Muse at the Vivint Arena

I am a huge fan of the band Muse and every time I've seen them live the show has been a sound and light extravaganza.  Last night's concert at the Vivint Arena, my first of 2023, was no exception and I had so much fun!  They began with "Will of the People" and played quite a few more songs from their latest album of the same name, including "Compliance," which is my favorite from the album, "Verona," "We Are F***ing F***ed," "Won't Stand Down," and "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween."  They also played the hits and some more obscure tracks, such as "Hysteria," "Interlude," "Time Is Running Out," a really sultry rendition of "Madness," "Plug In Baby," an instrumental version of "The Dark Side," "Thought Contagion," "Resistance," a rocking performance of "Uprising" that got everyone in Vivint Arena up and dancing, "Psycho," and "Supermassive Black Hole."  They ended their main set, as they often do, with "Starlight," which is my favorite Muse song, and I loved it!  For the encore they played "Kill or Be Killed," from the new album, and an epic version of "Knights of Cydonia" with a really cool harmonica intro.  Songs were accompanied by incredibly theatrical lights, lasers, visuals, pyrotechnics, streamers, confetti, and large animatronic figures looming over the stage.  The stage itself was made of clear panels with colored lights shining from below with a runway extending into the crowd and a smaller stage at the end of it.  It was really cool.  Matt Bellamy was a bit more subdued with his attire than usual (although an LED light-up jacket did make an appearance late in the proceedings) but definitely not with all of his antics.  He spent most of his time running and jumping around the stage and shredding on the runway!  Like every other Muse show I've seen this was a complete spectacle and I loved every minute of it (I think I will be on a high from it for days).

Note:  The opening acts were Highly Suspect and Evanescence.  I was not familiar with Highly Suspect but I was beyond excited for Evanescence because I love them and had never seen them before.  They played for over an hour and I especially loved "Going Under," "Call Me When You're Sober," "Imaginary," "My Immortal," and "Bring Me to Life."

What the Constitution Means to Me at PTC

Last night I went to see What The Constitution Means to Me at PTC and it is one of the most thought-provoking pieces that I have seen in a long time. It is a play written by Heidi Schreck, who performed the lead role during its run on Broadway, about her experiences as a 15-year-old student participating in an American Legion Oratorical Contest about the Constitution as a way to earn scholarship money for college. In this production the role of Heidi is played by Laura Jordan and the first part of the performance is the recreation of the speech that Heidi gave as a 15-year-old in the competition with a Legionnaire (Ben Cherry) acting as the moderator.  In her speech she specifically discusses the Ninth Amendment, which pertains to unenumerated rights such as the right to travel, the right to vote, the right to keep personal matters private, and the right to make important decisions about one's health care or body, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which pertains to equal protection under the law.  During the second part of the performance Heidi continues as her present self and relates anecdotes drawn from her own experiences, and those of the women in her family, relating to abortion, sexual assault, domestic violence, and immigration while Cherry portrays a character named Mike, based on one of Heidi's friends, who speaks about his sexuality. The point they both make, with several relevant Supreme Court cases, is that the Constitution does not protect the rights of women, racial minorities, immigrants, or those who are LGTBQ.  They argue that it wasn't designed to do so because the writers of the Constitution were mostly concerned with negative rights, or those which would not limit the freedoms of white male landowners. I found this discussion to be fascinating and I was completely riveted! The third and final part of the performance involves a parliamentary debate between Jordan (as herself) and a local student (last night's student was Naomi Cova) about whether or not the Constitution should be abolished. This debate is unique to each performance (last night Jordan argued that the Constitution should be abolished and Cova argued that it should be kept) and audience participation is encouraged. As someone who participated in debate all through high school I absolutely loved this! When Jordan had everyone in the audience who was not a straight white cisgendered male raise their hands (it was the majority), it was incredibly powerful to see how many of us are not protected and it really swayed my opinion.  However, I also found many of the arguments put forward by Cova, namely that more people need to participate in government to make changes from within, to be noteworthy as well. A member of the audience was selected at random to declare a winner and she voted to abolish. I was really impressed with Jordan because, even though these are not her stories, her delivery is spontaneous and authentic as if she is having a conversation with each member of the audience and the simple production design (sets, costumes, and lighting) keeps the focus on that dialogue. I do concede that one's enjoyment of this play will probably be directly related to the degree to which one agrees with Schreck's thesis but I also believe seeing it is a worthwhile experience that is ultimately very hopeful.  It runs at PTC through April 22 (go here for tickets).

