Utah Opera's The Pirates of Penzance

Utah Opera is closing out the 2021-2022 season with Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance and I had a chance to see this delightful production last night at the Capitol Theatre.  Frederic (John Reisen) has reached his 21st birthday and wishes to leave the band of pirates to whom he has been mistakenly apprenticed.  After leaving the pirates, Frederic meets Major-General Stanley (Hugh Russell) and his daughters, falls in love with the youngest daughter Mabel (Madison Leonard), and enlists the Sergeant of Police (Kevin Nakatoni) and his constables to arrest the pirates.  Chaos ensues when the Pirate King (Craig Irvin) and Ruth (Meredith Arwady), Frederic's former nursemaid, tell him that he was born during a leap year and, since he has only had five birthdays, he must continue to serve his apprenticeship.  The staging of this show is so much fun and I laughed out loud during the scene where the pirates attempt to seduce the Major-General's daughters and when the constables and the pirates both hide from the Major-General in the graveyard.  Reisen is incredibly engaging as Frederic and, not only does he have a fantastic voice, but he has great comedic timing as the straight man in the show.  I especially enjoyed his interactions with Ruth when he tries to find out if she is beautiful when compared with other women.  Leonard has a beautiful voice as Mabel and I loved her rendition of "Poor wand'ring one."  Russell is absolutely hilarious in "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" and I loved the choreography involving his umbrella.  Irvin also has great comedic timing and I especially enjoyed his fancy footwork in "Oh, better far to live and die."  The large chorus, performing as pirates, daughters, and constables who sing and dance, is outstanding and so much fun to watch.  I loved all of the costumes, especially all of the colors and patterns used for the daughters' dresses and the argyle socks worn by the Major-General.  The set is quite simple consisting of a ship, the seaside, and a graveyard, but the proscenium is meant to look like a vaudeville theatre and is very effective at creating an amusing mood even before the show begins.  Hurrah for this production because I loved everything about it and I highly recommend it to anyone, even children, who might be intimidated by opera because it is very accessible.  There are only two more performances (go here for tickets) so act quickly.

Note:  Utah Opera recently announced the 2022-2023 season and it includes The Flying Dutchman, The Daughter of the Regiment, Rigoletto, and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.  I am incredibly intrigued by the last one.

The Duke

Last night I went to my favorite art house theater, for the second night in a row, to see the charming British comedy The Duke.  It is based on the true story of the theft of Francisco de Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961.  Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a retired bus driver from Newcastle who is also an aspiring playwright, feels tremendous guilt over the death of his daughter several years earlier and is compelled to do something for the good of mankind to assuage that guilt.  His chosen cause is a campaign against making pensioners and war veterans pay for a license to watch television.  His long suffering wife Dorothy (Helen Mirren) begs him to stop all of his nonsense but he requests one last trip to London to bring attention to his message.  When he is turned away from the BBC, The Daily Mirror, and Parliament, he impulsively steals the painting in order to blackmail the government into exempting the less fortunate from paying for a license as a condition to get it back.  He enlists the help of his son Jackie (Fionn Whitehead) to hide it but, after a few misadventures, he decides to return it after which he is arrested.  When his trial at the Old Bailey begins, his barrister (Matthew Goode) tells him that his case is hopeless but he unexpectedly becomes a hero to the common man.  The narrative has a few twists and turns to keep it from being completely predictable and both Broadbent and Mirren give stellar performances full of wit and charm.  I found many scenes to be highly amusing and I laughed out loud several times (I love British humor).  I also really enjoyed the retro vibe in the cinematography because it looks like actual footage from the 1960s.  This is a lighthearted feel-good movie and watching it was a delightful experience (I was in a theater full of people twenty years older than me).

Petite Maman

I absolutely loved Portrait of a Lady on Fire so I was very eager to see the latest from Celine Sciamma, Petite Maman.  It seems like I have been waiting forever for it to get a wide release but it is finally playing at the Broadway and I had a chance to see it last night.  Sciamma is two for two with me because I loved Petite Maman just as much as Portrait of a Lady on Fire!  After the death of her maternal grandmother, eight year old Nelly (Josephine Sanz) travels with her mother (Nina Meurisse) and father (Stephane Varupenne) to her mother's childhood home to clear it out.  Nelly asks her mother questions about her childhood, including the location of the fort she once made out of tree branches, but she is too upset to answer her and eventually leaves in the middle of the night without saying goodbye.  While her father clears out the house, Nelly explores the nearby woods and finds a young girl named Marion (Gabrielle Sanz) building a fort out of tree branches.  Nelly begins spending all of her time with Marion building the fort, playing games, and acting out plays.  Marion ultimately helps Nelly understand her mother and helps her say goodbye to her grandmother.  This is such a beautiful film!  It is very slow and deliberate and, at times, it is unclear what is happening but if you are patient you will be rewarded with a beautiful message about love, grief, and the evanescence of childhood.  There are so many scenes that seem really simple, even mundane, on the surface but end up fraught with meaning and I found myself with tears in my eyes on more than one occasion.  The images on the screen are gorgeous, especially when the natural light bathes the fall foliage in the woods with a golden glow.  Finally, Josephine and Gabrielle Sanz give captivating performances and I couldn't take my eyes off of them even when they are simply walking together.  I was incredibly moved by this simple film and I cannot recommend enough!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

