Kiss Me Kate at CPT

I went to see Kiss Me Kate at CPT a few weeks ago with my sisters but I had to leave at intermission because I was feeling sick. I was really disappointed because I had been looking forward to it and I liked it up to that point. I decided to get another ticket and, thankfully, I was able to stay for the whole show last night! Ironically, I enjoyed the first act, which I had already seen, much more than the second. This features the classic show-within-a-show conceit as a theatre company stages a musical version of Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew. Chaos ensues when life imitates art and the former husband and wife actors Fred Graham (Addison Welch) and Lilli Vanessi (Michelle Blake) engage in backstage squabbling that mirrors that of their characters Petruchio and Katherine on stage. I especially loved the scenes from The Taming of the Shrew (I will be seeing it at the Utah Shakespeare Festival later this summer) because they involve a lot of physical comedy that made me and the rest of the audience laugh out loud as Fred and Lilli actually fight with each other in character ("Were Thine That Special Face" and "I Sing of Love" were highlights because they are absolutely hilarious). I think the story takes a detour in the second act in favor of random musical numbers ("Too Darn Hot") and a less compelling subplot involving a romance between Lois Lane (Keely Parry), who plays Bianca, and Bill Calhoun (Isaac Carrillo), who plays Lucentio ("Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Bianca"), until Fred and Lilli, as well as Petruchio and Katherine, suddenly get back together without much motivation. Even though the musical numbers in the second act are extremely well done (the tapping in "Too Darn Hot" is amazing and the English teacher in me loved "Brush Up Your Shakespeare") I found my mind wandering because I wanted more hijinks from the main couple. My complaints are with the material and not with the cast because the performances are fantastic. Both Welch and Blake have beautiful voices and their renditions of "So In Love" and "Where Is the Life That Late I Led," respectively, gave me goosebumps. As previously mentioned, their comedic timing and chemistry with each other is so much fun to watch. Parry and Carillo also have beautiful voices and the ensemble is incredibly talented but Jeremy Botelho and Brandon Garside practically steal the show as gangsters collecting on an IOU who end up on stage. The choreography, particularly for "Another Op'nin, Another Show," "Tom, Dick, or Harry," and "Too Darn Hot," is incredibly dynamic and high energy. The set, featuring backstage, an alley behind the theatre, dressing rooms, as well as a curtain and backdrops for the production of The Taming of the Shrew, is brilliant and the period costumes look great. I enjoyed this production even if the show itself is not my favorite. It runs on the Barlow Main Stage through July 13 and tickets may be purchased here.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

Last night I decided to see Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 because I really respect it when someone is willing to take a risk for something they are passionate about (this is why I am also eagerly awaiting Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis).  A group of rogue Apache stage a raid on a new settlement in the San Pedro Valley and massacre most of the inhabitants.  One survivor, a young boy named Russell Ganz (Etienne Kellici), joins a group of bounty hunters, led by a tracker (Jeff Fahey) interested in trading scalps for money, in order to get revenge.  Two other survivors, Frances Kitteredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter Lizzie (Georgia MacPhail), follow Lt. Trent Gephardt (Sam Worthington) to the military fort Camp Gallant.  A horse trader named Hayes Ellison (Costner) arrives in the Wyoming Territory and, after he inadvertently runs afoul of brothers Junior and Caleb Sykes (Jon Beavers and Jamie Campbell Bower, respectively) as they search for the woman (Jena Malone) who shot their father and took their son, he flees with a prostitute (Abbey Lee) who was caring for the child.  On the Santa Fe Trail, Matthew Van Weyden (Luke Wilson) leads a group of covered wagons traveling west but an English couple, Juliette Chesney (Ella Hunt) and Hugh Proctor (Tom Payne), stirs up trouble within the group.  Tying the disparate narratives together is a poster, printed by Bailey Pickering (Giovanni Ribisi) and carried by many of the characters, advertising Horizon, the settlement attacked by the Apache.  This feels very much like the first episode of a TV miniseries where lots of characters and plots, which are sometimes hard to keep track of due to some major issues with pacing, are tantalizingly introduced but not developed or connected (there is even a montage at the end featuring scenes from the next episode).  Having said that, I do feel invested enough in the fate of these characters to see Chapter 2 (which will be released in August).  I also think the beautiful and sweeping cinematography, which showcases the grandeur of the West (it was filmed in Utah where I live), warrants releasing this on the big screen rather than as a TV show.  I did end up enjoying this (I really liked Costner's performance and direction) but I can only recommend it to people who are willing to commit to the entire saga (which could be four separate movies) because it definitely does not work as a standalone.

