Annie at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre

I went back to the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre last night to see a delightful production of the musical Annie under the stars and it was a lot of fun. An irrepressible orphan named Annie (Adaline Strong) lives at an orphanage run by the cruel and bitter Miss Hannigan (Brandi Washburn) during the Great Depression. She is determined to find the parents who abandoned her as a baby when she is selected by Grace Farrell (Karen Milne) to spend Christmas with her boss, the billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Chad Taylor). Annie asks Warbucks to help her find her parents and he offers a large reward to convince them to come forward. Meanwhile, Miss Hannigan devises a plan to have her brother Rooster (Doug Kaufman) and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Lauren Hodges) pose as Annie's parents to claim the reward. With the help of President Roosevelt (Drew Christensen) and the FBI, the plot is eventually exposed and Annie finds a permanent home with Daddy Warbucks. I really loved all of the young actors in the cast because their performances are so heartwarming and enthusiastic and I especially enjoyed watching one of the youngest orphans on stage because she was concentrating so hard on the choreography for "Hard Knock Life" and "Fully Dressed" (this is adorable and it made me smile). Strong is an appealing Annie and her rendition of "Tomorrow" is very stirring. She also has a great rapport with Taylor and I loved her interactions with him in "Something Was Missing," particularly when they clap their hands together because it is so playful. The adults in the show also do a great job because both Taylor and Milne have beautiful voices in "I Don't Need Anything But You," Washburn is a hoot in "Little Girls," and she, Kaufman, and Hodges give a hilarious rendition of "Easy Street." I laughed out loud over the antics of Burt Healy (Erik Schaumann) and the lovely Boylan Sisters (Lauren Hodges, Elizabeth Kelson, and Paige Wood) during the radio broadcast (the special effects are so funny to watch). I was very impressed by the elaborate set featuring a backdrop of the New York skyline which slides open to become the Warbucks mansion with pillars, windows, and a curved staircase.  The doors of various buildings very cleverly open and rotate to become Miss Hannigan's office in the orphanage and an interior room of the Warbucks mansion. The period costumes are a lot of fun and I specifically liked the differentiation between the lower and upper classes. This is an entertaining show for the whole family (there were a lot of children in the audience and those around me were absolutely riveted) and I especially recommend it for the young performers who sing and dance their hearts out. It runs at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through July 19 (go here for tickets).

Note:  A special shout out goes to Maui for being an incredibly well-behaved Sandy!

Fourth of July Weekend at the Property

My family owns property near Tabiona in Duchesne county and it is one of my favorite places on Earth.  I hadn't been up there in well over a year so I was really happy to go back over the long holiday weekend with Kristine and Trent.  I had the best time!

We drove up early Friday morning and it was so beautiful there with cool temperatures.  Kristine immediately built a fire and I spent most of the afternoon reading.  In the early evening it rained a bit so I moved to the trailer to continue reading (I loved listening to the rain hit the roof of the trailer and I loved the smell of the trees after the rain).  In the evening we had dinner and then I made my traditional flag cake.  Trent doesn't like sweets, especially cake, but he really likes this and even asks for seconds every time I make it!

We spent the rest of the evening sitting by the fire and then I went to bed in the trailer and slept better than I have in a long time!  Saturday morning Kristine and Trent made breakfast on the grill and it was delicious (one of my favorite things about camping is breakfast because I almost never eat it at home and everything tastes better outside).  Afterwards we went on a drive for most of the day and ended up in nearby Yellowstone Canyon with beautiful views of the rivers and reservoir.

On the way back we saw a large plume of smoke that looked really close to the property.  We eventually learned that there was a large fire on Tabby Mountain less than half a mile from us.  We were a bit nervous so we evacuated to a safer spot and watched about six fire trucks go by to fight it.  We also saw a small plane fly overhead and then a helicopter started dropping water on it (which was seriously cool to see).  After about two hours the fire was pretty much contained so we felt safe enough to go back to the property.  We had dinner and then built a fire (which we monitored carefully after all of the excitement!).

  When it got dark we were able to watch the Tabiona city fireworks.  We sat on the tailgate of the truck at the edge of the property and we had a great view.  It was a much more elaborate show than I was expecting!  Sunday morning, after another great breakfast cooked outside, we completed some projects around the property (when I say "we" I mean that I tried to stay out of the way while Trent and Kristine completed some projects) and then packed up to go.  It was a wonderful long weekend (even with the fire) and I hope it was for you, too!

