Utah Opera's The Flying Dutchman

I have always wanted to experience a live performance of one of Richard Wagner's operas so I was thrilled to see The Flying Dutchman (the only Wagner opera small enough in scale to fit on the stage at Capitol Theatre) last night.  I really loved the music and the performances.  The Dutchman (Michael Chioldi) is doomed to roam the ocean endlessly on a ghostly ship as punishment for defying God but he is offered a chance for redemption every seven years when he is allowed to come ashore.  If he can find a wife who will be true to him, he will be released from the curse.  He encounters a sea captain named Daland (Kristinn Sigmundsson) who has found refuge from a storm several miles from home and, when he learns that Daland has a daughter, he offers him a treasure chest full of gold in return for her hand in marriage.  Daland is dazzled by the treasure and agrees.  Daland's daughter Senta (Wendy Bryn Harmer) is pursued by the Huntsman Erik (Robert Stahley) but she is enchanted by the legend of the Flying Dutchman and refuses him.  When Daland returns home with the mysterious stranger, Senta is transfixed by him and agrees to the betrothal.  During a homecoming celebration on the shore, Erik renews his vows of love to Senta and reminds her that she once loved him.  The stranger overhears them and, believing that all hope is lost, reveals that he is the Flying Dutchman and returns to his ship.  Senta then throws herself into the ocean vowing to be true to the Dutchman in death and her sacrifice breaks the curse.  The music is incredibly dramatic and the Utah Symphony, under the direction of Ari Pelto, performs it brilliantly.  I especially loved the leitmotifs used for the storm-tossed ocean (very powerful), the Dutchman, and Senta.  Chioldi has an amazing voice and the aria "The time has come" where the Dutchman bitterly laments his fate gave me goosebumps!  His rendition of "As from the distant dawn of my creation" with Harmer, where the Dutchman allows himself to hope that the curse might be broken and Senta longs to be the one who ends his suffering, is also quite stirring and his aria "It's hopeless! Ah! It's hopeless," where the Dutchman believes that Senta has betrayed him, is filled with so much pathos that it brought a tear to my eye.  The rest of the cast is also outstanding, particularly Sigmundsson.  This show features a large ensemble and I enjoyed the scenes with the ghosts on the Dutchman's ship because they are quite scary (perfect for the spooky season) and the scenes where Daland's crew pull his ship to shore.  The set is very minimal because projections are used instead and, even though the sudden appearance of the Dutchman's ship through the fog is unbelievably thrilling, I was just a little bit underwhelmed by this because the stage often looks empty (I fear the use of projections is becoming the norm).  I also think the final scene between the Dutchman and Senta, where they are meant to ascend to Heaven, is a bit anticlimactic because they simply walk across the stage and take each other's hands.  It took the audience a few minutes to even realize that the opera had concluded.  My criticisms are minimal because I was completely overwhelmed by the grandeur of Wagner's magnificent music and I definitely recommend getting a ticket to one of the three remaining performances of this haunting tale (go here).

Sign Here

My October Book of the Month selection was Sign Here by Claudia Lux (the other options were Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott, The Family Game by Catherine Steadman, Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong, Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese, Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah, and As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh). I thought that a novel set in Hell (literally) would be an appropriately scary read for October but this ended up being an incredibly poignant meditation on what it means to be human. I couldn't put it down! Peyote Trip works on the fifth floor of Hell in the deals department. His job involves convincing people to sell their souls in return for what they most want and he is pretty good at it. He is in line for a big promotion if he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sign on the dotted line. He observes the family, including Silas, his wife Lily, son Sean, daughter Mickey, and Mickey's new friend Ruth, when they arrive at their summer home in New Hampshire for their annual vacation. They all have their secrets, including the unresolved trauma caused by an incident involving Silas's brother, and Peyote hopes to exploit these secrets in order to secure a deal with one of them. However, he is distracted by a partnership with a newcomer to the fifth floor named Calamity Gamon who has her own agenda. The narrative alternates between the POVs of Peyote, Calamity, and the members of the Harrison family and I was deeply invested in each character to the point that I had to keep reading well into the night to find the connection between them all. There are many surprising twists and turns before reaching a powerful conclusion that took my breath away. The writing is beautiful, especially Peyote's philosophical musings about the need for love and connection (which all eventually inform his actions in the end), and the story is so clever. I especially loved the world-building in Hell. It is not like the fire and brimstone images that you get from Dante (although there are levels that get progressively worse) but is actually more relatable because it is filled with the little annoyances that plague us every day such as pens that don't work when we need them, a broken A/C in the office, the music that you dislike on a continual loop, and Jagermeister as the only option in the bar (this made me laugh because I actually like Jagermeister). This is not really the horror novel that I was expecting (it is really hard to classify the genre because it is so unique) but I am really glad that I picked it because it might my favorite book this year! I loved it and I highly recommend it!