The Magic of Queen at Sandy Amphitheater

I think Sandy Amphitheater is a great venue (it has a similar vibe to the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre but without all of the hassle of getting in and out) for summer concerts and the one there last night was so much fun!  The Magic of Queen is an amazing show featuring Brody Dolyniuk and his band performing the music of Queen (they also have shows featuring the music of Led Zeppelin and Elton John).  I have seen this show before and I enjoyed it so much I immediately got a ticket to see it again as soon as they went on sale!  They began with "One Vision" and the older gentleman sitting next to me was really impressed that I knew the words to this because he didn't recognize it!  He obviously had no idea who he was dealing with because I love Queen and I sang along to every single song!  They continued with "Tie Your Mother Down" (my neighbor told me that he definitely recognized this one), "Play the Game," "Keep Yourself Alive," "You're My Best Friend" (a highlight for me), "Killer Queen" (one of my favorite Queen songs), "Now I'm Here," "Somebody to Love," "Under Pressure," and "Love of My Life."  Then the crowd got to their feet for rousing renditions of "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Fat Bottomed Girls."  Next came "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Radio Ga Ga" (complete with clapping), and an epic version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (which was another highlight of the night for me).  They ended their set with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" with lots of audience participation!  Dolyniuk sounds so much like Freddie Mercury that you might be fooled into thinking that you are really listening to Queen but he doesn't try to imitate him.  He has his own charismatic stage presence and I really enjoyed all of his banter with the audience.  It was a perfect summer night for a concert because, while it was hot when I got there, it cooled off a bit and it was wonderful listening to music as the sun went down!  Go here for a schedule of concerts at Sandy Amphitheater this summer.

Note:  I ran into a couple of people who said they knew I would be at this concert!  Have I mentioned that I really love Queen?

Kinds of Kindness

I think Yorgos Lanthimos is an incredibly provocative director (my favorite kind) and I have enjoyed all of his previous movies so I was really excited to see his latest, Kinds of Kindness, last night at the Broadway with my nephew.  We both really enjoyed this absurdist black comedy (I was surprised by how much my nephew liked it).  This is an anthology of three different stories featuring the same actors in repertory with similar themes and motifs.  In the first, Robert (Jesse Plemons) is under the complete control of his boss Raymond (Willem Dafoe) who dictates every aspect of his life including what he wears, what he eats, what he reads, and even when he can have sex with his wife Sarah (Hong Chau).  When Raymond asks him to do something that goes against his conscience, Robert refuses and his life falls apart.  He learns that Raymond has recruited a woman named Rita (Emma Stone) to complete the task instead and, in a fit of jealousy, he takes matters into his own hands to impress him.  In the second, Daniel (Jesse Plemons) is a police officer whose wife Liz (Emma Stone), a marine biologist, has gone missing at sea.  When she is miraculously rescued, Daniel becomes irrationally convinced that the woman is not really his wife.  This prompts Liz to take extreme measures to prove that she loves him.  In the third, Emily (Emma Stone) has abandoned her husband Joseph (Joe Alwyn) and their daughter to join a sex cult led by Omi (Willem Dafoe) and Aki (Hong Chau).  She and Andrew (Jesse Plemons) are assigned to leave the compound to search for a woman prophesied to have spiritual powers.  However, Emily takes the opportunity to visit Joseph and her daughter and, in doing so, she becomes "contaminated" and is expelled from the cult.  She then goes rogue in order to find the woman (Hunter Schafer or is it Margaret Qualley?) the cult is looking for.  This is absolutely wild (I heard a lot of uncomfortable laughter and my nephew gave me a WTF look at one point) but all three of these stories explore the lengths that people will go to find love, acceptance, and community which is something almost everyone can relate to.  The fact that the same actors reappear in similar roles also reinforces the idea that this is a universal theme that continually plays out in society.  There are several bizarre recurring images (I was particularly struck by the use of dreams, shown in black and white, to foreshadow events) and the continual use of jarring piano notes during key moments is incredibly unnerving.  Plemons is outstanding, showing a range that definitely deserved to be rewarded at Cannes this year, and Stone is a perfect foil to his caged unpredictability.  This is most definitely not for everyone but fans of Lanthimos will find this to be a return to the absurdity of The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

A Quiet Place: Day One

Last night my sister and I went to see A Quiet Place: Day One (checking another movie off her summer list).  As a huge fan of the franchise, I was really looking forward to this prequel and, even though it has a very different vibe than the other movies, I really liked it.  Samira (Lupita Nyong'o) is a bitter terminally ill woman living at a hospice facility in New York with her service cat Frodo.  One of her caregivers (Alex Wolff) convinces her to join an outing to Manhattan for a performance but it is interrupted by what turns out to be an alien invasion and she is knocked unconscious.  She awakens inside the theater with death and destruction all around her.  Other survivors, including Henri (Djimon Hounsou), warn her to be quiet and to head to an evacuation point to get off the island by boat.  The noise from the large crowds moving to the evacuation point attract the aliens so she heads the opposite direction with Frodo.  She eventually ends up at her old apartment but is dismayed to discover that she has been followed by a shell-shocked English law student named Eric (Joseph Quinn).  However, the two of them form a bond as they inspire each other to live in the midst of chaos.  This might not be what people are expecting from a prequel because it doesn't provide many new details about the invasion or the aliens but it is a very moving portrayal about finding the best of humanity in the worst of circumstances and it features incredibly poignant performances from both Nyong'o and Quinn.  It also features some incredibly scary action sequences that had me and my sister holding our breaths (much of my anxiety involved the status of the cat).  The visuals showing a post-apocalyptic New York City convey a real feeling of devastation and the unnerving sound design is very effective at creating tension but it is the intimate and emotional story that kept me riveted.  I really appreciate the fact that writer/director Michael Sarnoski took this in a very different direction and, even though some might be disappointed by that, I highly recommend it.