Free Guy

Last night I had the chance to see Free Guy in IMAX and I had an absolute blast with this movie!  Guy (Ryan Reynolds) in an NPC (Non-Player Character) in an open-world video game called Free City.  Every morning he wakes up at the same time, wears the same blue shirt and tie, gets the same coffee, and follows the same route to his job as a bank teller with his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery).  There is violence and mayhem all around him and his day usually culminates in a bank heist but it doesn't matter to him because he just wants to find someone special.  One day everything changes when he sees Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer) and decides to break his routine and follow her.  Molotov Girl is the avatar for a programmer named Millie (Comer) who plays Free City looking for evidence that Antwan (Taika Waititi), the publisher of the game, stole the code that she wrote with her partner Keys (Joe Keery) for a much more ambitious game.  Guy borrows a pair of sunglasses (which allows him to see the real gaming environment) and starts playing to impress Molotov Girl but he refuses to use violence and eventually becomes a hero to players around the world.  Millie enlists his help to find the evidence she needs and also starts to develop feelings for him but, when Antwan figures out what is happening, it becomes a race to save Free City before it is shut down.  This movie is just so much fun and Guy is the perfect role for the charismatic and goofy Reynolds.  He is really hit-or-miss with me but I laughed out loud multiple times at his antics because he is absolutely hilarious as the naive and optimistic Guy.  Comer is also really good as the kick-ass Molotov Girl but I also enjoyed her as the nerdy Millie, especially when she watches herself interacting with Guy on her computer screen.  Keery is quite endearing as Keys (I usually pay more attention to his hair than his performance) and Waititi is completely over-the-top as the egomaniacal CEO (but the shtick does get old after awhile).  There are lots of fun cameos (including real gamers who I didn't recognize) but my favorite is Channing Tatum as an avatar for a nerdy player (Matty Cardarople) living in his mother's basement.  The world-building in Free City seems really authentic to me (a non-gamer) and I liked all of the action sequences.  I also liked the commentary on the ease with which violence and collateral damage happen to background characters in video games and the resolution showing that the real world is ultimately more appealing than the gaming world.  I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would and I highly recommend it (and a big tub of popcorn) for a fun night out.

Note:  I did find it a bit cheesy that two of Disney's biggest IPs are thrown into the mix during the final act.

Respect

Last night I went to see a Thursday preview of Respect and, even though I thought it was a bit conventional and formulaic, I enjoyed this portrait of Aretha Franklin.  Young Aretha (Skye Dakota Turner) is devastated by the untimely death of her mother (Audra McDonald) which causes her to withdraw from her family and refuse to speak.  Her father (Forest Whitaker), a Baptist minister of a large church in Detroit, forces her to sing in front of his congregation to help her deal with her grief and she learns that music is the way to cope with her demons.  Several years later Aretha (now played by Jennifer Hudson) becomes an international star but she must overcome her controlling father, industry executives (Tate Donovan and Marc Maron) who think they know what is best for her career, an abusive husband (Marlon Wayons), and an addiction to alcohol before she finds her voice and returns to her roots with a triumphant gospel album and concert.  This is a fairly standard biopic that follows the familiar rise, fall, and redemption arc of its subject and, despite the fact that it has what feels like an overly long runtime, there are so many aspects of Franklin's life that are either not covered (there is a long list of bulleted items about her life before the credits roll) or covered very superficially (such as the implication that she was sexually abused as a child and that this abuse led to a pregnancy at a very young age).  However, this movie is elevated by a phenomenal performance by Hudson who absolutely dazzles when singing Franklin's greatest hits in concert, especially "Respect" and "Think."  The supporting performances are also fantastic, particularly those of Whitaker and Wayans.  Finally, I really enjoyed seeing the process of recording "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Respect," and "Ain't No Way" because it is so interesting to see how a song comes together.  This is not quite as great as I was hoping it would be but it is definitely worth seeing, especially for fans of Aretha Franklin (and Jennifer Hudson).

Sister Act at CPT

Last night I went to see Sister Act, the musical based on the 1992 movie of the same name starring Whoopi Goldberg, at CenterPoint Theatre and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! The story is informed by the movie but the setting has been changed to Philadelphia in the 1970s (which allows for some great period costumes and choreography) and the songs are all original. A nightclub singer named Deloris Van Cartier (McKenna Kay Jensen) accidentally sees her gangster boyfriend Curtis (Dan Frederickson) kill someone so she is placed in the Queen of Angels Convent by a love-struck policeman named Eddie (Craig Williams) to keep her safe until she can testify against him. She wreaks havoc on their orderly way of life until the Mother Superior (Hazel Rowe) puts her in charge of the choir to keep her out of trouble. The new and improved choir's unorthodox performances bring people back to church but all of the attention puts the convent in danger when Curtis and his henchmen see Deloris on TV. This is such a fun and energetic show and I found myself laughing out loud multiple times! Jensen, who has an incredible voice that just about blows the roof off the theater, gives a really flamboyant performance as Deloris and I especially enjoyed her antics while she tries to teach the nuns to dance and all of the sass she gives to the Mother Superior. Frederickson, Christian Lackman (as T.J.), Oran Marc de Baritault (as Joey), and Jeremy Botelho (as Pablo) almost steal the show in the songs "When I Find My Baby" and "Lady in the Long Black Dress" with their hilarious disco moves (and their leisure suits). The same could be said of Williams in his song "I Could Be That Guy," which features back-up singers, who emerge from piles of garbage in shopping carts, and a dead cat! Dan Call, as the Monsignor, made me laugh every time he was on stage, especially when he acts as an emcee (with a bedazzled microphone) during the choir's performances and when he periodically reveals the total amount of money raised for the church improvement fund on a tote board. The choreography is a lot of fun in the songs "Raise Your Voice," "Take Me To Heaven," and "Spread the Love Around," which are sung by the choir, and I especially enjoyed it whenever Sister Mary Theresa (Chris Brown), an older nun, was a step behind everyone else. The costumes are completely over the top. The Monsignor's vestments get more and more elaborate as the show goes on and the purple and gold sequins on the nuns' habits are fabulous, baby! The orange and black plaid jumpsuits worn by Deloris' back-up singers are also quite spectacular. I really enjoyed the sets and the projections, particularly all of the stained glass windows because they are also projected on the ceiling.  I highly recommend this entertaining show for a fun night out. It runs through Sept. 4 on the Barlow Main Stage and tickets may be purchased here.

