Ballet West's Onegin

I love Russian literature and music so the ballet Onegin, based on the novel by Alexander Pushkin and featuring music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is one of my favorites!  I have been looking forward to Ballet West's production since the 2022-2023 season was announced and I had the opportunity to see it last night.  I loved everything about it including the story, the music, the choreography, the performances, the sets, and the costumes!  A young girl named Tatiana (Jenna Rae Herrera) is preparing for a ball in honor of her birthday with her mother (Olivia Gusti), her sister Olga (Chelsea Keefer), and friends from the countryside.  Lensky (Jordan Veit), a poet engaged to Olga, soon arrives with Onegin (Brian Waldrep), his worldly and sophisticated friend from St. Petersburg.  Tatiana falls desperately in love with him and writes an impetuous letter declaring her feelings which her nurse delivers to him.  Prince Gremin (Jake Preece) is also invited to the ball and falls in love with Tatiana but she ignores him in favor of Onegin who, thinking her a silly girl who has read too many romantic novels, rejects her and tears up her letter.  Onegin eventually grows bored with the company and flirts outrageously with Olga.  Lensky challenges him to a duel and Onegin ends up killing him.  Years later a disillusioned Onegin visits Prince Gremin in St. Petersburg and is shocked to discover that his friend has married Tatiana.  He realizes that he is in love with the beautiful princess and writes her a letter.  In a dramatic reversal of fortune, she rejects him and tears up his letter.  I love Tchaikovsky's music because it is so passionate which makes it the perfect backdrop for this tragic love story.  I especially loved the music during the duel because it is unbelievably heartbreaking.  The choreography is some of most innovative I've seen performed by Ballet West.  I loved the wild abandon of the folk dances in the countryside, particularly the leaps across the stage by the women in the ensemble, juxtaposed with the elegant and stately waltzes at the ball in St. Petersburg.  I also loved the tumultuous and acrobatic final Pas de Deux between Onegin and Tatiana.  Herrera and Waldrep danced their roles brilliantly, executing challenging throws and maneuvers with an incredible amount of emotion (the audience spontaneously applauded when Tatiana gestured for Onegin to leave).  The elegant sets and beautiful costumes in muted jewel tones transport the audience to imperial Russia for a few hours and I definitely recommend taking this journey.  There are three more performances at Capitol Theatre (go here for tickets) including a matinee on October 29.

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5

The Utah Symphony performed an all Russian program last night so I was a very happy girl!  The orchestra, under the baton of guest conductor David Danzmayr (who was very dynamic), began with the Prelude to Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky.  Even though this opera is about the struggle between Peter the Great, who wants to implement Western reforms in Russia, and the Old Believers, who want to overthrow him, the Prelude depicts the dawn over the Moskva River and it is actually quite beautiful and soothing.  I especially loved the melody played by the oboe and the variations that followed.  Next came Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev with Andrew Staupe as soloist.  I really loved the haunting opening theme played by the clarinet because it reminded me of Russian folk music and the themes played by the solo piano are exciting and dramatic.  Staupe's performance was amazing (I loved watching his fingers fly up and down the keyboard) and he was rewarded with a well-earned standing ovation!  After the intermission, the orchestra performed the piece I was waiting all night to hear, Symphony No. 5 by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  I love Tchaikovsky's music because I think it is so emotional and that is especially true of this particular piece because it is his confrontation with fate.  I loved the plaintive theme played by the woodwinds in the first movement and the horn solo in the second movement was absolutely brilliant.  The final movement is incredibly stirring, particularly the themes played by the brass and the timpani, and, even though this piece is filled with melancholy and yearning, the ending is triumphant!  This concert was a wonderful way to spend an evening and, if you are a fan of Russian composers, I recommend getting a ticket for the same program tonight (go here).

TÁR

After hearing the hype about Cate Blanchett's performance from all of the fall film festivals, TÁR became one of my most anticipated movies and I was so excited to have a chance to see it last night!  This cautionary tale about the fall from grace of a brilliant composer and conductor is incredibly compelling and thought-provoking.  Lydia Tár (Blanchett) is arrogant and imperious in her professional life as the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and remote and unfeeling in her personal relationships with her partner Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), her personal assistant Francesca Lentini (Noemie Merlant), and a Russian cellist named Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer).  When an allegation of impropriety towards young conductor (Sylvia Flote) she once mentored is suggested, she slowly comes undone as everyone in her life turns against her.  Blanchett gives an incredibly powerful performance because her character is very unsympathetic (she is the architect of her own demise) and yet you somehow begin to feel sympathy for her.  This is a long and slow moving character study but my attention never wavered because Blanchett is so captivating and every scene is fraught with meaning (the significance of which is not always immediately apparent but is eventually revealed).  I really enjoyed the ambiguity of the narrative because the audience is never really sure if she is guilty of what she has been accused of, especially when a supposedly incriminating video of a lecture at Julliard surfaces and turns public opinion against her because the audience knows what really transpired.  It is an interesting commentary on cancel culture and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  I also really enjoyed the discussion about whether artists should be judged by their work or by their behavior.  Finally, as a fan of classical music, I was impressed by the use of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto, especially since Blanchett is actually conducting and Kauer is performing.  This will not be for everyone but I absolutely loved it (I predict that it will appear on my top ten list for the year).

