exam). Frank is always one step ahead of Hanratty until he falls in love with Brenda Strong (Shannon Follette). The two leads are so much fun to watch and I particularly enjoyed their interactions together! Nielsen is charm personified as the fast-talking confidence man (especially in the songs "Jet Set" and "Doctor's Orders") but he is equally adept at portraying the vulnerable teenager who ran away from home. Gordon is absolutely hilarious as the straight-laced FBI agent who has no life away from the job and his number, "Don't Break the Rules," is a definite crowd pleaser! The scene where Frank manages to elude Hanratty in a motel room is really funny but there is also a poignant moment between them when Frank calls Hanratty on Christmas Eve and they both realize that they don't have anyone to talk to but each other. I was also very impressed with Follette and her rendition of "Fly, Fly Away" is my favorite out of all the productions of this show that I've seen because she can definitely sing the blues! The choreography is a pastiche of the variety shows of the 1960s (such as Laugh-In and Hullabaloo) and the big song and dance numbers are incredibly entertaining. The set, which looks like it could be from a television awards show, has multiple levels which are used very effectively as various locations with the addition of just a few set pieces. Finally, the costumes are quite impressive (especially for the female ensemble who appear as go-go dancers, Pan Am stewardesses, FBI agents, nurses, and southern belles among other characters). I had a great time last night and, if you need a fun night out, look no further than Catch Me If You Can which runs at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts through May 7 (go here for tickets).

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

As I huge fan of the Harry Potter franchise, I was so excited to see the Wizarding World expand into a new series.  Unfortunately, I thought Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a bit underwhelming and The Crimes of Grindelwald was absolutely awful.  I even contemplated skipping The Secrets of Dumbledore but ultimately decided to see it last night and, to my surprise, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.  While the bar was set very low, I think it is the best movie in the franchise.  Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) is prevented from fighting against Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) because of a blood pact taken when the two were in a relationship so he recruits Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a Magizoologist, Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), an Auror in the British Ministry of Magic, Eulalie "Lally" Hicks (Jessica Williams), a Professor at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, Yusuf Kama (William Nadylan), a French Wizard, and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Folger), a Muggle, to stop his quest for Wizard domination.  Grindelwald is acquitted of his crimes by the International Confederation of Wizards (ICF) and is now running as a populist candidate (there is a bit of commentary on the rise of fascism that is pretty interesting) against Vicencia Santos (Maria Fernanda Candida) of Brazil and Liu Tao (Dave Wong) of China to be the Supreme Head of the ICF.  One of Newt's magical creatures overturns a manipulated election and Dumbledore's protection of Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) breaks the blood pact leading to an epic confrontation with Grindelwald.  Unlike the first two, I think this tells a more complete story that ties up most of its loose ends (I credit the improvement to Steve Kloves who co-wrote the screenplay with J.K. Rowling).  If this is to be the last movie in the franchise, as has been speculated, I think the resolution is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.  As with the other movies my favorite moments involve Newt Scamander interacting with the magical creatures, particularly a hilarious scene when Newt must rescue Theseus from prison and an affecting scene where he saves a newborn creature.  There are also some exciting action sequences, including a duel between Dumbledore and Credence and the climactic battle, and some fun references to the Harry Potter movies (I loved the use of the original score).  Finally, I think recasting Mikkelsen as Grindelwald is a huge improvement over Johnny Depp, who was rather bland in the role, because he is much more menacing and he has great chemistry with Law.  I liked this movie enough to recommend it, especially to those who are already fans of the franchise.

Thierry Fischer Conducts Haydn 11, Arlene Sierra, Nielsen & Elgar

Last night's Utah Symphony concert will definitely be another one of my favorites this season!  It began with a small chamber group playing Symphony No. 11 by Franz Joseph Haydn.  This piece is very delicate with beautiful melodies and I especially enjoyed the themes played by the strings and the horns in the third movement.  Next, the full orchestra was joined by Anthony McGill as the soloist for Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto.  This piece is very lively and energetic with what seems like a great battle between the clarinet and the snare drum but I found the ending to be quite surprising because it is almost anticlimactic as the melody just fades away in resignation.  I loved it!  As someone who played the clarinet, very badly, all through school beginning in the fifth grade, I loved hearing someone play the instrument brilliantly.  I loved watching McGill's fingers fly up and down the holes and keys and there was a small part of me that wished that I had kept playing.  After the intermission, the orchestra performed the world premiere of Bird Symphony by Composer-in-Association Arlene Sierra.  I must admit that it was absolutely thrilling to be the first to hear a brand new piece commissioned by the Utah Symphony!  I loved it and I think I enjoyed it even more than Sierra's Nature Symphony which was performed last weekend.  I especially liked the second movement because it features a recording of a birdsong and the orchestra interacts with it.  The concert concluded with In the South ("Alassio") by Edward Elgar.  I always think of Elgar's music as stately and dignified and this piece is no exception.  It was written while the composer was on holiday in Italy and it is meant to represent life during the Roman Empire.  I especially loved the theme played by the solo viola.  I enjoyed every piece performed during this beautiful concert and I cannot recommend tonight's performance of the same program enough (go here for tickets).

