Legally Blonde at West Valley Arts

Last night I went to see Legally Blonde at the West Valley Performing Arts Center and it was more fun than should be allowed on a Wednesday night! Elle Woods (Rachel Matorana), a fashion merchandising student and president of the Delta Nu Nu sorority at UCLA, is sure that her boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Wesley Valdez) is about to propose but he breaks up with her instead. He explains that he is going to Harvard Law School and he needs a more serious girlfriend for the future he imagines. She decides to prove him wrong and succeeds in getting into Harvard Law School but no one there takes her seriously, especially the notoriously difficult Professor Callahan (Jared Lesa) and Warner's new girlfriend Vivienne Kensington (Teaira Burge). However, a teaching assistant named Emmett Forrest (Geoff Beckstrand) and a beautician named Paulette Bonafonte (Madison Archibald) show her that she has what it takes to be a lawyer and she eventually gets an acquittal for her first client, fitness guru Brooke Wyndham (Bryn Campbell). Like most musicals adapted from popular movies, the songs are a little bit contrived but I have to admit that I enjoyed them, especially "Omigod You Guys," "What You Want," "Positive," "Blood in the Water," "Chip On My Shoulder,""Whipped into Shape" (this is incredible), and "Bend and Snap," because the fun and energetic choreography had the crowd cheering out loud! Matorana is absolutely perfect as the irrepressible Elle because her joy and optimism are palpable in every number. She definitely has the charisma to carry the show because you can't take your eyes off her and her voice is very well suited to the score. I also really enjoyed Archibald's performance because she oozes personality as well as Beckstrand's because he is both lovable and vulnerable. The use of a big group of Delta Nu Nu sorority sisters, rather than just the three that are usually found in most productions, as a Greek chorus whenever Elle needs inspiration really adds to the energy. Every inch of the stage is covered in pink and the set pieces for the Delta Nu Nu house, various locations at Harvard, the courtroom, and the beauty parlor are incorporated with very clever staging (I especially loved the scene where Elle is kicked out of class because it is so seamless). The costumes and lighting design also make liberal use of the color pink and it is so vibrant and playful. If you love the movie you will definitely love this entertaining show! It runs at the West Valley Performing Arts Center on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through August 31 (go here for tickets).

Cuckoo

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Cuckoo.  It is a bit confusing but it is definitely unnerving.  After the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) unexpectedly joins her father Luis (Marton Csokas), stepmother Beth (Jessica Henwick), and half-sister Alma (Mila Lieu) in the Bavarian Alps.  They have been invited by the enigmatic Herr Konig (Dan Stevens) to stay at his isolated resort while Luis and Beth create the plans for his next development but Gretchen is almost overcome with grief and wants to leave.  Konig takes an unusually proprietary interest in Gretchen but, even more unsettling, she is plagued by mysterious shrieking noises and is stalked by a hooded figure which results in several severe injuries.  The only one who believes her version of events is a detective named Henry (Jan Bluthardt) but he may not be entirely trustworthy.  Eventually, Gretchen discovers a sinister plot that is now targeting her family and she cannot be allowed to interfere.  There is an almost unbearable atmosphere of tension created by disturbing sound design, disorienting visuals, scary set pieces, and a committed performance from Schafer who portrays her character's growing paranoia, and physical deterioration, very well.  Everyone in my audience had a palpable reaction to a scene where Gretchen seems to be chased by someone or some thing while riding a bicycle late at night (I almost screamed out loud).  Stevens is hilariously creepy (he is having quite a year playing over the top characters) and the scenes between Konig and Gretchen are incredibly menacing.  However, this reminded me a lot of Longlegs in that it features a highly original premise with a feeling of dread that is painstakingly crafted in the first two acts only to lose focus as the central mystery is revealed.  The convoluted exposition actually left me with more questions than answers.  Even though this is another movie that comes undone in the third act, I can't say that I didn't enjoy seeing this with a large crowd and I would recommend it.

