The Monkey

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was The Monkey.  I was really looking forward to this and, even though a lot of liberties are taken with the original short story by Stephen King, I enjoyed it.  Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) attempts to get rid of a toy monkey before abandoning his twin sons Bill and Hal (Christian Convery) but they eventually find it in a closet of his belongings.  They wind a key, which makes the monkey play its drum, and their babysitter Annie (Danica Dreyer) is decapitated in a freakish accident soon after.  Hal attributes Annie's death to the monkey and, after Bill bullies him in a cruel incident at school, he turns the key hoping that Bill will be its next victim but it is his mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany) who dies.  They are taken in by their aunt Ida (Sarah Levy) and uncle Chip (Osgood Perkins) who live in a small town in Mane but, when Chip becomes the next victim, Bill and Hal throw the monkey in a well.  Decades later, the brothers (now played by Theo James) are estranged and Hal is horrified when he realizes that the monkey has mysteriously reappeared after Ida dies in another unusual accident.  Terrified for his young son Petey (Colin O'Brien), from whom is is also estranged, Hal returns to Maine in order to find the monkey but he finds more carnage and an even bigger threat.  This is absolutely bonkers with some really wild and gruesome scenes (my favorites are when someone is electrocuted in a swimming pool and when someone's head is smashed by a swinging bowling ball) but I think this absurdist tone works because it emphasizes the irrational fear of death that keeps both Hal and Bill from living.  James gives a great performance, as both the sympathetic Hal and the villainous Bill, because it is his reaction to the almost comical deaths that creates the tension.  I also enjoyed several hilarious cameos, particularly Nicco Del Rio as a clueless priest and Elijah Wood as young Petey's stepfather.  Finally, the design of the monkey is really unnerving and I found the eyes to be especially malevolent.  A lot of horror movies that I've seen in the past year begin with an intriguing premise and then unravel as they go on, including Longlegs which was also directed by Osgood Perkins, but I actually loved the ending of The Monkey because it reiterates the theme that death is inevitable and you have to find a way to live anyway.  I highly recommend this to fans of horror.

Riff Raff

Last night I went to a double feature at the Broadway and I started with Riff Raff because I thought it would be a lot of fun with such a great cast.  It wasn't.  A retired hitman named Vincent (Ed Harris) is celebrating the holidays at his vacation home in Maine with his second family, wife Sandy (Gabrielle Union) and stepson DJ (Miles J. Harvey), who know nothing about his former occupation.  However, his carefully crafted new life is disrupted when his son Rocco (Lewis Pullman) unexpectedly arrives in the middle of the night with his pregnant girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postacchini) and his inebriated mother, Vincent's ex-wife, Ruth (Jennifer Coolidge).  Through endless flashbacks, we learn that Rocco is being pursued by Vincent's former partner Lefty (Bill Murray) and Lefty's new associate Lonnie (Pete Davidson) for reasons.  This eventually leads to a violent confrontation in which Vincent must reconcile his past with his present.  The convoluted story unfolds at such a glacial pace that, by the time everything is revealed, I didn't really care any more because I was so bored.  The ensemble cast is stacked but the performances are surprisingly bland because they all just seem to be going through the motions portraying characters they've played before.  Finally, this doesn't work as a crime drama because the scenes of violence happen so haphazardly or as a comedy because it is not funny (the only time I laughed was during a brief scene with Vincent's overly helpful neighbors).  This had so much potential but it is ultimately very disappointing and I recommend giving this a miss.

The Pajama Game at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

I had never seen the musical The Pajama Game before so I was really excited to attend a production at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse last night. It is a fun old-fashioned show with lots of songs that I recognized. Romance is in the air at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa but things really heat up when a new Superintendent named Sid Sorokin (Nick Balaich) falls for the leader of the union grievance committee Katherine "Babe" Williams (Clarissa Wykstra). They fall in love but their relationship is tested when Mr. Hasler (Spencer Stevens), the owner of the factory, refuses to give the workers a 7 1/2 cent raise and they find themselves on opposite sides of the dispute. Even though the story takes place in the 1950s, the issues are still just as relevant today and I liked that compromise is used to settle the conflict between management and labor as well as the one between the sexes (although some of the characters behave in ways that are very dated and problematic). I can't decide if it is the dialogue that is stilted or if it is the delivery but sometimes the pacing is very sluggish, particularly a scene that is so awkward it made me think that the actors were ad-libbing in order to stall long enough for a costume change that took longer than usual. However, the actors really shine during the big song and dance numbers. Balaich has a beautiful tenor voice and his performance of "Hey There" (one of the songs I immediately recognized) is incredibly touching and it was the highlight of the show for me, Wykstra is confident and sassy, especially in the song "I'm Not At All in Love," and the two of them are perfect foils to each other in the delightful "Small Talk" and "There Once Was a Man" (the other song I recognized). The ensemble do a fantastic job with the energetic choreography in "Once a Year Day," "Think of the Time I Save," and "7 1/2 Cents" and these numbers are so fun to watch. I also really loved "Racing With the Clock," especially when it is slowed down in the reprise to mimic the slow down in production, the Fosse-inspired "Steam Heat" because it is dazzling, and the sultry "Hernando's Hideaway" because the choreography is so dynamic (the lighting design is very effective in this number). The set and costumes are colorful and nostalgic and I especially loved the retro sewing machines and all of the pajamas during the bows. While there are issues, the cast is enthusiastic and the show is very entertaining. It runs on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays through April 5 (go here for tickets).