Note:  The adorable ladies who sit by me asked me if I had renewed my subscription for next season and they cheered when I told them that I had.  It will be Thierry Fischer's final season as Music Director and I am looking forward to so many concerts, including ones featuring Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev (go here to explore the season).

Fireflies at PTC

Last night I saw Pioneer Theatre Company's charming production of Fireflies and I thoroughly enjoyed this simple story about two people finding love late in life.  Eleanor Bannister (Joy Franz) is an uptight and lonely retired teacher living in the small town of Groverdell, Texas.  She is very set in her ways and is known as the most respected person in town but she has started questioning who she is and what she wants out of life after experiencing a panic attack.  Abel Brown (David Manis) is just passing through town when he notices that a recent storm has damaged the roof on a cottage that belongs to Eleanor.  He seeks her out and offers to repair it and she reluctantly agrees to let him.  A romance slowly blossoms between them but is he ready to settle down and is she right to trust him?  Franz is absolutely delightful as a curmudgeonly woman who delights in correcting everyone's grammar but she also imbues Eleanor with a little bit of vulnerability.  She has great chemistry with Manis and I loved her reaction when he kisses her.  As much as I enjoyed Franz and Manis, my favorite character was Eleanor's nosy neighbor Grace (Joy Lynn Jacobs).  Many of her over the top antics were greeted with hoots of laughter from the audience.  I also enjoyed it when Eugene Claymire (Tito Livas), a police officer who is also Eleanor's former student, spontaneously recites the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge when he is questioned about Abel but, as a former English teacher, I was probably the only one laughing at this!  All of the action takes place in Eleanor's well lived-in kitchen over the course of one week.  I really liked the attention to detail because the kitchen looks a bit tidier during every scene as if Eleanor is trying to impress Abel.  Another aspect of the production that really struck me was the lighting design, particularly the sunsets and night skies that are visible through the windows of the kitchen.  The whole show feels very authentic with likable characters who find an unexpected connection and I found it very heartwarming.  Fireflies runs at PTC through April 16 and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets).

Like A Sister

My April Book of the Month selection was Like A Sister by Kellye Garrett (the other options were The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani, Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain, and True Biz by Sara Novic). Once again, none of the selections really jumped out at me so I defaulted to the thriller and I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. Lena Scott is a graduate student at Columbia who could not be more different from her reality star half-sister Desiree Pierce. She has been estranged from her sister for the past two years because of her addictions and self-destructive behavior so, when Desiree's body is found at a playground near Lena's house in the Bronx, she feels tremendous guilt because she believes that Desiree was attempting to see her when she died. The police have ruled Desiree's death as an accidental overdose due to the heroin in her system but Lena knows that she would never shoot heroin because of her fear of needles. She is obsessed with finding out what really happened to her sister and begins trying to reconstruct her final days. Lena reaches out to her former reality show co-star, her new best friend, her on-again off-again boyfriend, and an old family friend who recently reentered her life. She must also reestablish contact with her father, the man who abandoned her and her mother when she was a child to start a new life with Desiree and her mother. All of these encounters lead to some uncomfortable truths about her sister and her family and they also put her life in danger. There are lots of twists and turns which kept me engaged with the murder mystery aspect of the narrative but I think I enjoyed the commentary on race, class, social media, and celebrity even more. Lena is an entertaining first-person narrator and I really appreciated her perspective on what it is like for a young Black woman to navigate life in today's society, particularly interactions with the police. Much of this novel is set in the world of hip-hop music (Lena and Desiree's father is a wealthy and influential music producer) and, while I did miss more than a few references, I found it to be fascinating. I especially enjoyed all of the scenes that take place backstage at various concerts because I have always wanted to know what really goes on before a performer takes the stage. I was also really intrigued by how social media is used to solve the mystery, especially posts on Instagram. It is a bit frightening how much someone can learn about you from your posts! I don't think I would have picked this novel if left to my own devices (one of the reasons why I like BOTM) but I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to fans of thrillers.