I have been looking forward to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with great anticipation because I am a fan of the character and the first trailer was so thrilling it gave me goosebumps.  I had the chance to see it last night and I enjoyed it but I didn't love it as much as I expected to.  Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is attending the wedding of his colleague and former lover Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) when he is forced to rescue a young girl named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) from a demon with the help of Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong).  It turns out that Chavez is being pursued by demons because she possesses the power to travel through the multiverse.  Strange enlists the help of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) to protect Chavez but learns that the Scarlet Witch is responsible for the attack and is using spells from the Darkhold, a book of forbidden magic, to summon the demons.  Wanda wants Chavez's power to travel to an alternate universe where a version of herself is still a mother and will stop at nothing to get it.  Strange and Chavez travel to another universe looking for the Book of Vishanti, which will counteract the Darkhold, and chaos ensues as he is confronted with different versions of himself and other superheroes.  I think the story is incredibly convoluted with a lot of different characters and backstories to follow (you might find the action confusing if you haven't seen WandaVision, which I have, and What If?, which I have not).  I got the gist of what was happening but I feel like I missed a lot of the subtleties because I am not familiar with all of the characters, especially scenes involving the Illuminati (which feature some really fun cameos).  Having said that, Sam Raimi's distinct visual style is what makes this movie so entertaining because the images on the screen are absolutely brilliant, especially when Strange and Chavez travel through the multiverse and the space between universes.  I also really enjoyed the horror elements integrated into the action, particularly the sequences involving a zombie.  Finally, Cumberbatch is, as ever, a fantastic Stephen Strange but this movie really belongs to Olsen because Wanda's character arc dealing with her grief is very powerful and she absolutely delivers!  I definitely recommend seeing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but I think the MCU is running the risk of becoming bloated with too many characters, stories, and timelines for the casual movie fan.

Camelot at HCTO

The first theatrical performance I remember seeing is the musical Camelot.  I remember everything about it very vividly because it was the last day of school so spirits were already running high.  I got all dressed up and went with a youth group to see the show at Promised Valley Playhouse and I found it to be an incredibly thrilling experience.  It is not performed very often any more but it will always be a sentimental favorite!  I was very excited to see HCTO's version last night and it was no less thrilling than when I saw it as a 13 year old girl!   This production is a stripped down and simplified telling of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table featuring Rex Kocherhans as Arthur, Kat Hawley Cook as Guenevere, and Scott Hendrickson as Lancelot with a small ensemble (Jordan Briggs, Jake Slater, Wade Flanagan, Caleb Collier, Braedon Reynolds, and Daniel Bradley) performing all of the other roles.  The set and props are very minimal and several scenes are described by narrators rather than explicitly portrayed.  However, all of the well-known songs are included such as "Camelot," "The Lusty Month of May," "How to Handle a Woman," "If Ever I Would Leave You," "Fie on Goodness," "What Do the Simple Folk Do?," and "Guenevere."  Despite the simplicity of the storytelling, I really loved the staging of all of the numbers, particularly "The Lusty Month of May" during which colored ribbons drop from the ceiling with choreography that mimics the dancing of the maypole, "The Joust" during which members of the ensemble create the sounds of the galloping horses and the crashing armor with household objects, and "Guenevere" during which the death of the knights in battle is portrayed with red scarves surrounding them as they fall.  This adaptation really focuses on the love triangle between Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot and the three lead actors give wonderful performances filled with pathos.  I was especially impressed with Kocherhans in the scene where Arthur discovers that Lancelot and Guenevere love each other because the conflict he feels is palpable.  Even though the sets and props are scaled down, the costumes are not because they are gorgeous!  I couldn't pick a favorite among Guenevere's gowns because they are all incredibly elaborate and beautifully embellished!  There's simply not a more congenial spot than HCTO for their production of Camelot!  I highly recommend that you get a ticket (go here) before the lusty month of May is over!