Into the Woods at CPT

My sisters and I became huge fans of the musical Into the Woods after we attended a production at PTC together many years ago so we have been looking forward to seeing it at CPT ever since the 2024 season was announced. We had to wait a little longer than we expected because our original performance was canceled because of a power outage. Thankfully, CPT added another one to the end of the run in order to accommodate us last night and it was definitely worth the wait! My sisters and I agree that it was one of the best versions of the show that we have seen (and we have seen it many times). The story incorporates well known fairy-tales, such as "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and "Rapunzel," the music by Stephen Sondheim is incredibly beautiful, and the messages that actions can sometimes have unintended consequences and wishes do not always turn out happily ever after are both though-provoking and poignant. This cast is one of the strongest I have seen at CPT but I especially enjoyed Claire Glaittli as the Baker's Wife because her voice was incredible but she also added a lot of comedy to the role with her facial expressions and physicality, particularly during her interactions with Josh Egbert as Cinderella's Prince. Other standouts were Emily Sparks as Little Red Riding Hood because she was so sassy, Emma Murdock as Cinderella because her voice was also very beautiful, Drew Dunshee as Jack because his characterization was a bit bolder than I have seen before, and Brandon Barton because his manipulation of the puppet for Milky White (which was fantastic) was really fun and dynamic. My favorite songs are "Agony" because it is so funny as Cinderella's Prince and Rapunzel's Prince (Dan Frederickson) try to one-up each other, "It Takes Two" because it is a turning point in the relationship between the Baker (Jake Heywood) and his Wife, and "No One Is Alone" because it is an emotional moment of understanding between the Baker, Jack, Cinderella, and Red and I was very impressed with both the performances and staging of all three. I also really loved the staging of Cinderella at her mother's grave because her transformation into the ball gown was magical (it happened right in front of me and it gave me goosebumps) and the slaying of the giantess because the use of shadows and sound design was very dramatic. This production had the narrator (Rick Murdock) read the story to a young boy (Sam Akerlow) as the show progressed and I thought this was a really clever idea but I absolutely loved it when he was revealed to be the Baker's son at the end of the show! It was an incredibly powerful moment and it made the final song, "Children Will Listen," so much more impactful. The set was absolutely spectacular (it may be my favorite at CPT), with giant trees that moved on tracks across the stage, Rapunzel's tower on one side of the stage, and Cinderella's mother's grave on the other (her mother's appearance was another magical moment in the show), and the costumes were gorgeous, especially the ball gowns. My sisters and I loved this production and we are sad that the run is over because we want to see it again! A huge thank you to CPT and the MWF cast for arranging this show after having to cancel the original one through no fault of their own!

We Live in Time

I didn't laugh as much as I thought I would during the first movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night but I definitely thought I would be able to have a good cry during the second, We Live in Time.  Unfortunately, this left me feeling a bit flat.  Chef Almut Bruhl (Florence Pugh) and the recently divorced Tobias Durand (Andrew Garfield) meet each other in an unconventional manner, fall in love, and then receive a devastating diagnosis that makes them reevaluate how they want to spend their time together.  This features a nonlinear narrative that jumps back and forth between the early days of their relationship, a cancer diagnosis that Almut is able to beat, their struggle to get pregnant and the eventual birth of their child, and the aftermath of hearing that Almut's cancer has returned several years later.  I'm not sure how I feel about the nonlinear timeline because it does feel like the two of them are looking back at memories as a way to celebrate their life together but I also feel like this structure takes away from the dramatic tension because we already know the outcome of several key moments before they happen.  It seems like a gimmick to make a fairly conventional story more compelling.  Pugh and Garfield have tremendous chemistry together and their performances do a lot to elevate the material but I didn't have an emotional connection to the characters because they are not developed fully (one character is an enigma and the other one has several baffling inconsistencies).  As a fan of both Pugh and Garfield, I wanted to like this more than I did but I seem to be in the minority on this one so I suggest seeing it for yourself.

