Waitress at PTC

I really love the musical Waitress so I was thrilled when it was announced as the final show this season at PTC. I went to see it last night and it exceeded my expectations in every way! Jenna (Claire Saunders) uses baking to cope with her dead-end job as a waitress and her unhappy marriage to an abusive husband (Brent Thiessen). When she learns that she is unexpectedly pregnant and begins an ill-advised affair with her gynecologist (Ben Jacoby), she expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations by telling the audience the ingredients for a pie that will help her current situation (play close attention to the specials board), always beginning with "Sugar. Butter. Flour." Eventually she realizes that the one ingredient she is missing is courage! I think all of the songs in this show are incredibly clever, especially "What's Inside," "Opening Up," and "It Only Takes a Taste," because, while they are ostensibly about baking, they are also great metaphors for life. However, my favorite song is "She Used to Be Mine" because it is such a powerful turning point for Jenna. I have been lucky enough to see Jessie Mueller, who originated the role of Jenna, perform it on Broadway and Sara Bareilles, who wrote the music and lyrics, perform it in concert and, in my opinion, Saunders is on par with both of them because her rendition is incredibly raw and emotional (I had tears in my eyes during the entire performance). The rest of the cast is also outstanding and I was very moved by the beautiful harmonies between Saunders and Candace Marie Woods as Becky and Lexi Rabadi as Dawn in "A Soft Place to Land" and "Everything Changes" as well as between Saunders and Jacoby in "You Matter to Me." In addition to the poignant messages about finding your inner strength, this show is also really funny and the cast does a great job with the witty one-liners and physical comedy, particularly in the songs "Never Ever Getting Rid of Me" and "Bad Idea" (they were definitely big crowd-pleasers last night). The use of the ensemble is brilliant because they are all distinct characters within the diner but they also come together to act out what is happening in the narrative of the songs (this is especially effective in "Bad Idea") and they assist Jenna whenever she makes the pies. I've seen this iconic show several times and I really appreciated all of the subtle touches used to differentiate it from other well-known productions, including the yellow gingham fabric used for the uniforms and the neon used throughout the diner. If you have seen this on Broadway or on tour, you will definitely not be disappointed with PTC's version and, if you have never seen it before, you are in for an amazing evening of laughter and tears! It runs through May 17 and tickets may be purchased here.

The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn Amphitheatre

Every year I try to see at least one show at Tuacahn Amphitheatre so last weekend I went on a quick road trip to St. George (a four hour drive south from where I live) to see The Little Mermaid and it was so much fun because my sister was able to come with me (it was easy to convince her because The Little Mermaid is one of her favorite shows).  The best production I had ever seen of The Little Mermaid was at Tuacahn in 2014 and this production surpasses that one because it is absolutely dazzling!  The state-of-the-art special effects are pretty incredible!  The stage is flooded at the beginning of the show so Ariel first appears on her rock in the middle of the water for "The World Above" and then Prince Eric's ship actually moves through the water during "Fathom's Below."  The LED screens all around the stage show sea creatures, seaweed, and coral moving from screen to screen and the large moving set pieces depict King Titon's throne, Ursula's lair, Ariel's grotto, and Prince Eric's palace.  You might expect the sea creatures to fly around the stage during "Under the Sea" (and they do) but having Prince Eric's rowboat fly in order to show the fish and other sea creatures below it during "Kiss the Girls" is amazing and I was also very impressed by the aerial choreography when Ariel saves Prince Eric during the storm and during her transformation at the end of Act I.  The use of blacklight during "Les Poissons" is a lot of fun as is the fire in Ursuala's lair and the sparks from King Triton's trident.  The colorful neon costumes are spectacular (I loved the starfish) and the use of Segways by the mermaids, Heelys by Flounder, Flotsum, and Jetsum, and a cart with tentacles as wheels by Ursula is really clever.  The cast is as good as what you would see on Broadway!  Kelsey Lee Smith and James Everts have beautiful voices as Ariel and Prince Eric and their renditions of "Part of Your World" and "Her Voice," respectively, gave me goosebumps.  However, the entire cast is just as talented and I was equally impressed with Eric B. Anthony as Sebastian (he tones down the Jamaican accent and I think that really works), Fred Inkley as King Triton, and Julia Cardia as Ursula.  Alec Talbott and Scott Whipple steal the show as Flotsam and Jetsum, respectively, in "Sweet Child" while the tap dancing in "Positoovity" (usually my least favorite number in the show) blew me away!  I loved every aspect of this production (so did my sister) and I cannot recommend it enough (especially for kids).  It runs in repertory with The Wizard of Oz and Newsies through October 25 (go here for tickets).