Nine Days

Not only was Nine Days my favorite selection at the Sundance Film Festival last year, it was my favorite movie of 2020.  I absolutely loved this beautiful exploration of what it means to be alive the first time I saw it and I think I loved it even more when I saw it again yesterday!  On an alternate plane of existence, Will (Winston Duke), a man who was once alive but had a difficult life experience, is tasked with choosing which souls will get the privilege of being born and then monitoring and recording the details of their life experience.  He is assisted by Kyo (Benedict Wong), a soul who is in limbo, and the two of them watch video footage from the POV of each person Will selected on vintage TV screens.  He is worried about a young man who is being bullied by his classmates and a veteran who has suffered a disabling injury but he takes great pride in a violin prodigy named Amanda.  On the day that she is about to perform a concert, she has a fatal car crash that is presumed to be a suicide.  Will is devastated by this loss and obsessively searches through his video archives to look for a sign as to what went wrong.  In the meantime, he must select a soul to replace her and several candidates arrive at his door to be interviewed over a period of nine days: Maria (Arianna Ortiz), Mike (David Rysdahl), Alexander (Tony Hale), Kane (Bill Skarsgard), and Emma (Zazie Beetz).  Afraid of making another mistake, Will tries to determine which candidate will be tough enough to handle all of the hardships and miseries of life.  When a candidate is dismissed, Will creates elaborate simulations of a life experience chosen by each one before he or she disappears from existence.  The final candidate to be dismissed asks for the experience that made Will feel the most alive which, ultimately, teaches him that life is also filled with joy.  Once again, the final scene brought me to tears because it is such a thought-provoking and poignant moment.  I loved the message that happiness can be found in the simplest of moments and that we shouldn't take any of our time on Earth for granted.  I also enjoyed all of the philosophical discussions that Will has with all of the candidates about the nature of humanity, particularly the question about the Holocaust.  Duke gives a phenomenal performance as a man afraid of life who eventually learns to live.  I cannot recommend this movie enough and it is definitely worth seeking out.

Annette

I saw an interview with Adam Driver, back when he was doing press for The Rise of Skywalker, during which he mentioned that he had recently finished filming a musical. I was immediately intrigued by the idea of Driver singing through an entire movie (even though he sings briefly in Hungry Hearts and Marriage Story) and it seems like I have been anticipating the release of Annette ever since!  My anticipation hit a fever pitch when his performance was universally lauded at the Cannes Film Festival (Annette was the opening film) and I have literally been counting down the days until I could see it!  I finally had the chance last night and, even though I thought I knew what to expect, I was completely blown away because it is a masterpiece!  Henry McHenry (Driver) is a provocative comedian who regularly kills his audiences, in his words, during his stage shows.  Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard) is a world-renowned opera singer who dramatically dies on stage every night.  At first glance they seem to inhabit different worlds but they both have one thing in common: they crave, and even need, the attention and adulation they get from their audiences.  They fall passionately in love, get engaged, get married, have a daughter named Annette, and then experience trouble in their marriage when Ann's fame eclipses Henry's.  All of this is reported in TMZ-like news breaks which function as a Greek chorus during their relationship.  Henry is full of self-loathing and eventually destroys his marriage, alienates his audience, exploits his gifted daughter, then kills a possible rival (Simon Helberg).  He is tormented by his guilt (which manifests itself with a birthmark on his cheek that gets bigger and bigger as he comes undone) until he is confronted by Annette (Devyn McDowell) who vows that she will never be like her parents.  Annette is surreal and operatic in scale as the lines between performance and reality are continually blurred.  In fact, the film opens with Ron and Russell Mael (who wrote the music and lyrics for the film) singing the song "So May We Start" in a recording studio and then continuing to sing while walking outside to the streets of L.A. where they are joined by the cast as themselves before they are transformed into their characters.  It is brilliant!  I also love that Annette is portrayed by a puppet and that she becomes a real little girl only after she refuses to perform ever again (in a scene that left me absolutely gutted) and that Ann haunts Henry like a vengeful character from an opera.  Driver, who is one of my favorite actors, gives a tour-de-force performance that is, in my opinion, the best of his considerable career.  I was really impressed by his physicality in an expletive-laden and rage-fueled rant during a comedy routine and by his singing ability, especially in the emotionally charged "Stepping Back in Time" and "Sympathy for the Abyss."  Annette is not the kind of film that usually gets attention from the Academy but Driver definitely deserves an Oscar nomination!  This will not be for everyone, although I was surprised to see so many people at my screening, but it is a major contender for my favorite movie of the year!

Note:  I already have tickets to see it again!

The Suicide Squad

For the past several months my nephew and I have been having a movie night every Saturday.  We get a treat and pick several movies to watch together and it has been so much fun (watching the movies and spending time with him).  Lately we have been working our way through all of the movies in the DCEU (we are huge fans) in preparation for the release of The Suicide Squad.  It is safe to say that we have been anticipating this movie for a long time and we both had a great time watching it in IMAX last night!  After the ruling family of Corto Maltese, an island nation off the coast of South America, is overthrown and a ruthless anti-American dictator (Joaquin Cosio) is installed, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) recruits a group of supervillains from Belle Reve penitentiary to destroy Project Starfish, run by Dr. Gaius Grieves/ The Thinker (Peter Capaldi) in a Nazi-era laboratory on the island, which could be catastrophic to the U.S. if it is in the wrong hands.  Col. Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is the field leader of the so-called Suicide Squad composed of Harleen Quinzel/ Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Robert DuBois/ Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Christopher Smith/ Peacemaker (John Cena), Cleo Cazo/ Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Abner Krill/ Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and Nanaue/ King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone).  There are some interesting, and often hilarious, interactions within the group because Bloodsport and Peacemaker keep trying to show each other up, Harley Quinn has boyfriend issues, Ratcatcher has daddy issues, Polka-Dot Man has mommy issues, King Shark just wants a friend, and Flag has second thoughts about the mission.  The action sequences are fantastic, especially when Harley Quinn fights every soldier at the Presidential Palace to escape while the rest of the group is trying to come up with a plan to save her (Harley is so kick-ass), and they feature a killer soundtrack!  This movie is incredibly violent, gory, and filled with profanity but I was surprised by its heart and by how sympathetic the characters are.  I loved the message that even the lowliest and most despised creatures can still have a purpose and Sean really loved James Gunn's visual style and how all of the title cards are displayed.  This is how you make a comic book movie, in my opinion, and we both loved it!

Footloose at Sundance

Last night I took a beautiful drive through Provo Canyon to the Sundance Mountain Resort to see Footloose, this year's Sundance Summer Theatre production in partnership with Utah Valley University.  I have been coming to these shows for years and I was so excited to be back after last summer's production was cancelled.  In my zeal to be back in the mountains watching live theatre under the stars, however, I forgot that I don't really care for this musical (I saw it several years ago at HCT).  I love the 1984 movie about a big city boy who moves to a small Midwestern town where he discovers that rock and roll and dancing have been banned by a city council still reeling from a tragic accident five years earlier and the stage musical is at its best when it incorporates the music 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."  Unfortunately, most of the songs written specifically for the musical are for the adults to sing and, in my opinion, they are incredibly contrived and take away from the energy of the show.  Jason Baldwin, as Shaw Moore, Bailee Brinkerhoff Morris, as Vi Moore, and Heather Shelley, as Ethel McCormack, all have great voices but I found myself looking at the program to see when the next familiar song was coming up whenever they were on stage, particularly during the second act (I think the majority of the audience just wanted to get to the dance).  It still could have been a lot of fun if the performances were great but I didn't really like them, either.  Eric Ascione, as Ren McCormack, is an incredible dancer who brings a lot of enthusiasm and charisma to the role but he is not a singer and he really struggles in "I'm Free" and "Almost Paradise." Beatriz Melo, as Rusty, Emma Wadsworth, as Urleen, and Abigail Watts, as Wendy Jo, embellish their songs with showy vocal runs, which is great if you are Mariah Carey, but if you are not Mariah Carey it just sounds like screeching that is off-key.  Their songs, particularly "Let's Hear It for the Boy," are sometimes really cringe-worthy.  I did really enjoy Hailey Hyde, as Ariel, because she has the best voice in the cast, and Maxwell Eddington, as Willard, because he is hilarious.  I will say that this production really shines in the high-energy choreography by Adam Ray Dyer and the big production numbers are very well executed by the talented dancers in the cast.  I especially loved the way "Holding Out for a Hero" and "I'm Free" are staged because the former incorporates superhero costumes and the latter incorporates athletic equipment in a gym.  I also really liked the set design by Glenn Pepe, especially the large metal bridge that looms above every scene which is brilliant because the car crash on the bridge still has a profound effect on the town even five years later.  This is probably my least favorite production that I've seen at Sundance (it should be noted that everyone around me seemed to love it) but I still had a lot of fun and I definitely loved being up in the mountains where it is significantly cooler than in the valley.  Footloose runs Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through August 14 but I believe all of the shows are sold out (go here for more information).

