Avatar: The Way of Water

Last night I went with my family to see Avatar: The Way of Water and, as a huge fan of the first movie, I almost couldn't contain my excitement!  It is an immersive spectacle with unparalleled visual effects and I absolutely loved it!  Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is the chief of the Omaticaya tribe and he and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) are the parents of an adopted daughter named Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), sons Neteyam (James Flatters) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and daughter Tuktirey (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss).  They are also the guardians of Spider (Jack Champion), the son of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who was left behind when the humans were forced to leave Pandora.  After a decade of peace, the Na'vi are once again threatened by another invasion of humans wanting to prepare Pandora for resettlement because the Earth is becoming uninhabitable.  Sully also faces a personal threat from a group of recombinants, Na'vi avatars with the memories of the dead marines, including Quaritch, he and Neytiri killed in battle.  Fearing for the tribe, Sully makes the decision to leave the forest and take refuge with the Metkayina tribe, a reef dwelling people led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his wife Ronal (Kate Winslet).  As Sully and his family attempt to adapt to a new way of life, it is only a matter of time before Quaritch finds them.  This movie is visually stunning, espcially the underwater diving sequences, and I felt completely immersed in the world of the reef (we saw it in 3D HFR).  However, it is more than just a spectacle because I really loved the focus on what it means to be an outsider, particularly the relationship between Lo'ak and Payakan, a cetacean who has been shunned by his species.  I also really loved the journey that Sully and Neytiri take as parents because they focus so much on protecting their children but ultimately end up being saved by them and the emphasis on the father-son relationship between between Sully and Lo'ak is incredibly poignant.  Finally, the theme of respect for the environment is very powerful, especially the scenes where whalers hunt tulkuns merely for the sake of acquiring a valuable resource.  My only complaint about the plot is that Kiri's story seems very underdeveloped (but there are three more sequels planned).  The action sequences in the third act kept me on the edge of my seat and I was very impressed by the emotional performances of Worthington and Saldana.  Watching this was a thrilling experience (but doesn't quite live up to that of watching Top Gun: Maverick) and I highly recommend it!  I already have tickets to watch it again with my niece!

Gingerbread Houses 2022

Yesterday afternoon Sean, Tashena, Marilyn, and I made gingerbread houses which is a tradition we have had ever since Tashena joined our family and, as always, it was a lot of fun!  This year I got kits for these elaborate gingerbread manor houses because I thought they looked so cool but they ended up taking a long time to decorate!  None of us even bothered to decorate the backs of our houses (Sean didn't even decorate the sides) because they were so big.  They came with lots of candy (I still bought more) and royal icing in bags with piping tips.  It turns out that I am not very good at piping (I even had a major incident in which I got icing everywhere and I had to have Sean get it all back in the bag) but I think it would be fun to learn how to do it better.

I always have to get the traditional picture of Sean eating the icing!

Sean's house.

Tashena's house.

Marilyn's house.

My house.

Our gingerbread village!  I think they all turned out great this year!

Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir 2022

I am a huge fan of Lea Salonga!  She is an incredibly talented vocalist who originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon on Broadway and provided the singing voices for Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan but I love her because she performed the role of Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway and was handpicked by Cameron Mackintosh to appear as Eponine in the 10th Anniversary concert at the Albert Hall.  It is not an exaggeration to say that I have watched the DVD of this concert hundreds of times (she also appeared as Fantine in the 25th Anniversary concert but I prefer the former because I love her version of "On My Own" which my favorite song from the show).  When I learned that Salonga would be the guest for this year's Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir concerts, I desperately wanted a ticket but, alas, I was not selected in the lottery.  No matter because I was able to do the next best thing by attending the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast featuring Salonga and Sir David Suchet yesterday morning.  Even though it was only a 30 minute performance and not the entire concert, I got to hear Salonga sing "O Holy Night" and that will definitely be a highlight of 2022 for me!  The broadcast began with "When the Shepherds Saw the Light" featuring the Tabernacle Choir, the Orchestra at Temple Square, the Bells at Temple Square, and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble.  It was quite stirring!  Then Salonga sang "Payapang Daigdig," a Christmas song beloved in her country (the Philippines) because it was written as a symbol of hope during World War II.  Even though I didn't understand the words, it was so moving.  Then the orchestra and the choir performed "Hosanna in Excelcis," which is a beautiful arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon in D.  Next came "O Holy Night" and, for those of you keeping score at home, this was the fourth time I got to hear my favorite Christmas song (I have loved it since I was a child) this holiday season.  I don't know if anyone can beat Salonga's performance!  Sir David Suchet read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then we heard "Angels from the Realms of Glory" which was also very stirring!  After the broadcast ended, the audience got to hear another portion of the concert featuring the Nicholas Winton story as told by Sir David Suchet.  Winton helped to evacuate hundreds of children, mostly Jewish, from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II.  It wasn't until 50 years later when he was reunited with several of those he helped to rescue that the full extent of his actions were known.  The message of this story is that you never know when a little spark will fill the world with light and we were asked to hold up the lights on our phones as the choir sang "Once in Royal David's City."  It was amazing!  I am definitely glad I decided to get up early (and put on a skirt) because I loved this concert so much!