Note:  As I previously mentioned I was on my high school debate team and I actually participated in an American Legion Oratorical Contest my senior year. I won at my school level (and received a huge trophy) but didn't move on past the state level.

Tori and Lokita

Yesterday afternoon I decided to see Tori and Lokita at the Broadway.  It is an incredibly powerful and heartbreaking look at the immigrant experience in Europe that left me absolutely shattered.  Lokita (Joely Mbundu) is a young teenage girl who emigrated illegally to Belgium from Benin.  She bonded with a ten-year-old boy from Cameroon named Tori (Pablo Schils) while on the journey and they now claim to be siblings in order to stay together.  She feels tremendous pressure from her mother back in Benin to send money home to support her family and is harassed by Firmin (Marc Zinga), the leader of the gang who smuggled them into Belgium, for payment of the exorbitant fee for his services but the only job she can get is as a drug courier for Betim (Alban Ukaj), a restaurateur who also frequently requests sexual favors from her.  She grows desperate when she is denied a work visa and accepts a dangerous job offered by Betim in return for fake papers but this takes her away from Tori and causes her tremendous anxiety about his welfare.  Tori, in return, does everything he can to rescue Lokita from her untenable situation.  I fell in love with both of these characters because they are so smart and resourceful and their relationship with each other is incredibly tender.  The two lead performances, by unknown actors, are exceptional and so sympathetic that the final resolution left me feeling both sad and angry at a corrupt system designed to exploit desperate people at every turn.  The gritty hand-held cinematography and the fast pace enhance the sense of urgency and at no time did I doubt the dangers that these characters faced.  This was difficult to watch but I loved the message about the power of friendship in a hostile world and I highly recommend it.

The Play That Goes Wrong at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

I have seen several different productions of The Play That Goes Wrong (PTC, HCT, and CPT) and it has become one of my favorite shows because it is absolutely hilarious! I had the chance to see SCERA's version last night and I don't think I stopped laughing from the first missed cue to the crash of the chandelier at the end! The play-within-a-play is the Cornley University Drama Society's production of The Murder at Haversham Manor by Susie H. K. Bridewell. The cast includes Max (Scott Hendrickson) as Cecil Haversham/ Arthur the Gardener, Chris (Dylan Burningham) as Inspector Carter, Jonathan (David Peterson) as Charles Haversham, Robert (Bryson Smellie) as Thomas Colleymore, Dennis (Samuel Wright) as Perkins the Butler, and Sandra (Eden Bostrom) as Florence Colleymore. The show is directed by Chris with Annie (Shannon Follette) as the Stage Manager and Trevor (Ethan Devey) as the Sound and Lighting Director. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong with this show, including a set that is slowly falling apart, props that either malfunction or go missing, a sound designer who accidentally plays Harry Styles instead of the sound cues, an actor who cannot stay still while playing the murder victim, an actor who cannot remember his lines, an actor who uses flamboyant gestures and then breaks the fourth wall to milk the audience for applause every time he does it, and a leading lady who is injured halfway through the show and must be replaced with two different understudies (with scripts in hand), but the show must go on with hysterical results. The physical comedy in this show is brilliant and my favorite moments were when Thomas must repeatedly drink paint thinner when whiskey cannot be found, when Cecil and Florence have an incredibly awkward kiss, when Cecil and Thomas have to answer the phone while holding the set together, when Cecil and Thomas break the swords they are using during a duel and then pretend to use light sabers (complete with sound effects), when Perkins must finish the show handcuffed to the chaise longue because the prop keys are misplaced, and when Sandra and Annie have a long and drawn out fight over who gets to play Florence. The entire cast is fantastic but the standouts for me are Smellie because he is so completely overwrought and Hendrickson because everything he does made me laugh (particularly whenever he would flash his megawatt smile at the audience). The set is simply amazing because not only does it fall apart spectacularly but it does so on cue (the technical aspects of this show are also quite impressive). The collapse of the second floor study is ingenious! I cannot recommend this show enough because it is so much fun (I was definitely not the only one laughing out loud). It runs through May 6 and tickets may be purchased here.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Last night my nephew Sean and I went to the Broadway to see How to Blow Up a Pipeline.  We were both really looking forward to this movie and it did not disappoint!  A ragtag group of young environmental activists, including Xochitl (Ariela Barer), Shawn (Marcus Scribner), Michael (Forrest Goodluck), Dwayne (Jake Weary), Theo (Sasha Lane), Logan (Lukas Gage), Rowan (Kristine Froseth), and Alisha (Jayme Lawson), come together in order to sabotage an oil pipeline in West Texas because they believe it is the only way to get people to care about the climate crisis.  What they are doing is inherently dangerous but they are also beset with other challenges that make this an intense thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  The audience is dropped right in the middle of the action but there are flashbacks which show how each member of the group became radicalized (the most compelling reasons, in my opinion, are Michael's despair as an indigenous person over the fracking that is destroying his ancestral home and Dwayne's anger over the government's misuse of eminent domain to take his land for a pipeline) and the commentary on climate change, as well as other issues (particularly a scathing condemnation of the healthcare system), is incredibly thought-provoking without being too heavy-handed.  There is an unrelenting sense of urgency that is enhanced by a fast pace, a plot twist (that I figured out just minutes before it was revealed), and a pulse-pounding electronic score by Gavin Brivik.  The entire ensemble cast is outstanding with Goodluck as the standout for me.  Regardless of how you feel about climate change or eco-terrorism, this is incredibly powerful and I highly recommend it.