Jazz vs. Pelicans

My friend Angela has a Utah Jazz season ticket package and she very graciously lets me pick a few games to attend with her.  Last night's game against the New Orleans Pelicans was my first of the season.  The Jazz have not been doing very well and last night most of the veterans, including Markkanen, Kessler, Collins, Clarkson, and Sexton, were out with injuries.  The Pelicans took an early lead and kept it for three quarters and, honestly, I kind of stopped paying attention to the game and just chatted with Angela (I hadn't seen her for a long time) which was actually a lot of fun.  Then there was a spark when Cody Williams made a three-point shot at the beginning of the fourth quarter to give the Jazz their first lead of the game.  It got really exciting when the Jazz went on a 27-8 run, including five baskets from Oscar Tshiebwe, to go up 100-94.  The crowd got loud and it really seemed like we had a chance to win but then CJ McCollum hit three straight three-pointers for New Orleans to put them ahead 118-108.  This deflated the crowd and the Jazz ended up losing 128-121 despite 28 points from Keyonte George and 21 from Brice Sensabaugh.  This game was dubbed the battle of the two worst teams in the Western Conference but I had a great time despite the loss (and despite seeing my favorite former Jazz player Kelly Olynyk score 26 points for the Pelicans).

Note:  With five seconds left in the game, the Jazz got a delay of game technical foul after Hardy called a timeout. We thought it was really weird but it turns out the Jazz didn't have any timeouts left.

Between the Lines at the Empress Theatre

I had never heard of the musical Between the Lines before but, when I read the description, I knew that it was obviously written for me because I usually prefer fictional characters to real people! I saw it last night at the Empress Theatre and I absolutely loved it! Delilah McPhee (Ashley Bates) is a seventeen year old girl trying to navigate her parents' divorce and a new school where she is bullied by the mean girl Allie McAndrews (Dusti Mulder) and her friends (Connor Alldredge, Talitha Jo Garrison, Tyler Parkin, and Emma Mendisabal). She finds solace in a children's fairy tale called Between the Lines and is drawn to the protagonist Prince Oliver (Alex Parkin). After a particularly stressful argument with her mother Grace (Lisa Shortridge), Oliver appears to Delilah and she tells him that she wishes that she could be part of his world. However, he tells her that things are not necessarily better in a fairy tale because they must live the same story over and over whenever someone reads it. They conspire to be together but Delilah eventually learns that she must write her own story. As someone who spent a lot of time reading during adolescence to escape from reality, I loved this story and I think anyone who has ever felt different will really enjoy it. The songs are a lot of fun and I especially loved "Mr. Darcy and Me" which is sung by the librarian Ms. Winx (Katelyn Johnson) when Delilah asks her if she has ever had a relationship with a fictional character and "Happily Ever After Hour" when the characters in Between the Lines lament the fact that they can never be who they really are because they must perform for the reader. The young cast does a fantastic job and I was really impressed with every performance! Bates is captivating and she sings "Another Chapter," "Between the Lines," and "A Whole New Story" with so much emotion. Parkin is incredibly appealing in the songs "In My Perfect World" with Bates and "Something to Hold On To" and I loved all of his physical comedy. The ensemble, who play characters in both worlds, is really strong and I enjoyed the songs "Inner Thoughts," especially when the dumb jock Ryan steps forward to sing but doesn't have any lines, and "Out of Character" because I always appreciate tap dancing. The set is one of my favorites at the Empress because it focuses on books with bookcases, book covers, and book pages located all around the theatre. Whenever the characters from Between the Lines appear, they enter from a bookcase that rotates to become a page from the book and this is such a clever way to denote which world we are in. This is an enchanting production and I highly recommend it! There were a lot of empty seats last night and I would love for more people to see this (go here for tickets). It runs at the Empress Theatre through March 15.