A Soulful Holiday with the Utah Symphony

This holiday season I have been incredibly lucky to be able to see some wonderful Christmas concerts!  I had an opportunity to see another one with the Utah Symphony last night and it was amazing!  The orchestra was joined by Broadway star and former member of Postmodern Jukebox Morgan James.  She has a very classic soul sound and I loved her bluesy arrangements of Christmas songs (I was definitely tapping my toes throughout the concert).  The orchestra began with a medley of Christmas songs called "A Christmas Festival" and then James took the stage with a sultry rendition of "Cool Yule."  She continued with "White Christmas" and then performed an original song written for her Christmas album A Very Magnetic Christmas (so-called because it was recorded on analog tape) called "Long as I Got You."  She mentioned that she didn't think a Christmas concert was complete without the next song and I immediately hoped that it would be "O Holy Night."  I was absolutely thrilled when I heard the opening notes (I agree with her assessment).  This was the third time that I have been able to hear my favorite Christmas song this season and her rendition was brilliant because she built to a powerful conclusion (including timpani!) that just about blew the roof off of Abravanel Hall!  James took a break to change into another fabulous vintage gown (the second of four) while the orchestra played "Waltz of the Flowers" from Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky.  James returned to the stage with "This Christmas" and then performed my favorite song of the evening, "River" (I love Joni Mitchell).  She concluded her first set with a lively version of "Winter Wonderland."  After the intermission, the orchestra performed "Sleigh Ride."  I've heard them perform this before and my favorite part is when the trumpet mimics the neighing of a horse at the end while the player wears the head of a horse!  James continued with "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday" after which the orchestra performed the Suite from Polar Express.  In her final set, James explained that she chose the songs "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "The Christmas Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" because they reminded her of her childhood and she hoped that we all had happy memories of Christmas, too.  She concluded with "All I Want For Christmas" because it has now become the most popular Christmas song of all time!  James was really personable and quite funny and when she returned to the stage after thunderous applause, she told us that she didn't have anything planned and then immediately began "What Are You Doing For New Year's Eve?" as an encore!  It was a great night!

A Christmas Story at PTC

Yesterday afternoon I was able to see Ralphie Parker (Mack Boyer) try to convince his Mother (Stacie Bono), the Old Man (Danny Bernardy), his teacher Miss Shields (EJ Zimmerman), and even Santa Claus (Paris Alexander Nesbitt) to get him an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas for the second time in as many days. Unfortunately, this was a rare miss for PTC because I found it to be completely underwhelming in almost every way. Even if I had not just seen a vastly superior production at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts the night before, I still would have been disappointed with this show. I don't like to criticize an understudy but I think a theatre company the caliber of PTC should have understudies who are prepared to go on stage at a moment's notice.  Howard Kaye (as the understudy for Jean Shepherd) did not seem at all prepared for today's performance because he read from a script during the whole show and he still frequently stumbled over his lines. This was really distracting because Shepherd narrates the story and appears in almost every scene. The rest of the cast was fine but no one really stood out to me, except Zimmerman who was hilarious as the uptight Miss Shields.  Boyer has an incredible voice and I liked the vocal performances of the children in the ensemble but the big production numbers that I usually enjoy, such as "When You're a Wimp," "Ralphie to the Rescue," "Up on Santa's Lap," and "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana," were incredibly lackluster because the choreography in these numbers was very minimal. Even the showstoppers "A Major Award" and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" were surprisingly bland (I am normally a huge fan of Karen Azenburg's choreography). The stage was configured to look like a giant snow globe and this is really fun but, with the exception of the classroom at Warren G. Harding Elementary School (which featured the artwork of local students on the bulletin board), the sets were a bit bland and very unwieldy to move on and off the stage. There were also some technical difficulties (it was quite disappointing when the all-important lamp didn't light up) and the production did not use real dogs to portray the Bumpus hounds (one of my favorites scenes). Maybe I am being too hard on this show but I expected a lot more for the cost of the ticket (especially since I saw a better show for a fourth of the price).  If you are looking for some Christmas cheer, I suggest skipping this and seeing Scrooge: A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, A Christmas Carol at either HCT or HCTO, or Elf The Musical at CenterPoint Theatre instead.

Note:  I was able to see 80 theatre productions this year (not including the other performing arts such as the symphony, opera, ballet, etc.).  My favorites have been Hadestown at Broadway at the Eccles, See How They Run at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder at the Empress Theatre, Camelot at HCTO, and Clue at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  I have renewed all of my subscriptions so I am looking forward to more great theatre in 2023!