Daisy Darker

My August Book of the Month selection was Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (the other options were Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter, Small Angels by Lauren Owen, Bronze Drum by Phong Nguyen, When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford, and The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias) and I loved this homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Beatrice Darker, a well-known children's author, invites the members of her estranged family and close family friend Conor Kennedy to Seaglass, her house on a remote island off the Cornish coast that is only accessible during low tide, to celebrate her 80th birthday. She believes that this will be her last birthday because of a fortune teller's prediction so she takes this opportunity to inform her family, including son Frank, his ex-wife Nancy, her granddaughters Rose, Lily, and Daisy, and her great-granddaughter Trixie, about the contents of her will which angers them. At the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages outside, the family discovers the body of Beatrice and it appears that she has been murdered. They also find a poem written by Beatrice which details how the rest of the family will eventually be murdered. They are trapped on the island because it is high tide and they cannot get cell service to call for help. Soon more members of the family are killed in the manner described by Beatrice's poem as the dwindling number of survivors try frantically to figure out who the murderer is and, more importantly, who might be next! Daisy, who was born with a debilitating heart condition, is the first-person narrator who provides the backstory, and reveals the secrets, of each of the characters and I really enjoyed this device because these details relate directly to Beatrice's poem (just as the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians" counts down the deaths in And Then There Were None) and I kept going back to it to see who might be next! I loved the use of the crumbling Gothic mansion and the desolate and craggy island as the setting because the isolation enhances the tension and the suspense (I love locked room mysteries). There is a twist at the end that seems absolutely bonkers but it makes sense if you think about everything that has been revealed (you will definitely need to go back and read the editor's note at the beginning again). I really enjoyed this (I like Alice Feeney more and more with every one of her books I read) and I recommend it to fans of atmospheric murder mysteries.

Emily the Criminal

I missed Emily the Criminal at Sundance this year so I went to see it at the Broadway last night and I found it to be incredibly compelling and thought provoking.  Emily Benetto (Aubrey Plaza) has a menial job as a delivery person for a catering company because she is unable to get a better paying one due to a felony conviction on her record.  She can barely pay the interest on her exorbitant student loans so, when a colleague offers her an opportunity to make $200 for an hour of work, she is intrigued.  She discovers that this "opportunity" is a credit card fraud ring run by Youcef (Theo Rossi) and she is asked to buy a flat screen TV with a fake credit card and ID.  Her next job, which involves buying a car, turns violent when the scam is discovered.  However, in her desperation, she becomes more and more involved with the ring and Youcef with even higher stakes.  This is an interesting and timely exploration of how difficult it is for working class people to get ahead in a late capitalist society and Emily is a character that many, unfortunately, can relate to.  She is not really meant to be viewed as a hero because a lot of her actions are reprehensible but it isn't hard to sympathize with her, especially after the humiliation she experiences when trying to explain her criminal record during job interviews, asking for more hours at a job in which she has no rights or benefits, and serving catered lunches to her condescending peers.  Plaza, who is hit or miss with me, gives a fierce and powerful performance that is definitely one of the best of her career.  This movie is a bit under the radar but I think it is well worth seeking out and I recommend it.

See How They Run at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

I have been looking forward to the Terrace Plaza Playhouse's production of See How They Run for months because I played Miss Skillon in high school! It is such a funny play and I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching it last night! The action takes place in the vicarage of a village called Merton-Cum-Middlewick during World War II. An American soldier stationed in England named Clive (Andrew Heyward) visits his old friend Penelope (Amelia Joan Bowles) who is now married to the Rev. Lionel Toop (Josh Curtis). Ida (Kellie Chapman), her cockney maid who loves American movies, is flustered by his arrival but Miss Skillon (Jennifer Westfall), a meddling spinster who is sweet on Rev. Toop, is convinced that Penelope is having an affair with him and imbibes too much cooking sherry. Penelope proposes that Clive wear the Rev. Toop's second best suit and clerical collar so that they can dodge army regulations and see a play together. Add Penelope's sedate uncle the Bishop of Lax (Duane Beesley), the mild-mannered visiting clergyman Rev. Arthur Humphrey (Josh Astle), and an escaped Russian spy (Danny Hall) and mayhem ensues when all five men end up chasing each other in clerical garb! The action is incredibly fast-paced and you almost can't catch your breath in between fits of laughter! I especially loved when Clive, Toop, the Bishop, and the Russian spy jump over the prostrate Miss Skillon as they run in and out of the drawing room and then jump again even though she is no long there the second time they run through (this was my favorite scene in my high school production even though I always worried that they wouldn't jump in time!). I also loved all of the scenes with various characters hiding in the cupboard (my family and friends loved those scenes in my high school production because of all of my funny poses). The cast is outstanding and they handle all of the physical comedy so well! Curtis is particularly hilarious whenever he becomes exasperated (which is most of the time) and I loved Beesley's facial expressions as he becomes more and more outraged at the goings-on! Of course I spent most of my time watching Westfall (apparently I still remember all of my lines and blocking) and I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear at all of her antics! I was absolutely giddy during the entire show because I loved every aspect of the production, including the set, the costumes, and the performances!  Based on the audience's reactions, I was not alone! I highly recommend this show which runs through September 17 (go here for tickets). I may need to see it again!