Stillwater

Last night I finally had the opportunity to see Stillwater (I had plans to see it two different times over the weekend but I couldn't get myself motivated enough to follow through with them) and, even though it drags on a bit, I really enjoyed it.  Bill Baker (Matt Damon) is an Oklahoma roughneck who periodically travels to Marseilles to visit his estranged daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin).  She went to France for a university study abroad program but has now been in prison for four years after being convicted of killing her girlfriend with circumstantial evidence during a high-profile and sensational trial (it obviously draws inspiration from the Amanda Knox case but the two stories are very different).  During his latest visit, Allison asks him to give a letter, written in French so he can't read it, to her lawyer which suggests that there might be DNA evidence to tie the murder to an Arab man named Akim (Adir Azougli) which will exonerate her.  However, her lawyer (Ann Le Ny) says that she cannot reopen the case based on hearsay and refuses to investigate.  Even though he is in over his head, he decides to stay in Marseilles and conduct an investigation himself with the help of Virginie (Camille Cottin), a woman staying in the room next to him at his hotel with her daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud), as a translator, guide, and possible love interest.  He goes to extraordinary lengths to prove his daughter’s innocence but will his actions destroy his newfound relationship with Virginie and Maya?  This movie really took me be surprise.  The narrative does involve an investigation into a murder (including a twist at the end that I predicted early on) with some interesting things to say about racial tension but I enjoyed it most when the story focused on rebuilding the damaged relationship between a father and a daughter.  I also enjoyed seeing Bill attempt to find a bit of redemption through his relationship with Maya as a way to atone for his failures with Allison.  Damon gives an incredibly affecting performance, one of his best, in an unsympathetic role and I was also really impressed by Cottin and Siauvaud (she received a lengthy standing ovation at Cannes).  The action slowly builds and builds, creating a palpable tension, but I feel like it gets bogged down when it returns to the murder mystery in the third act and my mind started to wander (it is a long movie).  It is not really the thriller that it is marketed to be but I would definitely recommend this movie because it is, ultimately, an intriguing character study with outstanding performances.

The Green Knight

As a huge fan of the actor Dev Patel and the director David Lowery, I was beyond excited to see The Green Knight last night and it certainly did not disappoint!  I think it is absolutely brilliant and it is now my favorite movie of the year (so far).  Gawain (Patel) is the dissolute nephew of King Arthur (Sean Harris) and, while he is eager to prove himself, he fears that he is not destined for greatness.  On Christmas Day, King Arthur invites Gawain to join him and his Knights of the Round Table.  He knows that he is not worthy to sit at the king's side so, when a mysterious Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) summoned by his mother Morgan Le Fay (Sarita Choudhury) enters and issues a challenge, Gawain recklessly accepts.  He is allowed to strike the Green Knight with his ax on the condition that he submit to the same blow one year hence at the Green Chapel.  Gawain beheads the Green Knight, who does not falter, with one stroke but spends the following year in torment about keeping his end of the bargain.  He eventually sets off on a literal, but mostly metaphorical, journey to perform acts of courage and chivalry and undergo a test of honor at the castle of a lord (Joel Edgerton), lady (Alicia Vikander), and enchantress (Helena Browne) before facing the Green Knight.  This is a bold retelling of the classic legend and, even though I usually don't like it when liberties are taken with the source material, the final sequence absolutely blew me away and I am sure that I will be thinking about it for some time to come! The cinematography is beautiful and atmospheric but the action is slow because events are not explained but, rather, shown through imagery and symbolism.  Patel is riveting in the role and I was completely enthralled by his performance!  In fact, the last time I was so spellbound by a movie was when I saw A Ghost Story, also written and directed by Lowery.  This is definitely not for everyone and, if you prefer a more straightforward narrative, this is not a movie you will enjoy.  At my screening there were several people who walked out in the middle but there were also many people, myself included, who remained through the credits until the house lights came on in order to ponder the message about what it means to live with honor!  I think it is a masterpiece and I can't wait to see it again!

Note:  I usually taught Beowulf as part of the epic poetry unit in my British literature classes but every so often I would substitute Sir Gawain and the Green Knight just to mix it up.  If I was still teaching, I would definitely make the switch this year!

Jungle Cruise

I pretty much had to see the movie Jungle Cruise because it is based on one of the few rides at Disneyland that I will willingly go on!  I saw it last night at a Thursday preview and I really enjoyed it.  At the height of World War I, Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) finds an artifact that leads to the Tree of Life which, according to legend, has powerful healing powers.  She and her fastidious brother McGregor (Jack Whitehall) travel to Brazil and hire a reluctant Captain Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to take them down the Amazon River in his dilapidated steamboat to find it.  They have a series of misadventures involving heat, wild animals, cannibals, and treacherous rapids but they are also being pursued by an ancient conquistador (Edgar Ramirez) who is trying to undo a curse that has kept him in the jungle for hundreds of years and a German aristocrat (Jesse Plemons) who wants to use the power to win the war.  Many of the action sequences feature very obvious (and subpar) CGI but they are certainly entertaining and exciting.  Johnson and Blunt are fantastic and have great chemistry, especially with their back-and-forth bickering (but not when their relationship inevitably turns romantic).  All of Frank's groan-worthy puns are so much fun because they reminded me of the ride at Disneyland.  Whitehall provides a lot of comic relief and, while McGregor's backstory might divide critics and audiences, I found it to be very affecting.  Ramirez is suitably creepy as Aguirre but I found the story of the Spanish conquistador to be very convoluted.  Plemons steals the show as the bombastic Prince Joachim and I laughed out loud at many of his over-the-top antics.  I also enjoyed the music by James Newton Howard and, rather unusually, Metallica (an instrumental version of "Nothing Else Matters" is used in a key scene and I think it is very effective).  This is not a masterpiece but it is a fun summer blockbuster that most will probably enjoy and I definitely recommend it.

Note:  This reminded me a lot of The Mummy, one of my favorite action movies, because they both feature smart, capable, and adventurous female characters (and they both have fun scenes involving library ladders).