Rumours

Last night I decided on a double feature at the Broadway designed to make me laugh and cry.  I started with the post-apocalyptic political satire Rumours but it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be.  Chancellor Hilda Ortmann of Germany (Cate Blanchett), President Edison Wolcott of the United States (Charles Dance), Prime Minister Maxime Laplace of Canada (Roy Dupuis), President Sylvain Broulez of France (Denis Menochet), Prime Minister Cardosa Dewindt of the United Kingdom (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Prime Minister Antonio Lamorte of Italy (Rolando Ravello), and Prime Minister Tatsuro Iwasaki of Japan (Takehiro Hira) meet together for a G7 summit in order to draft a provisional statement about a global crisis.  As they struggle to articulate coherent thoughts about the unnamed crisis (one suggests that they begin with the date) they discover that all of their aides have suddenly disappeared and they face a series of increasingly bizarre threats, including the sudden appearance of the deranged Secretary-General of the European Commission (Alicia Vikander).  They are eventually able to cut and paste (literally) a statement together composed of meaningless buzz words and they deliver it as the world burns around them.  I really loved the commentary on how world leaders tend to focus on the optics of a problem rather than how to actually solve it (unfortunately I think this is an accurate depiction) and I laughed out loud at how incompetent they are when attacked and at all of the revelations of inappropriate behavior in their personal lives (the Prime Minister of Canada is sleeping with all three of the women).  However, some of the humor is really out there (zombies and a giant brain) and it doesn't always land even if the cast is game for anything.  I enjoyed this enough to recommend it but not everyone will appreciate the surreal tone. 

Smile 2

I really enjoyed the first movie (even more than I thought I would) so I was really excited for Smile 2 with my nephew last night.  We both loved it and I think it improves upon its predecessor in every way!  Joel (Kyle Gallner), the police officer who witnessed Rose Cotter's suicide, inadvertently passes on the curse to a drug dealer named Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage).  Meanwhile, pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is attempting a comeback, including a world tour, even though she is still struggling with addiction and trauma from a car accident that killed her boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). She evades her mother/manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt) and assistant Joshua (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) to to visit Lewis for some Vicodin after injuring her back during a rehearsal but she witnesses his derangement and eventual suicide instead.  Skye begins having hallucinations stemming from her trauma but her mother, assistant, and record producer (Raul Castillo) force her to continue preparing for the tour with tragic consequences.  What I liked most about the original is the discussion about the effects of repressed trauma and this adds the element of addiction which is very powerful.  It is also really interesting that Riley is a pop star because she has the added responsibility to carry on and smile for everyone who is counting on her, especially in a scene where she is forced to interact with fans who all want and need something from her, so this takes the central metaphor to a more extreme conclusion.  Scott gives a riveting performance as a pop star and her terror is palpable whenever she is unable to determine what is real.  Speaking of which, there are some truly terrifying sequences and quite a few jump scares for which I was unprepared!  I loved all of the gore so I was a bit disappointed by the restraint shown in the final scene (but this is a minor criticism).  This definitely amps up everything I loved about the first one and I highly recommend it to fans of horror.

Thriller 2024

After a one year hiatus ODT's Halloween-themed dance extravaganza Thriller is back and this news made me so happy because it is one of my favorite traditions this time of year!  I saw the show at the Grand Theatre (it moved there from Kingsbury Hall) last night and it was so much fun.  All of my favorite dances were back including a group of the undead cavorting in a graveyard in "Thriller," a breakdancing Egyptian mummy and his maidens in "Curse of the Mummy," misbehaving pandas at their first dance recital in "Miss Alli's Nightmare," a Pas de Deux that goes horribly wrong in "Frankenstein & Frankenstein," tap dancing skeletons that glow in the dark in "Dem Bones," a trio of Jasons wielding a variety of weapons in "Jason Jam" (this crowd favorite gets more elaborate every year and it was hilarious last night), scarecrows that are not what they seem in "Children of the Corn," a coven of condemned witches seeking vengeance from beyond the grave in "Salem's Mass" (this is my favorite dance), demonic dolls who come to life in "Chucky-Rama," acrobatic vampires who find an unsuspecting victim walking home alone in "Lost Boys," and a costume parade in "Trick or Treat."  Even though I have seen all of these dances over and over year after year, I still look forward to them with great anticipation and I cheer out loud (like everyone else in the audience) when they begin.  This year there were three new dances.  I really liked "Day-O," a spoof of the possession scene from Beetlejuice, and "Squid Skid," a dance competition with the same rules as Squid Game, but "Covid Cotillion," a dance featuring highly exaggerated performance protocols from the pandemic, wasn't very funny.  The artists from Aeris Aerial Arts joined the company once again and performed "Black Widow" (this was new and it was my favorite), "Full Moon," "Phantom of the Opera," and "Slytherin."  I think these numbers are so much fun to watch because I have no idea how the aerialists do what they do!  Bubbles the Clown was back performing in between numbers but, unfortunately, so was Giggle Girl (I think she is so annoying and needs new material).  There was a huge crowd last night so, if you are thinking about getting a ticket (and I recommend that you do), you need to act fast.  It runs at the Grand Theatre through October 26 and at Tuacahn Amphitheare in St. George from October 28 through November 2 (go here for tickets).

Note:  This is my usual warning to avoid making eye contact with the undead roaming around the theatre before the show.