Halloween Ends

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Halloween but I really disliked Halloween Kills so I didn't know what to expect when I went to see Halloween Ends, the final movie in the trilogy, last night.  It ended up being a mixed bag for me because the concept is very compelling but, in my opinion, the final resolution is anticlimactic.  It is once again Halloween in Haddonfield and a college student named Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is babysitting a young boy named Jeremy (Jaxon Goldberg).  When Jeremy accidentally falls to his death, Corey is cleared of any wrongdoing but the town holds him responsible and he is often bullied and harassed.  Four years after his latest killing spree, Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) seems to have disappeared while Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is trying to put her past behind her and live a normal life with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak).  Corey begins a relationship with Allyson and, while Laurie is initially sympathetic to Corey's plight as the town pariah, she comes to disapprove of the romance because she senses evil inside him.  After a particularly brutal confrontation with a group of students in which he is severely injured, Corey encounters Myers in the sewer where he has been living for the past four years.  Myers sees himself in Corey and eventually helps him kill everyone who has persecuted him which culminates in an attack on Laurie.  It is an interesting twist to sideline Michael for most of the runtime to focus on Corey and how he becomes a serial killer but it worked for me because I was very intrigued by what the filmmakers had to say about the nature of evil.  However, this narrative is basically abandoned in order to get to the expected confrontation between Michael and Laurie so there is no payoff (I wish the filmmakers had been fully committed to Corey's character arc and the idea that evil doesn't die but just changes shape).  Furthermore, I was so disappointed by the final showdown between these two iconic characters because Michael's death seems much too easy after all of Laurie's previous attempts to kill her nemesis (I think the saga should have concluded with Halloween because the scenes where Laurie stalks Michael through her house are incredibly suspenseful and terrifying).  I liked this more than the previous installment but the bar was set pretty low.

Thriller 2022

I have been attending Odyssey Dance Theatre's annual Halloween dance extravaganza Thriller for the past fifteen years and it has always been one of my favorite Halloween traditions.  However, Derryl Yeager, the founder and artistic director of ODT, is retiring so this year's production will be the final one.  Since I won't be able to see it again I enjoyed it even more than usual last night and so did the loud and enthusiastic crowd at Kingsbury Hall!  There weren't any new dance numbers but that didn't really matter because I felt very nostalgic about all of my old favorites.  I looked forward with great anticipation to seeing the undead cavorting in a graveyard in "Thriller," a breakdancing mummy and his maidens in "Curse of the Mummy," misbehaving pandas during their first recital in "Miss Alli's Nightmare," a Pas de Deux gone horribly wrong in "Frankenstein & Frankenstein," tap dancing skeletons in "Dem Bones," schoolgirls who are possessed by porcelain dolls in "Annabelle of the Ball," a trio of Jasons wielding a variety of weapons (including chainsaws) in "Jason Jam," scarecrows that are not what they seem in "Children of the Corn," a coven of condemned witches seeking vengeance from beyond the grave in "Salem's Mass" (my favorite number in the show), demonic dolls in "Chucky-Rama," acrobatic vampires in "Lost Boys," and a costume parade in "Trick or Treat."  Every one of these numbers put a huge smile on my face and I think "Jason Jam" was even funnier than usual!  Once again the artists from Aeris Aerial Arts performed "Siren of the Sea," "Phantom of the Opera," "Full Moon," and "Slytherin" and these numbers were so much fun to watch because I have no idea how they do what they do!  My favorite was "Full Moon" which involved a group of six artists costumed as wolves and one as Little Red Riding Hood performing on a spinning globe.  Finally, I was so happy to see the return of Bubbles the Clown (he is hilarious) in between the numbers!  I had so much fun last night (as well as at every performance through the years) and, if you have never seen it before, I highly recommend getting a ticket before it is too late!  It runs at Kingsbury Hall through October 22 and at Tuacahn through October 31 (go here for tickets).