Note:  We ate at the Tuacahn Cafe for the first time before the show and we were really impressed with the food (I had the cheeseburger basket and it was so good), the price, and the service.

Thunderbolts*

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of Thunderbolts* with my nephew and I can’t remember when I was so excited for an MCU movie!  Luckily, I was not disappointed because I absolutely loved it!  In fact, this is the first time I can say I loved an MCU movie without qualifications in a really long time!  CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is being investigated for illegal activities by Congress so she has her assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) get rid of the evidence against her, including the covert agents who work for her.  Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Antonia Dreykov/ Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ava Starr/ Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) are lured to a secret underground facility where they are tricked into attacking each other and Ghost kills Taskmaster before they realize that it is a trap.  They also discover a mysterious man named Bob Reynolds (Lewis Pullman) who creates a diversion that allows them to escape before he is captured by de Fontaine.  The group is eventually recovered by Alexei Shostakov/ Red Guardian (David Harbour) and then apprehended by Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) but they reluctantly decide to work together to rescue Bob when they learn that he was the subject of one of de Fontaine's secret experiments and that, because he now possesses superhuman strength, she plans to use him as the weapon Sentry.  This is very character-driven because they all have a reckoning over the things they have done, especially Yelena because she must reconcile her trauma in order to help Bob face the darkness he feels inside.  As someone who has struggled with mental health issues, I think the portrayal of the Void, the alter ego of the Sentry, is one of the best and most accurate depictions of depression that I've seen (I actually had tears in my eyes several times during the scenes with the Void because they resonated so deeply).  I really enjoyed seeing Bucky take on a leadership role as someone who has also had to make peace with his actions and the relationship between Alexei and Yelena is incredibly poignant (even though Alexei provides much of the comic relief).  Pugh is such a great actress and she gives an incredibly emotional performance throughout Yelena's arc (I was also really impressed with Pullman).  Finally, all of the action set pieces (many of which feature practical effects) are a lot of fun but I found the sequence where the Thunderbolts protect people from the Void and then are hailed as heroes to be especially moving.  It was so much fun to feel the same exhilaration that I once did for the MCU again and I am now really looking forward to Phase Six!

Note:  There is a mid-credits scene and an end-credits scene.  They are both really good!