Note:  As expected, this show made me incredibly nostalgic! I had so much fun playing Miss Skillon because it was the biggest role I had ever had and because I became very good friends with the entire cast!

Bodies Bodies Bodies

I kept hearing good things about Bodies Bodies Bodies so I decided to see it last night and I am so glad that I did because it is an incredibly entertaining dark comedy!  A wealthy recovering addict named Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) brings her new working-class girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) to a house party thrown by her childhood friend David (Pete Davidson) at his family's mansion where they all plan to ride out a hurricane.  The party consists of their wealthy and vacuous twenty-something friends Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), Jordan (Myha'la Herrold), Alice (Rachel Sennott), and Alice's much older boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace).  Tensions are already running high with old resentments and recriminations when they decide to play "Bodies Bodies Bodies" which is a murder in the dark game.  When they find a body in the game they begin to argue over the identity of the murderer but then the lights go out because of the storm and they start turning on each other after discovering a real dead body.  This is an edge-of-your-seat whodunit that kept me guessing until the end with a twist that I definitely did not see coming (some people in my audience gasped during the reveal but most laughed out loud).  The dialogue is razor sharp with a satirical look at the inability of Gen Zers to relate to each other without social media.  One of my favorite moments is when Greg, who is older than everyone else at the party, attempts to explain the meaning of a popular expression that the rest of them do not understand.  I really enjoyed the characterization throughout because, even though they are all incredibly insufferable and unsympathetic people, they behave in a way that is consistent with how they are first introduced which makes watching what they do very interesting.  The ensemble cast is outstanding with Sennott as the standout (I laughed at just about everything her character says).  Finally, I loved all of the practical lighting effects (especially the glow sticks) because they really add to the tension.  Honestly, I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting because it is so much better than the trailer would suggest.

Legally Blonde at the Empress

Yesterday I went to a matinee performance of Legally Blonde at the Empress Theatre and it was a really fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Elle Woods (Andey Samhain), a fashion merchandising student at UCLA, is sure that her boyfriend Warner Huntington III (KC Cook) is about to propose but he breaks up with her instead.  He is going to Harvard Law School and needs a more serious girl for the future he imagines.  She decides to prove him wrong and succeeds in getting into to Harvard Law School but no one there takes her seriously, especially the notoriously difficult Professor Callahan (Matthew Black) and Warner's new girlfriend Vivienne Kensington (Mackenzie Haslam).  A teaching assistant named Emmett Forrest (Jake Oaklyn) and a beautician named Paulette Bonafonte (Mya Sanchez) show her that she has what it takes to be a lawyer and she eventually gets an acquittal for her client, fitness guru Brooke Wyndham (Charity Jones).  The story is pretty faithful to the 2001 movie of the same name (except for a silly subplot involving Paulette's dream of meeting a handsome Irishman).  I am usually not a fan of turning a popular movie into a musical because I think they are very contrived but, despite the fact that the action gets bogged down a bit in the second act, I actually liked a lot of the songs.  My favorites were "What You Want," "Positive," "Blood in the Water," "Chip On My Shoulder," and "Whipped Into Shape."  I really liked the use of Elle's sorority sisters, Serena (Alayna Bria), Margot (Bridges Eatchel), and Pilar (Kimberly Webb-Zimmerman), as a Greek Chorus whenever she needs inspiration.  The choreography by Ashley Lynn Loewer is a lot of fun and the cast is very enthusiastic in executing it.  The stage has been transformed by Candice Jorgensen into a Harvard University courtyard with brick walls, the law school insignia, and photos of notable women in the legal profession (my favorite was Ruth Bader Ginsburg).  Pink metallic door curtains are located in the balcony where the Greek Chorus appears and set pieces for the classroom, court room, and beauty parlor are brought on and off stage as needed.  The preppy costumes worn by the law school students are a great contrast with the vibrant pink of Elle's wardrobe.  The best part of this show, in my opinion, is Samhain's performance because she is absolutely perfect as the irrepressible Elle.  I also want to give a shout-out to Chip who plays Bruiser because he is adorable (and so well-behaved!).  I had a great time watching this show and I recommend it to fans of the movie (go here for tickets).

Note:  I've noticed that the Empress often casts their shows without regard to race, gender, or body type.  I find it very refreshing!