May December

Last night my nephew and I went to the Broadway to see May December and we both found it to be incredibly thought-provoking.  Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) is a television actor who inserts herself into the lives of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) and her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) because she will be portraying Gracie in an upcoming independent movie about their scandalous romance.  Gracie had an extramarital affair with Joe, who was then in seventh grade, was arrested, gave birth to their first child in prison, and then married him when she was released.  Twenty years later, as their twins are about to graduate from high school, they seem like the perfect suburban family but, as Elizabeth starts delving into the past, the facade comes crumbling down.  This is really campy, with one of the funniest line readings I've ever heard and an incredibly melodramatic score, but then it becomes absolutely devastating.  All three actors give amazing performances because their characters are so complex and reveal themselves little by little.  Gracie seems confident and happy around Elizabeth and her neighbors and broken and fragile behind closed doors with her family but then we see how passive-aggressive she is with her daughters and how manipulative she is with Joe.  Moore uses changes in her facial expressions and voice, slipping into and out of a breathy lisp, to show her character's intent and it is masterful.  Elizabeth seems like an ambitious method actor trying to understand the character she will be portraying so that she can do justice to the story but then she starts to blur the lines between reality and art to actually become Gracie and her behavior is just as predatory.  Portman's performance is brilliant because she eventually mimics all of Gracie's mannerisms and the transformation is so subtle that you don't realize how unsympathetic she has become.  Joe protests that he is not a victim and that he has been happily married to Gracie for twenty years but he is constantly bullied and belittled by her.  Melton's role is less showy but no less powerful, especially when Joe realizes the full impact of what has been done to him (by both women).  There is so much to unpack with all of these characters and it is fascinating!  I loved the use of mirrors because we eventually see who these characters really are when reflected by others and the focus on Joe's hobby of raising monarch butterflies is the perfect metaphor for the transformation these characters go through.  The more I think about this movie, the more I like it and I would definitely recommend it.

White Christmas at CPT

Last night I got to see CPT's delightful production of White Christmas with both of my sisters and it was so much fun! The three of us grew up watching the movie version because it was our mom's favorite so this show is very nostalgic for us. Broadway stars Bob Wallace (David Simon) and Phil Davis (Craig Williams) meet the Haynes sisters, Judy (Danna Facer) and Betty (Bailee DeYoung), and decide to follow them to Vermont where they have a gig over the Christmas holidays at the Columbia Inn. There they meet their former commanding officer from the war, General Waverly (Eric Millward) , who now owns the inn but is having financial difficulties due to the lack of snow. Wallace and Davis decide to bring their show, with a few numbers featuring the Haynes sisters, to the Columbia Inn and invite the soldiers from their company to a performance on Christmas Eve. Add a busybody receptionist (Melody L. Baugh) and a precocious granddaughter (Scarlett Burt) who want to be in show business, an overwrought stage manager (Ian Wellisch) feuding with a taciturn handyman (Nathan Burt), and love gone awry between both couples and you have a thoroughly enjoyable show full of big old fashioned song and dance numbers! The four incredibly talented leads do a really good job with the singing and dancing in "Sisters" (this is my favorite song in the show and my sisters and I are always ready to perform our version if the actresses playing the Haynes sisters are ever unable to go on), "The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing," "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep," "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me," and "How Deep Is the Ocean." The ensemble is fantastic and I loved the staging and the high-energy choreography in "Let Yourself Go," "Snow," "Blue Skies," "I Love a Piano" (I was especially impressed with the tap dancing in this number because it is pretty spectacular), and the iconic "White Christmas" (complete with audience participation and snow falling throughout the theatre). However, Burt absolutely steals the show with her adorable version of "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" and it brought the house down. The costumes (and there are a lot of them) are really fun and the sets are quite elaborate, especially the lobby and the barn decorated for Christmas at the Columbia Inn and the shimmering curtains in the Regency Room. This show has such a heart-warming message and it is sure to give you a big dose of Christmas cheer! It runs on the Barlow main stage through December 21 (go here for tickets).