Didi

Last night I decided to have another double feature at the Broadway and I started with Didi because it is one that I missed at Sundance this year.  I absolutely loved this touching portrait of early adolescence.  Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) is spending the final weeks of the summer before his freshman year of high school suffering from teenage angst.  His awkward behavior pushes his best friends Fahad (Raul Dial) and Soup (Aaron Chang) away and his attempt to get closer to his crush Madi (Macaela Park) ends in embarrassment.  He tries to befriend a group of skateboarders by promising to create videos of their tricks but this eventually backfires.  His father is away working in Taiwan, his grandmother Nai Nai (Chang Li Hua) is critical of everything he does, his mother Chungsing (Joan Chen) embarrasses him, and his sister Vivian (Shirley Chen) bickers endlessly with him.  Just when he feels alienated by everyone in his life, his mother gives him the courage to start high school with his head held high.  What I loved most about this movie is that even though it is about a very specific perspective (the child of Chinese immigrants dealing with the pressure to succeed) and a specific time (the early days of social media in 2008) it is also universal in that almost everyone can relate to what Chris feels and experiences as he tries to navigate the transition to high school (I had a flashback to when I called my crush but then immediately hung up when he answered because i didn't know what to say).  I also like that the filmmakers don't sentimentalize Chris because a lot of his problems are of his own making and they don't magically disappear after his moment of catharsis.  Izaac Wang gives a wonderful performance but I was most impressed with Joan Chen because she portrays the hurt and anger that Chungsing feels with subtlety, especially in a scene when she responds to criticism from her mother-in-law.  Finally, I loved seeing the early iterations of YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook!  This is a movie that I think anyone can enjoy and I highly recommend it!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

I love the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!  It is hilarious so it was a lot of fun to see a new production at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse last night. I was laughing so much I couldn't breathe! Lawrence Jameson (Nick Balaich), a charming and sophisticated international playboy, cons a wealthy woman named Muriel Eubanks (Melissa Trenery), who is visiting the French Riviera from Omaha, by pretending to be a prince fighting a revolution to reclaim his country. When an uncouth amateur con artist named Freddy Benson (Josh Curtis) comes to the Riviera, Jameson decides to take him under his wing to keep him from stealing his marks. When he tries to con Jolene Oaks (Janelle Wiser), an heiress from Oklahoma, he enlists Benson's help to get him out of an accidental engagement. They both take credit for the success of the plan so they bet each other that the first one to con Christine Colgate (Natalie Peterson), an heiress from Cincinnati, out of $50,000 will win and the other will leave town. Hilarity ensues when Benson pretends to be a paralyzed soldier and Jameson pretends to be a Viennese psychiatrist but who is conning whom? What makes this show so funny is all of the physical comedy and it is brilliant in this show, especially in "All About Ruprecht" and "Ruffhousin' Mit Shuffhausen." I also really enjoyed "Love is My Legs" because it is completely over the top and made me laugh out loud! The choreography is a lot of fun in the big song and dance numbers "Give Them What They Want," "Great Big Stuff," "Oklahoma," and "The More We Dance" and the ensemble does a great job with lots of highly amusing bits of business sprinkled throughout. The main cast is outstanding because Balaich is very charming and debonair with a beautiful voice and Curtis is a perfect foil to him with all of his uproarious energy and body language (he ended up in the audience, including next to me, multiple times and it was so funny). They have perfect comedic timing and great chemistry with each other. Peterson also has a beautiful voice and provides the perfect blend of innocence and guile while Wiser is incredibly flamboyant and brought the house down in "Oklahoma." However, I especially loved Trenery because her facial expressions are hilarious but she also shows a bit of vulnerability. I was really impressed with the costumes, particularly all of the tuxedos and couture gowns, and with the main set which resembles a terrace overlooking the sea. I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining show and I highly recommend it.  There are performances on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays through September 21 (go here for tickets).  

Borderlands

I have never played the game but I thought the trailer for Borderlands looked like a lot of fun and I am a big fan of Cate Blanchett so I went to see it last night.  It is not quite as bad as all of the reviews have made it out to be but it is not good.  Roland (Kevin Hart), a mercenary gone rogue, kidnaps Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), along with her protector Krieg (Florian Munteanu), and takes her to the planet Pandora because he believes that she is Eridian and can open a vault containing vast amounts of treasure and technology left behind by the ancient civilization.  Atlas (Edgar Ramirez) hires the notorious bounty hunter Lileth (Blanchett) to retrieve Tina which forces her to return to her home planet for the first time after fleeing as a child.  She locates Tina with the help of the robot Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black) but she soon joins forces with Roland, Tina, and Krieg when she realizes why Atlas wants the technology.  They enlist the help of Dr. Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), an Eridian specialist, to find a series of keys so they can open the vault before Atlas.  Mayhem ensues.  I actually enjoyed the story, even though I was confused a few times and I guessed a big plot twist during the opening voiceover narration, and I was invested in the relationship between Lileth and Tina.  However, I did find the resolution to be incredibly anticlimactic because the vault is almost meaningless.  There are non-stop action sequences but they are very chaotic and it is often difficult to see who is fighting whom and the CGI is a mess.  Both Blanchett (I am sorry to say) and Curtis are surprisingly bland but I was most disappointed by Hart and Black, who can usually be relied upon to provide some fun comic relief, because they are not even a little bit funny (I laughed exactly once during the entire runtime).  Greenblatt is the only one who brings any energy to her role.  It is not the worst movie I have seen this year but it is definitely one you can wait to see when it streams.