Utah Opera's Madame Butterfly

I really love Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly (Utah Opera's 2014 production is one of my very favorites by the company) so it was with a bit of trepidation that I went to see a bold new version last night at Capitol Theatre.  I tend to be a purist and I usually dislike it when classics, especially classics that I love, are reimagined.  However, much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it because it retains the story and, more importantly, the incomparable music but adds a framing device to emphasize the fact that the character of Butterfly is Pinkerton's stereotyped version of a Japanese woman and not reality.  It is very effective!  Act I begins when a young man named B.F. Pinkerton (Eric Taylor) enters his sleek and modern apartment, which is decorated with posters depicting Japanese anime characters, and, using a VR headset, joins a game set in Japan at the turn of the century using the avatar of a U.S. naval officer.  The alternate world he enters is a fantastical one.  He is wearing a uniform but the cut is exaggerated and it is without adornment, his house features shoji screens, lanterns, and cherry blossoms but everything is bright and stylized, and the Japanese people he interacts with are dressed traditionally but the colors are vivid and bold and the hairstyles reflect the cuts and colors you would find in Japanese anime.  Pinkerton is an interactive player in the game and he soon requests that Sharpless (Nmon Ford), the U.S. Consul, allow him to wed a Japanese geisha named Cio-Cio San (Hiromi Omura), or Butterfly, for convenience.  Sharpless agrees but warns him to treat her carefully because she loves him.  After they are married, Butterfly confesses that she has secretly converted to Christianity, which causes her uncle the Bonze (Zaikuan Song) to disown her, so he comforts her before they spend a blissful night together.  Act II begins three years later and Pinkerton, who is now married to Kate (Sarah Scofield), is a passive observer in the game.  Butterfly eagerly awaits Pinkerton's return and she chastises her maid Suzuki (Nina Yoshida Nelsen) for saying that he is not coming back, refuses a marriage proposal from Prince Yamadori (Kevin Nakatani), and dismisses Sharpless when he attempts to read her a goodbye letter from Pinkerton.  Butterfly eventually sees Pinkerton's ship in the harbor and keeps vigil all night waiting for him to come to her and their son.  In Act III, Pinkerton, an active participant once again, reaches a new level in the game and is allowed to pick a wife but, when he chooses Kate's avatar rather than Butterfly's, he sees how his actions have impacted Butterfly.  She decides that her child will have a better life with Pinkerton and Kate but this drives her to a desperate act that abruptly ends the game leaving present-day Pinkerton in despair.  This particular narrative is absolutely brilliant and I was mesmerized by the staging but I was most impressed by the cast!  Omura gives an incredibly passionate performance.  The love duet between Butterfly and Pinkerton after their wedding ("Love me, please") is beautiful and filled with longing while the aria she sings insisting that Pinkerton will return to her ("One fine day we shall see") is so emotional that I had tears in my eyes (the audience burst into spontaneous applause).  Taylor has an expressive voice but I especially enjoyed the transformation in Pinkerton as he silently observes Butterfly's love for him in Act II.  I also loved Ford's voice in the duet between Sharpless and Butterfly ("Now for us") because it is filled with compassion knowing that the truth will devastate her.  Finally, my favorite moment features the "Humming Chorus" because it is so haunting and I was very moved hearing the Utah Opera Chorus sing it last night.  I did not expect to love this thought-provoking production as much as I did and I highly recommend it!  There are two more performances but act quickly (go here) because there are not many tickets left.

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.