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at the Empress

Over the past few years A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder has become one of my favorite musicals because it is absolutely hilarious!  I was really excited to see the Empress Theatre's version last night and I was certainly not disappointed!  This is an incredibly ambitious production and it is so well done that it might be the best show I've seen at the Empress!  After the death of his mother, Monty Navarro (Riley Grover) learns that she was once a member of the wealthy and aristocratic D'Ysquith family but was disinherited for marrying his father.  He is really Montague D'Ysquith Navarro and he is in line to inherit an earldom.  However, there are eight family members in line ahead of him!  When his vain and heartless girlfriend Sibela (Heather Shelley) marries the rich and handsome Lionel Holland, he decides to murder all eight family members ahead of him in the succession to become the Earl of Highhurst and win her back.  Standing in his way are the Reverend Lord Ezekiel D'Ysquith (who has an unfortunate fall from the bell tower of his cathedral), Asquith D'Ysquith, Jr. (who has a bizarre ice skating accident), Henry D'Ysquith (who is stung by bees from his own hive), Lady Hyacinth D'Ysquith (who disappears in deepest darkest Africa and is presumed dead), Major Lord Bartholomew D'Ysquith (who is decapitated while lifting weights), Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pumphrey (who is killed when a prop gun is mistakenly loaded with real bullets during her stage debut in Hedda Gabbler), Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr. (who suffers a heart attack after hearing about all of the deaths in his family), and, finally, Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith, the Earl of Highhurst, (who is mysteriously poisoned).  Along the way, Monty falls in love with Phoebe D'Ysquith (Merci Hase) and marries her which makes Sibela jealous.  When Monty becomes the Earl of Highhurst he is arrested for the murder of Lord Adalbert, the only D'Ysquith death for which he is actually not responsible!  The charges are eventually dismissed when Phoebe and Sibela each give proof that the other committed the murder!  However, Monty might not live happily ever after because Chauncey D'Ysquith, the next in line to the earldom, is lurking!  The cast is absolutely stellar!  The entire D'Ysquith family is played by Chris Last and he is so hilarious with brilliant facial expressions and gestures (not to mention some quick wardrobe changes).  Every character has a distinct personality and I (along with everyone else in the audience) laughed out loud when each one made an appearance!  My favorites are the outrageously flamboyant Henry who thinks everything is "Better with a Man" and the over-the-top Lady Hyacinth who just wants to do some good in "Lady Hyacinth Abroad."  Grover is also outstanding with great comedic timing and both Shelley and Hase have beautiful voices, especially when they harmonize together in "That Horrible Woman."  The set, featuring an elaborate stage reminiscent of an old music hall, is one of the best I've seen at the Empress and I was very impressed with how seamlessly the ensemble move the many props on and off.  I especially enjoyed the clever staging of the singing portraits at Highhurst castle and Monty trying to keep Sibela and Phoebe apart in different rooms at his flat!  The beautiful period costumes are also some of the best I've seen at the Empress, particularly the women's gowns (but I have to admit I also loved all of the top hats worn by the men).  I loved everything about this show and I can't recommend it enough!  It runs through October 22 (go here for tickets).

