Beast

Last night I spontaneously decided to see Beast and I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting.  After his estranged wife dies from cancer, Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) takes his two teenage daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Nora (Leah Sava Jeffries), who blame him for abandoning their mother during her illness, to her village in South Africa to try and repair his relationship with them.  They stay with Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley), a family friend who manages a game reserve, and the four of them eventually go out on a game drive together.  When they stop in another village, they discover that every inhabitant has been savagely killed by a lion which, as Martin explains, is unusual behavior.  It turns out that poachers have killed this lion's entire pride and he is fighting back.  This includes injuring Martin and trapping Nate and his daughters in their incapacitated jeep.  Nate must now fight for the survival of his family against a relentless predator.  Despite some incomprehensibly bad decisions made by most of the characters (the daughters are told to stay in the vehicle at least 812 times and, you guessed it, they don't stay in the vehicle) and a predictable outcome, there are some really tense action scenes that had me holding my breath.  These are definitely enhanced by long tracking shots that are almost more menacing for what they don't show than what they do because I was always on edge not knowing where the lion would come from.  Elba is really great as an action hero (the final confrontation between his character and the lion is fantastic if a bit improbable) but he also delivers in the poignant scenes between Nate and his daughters.  Copley, who always seems slightly unhinged to me, is also really believable as a naturalist and the young actresses have nice interactions with Elba.  This is a well-crafted thriller that is more entertaining than the usual late summer fare and I recommend it!

The Drowsy Chaperone at Murray Park Amphitheater

Last night I saw my third production this year of The Drowsy Chaperone at Murray Park Amphitheater (go here for the production at the Empress Theatre and here for the one at HCTO).  I obviously love this show because, like Man in Chair, I believe in the power of musical theatre to take you away from your problems to a place where happy endings are possible for a few hours!  This show is a hilarious spoof of the genre and, as Man in Chair (JD Ramey) listens to his favorite Broadway cast recording of the popular 1920s musical The Drowsy Chaperone, he stops frequently to poke fun at all of the musical theatre tropes used in the show as the cast brings it to life in the middle of his apartment!  Mrs. Tottendale (Natalie Savage) and her Underling (Erik Christianson) are hosting the wedding of oil tycoon Robert Martin (Dallin Lewis) to the Broadway star Janet Van De Graaff (Emily Witte) who is giving up her glamorous career for love.  Robert is leaving the wedding details to George (Jenson Haws), his best friend and best man, while Janet's Chaperone (Macy Rhees), who gets drowsy when she drinks, is charged with keeping the couple apart to avoid bad luck.  Broadway producer Feldzieg (Kevin Elzey) is unhappy about losing his biggest star so he sets out to stop the wedding by hiring the famous Latin lover Adolpho (Damon Yauney) to seduce the bride.  An investor in the Feldzieg Follies is also worried about losing its star and hires two gangsters (Daniel Bearss and Alessandro Falabella), disguised as pastry chefs, to stop the wedding but a ditzy chorus girl named Kitty (Meagan Rudd) is hoping to take Janet's place.  Mayhem ensues but the happy ending comes eventually when Trix the Aviatrix (Ashley Gates) is enlisted to marry four couples on her plane while flying to Rio.  It is hilarious when the cast freezes in place every time the Man in Chair stops the record, when they perform the same movement over and over when the record has a scratch, and when they perform as different characters when the Main in Chair accidentally starts the wrong record at the beginning of Act 2.  I really enjoyed seeing Ramey once again as Man in Chair (he performed the role in the SCERA production last year) because he is really funny in his interactions with the audience but he also shows a lot of vulnerability when he compares this musical to real life in "Love Is Always Lovely in the End."  The rest of the cast also does a great job with Yauney and Rhees as standouts, especially in "I Am Adolpho."  The choreography is a lot of fun, particularly the tap dancing in "Cold Feets," and the rollerskating in "Accident Waiting to Happen," and the cast is fantastic in the big song and dance numbers "Toledo Surprise" and "I Do, I Do in the Sky."  Finally, I loved the set because the Man in Chair's elaborate apartment takes up the entire stage and the actors in the show enter from the refrigerator and from behind bookcases with minimal props (it reminded me of the set when I saw the Broadway touring production several years ago).  I had so much fun watching this show under the stars and I definitely recommend getting a ticket to one of the two remaining performances (go here).

Note:  As with The Sound of Music, I enjoyed all three productions of this show for different reasons and I can't pick a favorite!

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!