Ballet West's The Wedding

Last night I attended Ballet West's performance of three really intriguing ballets.  I still definitely prefer full-length ballets that tell a story but I am coming around to these smaller pieces in repertoire.  The first one on the program was Les Noces (The Wedding) with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and music by Igor Stravinsky featuring vocal solos by Seth Keeton, Melissa Heath, Christopher Puckett, and Jin-Xiang Yu.  It tells the story of an arranged marriage between Russian peasants in four vignettes. A Bride (Victoria Vassos) is supported by a group of friends who form very interesting patterns around her while they braid her hair and her parents who comfort her as she expresses her fears about her upcoming marriage.  Next, the Bridegroom (Dominic Ballard) celebrates with his friends and parents with exuberant and athletic dances.  Then, the Bride is shown leaving her home to be married and her mother (Katlyn Addison, my favorite dancer in the company) laments losing her daughter.  Finally, the wedding is celebrated by the entire village, with choreography filled with ritual and symbolism, and then the couple depart for their own home after the Bridegroom promises his Bride a life of happiness. This ballet, in my opinion, is quintessentially Russian with the dancers costumed very simply as peasants in brown and emotional music that sometimes seems like the vocalists are wailing.  I particularly liked it when the choreography had the entire ensemble moving en masse because there was something so powerful and primal about it.  The next piece was In the Night with choreography by Jerome Robbins and music by Frederic Chopin.  It tells the story of three couples as they navigate their relationships in the starlight.  The first couple, Amy Potter and Hadriel Diniz, is costumed in white and purple and their dance is lyrical and incredibly romantic.  The second couple, Emily Adams and Adrian Fry, is costumed in a copper color and their dance is dramatic, tempestuous, and very passionate.  The third couple, Katlyn Addison and Brian Waldrep, is costumed in dark grey and red and their dance is athletic, playful, and filled with longing.  The piano music is beautiful and I think this ballet is really classical and elegant.  The final piece was Light Rain with choreography by Gerald Arpino and music by Douglas Adamz and Russ Gauthier.  This ode to youth is joyous and full of wild abandon and it was my favorite piece of the evening.  I really loved the original music, which is described as Eastern music played on Western instruments, because it is incredibly dynamic with lots of percussion and the acrobatic and sensual choreography was a lot of fun to watch.  The last pose in the Pas de Deux by the central couple, Emily Adams and Hadriel Diniz, is simply incredible and the audience erupted in applause!  The program is a bit eclectic and unconventional but it is really exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed it!  Get tickets here.