The Magical Music of Harry Potter at Deer Valley

Last night I got to experience three of my favorite things, the Utah Symphony, Harry Potter, and an outdoor performance in the mountains, and it was absolutely wonderful!  As if those weren't enough incentives to get a ticket to last night's concert at Deer Valley, the guest conductor was Enrico Lopez-Yanez!  I enjoyed him so much during his last appearance with the symphony because he was incredibly charming and engaging!  I was really excited to see him again and he certainly didn't disappoint last night!  He came out in full Hogwarts regalia and conducted a roll call for House affiliation (I am Ravenclaw in case you were wondering) before beginning the concert with "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by John Williams.  Next the orchestra played "The Weasley Stomp" from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Nicholas Hooper.  They continued with "Fawkes the Phoenix," "Dobby the House Elf," "Gilderoy Lockheart," and "The Chamber of Secrets" from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by John Williams.  One of my favorites was "Nimbus 2000" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because I could picture the Quiddich match in my head as the orchestra played it.  The first half of the concert ended with selections from the Suite from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by John Williams and included "Aunt Marge's Waltz," "The Knight Bus" (which was very popular with all of the kids sitting around me), "A Bridge to the Past," and "Double Trouble."  The latter included four vocalists, Julia Bradshaw (Gryffindor), Mariah Stanelle (Ravenclaw), Mitchell Mosley (Hufflepuff), and Tate Forshay (Slytherin), and it was a lot of fun!  After the intermission, the orchestra played "Witches, Wands, and Wizards" from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by John Williams and "Death of Cedric" from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by Patrick Doyle.  Then Lopez-Yanez picked several kids (and one 25 year old) in costume from the audience to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and sent them to pick their wands while the orchestra played "Diagon Alley" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  He had the contestants name as many magical creatures as they could while the orchestra played "Buckbeak's Flight" from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and then use their wands to cast a spell during "The Quiddich World Cup (The Irish)" from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  The audience crowned the winner and she was given an actual Tri-Wizard Tournament Cup!  Next came the Symphonic Suite from Harry Potter which included "Fireworks," "The Flight of the Order of the Phoenix," Harry & Hermione," "Obliviate," "Lily's Theme," and "Courtyard Apocalypse" (I loved the dramatic drums in this piece).  The concert concluded with "Harry's Wondrous World" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the encore was "Hogwarts' Hymn" from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  I love all of the Harry Potter movies so it was a lot of fun to hear all of the music played live, especially in the mountains where it was actually cool enough for me to need a jacket!  I think all of the remaining concerts in the Deer Valley Music Festival are sold out but you might have some luck calling the box office!

Old

I am a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan (I even like the Shyamalan movies that most other people hate) and I have been looking forward to Old for what seems like forever so I saw it at the earliest possible opportunity which was a Thursday preview last night.  Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps), along with their children Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River), are vacationing at a resort on a tropical island.  There is a lot of tension between them and it turns out that they are giving their children one final vacation before announcing their intention to divorce.  The manager of the resort (Gustaf Hammarsten) tells them about an exclusive and secluded beach and offers to have an employee (Shyamalan) drive them there for the day.  They decide to go but are annoyed when they are joined by a doctor named Charles (Rufus Sewell), his trophy wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee), his daughter Kara (Kyle Bailey), and his mother Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant), as well as a nurse named Jarin (Ken Leung) and his wife Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird).  A rapper named Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre) is already there having spent the night with a woman he just met.  When the woman's drowned body is discovered in a cove, they are all horrified to discover that it has decomposed at a rapid rate.  They are also stunned to see that the children are changing drastically every hour (Maddox is played by Thomasin McKenzie at 16 and Embeth Davidtz as an adult; Trent is played by Luca Faustino Rodriguez at 11, Alex Wolff at 15, and Emun Elliott as an adult; and Kara is played by Mikaya Fischer at 11 and Eliza Scanlen at 15).  Evidently, time is passing at a rate of one year for every 30 minutes on the beach and the guests can't seem to leave.  This is an absolutely brilliant concept and I really enjoyed the discussions about living in the present and cherishing the time spent with loved ones.  The tone is incredibly surreal (it reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone) with line deliveries that are almost hysterical in pitch, jarring camera work that emphasizes the disorientation of the characters, and an uncomfortably menacing sound design.  Many might disagree with these choices but they worked for me and I enjoyed the effect.  However, I didn't enjoy the typical Shyamalan plot twist as much as I usually do (I think it is anti-climactic after the tense build-up).  I really need to think about Old a bit more before I decide if I love it but I definitely didn't hate it.

Note:  When I say that I like the Shyamalan movies that most other people hate I, of course, do not mean The Last Airbender.  Did anyone like that movie?

Pig

When I first heard about the movie Pig, I had certain preconceived notions about the kind of movie it would be, especially since it starred a deranged looking Nicolas Cage, so I decided not to see it.  However, I started reading rave reviews (which admonished viewers to go into the theater knowing as little as possible to fully enjoy it) so I changed my mind.  I went to see it last night and I'm not sure what I expected but it certainly wasn’t a philosophical meditation on finding meaning in a seemingly meaningless world!  Robin Feld (Cage) is living off the grid in a rustic cabin deep in the woods of Oregon.  His only means of support is selling truffles to Amir (Alex Wolff), who then sells them to the trendy restaurants in Portland, and his only companion is his prized foraging pig.  He is a broken man and he clearly has his demons.  One night he is savagely attacked and his pig is stolen which leaves him devastated.  He enlists the help of a reluctant Amir, who has his own demons, to help him find his pig and their search brings them to Portland, where is is revealed that Feld was once a well-regarded chef.  That is really all you should know before going in but you should also know that this is a complex character study rather than a traditional revenge thriller (there is a scene of shocking violence but it is not at all what you are expecting) and that might prove disappointing for some.  I think it is brilliant because, while it is definitely a slow burn, everything that happens builds upon and expands the central idea.  Cage is really hit or miss with me but this is one of his best performances.  His delivery of a monologue at the midway point is absolutely haunting and it gave me goosebumps.  Wolff is also very good and Amir's character arc is as compelling as Feld's.  This is definitely one of the best movies I've seen this year and I highly recommend it!

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

I liked the movie Escape Room a lot more than I thought I would.  I enjoyed the premise, the design of the rooms, and the suspenseful action sequences.  My only problem was with the ending because it lacks any kind of credibility and it slows down the action with a lot of clunky dialogue in an attempt to explain everything.  There is also a groan-worthy cliffhanger that I thought was a blatant bid for a sequel (and I was right).  Did you enjoy the lengthy recap of my review for the first movie?  More about that later!  Last night I went to see the promised sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, and this time around I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.  After surviving the escape rooms set up by the Minos corporation, Zoey (Taylor Russell) and Ben (Logan Miller) are suffering from PTSD and want to hold Minos accountable for the deaths of the other players.  They follow a clue to a dilapidated warehouse in New York but eventually end up in another escape room with Theo (Carlito Olivero), Nathan (Thomas Cocquerel), Rachel (Holland Roden), and Brianna (Indya Moore).  Once again, the players must solve puzzles in order to escape from elaborately staged rooms or face deadly consequences.  This movie begins with a lengthy bit of exposition recapping everything that happened in the first one (maybe the filmmakers wanted to pad the runtime, which is 88 minutes, to compensate for a thin plot?) but this just serves to emphasize that the original characters are more sympathetic than the new ones.  The premise for the new game, namely that each player is the sole survivor of his or her respective game, is not as compelling as the original one (each player has a secret which is revealed in one of the rooms) and there is not even an attempt at characterization.  The new players are dispatched very quickly, without leaving much of an impression, in order to get to the reason why Zoey was lured back into the game and this, once again, strains credibility. We also get a cliffhanger that is even more groan-worthy (is the whole world just one elaborate escape room?).  I will concede that the design of the rooms, especially the subway car and the bank lobby, and the action sequences within the rooms are actually an improvement upon the original but I just didn't care as much about whether or not the characters survived them.  You can give this one a miss.

Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 at St. Mary's Church

Last night I drove back up to the mountains for an intimate Utah Symphony concert at St. Mary's Church in Park City.  I've gone to a few of these concerts, which are part of the Deer Valley Music Festival, and they always end up being absolutely wonderful.  St. Mary's is a beautiful church with amazing views of the mountains through a wall of plate glass windows and it is a fantastic venue for chamber music!  The concert began with String Sinfonietta by Vivian Fung.  I really enjoyed this piece, especially the second movement, which seemed very atmospheric and otherworldly, and the third movement, because the musicians plucked the strings of their instruments (and even tapped on their instruments to create a rhythm) through this whole section and it was really cool.  Next the orchestra played Within Her Arms by Anna Clyne.  The title comes from a poem by Thich Nhat Hahn, in which the Earth wraps her arms around a dear one who has died in order to transform her into flowers to comfort those left behind, and it is dedicated to Clyne's mother who died suddenly and unexpectedly.  This piece is mournful and elegiac and I thought it was hauntingly beautiful.  The concert concluded with Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra by Joseph Haydn with Utah Symphony Principal Cello Matthew Johnson as soloist.  This piece is very technically challenging and Johnson performed it beautifully.  As predicted, this was a wonderful evening filled with incredible music!  I believe that all of the remaining concerts at St. Mary's are sold out but there are a few tickets available for some of the other shows at Deer Valley (go here).

The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52

I have been able to go whale watching twice (in Alaska and Australia) and seeing a whale breach is one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had.  I think whales are absolutely fascinating so I was intrigued by the trailer for The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 and I even drove about 45 minutes out of my way to see it at the only theater that is screening it in my area yesterday.  At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy developed classified methods to listen underwater for Soviet submarines.  However, it was difficult to distinguish the sounds of submarines from those of marine life so an oceanographer, Dr. William A. Watkins, was enlisted to help classify the sounds.  In 1989 he discovered a single whale that broadcast at a 52 hertz frequency.  No other species of whale broadcast at that frequency so he started tracking the signal until his death 2004.  He was never able to see it or discover another whale who broadcast at the same frequency so it was dubbed "the loneliest whale in the world" and it gained a certain notoriety because people related to its outsider status.  This captured the imagination of filmmaker Joshua Zeman, who believes the ocean is a mysterious environment where unknown discoveries are still possible, and he assembled a team of scientists to try and locate the loneliest whale.  Interspersed between images of their search are discussions about the mythological characteristics of whales, the history of the whaling industry, the discovery that whales use sound to communicate with one another, the origins of the movement to save the whales, the disruption of whale communication by shipping traffic, as well as the social nature of whales and whether this solitary whale would experience the emotion of loneliness.  I found all of this to be very interesting but the footage of the whales encountered during the expedition is absolutely breathtaking, especially the images from trackers placed on the whales because they are so immersive!  I enjoyed this documentary very much but, honestly, I don't think it needs to be seen on the big screen (it will be available on VOD starting July 16).

Kristin Chenoweth at Deer Valley

Last night I got to see Kristin Chenoweth perform with the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley and I can't even begin to express how much I loved this concert!  I know that I am starting to sound like a broken record but I really missed seeing concerts at Deer Valley last summer!  Sitting outside and listening to music is so wonderful, especially up in the mountains because the temperature is a lot cooler than in the valley, and Kristin Chenoweth puts on a fantastic show!  Last night she was a bit emotional because this is the first opportunity that she has had to perform in front of people since the pandemic started.  She began with "Que Sera, Sera" and then performed a heartfelt version of Trisha Yearwood's "The Song Remembers When."  Next she sang "Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart" and gave an emotional rendition of "The Sweetheart Tree" which she dedicated to a friend who had recently died because it was her favorite song.  One of my favorite songs in the show was an incredibly sultry version of "Desperado" by The Eagles.  She brought out a guitar player (Josh Bryant) that she said she knew to perform with her and, after the song ended, he planted a very passionate kiss on her to the delight of the audience!  She gushed, "I didn't say how well I knew him!" Before the intermission, she sang "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady and then she said that she had to go change her clothes and we all had to go to the bathroom and buy a copy of her album, For The Girls, which was half price!  She returned to the stage with two incredibly talented vocalists, Crystal Monee Hall and Marissa Rosen, to perform "I'm a Woman" with choreography.  She was in the middle of a Broadway show, which included that song, and it only had a few performances before the pandemic shut everything down so she said that it was a lot of fun for the three of them to perform it again!  She also had them join her for "You Don't Own Me" and a beautiful rendition of "Hard Times Come Again No More."  Another favorite moment came next when she sang "Popular" from Wicked.  After this she introduced herself to all of the straight men and said she played Glinda in the show.  That got a huge laugh!  Then she sat on the piano and sang an incredible version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  She gave the stage to Crystal and Marissa (she loves mentoring young singers) who sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" which was amazing!  During her last concert at Deer Valley, she gave one of the best performances of "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables that I have ever heard and she did again last night!  I loved it so much!  Next came "Yesterday Once More" by the Carpenters (I may or may not have sung along to this) and she ended the show with a beautiful song written by her music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell called "Reasons For Hope."  For the encore, she sang "Smile" which seemed very appropriate for the past year.  I had such a wonderful time at this concert and I hope that she keeps coming back to Deer Valley because I will certainly be in the audience!

We Are the Brennans

My Book of the Month selection for July was We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange (the other options were Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson, Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby, The People We Keep by Allison Larkin, and 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard) and I really loved it. In fact, I stayed up reading into the early morning hours several times because I was so riveted by the story. Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital room with severe injuries from a car accident after a night of drinking. She eventually decides to return home to New York to be with her close-knit Irish-Catholic family to recover and deal with her legal situation. However, it turns out that she abandoned her father Mickey, her brothers Denny, Jackie, and Shane, and her fiance Kale (who has since married someone else) and fled to California five years ago without explanation after a traumatic incident and has never spoken to them about it. She tries to reconnect with her loved ones but she is not the only one who has been keeping secrets and the repercussions of her secret threaten to destroy the happiness and security of all of the Brennans. The family members love each other fiercely and they think that sparing each other from any unpleasantness is an act of kindness but it is driving them apart. Ultimately, they must learn to trust each other to get through their problems together. This family is incredibly dysfunctional and each character makes terrible decisions but I still found them all to be very sympathetic. The family dynamic feels authentic because it is informed by Lange's own experiences growing up with a large Irish-Catholic family and the interactions between the family members are both humorous and heart-breaking (and incredibly relatable). I was the most invested in the relationship between Sunday, Kale, and his wife Vivienne because it is so awkward, especially when Sunday and Kale realize they still have feelings for each other, and it is tragic because they could be together if they had only communicated with each other. The narrative alternates between multiple perspectives and Lange uses the device of ending a chapter with a conversation that is picked up in the next chapter by a different POV which is incredibly effective at drawing in the reader because I literally couldn't put this book down! It seems like a new secret is revealed in every chapter, several of which really surprised me, and I really appreciated the fact that every problem isn't magically solved in the end but the resolution still feels incredibly hopeful. If you love a good generational saga as much as I do, I highly recommend We Are the Brennans.