Jurassic World Rebirth

After suffering through Jurassic World: Dominion, I vowed that I would never see another movie in the franchise but the trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth looked really intriguing to me (it actually featured dinosaurs!) so I went to see it last night with my sister.  There are definitely some flaws but I think it is one of the best sequels to the original movie and I enjoyed it.  The Earth's environment proves to be inhospitable to the dinosaurs so most of them have either died or relocated to tropical areas near the Equator.  Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), a representative of the pharmaceutical company ParkerGenix, recruits covert operatives Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) as well as paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) to retrieve DNA samples from the three largest species of dinosaurs for use in a drug that could potentially prevent coronary disease.  The group is tracking a Mosasaurus in the Atlantic Ocean when they are called to rescue the Delgado family, including Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda), and Teresa's ne'er-do-well boyfriend Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono), after their boat is destroyed by a Mosasaurus.  The team is able to rescue the Delgados and retrieve a sample but they are also attacked and shipwrecked on an island that was once used as a secret research facility for creating mutant dinosaurs.  Chaos ensues as they attempt to collect the remaining samples and evade the terrifying new dinosaurs created in the lab.  The cast does a great job and, even though the story follows the same beats as all of the other movies in the franchise, I liked the new characters.  The action sequences with the dinosaurs are spectacular!  The scenes showing the Delgados being chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex down a river in an inflatable raft and the team as they are confronted by a Distortus rex when trying to leave the island are absolutely terrifying but I also really felt the awe exhibited by Loomis and Bennett when they encounter a Titanosaurus and the Aquilops befriended by Isabella provides a bit of comic relief.  The biggest problem I had is the pacing because in between all of the dinosaurs there is a lot of dialogue in which the characters learn very important lessons (such as big pharma is bad and Xavier is actually good) and my mind would sometimes wander.  This is not quite as good as the original but is so much better than its predecessor and I recommend it as a fun summer blockbuster.

MJ Live at Sandy Amphitheater

I love outdoor concerts at Sandy Amphitheater in the summer and my sister is a big fan of Michael Jackson so we were both really excited to see MJ Live last night.  This show, featuring Jalles Franca as the King of Pop, is one of the best Michael Jackson tribute concerts in the world (it is performed nightly at Harrah's in Las Vegas) and it was fantastic.  Franca looks and sounds like Jackson but, more importantly, he definitely has all of Jackson's iconic moves and they were a lot of fun to watch.  It was also fun to see all of the familiar costumes, especially the red leather jacket from the "Beat It" music video, the white pinstripe suit and fedora from the "Smooth Criminal" music video, and the black sequin jacket, black fedora, white sequin glove, and white sequin socks from the performance of "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25th Anniversary special.  In addition to the songs mentioned above, Franca performed "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Bad," "Another Part of Me," "Dirty Diana," "She's Out of My Life," "I'll Be There" with lots of audience participation, "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Human Nature," and a medley of "I Want You Back," "ABC," and "The Love You Save" by the Jackson 5 with the backup dancers performing with Franca in some fabulous costumes and wigs.  After an epic performance of "Beat It" with backup dancers as rival gang members, Franca invited a group of kids on stage to show their best Michael Jackson choreography.  Some of them were really good!  Then Franca performed "Thriller" and this was a highlight because he replicated the choreography from the music video (I vividly remember when the video premiered on MTV because it was so groundbreaking) with the backup dancers as the undead!  He continued with "Jam," "Man in the Mirror," "Black or White," "Can You Feel It," and a rousing rendition of "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" that got everybody up dancing!  This was such a fun concert and the weather was perfect!  I highly recommend checking out a show at Sandy Amphitheater (it is a great venue and my sister was very impressed with how fast the attendants got everyone out of the parking lot) this summer.  I have a ticket to another concert but I am thinking about two more!  Go here to see the lineup and to purchase tickets.

M3GAN 2.0

My nephew and I had a lot of fun with M3GAN so we were really excited to see the sequel, M3GAN 2.0, last night.  Unfortunately, I found the switch in genre from horror to action thriller to be disappointing.  Cady (Violet McGraw) is still traumatized by the events leading to the destruction of her AI robot M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android) and her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), inspired by her boyfriend Christian (Aristotle Athari), has become an advocate for the regulation of AI technology.  However, M3GAN's technology is surreptitiously used by a defense contractor to create a military-grade robot named AMELIA (Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android).  When AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) becomes self-aware and goes rogue, Gemma and her coworkers, Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps), are persuaded to rebuild M3GAN to make her faster and stronger so she can stop AMELIA from attempting an AI takeover.  There are endless exposition dumps, convoluted plot twists (you may want to take notes to keep them all straight), derivative action sequences, and cringe-worthy dialogue before the long anticipated show-down between M3GAN and AMELIA culminates in a muddled message about working together with AI to solve the world's problems.  We get the requisite dance break and a song from M3GAN (this time she sings "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush) but they are ridiculous and random rather than campy and my nephew and I gave each other several looks of incredulity.  M3GAN (portrayed by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) is no longer scary and, as a result, she is no longer interesting but she is still better than the rest of the cast whose performances are surprisingly bland (except for a brief appearance by the always hilarious Jemaine Clement as a corrupt tech billionaire).  The premise is intriguing and I even enjoyed the initial setup with AMELIA going rogue but the execution is flat without the horror elements that made the first movie so iconic.  This is not the upgrade I was hoping for and I suggest waiting for it to stream.