The Shrouds

David Cronenberg is definitely not for everyone but I really like him as a director so I was excited, and nervous, to introduce my nephew to him by seeing The Shrouds at the Broadway last night.  Businessman Karsh (Vincent Cassel) is so grief-stricken over the death of his wife Rebecca (Diane Kruger) from a virulent form of cancer that he creates a company called GraveTech which uses specially designed shrouds with 3D cameras to allow loved ones to watch the decomposition of the deceased's corpse through a live feed but this keeps him from moving on.  When several graves are vandalized, including Rebecca's, the live feed is hacked and Karsh is drawn into several conspiracy theories.  One involves Rebecca's oncologist, Dr. Jerry Eckler (Steve Switzman), who Karsh suspects was experimenting on his patients after discovering unusual protrusions on Rebecca's bones and on the bones of those in the other defaced graves.  Another involves a suspected plot by the Chinese government, who are investors in GraveTech, to use the live feed for surveillance.  Yet another involves his former brother-in-law Maury (Guy Pearce), who wrote the code for GraveTech's security, because of his growing paranoia over Karsh's relationship with Rebecca's sister, Terry (Diane Kruger).  I had prepared my nephew for Cronenberg's use of body horror in his movies but, while this does show the devastating effects of cancer when Karsh has a series of dreams about Rebecca's worsening condition before her death, I think it is pretty mild.  However, both of us found it incredibly thought-provoking with commentary on several topics.  My nephew was intrigued by the use of technology, particularly Karsh's reliance on the AI assistant modeled on Rebecca, but I was struck by the theme of obsession and its dangers.  Karsh is preoccupied by Rebecca's body which is why he eventually begins a relationship with Terry because her body is so similar to Rebecca's and why he is tormented by jealousy because Dr. Eckler was more intimately involved with her body at the end of her life than he was.  Both Karsh and Maury go to extreme lengths to maintain possession of Rebecca and Terry, respectively, because they cannot let them go.  I know that some will be frustrated by the ambiguity of the ending (there are no definitive answers about the conspiracy surrounding the vandalism of the graves) but, to me, the resolution comes from Karsh letting go of his obsession for Rebecca in order to move on (although I interpret the final scene to mean that, even though he has someone new in his life, he will still carry the memory of his wife wherever he goes).  I loved Cassel's detached and almost stilted delivery because, in my opinion, it shows that Karsh's desire to be with his wife has kept him from truly living.  I think this is brilliant (I haven't been able to stop thinking about it) but it is not something I would recommend to everyone.

Until Dawn

Despite the fact that I have never played the game, I really wanted to see Until Dawn because the premise sounded intriguing.  I convinced my nephew, who loves the game, to see it with me last night and we both hated it.  Clover (Ella Rubin) is still traumatized by the disappearance of her sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell) a year ago so she and her friends Max (Michael Cimino), Nina (Odessa A'zion), Megan (Ji-young Yoo), and Abel (Belmont Cameli) travel to her last known location hoping for some closure.  A severe thunderstorm forces them to stop at an abandoned house in Glore Valley and they notice some unsettling details.  There is a giant hourglass that suddenly flips over, there is a guestbook signed by each visitor (including Melanie) thirteen times, and there is a bulletin board filled with posters of missing people (including Melanie).  Nina signs the guestbook and then they are all brutally killed, one by one, by a mysterious figure in a mask.  Everything resets and the five of them are back to where they started the previous night but the hourglass flips again, Nina's name appears in the guestbook a second time, and all of them appear on the bulletin board as missing people.  Every night they are killed in a new and gruesome way (my favorite is when they explode after drinking the tap water) and then everything resets again.  They eventually realize that they will be stuck in this time loop until they can survive the night.  I thought this was really clever and I enjoyed the first act but then it becomes an incoherent mess.  They eventually learn that those who are killed more than thirteen times become wendigos, supernatural beings who then torment the next visitors to the house, and that Melanie is now a wendigo.  They also learn that Glore Valley was the site of a mining tragedy that killed over 11,000 people and that a psychologist named Dr. Hill (Peter Stormare, who is reprising his role from the game) was brought in to help the survivors overcome their trauma.  Dr. Hill is now running an elaborate experiment to help Clover, who is apparently his patient, overcome the trauma of her sister's disappearance (they never learn how Dr. Hill is able to create and manipulate all of the supernatural elements in the house).  There is absolutely no logic to the narrative and, in my opinion, the filmmakers should have chosen the supernatural story with the wendigos or the psychological story about trauma with Dr. Hill but not both.  I had so many questions for my nephew afterwards but he said that the movie is nothing like the game (the game actually sounds really interesting).  To add insult to injury, it looks terrible because it is so dark that you can't see what is happening and the dialogue is incredibly cringe-worthy (I lost track of how many times the characters say, "Holy shit").  This is definitely one to miss and my nephew recommends playing the game, instead.