Black Widow

Last night I finally had the chance to see the long-awaited movie Black Widow at a Thursday preview and it was both entertaining and surprisingly poignant.  In a flashback scene set in 1995, a young Natasha Romanoff (Ever Anderson) and Yelena Belova (Violet McGraw) are surrogate daughters to Alexei Shastakov (David Harbour), a Russian super-soldier akin to Captain America named Red Guardian, and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), a Black Widow, to help maintain their covers as part of a sleeper cell in Ohio.  When the mission ends, both Natasha and Yelena are subjected to psychological reprogramming in the Red Room training facility to become Black Widows themselves.  The action resumes in the immediate aftermath of the events in Captain America: Civil War with Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) on the run from Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt).  Yelena (Florence Pugh) is still a Black Widow subject to chemical mind control by the head of the Red Room, General Dreykov (Ray Winstone).  However, while on a mission, she comes in contact with the antidote that removes the Red Room's control and sends it to Natasha who comes looking for her in Budapest.  Yelena's story brings up unsettling memories of a former mission (we finally find out what happened in Budapest with Clint Barton) so Natasha decides to find and destroy the Red Room with the help of Alexei and Melina who also have ties to Dreykov.  The action is absolutely thrilling, especially in the many hand-to-hand combat sequences, and I was really impressed by Pugh because she definitely holds her own with Johansson who is as kick-ass as usual.  I have always really enjoyed the character of Black Widow but I especially loved her arc in this movie because she is forced to confront the demons from her past and is able to find a bit of redemption.  I also loved the exploration of what it means to be a family and the interactions between Natasha, Yelena, Alexei, and Milena are highly emotional as they process the trauma they have all been through but they are also often quite humorous, particularly a running gag about the superhero landing pose.  My only complaint is that the stakes are not as high as they could have been because we know Natasha's fate and that casts a bit of a pall on the proceedings.  Nevertheless, this is a worthy send off for Scarlett Johansson and the Black Widow character and I would highly recommend seeing it in IMAX.

Note:  This also feels like a beginning for Florence Pugh in the franchise but I am not sure how I feel about the set-up for her character (it goes without saying that you should definitely stay for an end credits scene).

Utah Symphony at the Waterfall

It was a lovely night for an outdoor concert last night!  This Utah Symphony concert at the Waterfall Amphitheatre at Thanksgiving Point is always one of my favorite events of the summer and I really missed it last year!  It felt so good to be sitting outside listening to wonderful music!  I brought a blanket, a picnic, and a book and happily waited in the sunshine for the orchestra, under the baton of Conner Covington, to take the stage for a stirring and patriotic program.  The concert began with Liberty Fanfare by John Williams and continued with Variations on America by Charles Ives (I loved all of the different versions of the theme from My Country, 'Tis of Thee in this piece).  Then the orchestra played the Overture to West Side Story and this made me really excited for the new movie coming in December.  Next came Semper Fidelis, which is the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps, by John Philip Sousa and this was quite stirring!  The first set concluded with Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland.  It was narrated by Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson and it was amazing because it combined the words of Abraham Lincoln with incredible music.  After the intermission, the orchestra played Silver Fanfare by Peter Boyer, Olympic Fanfare and Theme by John Williams (this made me realize that the Summer Olympics will be on in just a few weeks!), "Hymn to the Fallen" from Saving Private Ryan by John Williams, and "Nimrod" from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar (which was absolutely beautiful).  The final piece, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, is a Utah Symphony summer tradition and I am really happy that it is back!  It is absolutely epic and the final theme (you can probably hear it in your head right now) gave me goosebumps!  I loved it!  For the encore, they played a rousing rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa which ended in a spectacular fireworks show!  I had so much fun at this concert (I love outdoor performances) and I am looking forward to seeing the Utah Symphony perform several more concerts at the Deer Valley Music Festival this month (go here for information and tickets).

Guys and Dolls at HCT

Last night I saw HCT's wildly entertaining production of the old favorite Guys and Dolls and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The story, which is a bit dated but still a lot of fun, revolves around the romantic struggles between Nathan Detroit (Blake Barlow), who runs the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, and Miss Adelaide (Kelly Pulver), his long-suffering fiancee of fourteen years, as well as Sky Masterson (Preston Taylor), a charismatic professional gambler, and Sarah Brown (Jisel Soleil Ayon), an uptight sergeant with the Save-a-Soul Mission who is trying to reform him. When Nathan Detroit bets Sky Masterson that he can't take Sarah to Havana, chaos ensues! All four leads give wonderful performances but I found Taylor to be incredibly appealing as Sky, especially in "Never Been In Love Before," and I laughed out loud at Ayon's drunken antics in "Havana" and "If I Were a Bell." The choreography in this show is fantastic and "Luck Be a Lady" and "Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat" are absolute showstoppers! I also really enjoyed Miss Adelaide's performances of "Bushel and A Peck" and "Take Back Your Mink" with the Hot Box dancers. The period costumes are a lot of fun, particularly all of the patterns used in the men's suits (I loved the pinstripes) and all of the details on the Save-A-Soul Mission uniforms. I am almost always impressed with the set design at Hale but Kacey Udey really outdid himself with this show. I loved the bold primary colors used in Mindy's Cafe, the Hot Box, and the Save-a-Soul Mission and I loved the contrast with the tropical pastel palette used in the Havana scenes. The projections on the giant LED screens are very well-done and enhance, rather than detract from, what is happening on stage. Finally, the technical aspects of this show are also outstanding. There are set pieces coming in from the wings, up from the pit, and down from the rafters for nearly every scene and it is quite impressive how seamlessly this happens (especially so early in the run). This is a fun, colorful, and energetic show that everyone will enjoy (the tween sitting next to me loved it) and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It plays on the Young Living Centre Stage through August 14.

Note:  Also, don't forget Always Patsy Cline playing on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through August 28 (go here for tickets).