Into the Woods at West Valley Arts

I really love the musical Into the Woods and the production I saw last night at West Valley Arts is the best one I've seen there!  A Baker (Jared Lesa) and his Wife (Annie Ferrin), a Witch (Dianna Graham), Cinderella (Chloe Victoria), Jack and the Beanstock (Ren Cottam), and Little Red Riding Hood (Sibley Snowden) must go into the woods in order to make all of their wishes come true but they eventually learn that actions sometimes have unintended consequences and that wishes do not always turn out happily ever after. The entire cast is absolutely stellar and it is hard for me to single out just a few performances because every actor is so well-suited to his or her role and every musical number gave me goosebumps. However, the highlights for me were "Agony" because Chase Peterson as Cinderella's Prince and Woody Brook as Rapunzel's Prince are so hilariously overwrought with over the top facial expressions and gestures, "It Takes Two" because it is such a turning point and both Lesa and Ferrin give spirited performances, "Last Midnight" because Graham's rendition is incredibly powerful, and "No One Is Alone" because it is such a poignant moment between the Baker, Jack, Cinderella, and Red and Lesa, Cottam, Victoria, and Snowden sing it beautifully (I may or may not have had a tear in my eye). Another performance that I really enjoyed was Dan Radford's as the puppeteer for Milky White because he is very humorous during his interactions with Cottam (and the design for Milky White is fantastic). The choreography is innovative and perfectly suited to the small and intimate space. I was particularly impressed with "Into the Woods," "So Happy," "Ever After," and "Children Will Listen" because of the sheer number of people on the stage and the intricate patterns they are able to create. I also loved the staging of "First Midnight" and "Second Midnight" because all of the actors enter the stage carrying illuminated lanterns and it is quite dramatic. There are a lot of really fun special effects and I especially liked when the Baker saves Red and her Grandmother (Natalie Peterson) from the Wolf (Chase Peterson) and when the Stepmother (Kerilyn Johnson) mutilates the Stepsisters' (Sydney Claire and Jaymie Lambson) feet to fit into the gold slipper. The set is absolutely magical with giant moss-covered tree stumps on the main stage, groups of trees located in the areas above the wings, and trees that come down from the rafters. The costumes are some of the best I've seen at WVCArts and I was really impressed with the attention to detail. My favorites were the Witch's gown after her transformation and Cinderella's ball gown. I truly loved everything about this production and it is definitely one that you don't want to miss (go here for tickets).

Suzume

I really enjoyed Your Name so I have been anticipating the release of Makoto Shinkai's latest film, Suzume, for quite some time.  I was able to see it yesterday and I really loved it (even more than I was expecting).  Suzume (Nanoka Hara) is a 17-year-old girl who lost her mother at a very young age and continually dreams about searching for her after their neighborhood was destroyed by an earthquake and the subsequent tsunami.  She believes she can see her mother in a beautiful field but she cannot reach her.  One day she encounters a handsome and mysterious young man named Souta (Hokuto Matsumuro) who is looking for ruins.  She directs him to an abandoned resort and then impulsively decides to follow him.  She finds a free standing door and, when she opens it, she sees the same beautiful field where she thinks her mother is and tries to enter it.  But, instead of finding her mother, she finds a relic which unleashes something devastating into the world.  The relic is transformed into a cat named Daijin (Ann Yamane) who escapes and, without the relic guarding the door, a supernatural worm which causes earthquakes is allowed to escape.  Souta and Suzume are able to close the door and prevent the earthquake but Daijin curses Souta and turns him into a chair.  Suzume and Souta now must chase Daijin to various abandoned places all over Japan to close the doors he opens and to convince him to return Souta to his body.  It is only when Suzume learns to reject death that Daijin becomes the relic once again and Souta becomes whole again.  This has so many important messages about the connection between the spiritual and the natural world but I really liked the lesson that Suzume learns about overcoming her trauma and embracing life and new relationships (there are so many beautiful scenes where she and Souta are helped by kind strangers) and I found it to be incredibly moving.  There are some fantastical elements that might be problematic for some people but I think they work very well because they are grounded in the reality of the natural disasters that plague Japan.  The animation is absolutely beautiful, especially the use of light and color in natural settings, and I also really loved the emotionally charged score.  Definitely go see this, especially if you are a fan of Shinkai’s previous films or of Japanese anime in general.