Amsterdam

My nephew Sean really wanted to see Amsterdam and, since he is a busy high school senior with a job, I jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with him.  We saw it last night and, even though it is a bit convoluted with some messy tonal shifts, we both liked it (apparently far more than most people).  During the Great War, Dr. Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) is assigned to a Black regiment where he meets Harold Woodsman (John David Washington).  They are both severely wounded and are cared for by Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), an unconventional but wealthy and well-connected nurse.  After the war, the three of them bond as life-long friends during an idyll in Amsterdam but eventually they go their separate ways and return to the U.S.  It is now 1933 and Burt is a doctor who specializes in caring for veterans, Harold is a lawyer, and Valerie is an over-medicated invalid.  When Senator Bill Meekins (Ed. Begley, Jr.) dies under mysterious circumstances, his daughter Elizabeth (Taylor Swift) asks Burt and Harold to investigate because he was their commanding officer.  However, they become the prime suspects when she is also murdered just as they are about to reveal their findings.  They recruit Valerie to help clear their names and encounter Burt's estranged wife Beatrice Vandenheuvel (Andrea Riseborough) and her disapproving parents Augustus (Casey Biggs) and Alvelia (Dey Young), Valerie's brother Tom (Rami Malek) and his social climbing wife Libby (Anya Taylor-Joy), General Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro), a sympathetic policeman (Matthias Schoenaerts) and his suspicious partner (Alessandro Nivola), an MI5 agent (Mike Myers) and his counterpart at Naval Intelligence (Michael Shannon) who pose as bird watchers, and representatives from an organization dedicated to replicating the beliefs espoused by a rising dictator in Europe, before discovering the truth at a reunion of their former regiment.  This cast is absolutely amazing and I loved all of the performances, especially Malek and Myers who made me laugh out loud every time they were on screen, but I will say that I enjoyed individual scenes more than the whole.  There is definitely a lot going on with commentary on just about everything from racism to PTSD to the rise of fascism but I was particularly struck by the theme of friendship and the importance of choosing who you love.  The mad-cap humor is often at odds with these heavy themes but, ultimately, I thought it was very entertaining and definitely not as bad as the critics are suggesting.

The Lion King at the Eccles

The first time I saw The Lion King was on a theatre trip to London with PTC.  I was so overcome by all of the animals marching down the aisles during "Circle of Life" that I actually shed a tear!  I have since seen in on Broadway and in SLC several times but I don't think I will ever get tired of it!  I had the chance to see it again last night at the Eccles and it was just as magical as the first time (I sat on the aisle and I have to admit that, once again, I had a tear in my eye when the baby elephant walked by me).  This musical tells the well-known story of how a lion cub learns how to be a king and I love everything about it!  The puppets and prosthetics used to represent the animals are absolutely amazing (my favorites are the giraffes and elephants) and after a while you don't even see the actors who are manipulating the puppets any more because they transform themselves so completely.  I also really like the use of light and shadow in many of the scenes, especially during the confrontation with Scar.  The staging is brilliant, especially when Mufasa and Simba frolic on the grasslands, when Sarabi and the lionesses hunt an antelope, when Simba is trapped during the wildebeest stampede in the gorge (it actually looks like the wildebeests are running towards the audience), when Timon falls into the river, and when Mufasa appears to Simba in the stars.  I also really like all of the choreography with the hyenas (I forgot that they come down the aisles during "Chow Down").  Many of the songs from the animated classic are included but there are also some new ones.  I love all of the traditional African music but I got goosebumps when Aaron Nelson, as Mufasa, sang "They Live in You," when Khalifa White, as Nala, sang "Shadowland" (my favorite song in the show), when Darian Sanders, as Simba, sang "Endless Night," and when Gugwana Dlamini, as Rafiki, sang "He Lives in You."  Of course, "Hakuna Matata" with Tony Freeman as Timon and John E. Brady as Pumbaa is a lot of fun and Spencer Plachy as Scar is suitably villainous in "Be Prepared."  I am so happy that I had the chance to see this wonderful show again and I highly recommend getting a ticket during the SLC run (go here for tickets).  I especially recommend it to families because the children all around me were awe-struck by all of the animals!