Always...Patsy Cline at HCT

Last night I went to see Always...Patsy Cline which is currently being performed on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage at Hale Centre Theatre. I must say at the outset that I am not much of a country music fan (it is probably my least favorite genre of music) but the portrayal of an improbable friendship is quite poignant and I certainly appreciated the talented musicians who performed live on stage! The show is basically a series of performances by Patsy Cline (Cori Cable Kidder) of all of her hits at various venues, including the Grand Ole Opry, interspersed with commentary from a real-life fan named Louise Seger (Adrien Swenson) who met Cline at a performance in Houston and then corresponded with her until her untimely death. I found the story to be a bit contrived but the music is outstanding! Kidder is fantastic in the role, looking and sounding enough like the iconic singer to be believable without seeming like a campy impersonation, and I especially enjoyed her renditions of "Walking After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Sweet Dreams," "Crazy," and "True Love."  The band, consisting of Kelly DeHaan (director and music director) on piano, Bryan Hague on guitar, Mark Maxson on lap steel guitar, Mark Robinette on bass, Aaron Ashton on fiddle, and James Densley on drums, is also fantastic and I really liked their spontaneous interactions with Kidder. Swenson is enthusiastic and fully committed to Louise's over-the-top persona but, in my opinion, the role itself is a little bit problematic because, in reality, there's not a lot for her to do. The shtick gets tedious after a while and sometimes detracts from the music. I was, as always, impressed with the set design, which features fun projections on cowboy boots and hats, and the many different costumes worn by Cline during her performances. This was not really my cup of tea (I don't think I will ever see it again) but it is an outstanding production with amazing performances and I'm sure that fans of country music and of Patsy Cline will appreciate it much more than I did.  It runs on the Jewel Box stage until August 28 and tickets may be purchased here.

Utah Shakespeare Festival 2021

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is another activity that I really missed last summer.  I was especially sad when the 2020 season had to be canceled due to Covid because one of the plays was going to be Richard III, which is a favorite of mine, and I had been looking forward to it ever since it was announced in 2019.  Luckily, it is being performed this season and I was so excited to see it that I got a ticket for opening weekend!

I drove down to Cedar City in the afternoon on Friday, checked into my hotel, and then caught the Greenshow before seeing Richard III in the Engelstad Theatre.  Richard III is one of Shakespeare's darkest plays but I love it and, even though Richard is a villain who kills everyone in his path to take the throne of England, I find the character to be incredibly compelling (I almost always prefer the villains to the heroes).  This production is outstanding and Aidan O'Reilly is absolutely brilliant as Richard.  He gives an incredibly riveting physical performance and I couldn't take my eyes off him (he is diminutive in stature but he somehow fills the stage).  There were many moments when the staging of a scene took my breath away including Richard wooing Anne (Sarah Suzuki) over the coffin of her father-in law, the murder of the young princes (Jessica Sannar and Finley Caciola) in the Tower, the condemnation of Richard by his mother (Sarah Shippobotham) and the former queens (Desiree Mee Jung and Melinda Pfundstein), the ghosts of Richard's victims tormenting him and then encouraging Richmond (Cordell Cole) on the eve of battle, and Richard's dramatic death.  If you are planning a visit to the festival this summer, this show is not to be missed!

Saturday afternoon I saw Ragtime (which is one of my favorite musicals) in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.  The stories of a wealthy white family living in New Rochelle, a Black piano player in Harlem, and an Eastern European immigrant looking for a better life for his daughter in America converge with ragtime music as a metaphor for the dramatic changes happening in society at the turn of the century.  The narrative is incredibly poignant and the music is amazing!  My favorite song has always been "Sarah Brown Eyes" and Ezekial Andrew, as Coalhouse Walker Jr., and Daria Pilar Redus, as Sarah, sing it beautifully!  In this production I also really loved "Back to Before" by Melinda Pfundstein, as Mother, and "Make Them Hear You" by Andrew because their performances are so powerful.  This show is technically very complicated with a large ensemble and lots of different settings so the use of simple metal staircases, which are configured and reconfigured very quickly, is highly effective.  I loved this show and would highly recommend it!

My final show at the festival was a production of The Comedy of Errors in the Engelstad Theatre Saturday night and it was as funny as Richard III was intense the night before!  This play is about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who, unbeknownst to them, are all in the same place at the same time and are constantly mistaken for each other with hilarious consequences (an exorcism is required at one point).  The four actors playing the twins (Mauricio Miranda, Michael Doherty, Marco Antonio Vega, and Andrew Plinio) have brilliant comedic timing and all of the physical comedy had the audience (myself included) rolling with laughter!  I am usually not a big fan of changing the source material but this production is set during the 1970s on a Greek island (it features some pretty wild costumes and disco music) and it really worked for me.  Ironically, the last time this play was performed it was set in the Wild West and I loved it, too!  Bring the kids to this show because the ones around me were laughing the most!

I had a wonderful time at the festival this year and not just because I loved all three shows but also because I appreciated the experience so much more having missed out last year.  I highly recommend taking a trip to Cedar City for what might be the most memorable season in the festival's sixty year history (go here for more information).

The Little Mermaid at Murray Park Amphitheater

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is see a live performance outside under the stars and this was one of the things I missed most last summer when everything was shut down in response to Covid-19.  I am very happy to report that things are starting to open back up and the Murray Arts Council is sponsoring the Arts in the Park series once again this summer!  Marilyn and I took our Mom to see The Little Mermaid at the Murray Park Amphitheater last night and it was so much fun!  It has been incredibly hot in the Salt Lake Valley the past few weeks (we have even broken quite a few heat records) but it was actually quite pleasant to sit outside and the show was delightful.  Community theatre is always a little bit quirky but so many aspects of this production made me smile!  Kat Hawley Cook and Thomas Sant were wonderful as Ariel and Prince Eric, respectively, and they both had beautiful voices and great chemistry together but my favorites from the cast were Quentin Hedges as Sebastian and Alan LaFleur as Ursula.  Hodges was incredibly charismatic and his renditions of "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" were definitely highlights for me.  LaFleur, who also co-directed and choreographed the show, was absolutely hilarious in his characterization of Ursula as a sea witch in drag and I loved his over-the-top costume with black and purple sequins on tentacles that could be manipulated with his arms!  There were also some really fun effects, such as Ariel and her sisters (Olympia Pead, Alice Maphey, Chelsea West, Gretchen Divine, Camille Jensen, and Anna Roelofs) gliding around the stage on heelys (shoes with wheels) and thousands of bubbles blowing in the audience during "Under the Sea."  The costumes for the various sea creatures, especially the jelly fish made out of clear umbrellas, were quite innovative and the sets, particularly Prince Eric's ship and Ursula's reef, were very impressive.  We all definitely enjoyed this production (every time I looked at my Mom she had a huge grin on her face) and I hope it is the first of many outdoor performances this summer!

Note:  Unfortunately, last night was the final performance of The Little Mermaid but there are lots of other shows scheduled at the amphitheater this summer (go here for more information).

Newsies at CPT

At one point Newsies was at the top of the list of musicals that I most wanted to see. I was finally able to see it at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles several years ago and I have seen it multiple times since but it still gives me a thrill so I was really excited to see Centerpoint Theatre's version last night. It is a fantastic production and I really enjoyed it! A group of newspaper delivery boys, or "newsies," led by Jack Kelly (Matt Taylor), decide to go on strike when publisher Joseph Pulitzer (Rick Murdock) raises the price of newspapers. With a little help from a fledgling reporter named Katherine Plumber (Jordan Petersen), the newsies get the attention of Governor Theodore Roosevelt (Rob Severinsen) and score a victory for all of the working children in New York. The cast is really strong and I especially liked Taylor's version of "Santa Fe" because he sings it with such longing and Petersen's version of "Watch What Happens" because she is so determined to succeed but also shows a bit of vulnerability. Soren Ray is absolutely adorable as Les and steals every scene he is in and Brandon Smith, as Crutchie, is incredibly affecting in the song "Letter from the Refuge." I was also impressed with the ensemble because they shine in the big numbers "Carrying the Banner," "The World Will Know" (it is my favorite song in the show and I still get goosebumps every time I hear it), "Seize the Day," "King of New York," and "Once and For All." The choreography in this show is quite challenging, with athletic leaps and spins in unison and intricate footwork (sometimes involving newspapers), but the cast does an outstanding job, particularly Nick Crapo (Davey) who tap dances on top of a table in "King of New York." I think the appreciative audience applauded for every single leap and all of the kids eagerly collected the newspapers thrown into the crowd during "Seize the Day" at intermission! The set, which consists of metal towers with multiple levels that are seamlessly moved in and out and reconfigured multiple times, is simple but effective and I liked the use of large screens on either side of the stage to show the headlines as they are written as well as Jack's drawings. Everything about this production is very well done and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on the Barlow Main Stage through July 19.

