Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Eccles

I have seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat so many times I've lost count so it takes something special to pique my interest in seeing yet another production.  When I found out that Casey Elliott (my sister has turned me into a huge fan) would be starring as Joseph in a concert version of the show with Lexi Walker as the Narrator and other well-known actors from the Utah theatre scene in the cast, I immediately bought a ticket!  The show was last night and Elliott is the best Joseph I have ever seen (I am still extremely bitter that I saw the understudy instead of Donny Osmond when the Broadway touring production was in town).  It tells the well-known Bible story of how Joseph rises to become the Pharaoh's second-in-command after his brothers betray him for being their father's favorite with songs that span every musical genre.  This is a concert rather than a full production but it features really fun costumes, exciting choreography, and a simple multi-level set.  The brothers, including Kyle Olsen (sigh) as Reuben, Abram Yarbro as Simeon, Zac Wilson as Levi, Matthew Sanguine as Naphtali, Corwin Belnap as Issachar, Keith Goodrich as Asher, Avery Ernsberger as Dan, Scotty Fletcher as Zebulon, McCade Matheson as Gad, Yahosh Bonner as Judah, and Joey Hokulani as Benjamin, each have a different color of athleisure wear with Joseph in white and the wives, including Abby Miller, Keyara Hebdon, Adrien Swenson, Maggie Christensen, Bailey Matheson, Eliza Lucero, and Emma Andreasen Moore, wear sparkly black outfits with shoes in a color that corresponds to a brother.  Accessories are added for various numbers and I especially loved the tinsel fringe coats (made famous by Taylor Swift) worn by the wives in "Go, Go, Go Joseph" and the berets worn by the brothers in "Those Canaan Days." The set looks a bit like a pyramid, which works especially well for "Song of a King," and has four different levels (Walker sometimes struggled to reach the different levels with her stiletto heels but her reactions to her wobbles were so funny) with lights on the edge of each one that flash and change colors (I loved the lighting effects for "Close Every Door" because they look like a prison). The fabulous live orchestra sits on stage on either side of the set and the One Voice Children's Choir is located behind it.  While the songs don't have the usual staging they do have some great choreography, especially "Jacob and Sons," "One More Angel in Heaven," "Go, Go, Go Joseph," "Song of a King," "Those Canaan Days," and "Mega Mix." The performances are outstanding and the audience responded the most to Elliott's powerful rendition of "Close Every Door" (he and the choir just about blew the roof off the Eccles Theatre), Walker's "A Pharaoh's Story," Shaun Johnson's hilarious "Song of a King," and Bonner's interpretation of "Benjamin Calypso."  This was so much fun and I recommend getting a ticket to one of the two remaining performances today (go here).

Around the World in 80 Days at HCT

If there is one thing that sets Hale Centre Theatre apart from all of the other local theatre companies it is their ability to create dazzling and awe-inspiring spectacles on their million dollar state of the art stage and that is exactly what they have done with their latest production, Around the World in 80 Days. I had the chance to see it last night and I loved it because it is so much fun! The story, based on the novel of the same name by Jules Verne, is simple and centers on a wager that a wealthy and eccentric Victorian gentleman named Phileas Fogg (Will Ingram) makes with the members of his club. He bets half of his fortune that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days and he and his hapless valet Passepartout (Ryan Simmons) set off that very night! Soon Inspector Fix (BJ Whimpey), who believes that Fogg robbed the Bank of England, and Mrs. Aouda (Niki Rahimi), a woman they rescue from a funeral pyre in India, join them to visit various exotic ports around the world as they race the clock to return to London in time. This adaptation by Laura Eason is highly theatrical and every port of call, including Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Yokohama, Chicago, and Liverpool, features wildly imaginative sequences with beautiful costumes (I loved all of Mrs. Aouda's elaborate dresses), dynamic projections (I loved the routes shown on various maps as they travel), clever sets (I loved the use of steamer trunks on all of the different modes of transportation), and energetic choreography with aerialists (Dave Hollerbach, Lance Nielsen, Mandi Johnson, Jessica Kehl, Alyssa Larson, and Samantha Nielsen) performing on various apparatuses (I loved the silks). My favorite sequences are an elephant ride in India, an encounter in an opium den in Hong Kong, a circus in Yokohama, a Wild West train robbery, and a storm at sea. This is not a musical per se but there is a stirring soundtrack that complements the action very well (I particularly loved the use of an aria from the opera I Pagliacci). The whole show is staged as a Victorian melodrama with red velvet curtains around the theater, vaudeville style footlights surrounding the stage, and chandeliers hanging from the rafters. Queen Victoria (Julie Silvestro) even watches the show from the audience! The actors also mimic vaudeville performers and I was especially impressed with Simmons because his physicality is brilliant and his facial expressions are hilarious and completely over the top. The aerialists are simply amazing (I do not know how they do what they do and I couldn't take my eyes off them) and the ensemble (who all play multiple roles and move set pieces seamlessly on and off stage) is also outstanding. This is a show that is not to be missed and I cannot recommend it enough! It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through October 21 (go here for tickets).