Hairspray at the Eccles

Last night I had the chance to see Hairspray at the Eccles Theater and it is such a fun production!  Plus-sized Tracy Turnblad (Niki Metcalf) dreams of dancing on The Corny Collins (Billy Dawson) Show, of being noticed by teen heartthrob Link Larkin (Nick Cortazzo), of integrating the show so that her Black friends can dance with her, and of becoming Miss Teenage Hairspray 1962.  Velma Von Tussle (Addison Garner), the former Miss Baltimore Crabs, and her daughter Amber (Ryahn Evers) do everything they can to stop her but Tracy and her friends Penny Pingleton (Emery Henderson) and Seaweed J. Stubbs (Charlie Bryant III) and her parents Edna (Andrew Levitt AKA Nina West) and Wilbur (Ralph Prentice Daniel) prove that you can't stop the beat and make all of their dreams come true!  The main cast is outstanding but I was really impressed with Metcalf as Tracy because she is incredibly charismatic and can really sing and dance.  I also really enjoyed Lauren Johnson as Motormouth Maybelle, because her rendition of "I Know Where I've Been" just about blew the roof off of the Eccles Theater, as well as Levitt and Daniel, because their antics had the audience hooting with laughter during "Timeless to Me."  The ensemble is also fantastic, especially the dancers on The Corny Collins Show and the Dynamites (Sydney Archibald, Melanie Puente Ervin, and Jade Turner), because they execute the high-energy choreography very well, particularly in "The Nicest Kids in Town," "I Can Hear the Bells," "Welcome to the '60s," "Run and Tell That," "The Big Dollhouse," and "You Can't Stop the Beat."  My favorite song in the show is "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" and I really like how they staged it with the girls and their mothers in front of their vanities.  The sets have a fun retro vibe (although some of the set pieces seemed to be a bit unwieldy to move on and off the stage) with my favorites being Motormouth Maybelle's Record Shop and the Baltimore Eventorium (the giant can of Ultra Clutch Hairspray is awesome) and the period costumes are colorful and sparkly.  The humor is really suggestive so keep that in mind but I highly recommend this show for the great message about loving yourself and standing up for what you believe in.  It runs at the Eccles through April 16 (go here for tickets).

The Only Survivors

My April Book of the Month selection was The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda (the other options were Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls, Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield, Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling, Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler, Ana Maria and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa, and Advika and the Hollywood Wives by Kirthana Ramisetti). I picked this because I really liked Miranda's previous novel, All The Missing Girls, and I enjoyed this one just as much.  Ten years ago Cassidy Brent and eight other students survived a tragic accident with multiple fatalities involving two vans on a school trip. When one of the survivors commits suicide on the one year anniversary of the crash, the others decide to meet every year at a beach house on the Outer Banks in order to keep tabs on each other. After ten years Cassidy begins to feel like the retreat is doing her more harm than good so she decides not to go but she changes her mind when another survivor commits suicide. Now there are only seven of them at the beach house and tensions are already running high after another survivor goes missing and a terrible storm threatens the coast. However, when Cassidy discovers that one of them may have been revealing the damaging secrets about the accident that they have been keeping all of these years, she begins to wonder what each of them are still willing to do to survive. There is one timeline in the present from Cassidy's POV over the course of the seven days at the beach house and another one in the past revealing the events surrounding the crash from every survivor's POV in reverse chronological order. This narrative structure is very effective because it kept me engaged and reading well into the night (All The Missing Girls also uses this structure). It is a slow-burn mystery so I definitely found the timeline in the past to be more compelling because all of the emerging details about the accident eventually inform what is going on in the present. There is an incredibly tense atmosphere because of the storm, which keeps them trapped in the house without electricity, and because of all of the secrets and the tension keeps escalating as Cassidy comes to suspect each survivor of misdeeds both in the present and in the past. There are lots of twists and turns, and a bit of misdirection, that kept me guessing until the very end with a startling revelation about the crash that I was not expecting. I also really enjoyed the exploration of survivor's guilt and how trauma impacts people and keeps them from moving on. My only complaint is that Miranda uses a very complex syntax with lots of clauses separated by commas and I often had to reread certain sentences in order for them to make sense but this did not detract from my enjoyment. This is a thoroughly engrossing psychological thriller that I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