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

I promised my sister that I wouldn't see The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes without her (we are huge fans of both the books and movies in The Hunger Games franchise) and, even though it was really hard to wait, I am so glad that we were able to see it together last night because we both loved it and couldn't stop talking about it on the drive home!  Eager to restore the former prosperity and honor of his family, Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) volunteers to become a mentor to one of the tributes in the 10th Annual Hunger Games, a scheme devised by Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) and the Academy Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dincklage), who created the games, to increase viewership.  He is assigned Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the female tribute from District 12 who is also a member of a traveling musical group known as the Covey.  He wants her to win in order to claim the prize money given for mentoring the victor in the games so he begins proposing changes, such as introducing the tributes to the Capitol and allowing sponsors to send them supplies during the game, in order to help her.  However, he soon forms a bond with Lucy Gray and will eventually risk everything, even his humanity, to save her.  I loved almost everything about this movie!  The story is so clever and compelling because it traces the genesis of the various elements used in the subsequent Hunger Games as well as Snow's transformation into the tyrannical leader of Panem and it is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book (events that are left out, such as the funerals of Arachne Crane and Felix Ravinstill and Snow's search for a guitar for Lucy Gray, are not really necessary in my opinion).  I loved the production design because the Capitol is clearly rebuilding after the devastation of war but there are definitely glimpses of what it will become and the academy, the zoo, and the arena are exactly like what I pictured when reading the book.  The costumes are so dramatic and I especially loved the academy uniforms, Lucy Gray's dress, and Dr. Gaul's wild outfits.  The use of bluegrass music for Lucy Gray's songs is brilliant (I especially loved "Nothing You Can Take From Me," "Pure as the Driven Snow," and, of course, "The Hanging Tree") and I loved all of the callbacks to the original score.  The cast is perfect because Blyth looks the part and portrays all of Snow's conflicting motivations so well, Zegler has an incredible screen presence and her performance of the songs is a highlight, Jason Schwartzman is an absolute hoot as Lucky Flickerman and looks like he could really be a relative of Stanley Tucci's Caesar Flickerman, and Davis steals the show by chewing up the scenery as the evil Dr. Gaul.  My only complaint is that the third act is a bit rushed but I understand the necessity of it (I've heard that there is a four hour cut in existence).  I think this is the strongest movie in the franchise since Catching Fire and I highly recommend it to fans!

Next Goal Wins

Last night I went to see Next Goal Wins because I simply cannot resist an inspirational sports movie and I enjoyed seeing this true story (told with a few wild embellishments according to a priest, played rather amusingly by director Taika Waititi, who breaks the fourth wall to narrate) with a large crowd who frequently laughed out loud.  Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is coerced into to coaching the football team in American Samoa, notorious for losing by the widest margin (31-0) ever during a game against Australia, after being fired from the U.S. men's national team.  The organizer of the team (Oscar Kightley) just wants them to score one goal, which they have never done in international play, but Rongen is a volatile alcoholic with anger management issues and immediately butts heads with the devoutly religious, traditional, and laid back players.  The team eventually finds success but they also teach Rongen that there are more important things than winning.  This is full of the usual sports movie tropes, such as a training montage to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," a motivational locker room speech, as well as a suspenseful come from behind win, and it definitely includes a white savior narrative (although it is somewhat subverted by the fact that the team wins in spite of Rongen).  Fassbender's performance is surprisingly bad and I actually cared about the individual members of the team (especially a transgender player, the first to ever compete in a FIFA qualifying match, brilliantly portrayed by Kaimana) more than Rongen and I wish that their character arcs had been emphasized more.  Despite all of this, however, there is enough heart and humor (I loved all of the references to The Karate Kid) to make this an entertaining watch and I recommend it, especially to fans of the genre, although it is definitely one you can wait to see when it streams.

Brahms' Symphony No. 2

Last night I was back at Abravanel Hall for another Utah Symphony concert and it was wonderful.  The orchestra began with a modern piece called Prelude a une nuit americaine by Mathilde Wantenaar.  It is meant to represent a sultry evening with just the hint of jazz in the air and I really enjoyed the energy and vitality, especially the tension created by the themes played by the brass.  Next came Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss and this was my favorite piece of the evening because I could definitely envision a dying man searching for what lies beyond just by closing my eyes and listening to the music.  It begins very slowly with beautiful themes played by the woodwinds and a solo violin to represent dreams once cherished during a lifetime.  Then there is a dramatic change in tone with a crash of timpani and fanfares from the brass leading to some intense passages from the violins to depict the reality of the human condition.  The piece concludes with the stroke of a gong signifying the transcendence needed to achieve the greatness once dreamed of.  The performance was incredibly powerful!  After the intermission, the orchestra concluded with Symphony No. 2 by Johannes Brahms.  Guest conductor Markus Poschner, a world-renowned expert on Brahms, explained that this piece celebrates both the joy of living and the melancholy that exists below the surface.  I was really struck by the notes played by the cellos and basses at the beginning of the first movement which eventually develop into themes by the horns, the woodwinds, and then the violins with underlying hints from the trombones and tuba threatening the calm.  The melancholy themes, which I loved, come from the cellos in the second movement while the oboes play a lighthearted theme recalling the first movement in the third.  The final movement ends triumphantly with the trombones!  What I most enjoyed about this concert is that, like the one two weeks ago, the three pieces were tied together thematically through their exploration of the highs and lows of the human experience.  I highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's performance of the same program (go here).