The Sparks Brothers

The main reason that I wanted to see The Sparks Brothers, the documentary by Edgar Wright about the rock and pop duo Sparks, is because Ron and Russell Mael wrote the music for the upcoming movie Annette.  I have been anticipating this movie, a rock opera starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, since I first heard about it several years ago and I have become obsessed with the first single,"So May We Start," because it is absolutely brilliant.  I didn't really know anything else about the band.  However, while watching the documentary last night, I was quite surprised to recognize so many songs, particularly "Angst in My Pants," "Cool Places," and "Music That You Can Dance To," because I had no idea that they were by Sparks.  I found it fascinating that I pretty much conform to Wright's thesis that Sparks is one of the most influential and innovative bands in the business that nobody knows about!  The film chronicles Ron and Russell's youth in southern California (everyone thinks they are British), their college days at UCLA, their early influences (including the bands from the 1960s British invasion and the films of the French new wave), their early collaboration with Todd Rundgren (who was their first producer), and the making of each of their 25 albums (for which they reinvented themselves and their sound without regard to sales or critical response).  There are interviews with Ron and Russell (whose deadpan wit and back and forth banter had me laughing out loud) as well as what seems like hundreds of musicians, actors, directors, and comedians who all profess their love of and devotion to the band.  I especially loved it when members of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and Erasure talked about how much they were inspired by Sparks.  Interspersed between the interviews (which are in black and white) is archival footage (in color) spanning 50 years of creative and dynamic performances.  Wright also employs several different quirky animation techniques to highlight key moments in their career and this is incredibly effective at portraying Sparks' unique visual style.  I really enjoyed this documentary and I have now become a huge fan of the band (I love people who are unapologetically themselves without regard to public opinion).  I highly recommend it even if you don't know anything about Sparks!

Note:  My friend didn't know anything about Sparks either and only wanted to see this because he loves Edgar Wright!  I suspect that he has also become a fan of the band because he kept getting out his phone to download songs throughout the whole film (I downloaded "When Do I Get To Sing My Way," "The Number One Song in Heaven," and "My Baby's Taking Me Home").

In the Heights

I have seen the stage musical In the Heights several times and I love it so I have been anticipating the movie adaptation for what seems like forever (since the pandemic postponed the release for over a year).  I finally had the chance to see it last night and it is brilliant!  I loved it so much and I am sure that I will need to see it multiple times in the theater!  Washington Heights is a vibrant community where its many residents, under the watchful eye of Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz, who originated the role on Broadway), pursue their dreams for a better future.  Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) owns a bodega but dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic to restore his father's hotel.  His nephew Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV) is undocumented but hopes to become a citizen as a DREAMer (this is the biggest change from the musical but it is incredibly powerful).  Nina (Leslie Grace) returns to the neighborhood after her freshman year at Stanford but is thinking of giving up on her dream because she struggles to fit in with her wealthy and privileged classmates.  Benny (Corey Hawkins) wants a relationship with Nina, and wants to be accepted by her protective father Kevin (Jimmy Smits), but he doesn't want to hold her back (the lack of a serous conflict between Benny and Kevin is another change from the musical).  Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) works at a salon but dreams of moving downtown and becoming a fashion designer.  Abuela Claudia becomes an inspiration for them all as they come to realize what they really want.  This adaptation brings the musical to life in a joyful celebration of community with dynamic performances by all four leads and an exuberant staging of the musical numbers!  I was especially impressed by Ramos who is incredibly endearing (and sounds so much like Lin-Manuel Miranda who originated the role of Usnavi) and I found Daphne Rubin-Vega to be an absolute hoot as Daniela, the owner of the salon.  There are also a lot of really fun cameos (many with Hamilton references), such as the aforementioned Miranda as the Piraguero (stay for a post-credits scene with him), Christopher Jackson as Mr. Softee, Seth Stewart as a bartender, Marc Anthony as Sonny's father, Patrick Page (sigh) as the buyer for Rosario's, and Javier Munoz as a resident.  I really loved all of the big musical numbers but "96,000" is a showstopper that pays homage to all of the big Hollywood musicals of the past, "Alabanza" is incredibly affecting and had me openly weeping, and "When the Sun Goes Down," which is one of my favorites from the musical, is absolutely magical.  I could go on gushing about this amazing movie but you should probably stop reading right now and go see it for yourself!  I guarantee that you will leave the theater with a big smile on your face!

Note:  Speaking of Hamilton, pay close attention to the music playing when Kevin is on hold with Stanford.  I giggled with delight but I was the only one in my screening.

The Maidens

My Book of the Month selection for June was The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (the other options were Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon, Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie, Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian, and Mailbu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid). I haven't read The Silent Patient, the acclaimed debut novel by Michaelides, but I was, nevertheless, very eager to read this selection because I love atmospheric psychological thrillers and I was intrigued by the allusions to Greek mythology. Unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed. Mariana is a psychotherapist with a small practice living in London. She is still reeling from the death of her husband Sebastian who drowned while the two of them were vacationing on the island of Naxos over a year ago. She receives a troubling call from her niece Zoe, a student at Cambridge University, with the news that her friend Tara has been brutally murdered. Because Zoe is so distraught, she travels to Cambridge to comfort her and becomes involved in the investigation when someone whom she believes is innocent is arrested. She suspects Edward Fosca, a charismatic professor of Greek tragedy, when she learns that Tara belonged to a select group of students under his tutelage, known as the Maidens, who worship the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone and perform rituals involving death and rebirth. She becomes obsessed with proving Fosca's guilt but there are plenty of suspects when her own life is threatened. I found Mariana to be a really frustrating protagonist because she makes such bad decisions, especially considering the fact that she is a therapist, and her insertion into the murder mystery is incredibly contrived. All of the other characters, especially the eventual murderer, are very thinly developed and their motivations are unclear which makes the big plot twist seem to come from nowhere. The aforementioned allusions to Greek mythology, as well as the allusions to The Duchess of Malfi and the poetry of Tennyson, are interesting but prove to be nothing more than bits of misdirection once the mystery is solved. A major theme of the novel is the effect that childhood trauma can have on future criminal behavior but it is not explored in any meaningful way because there is no resolution for the specific character involved which I found very exasperating. It is atmospheric and foreboding but, with all of the hype surrounding this novel, I expected so much more.

Note:  I wish I had selected Half Sick of Shadows instead (it was my second choice).