Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale at St. Mary's Church

One of my favorite activities in the summer is to see the Utah Symphony at St. Mary's Church in Park City as part of the Deer Valley Music Festival so I was really excited for The Soldier's Tale by Igor Stravinsky last night.  I love St. Mary's Church as a venue because it is beautiful (I love the views of the mountains from the windows) but it is also very intimate so the concerts usually feature smaller groups of musicians and chamber pieces.  Last night's concert featured a clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, violin, double bass, and percussion which is a unique grouping of instruments selected by Stravinsky to represent the treble and bass in each instrument family.  The program began with Catch and Release by Esa-Pekka Salonen.  The guest conductor Yaniv Dinur, who was incredibly charming, explained that the contemporary Finnish composer Salonen is a great admirer of Stravinsky and purposely selected the same instruments so that Catch and Release could be played as a companion piece to The Soldier's Tale.  I really enjoyed all of the different textures within this piece (it reminded me of Middle Eastern music) and I especially liked how the ending went from extremely loud to just the vibrations from the strings because it was very dramatic.  After the intermission, the concert continued with The Soldier's Tale narrated by Kevin Nakatani (he recently performed in Utah Opera's production of Madame Butterfly).  A soldier on leave trades his old violin to the Devil in return for a book that tells the future.  He uses this to become rich but he soon realizes that his wealth means nothing and he longs for everything he had before.  He makes another deal with the Devil and regains his violin which wins him the hand of a Princess but this also has unforeseen consequences.  Nakatani has a deep and sonorous voice and I really enjoyed listening to him.  I also enjoyed how the specific instruments illustrate what is happening in the story.  I especially loved the theme played by the violin and clarinet together when the soldier first plays his violin, the fanfare played by the trumpet and trombone when the soldier visits the King, as well as the violin and percussion as the Princess dances.  The juxtaposition between these two pieces made for a very powerful concert and I loved it!  Go here for information and tickets for all of the remaining concerts in the Deer Valley Music Festival.

Note:  Construction in Parley's Canyon added over an hour to my drive home.  That was super fun!

Footloose at HCT

Last night I went to see Footloose at HCT and, much to my surprise, I really loved it. The stage musical is based on the 1984 movie of the same name and follows Ren McCormack (Ren Cottam) as he and his mother Ethel (Melody L. Baugh) move to the small conservative town of Bomont after his father abandons them. Ren immediately finds himself at odds with almost everyone, including the Rev. Shaw Moore (John Rex Kocherhans), because he cannot believe that the town has outlawed dancing. With the help of Ariel Moore (Kersee Whitney), the Reverend's rebellious daughter, and Willard Hewitt (Weston Wright), a redneck with a penchant for fighting who becomes his best friend, Ren eventually convinces Rev. Moore to let him and the rest of the teenagers have a dance which helps the town heal from a tragedy that affected them all. I have to admit that I am not usually a fan of this musical because I think the original songs, most of which were written specifically for the adults to sing, are incredibly contrived and not very memorable even though Baugh, Kocherhans, and Teaira Burge (who plays Vi Moore) have beautiful voices and do a great job in this production. I think the musical is at its best when it incorporates the songs from the movie, including "Footloose," "Somebody's Eyes," "Holding Out for a Hero," "I'm Free," "Let's Hear It for the Boy," and "Almost Paradise," and the staging of these songs in this version is absolutely spectacular with dynamic high-energy choreography that is executed brilliantly by an unbelievably talented cast! I loved, loved, loved the staging for "Footloose" because shiny door curtains encircling the stage are raised just enough to reveal the feet of the dancers (this replicates the iconic opening of the movie), for "Somebody's Eyes" because Rachel Martorana as Rusty, Maryn Tueller as Urleen, and Beyonca Davis as Wendy Jo (who harmonize beautifully) follow Ren around as he butts heads with various townspeople, for "Holding Out For a Hero" because it is set at a drive-in movie with 1980s movie heroes who come to life from the LED screens around the theater (my favorites are Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, the Karate Kid, and Elliot flying around on his bicycle with E.T.), for "I'm Free" because it takes place in the school's gym and the choreography incorporates basketballs, jump ropes, and trampolines, for "Let's Hear It for the Boy" because the country line dancing as Ren teaches Willard to dance is so much fun to watch, and for "Almost Paradise" because Cottam and Whitney have such sizzling chemistry. I couldn't help cheering out loud at the end of each of these numbers! The set pieces are so much fun, especially the Burger Blast with the aforementioned movie screens, the Bar-B-Que with rows of cowboy hats, hanging wagon wheels, old license plates, and dollar bills tacked on the bar and tables, and the church with stained glass windows, and so are the costumes, particularly the Bomont High School gym uniforms and all of the 80s prom dresses. I also loved the real VW bug that Ren drives and the snapshots taken on the drive from Chicago to Bomont displayed on the screens (I laughed out loud at the one in front of the Lehi Roller Mills). This is not my favorite musical but I had an absolute ball last night (it is the best production of this show I have ever seen including an earlier one at HCT) and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through August 30.

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.