A Haunting in Venice

As a fan of Kenneth Branagh's previous Agatha Christie adaptations, I was really excited to see A Haunting in Venice last night.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and think it is the best of the trilogy.  Crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) compels Hercule Poirot (Branagh), now living in Venice with a former police officer named Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio) as a bodyguard, to come out of retirement to attend a seance and help her expose a medium as a fraud.  The seance takes place on Halloween at a palazzo, purported to be haunted by the spirits of orphans who died there, owned by the opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly).  She has enlisted the medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) to contact the spirit of her daughter Alicia who committed suicide after her fiance Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen) broke their engagement.  During the seance, Reynolds seems to be possessed by Alicia's spirit and announces that she did not die by suicide but was murdered by one of the guests.  When Reynolds is later found dead, Poirot surmises that she was killed by the same person who killed Alicia and enlists Oliver's help to interrogate the guests: Rowena's housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), Alicia's doctor Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) and his precocious son Leopold (Jude Hill), Reynolds' assistants Desdemona and Nicholas Holland (Emma Laird and Ali Khan, respectively), and Gerard.  This is very loosely adapted from Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party and, once I stopped worrying about the differences between it and the source material, I began to appreciate it as a moody and atmospheric exploration of grief with some powerful performances from Branagh and his all-star cast.  I loved the addition of the supernatural to the usual murder mystery and there are some truly scary sequences.  The images on the screen are stunning and the cinematography makes use of fish-eye lenses, Dutch angles, extreme close-ups, and overhead shots to emphasize the disorientation felt by the characters.  The dramatic low-level lighting and the score by Hildur Gudnadottir (who is becoming one of my favorite movie composers) featuring a plaintive melody by a solo clarinet adds to the unease.  I really liked Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile but I loved this and I highly recommend it!

Note:  I really hope Branagh keeps making these adaptations!

Into the Woods at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

I sometimes get a little bit exasperated because all of the theatre companies near me seem to cycle through the same popular shows (Clue is the current darling) but one show that I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing no matter how often it is performed is Into the Woods. I love it so much because the story is clever, the music is beautiful, and the messages are both incredibly thought-provoking and poignant. I was able to see a production at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Several fairy tale characters must go into the woods to make their wishes come true: a Witch (Samantha Frisby) wishes to reverse a curse, a Baker (Marshall Lamm) and his Wife (Rian Gordon) wish to have a child, Cinderella (Lauren Pope) wishes to attend the festival and meet a prince, Jack (Cole Hixson) wishes to save his cow Milky White (Shannon Follette) from being sold at market, and Little Red Riding Hood (Eliza Johnson) wishes to visit her Grandmother (Shannon Follette). However, having a wish come true does not always result in a happily ever after and actions can have unintended consequences. The entire cast is outstanding, especially for a community theatre, and I was so impressed with the execution of every musical number! My favorite was, as always, "Agony" because Cameron Ward, as Cinderella's Prince, and Isaac Moss, as Rapunzel's Prince, are hilariously overwrought with facial expressions and gestures that are completely over the top! I also enjoyed "It Takes Two" because it is an important turning point for the Baker and his Wife and Lamm and Gordon, who have great chemistry, give very spirited performances, "The Last Midnight" because Frisby sings it so powerfully, and "No One Is Alone" because it is such a beautiful moment and Lamm, Pope, Hixson, and Johnson gave me goosebumps with their moving rendition. The staging is really innovative with lots of fun special effects and I particularly liked the use of books to represent the birds that help Cinderella and the flowers that lure Little Red Riding Hood from the path as well as a beanstalk that actually grows. The set is fantastic and looks like an abandoned house that has been overtaken by a forest (an interesting interpretation that I have never seen before) with ivy covered bookcases in the midst of the trees. The lighting design is dramatic, especially the lanterns, and the costumes are straight out of a fairy tale (my favorites were those worn by the Witch both before and after her transformation). I will always love seeing this show and this production put a smile on my face! It runs through October 7 on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and I definitely recommend it (go here for tickets).

Dvorak's "New World" Symphony

It is opening weekend for the Utah Symphony Masterworks Series and I could not have been more excited for last night's concert because it featured three pieces that I really like!  The orchestra began with Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" by Antonin Dvorak.  It is one of the most popular symphonies performed in this country and it is one of the few that I recognize by name instantly when I hear it!  I especially love the recurring fanfares by the brass which are repeated by the woodwinds in the first movement and the beautiful but almost mournful melodies played by the horns and strings in the second movement.  It was also fun to hear variations of these themes appear once again during the powerful conclusion.  After the intermission, the orchestra was joined by soloist Aubree Oliverson for Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto.  Oliverson made her debut with the Utah Symphony's annual Salute to Youth concert when she was eleven years old so she told the crowd how excited she was to be back.  I really enjoyed her evocative interpretation of this piece, especially the dynamic, almost urgent, rhythms performed along with the woodwinds in the final movement.  I also loved the main theme played by the solo violin along with a playful theme by the piano in the first movement and a plaintive theme played by a solo oboe in the second.  Oliverson received an enthusiastic standing ovation prompting her to play "Por Una Cabeza" by Carlos Gardel (the arrangement by John Williams used in The Scent of a Woman) with the orchestra as an encore.  The concert concluded with Bolero by Maurice Ravel which I was eagerly awaiting all evening because it is the first piece of classical music that I ever loved!  When I was young my Dad had an 8-track tape featuring various classical pieces programmed on a Moog synthesizer.  My favorite was Bolero and I listened to it over and over again (I loved it when the synthesizer simulates applause at the end).  I didn't even know that I was listening to classical music because it was the coolest thing ever!  It begins almost imperceptibly with a snare drum (playing the same rhythm throughout the entire piece in an incredible feat of endurance) and then a melody is played by a solo flute.  This melody is repeated over and over by the various instruments in the orchestra (my favorite is the solo trombone), building in intensity and volume for over fourteen minutes until a dramatic crescendo at the end.  I may or may not have gotten a tad too enthusiastic while listening to this epic performance (I apologize to everyone I was sitting by).  This entire program is amazing, but if you have never heard Bolero performed live, do yourself a favor and get a ticket for tonight's concert (go here).

Note:  The orchestra plays "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the opening concerts of the new season and, for some reason, I find this very exciting!  Even before I became a subscriber I would always try to attend the opening concert so I could hear it!