Avalanche vs. Oilers

Yesterday I went on my first road trip of 2023 to Denver to see the Colorado Avalanche play the Edmonton Oilers last night.  It was my first Avalanche game since I lost my Dad and I really missed him!  When I picked this game I was looking at dates rather than opponents but I think I subconsciously picked the game against the Oilers because my Dad and I were big fans when I was a teenager (because of Wayne Gretzky) and we watched almost every game together in the basement!  As much as I loved the Oilers back in the day, I am definitely an Avalanche fan now and I really wanted them to win!  Both are high scoring teams so this was a defensive showdown with stellar performances from both goaltenders, especially Alexandar Georgiev who stopped 38 shots.  It was my first time seeing Georgiev in action and I was really impressed with him.  The Avalanche scored first with a goal by Ben Meyers four minutes into the first period (which was really exciting) and then Mattias Ekholm scored for Edmonton 34 seconds later (which deflated all of the energy in Ball Arena).  No other goals were scored in regulation but it was still a really exciting game with several penalties and scoring opportunities from both teams.  I particularly enjoyed it when Georgiev saved a shot from a breakaway by Connor McDavid (who is an amazing player) in the second period.  The final minutes of the third period were really intense because Edmonton had a penalty and Colorado did everything but score (I think everyone in my section was standing up the last few minutes).  Just like the previous two meetings between these two teams, the game went into overtime but, unlike those other games, Edmonton scored on a power-play goal by Evan Bouchard to win (I think it is really unfair to call a penalty in overtime unless it is really egregious).  It is always a little disappointing to see the Avalanche lose, especially after driving eight hours to see the game, but I am really glad that I came because it was very cathartic for me.  It made me feel very close to my Dad (I cried a few times) because I have so many memories of Avalanche games with him.

Note:  The Avalanche did get a point for the overtime loss and, because the Minnesota Wild lost their game last night, they clinched home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs!

Jazz vs. Nuggets

Yesterday afternoon I went to the final home game for the Utah Jazz 2022-2023 season with my friend Angela and it was so much fun!  The Jazz played the Denver Nuggets and I was really excited about this game when I picked it at the beginning of the season because I love to hate the Nuggets (I have a lot of friends and family who are fans).  However, I was a bit nervous when I walked into the Vivint Arena because the Nuggets are the best team in the West and our entire starting lineup, and even some of the bench, are injured (the only starter I recognized was Ochai Agbaji and there were only nine players dressed for the game).  I thought the best I could hope for was that it wouldn't be a blowout but I shouldn't have doubted because this team just does not give up!  The Jazz came out ready to play and went on a 15-2 run early in the first quarter!  It was so exciting!  They led by as many as 19 points but the Nuggets rallied after a sluggish start to get within three at the end of the first half.  The Nuggets got their first lead in the third after a 19-4 run and ended the quarter up 95-89.  The Jazz, as they have done so many times this season, refused to go down without a fight and battled back!  Agbaji scored three baskets in a 10-1 run to put the Jazz ahead 116-110 with one minute left!  I was pretty much losing my mind with excitement over the possibility that the Jazz could win this and so was the entire crowd!  Agbaji made two free throws and the Nuggets missed their last few shots to end the game 118-114 in favor of the Jazz!  Agbaji scored a career high 28 points and our new player Luka Samanic also scored a career high of 23 points.  The game didn't really mean anything for the Jazz in terms of the standings (many even thought it would be better for us in the long run to lose) but it was great to see them win the last home game for the fans!  It has been a fun season and I'm glad that Angela invited me along for a few games!  I can't wait until next season to see what this team does!

Note:  The Jazz won every game I attended both this season and last!  They might want to consider comping me some season tickets!

Florence Price's Piano Concerto

I had been looking forward to last night's Utah Symphony concert for quite some time because Shostakovich was on the program (you know how I love the Russian composers) but I was also blown away by the first two pieces!  The orchestra began with Elegia Andina by Gabriela Lena Frank and I loved this moody and atmospheric piece!  The composer was inspired by Peruvian folk music but, to me, it sounded like a thunderstorm with temple blocks imitating the sound of raindrops falling in the aftermath and dueling flutes and clarinets imitating birdsong.  Next came Piano Concerto in One Movement by Florence Price and I also really loved this piece!  Price was a brilliant composer but she didn't commanded the respect she deserved because she was an African American woman.  However, when the score for the Piano Concerto was discovered at her abandoned summer home in 2009, it brought her some well-deserved recognition because it has had many performances over the past few years.  The orchestra was joined by the amazing Michelle Cann, who is a champion of Price's works, for a sparkling rendition of it.  Even though there is only one movement there are three very distinct sections.  The first is incredibly romantic and passionate, the second is slow and lyrical with a beautiful theme played by the solo piano and an oboe, and the third is jaunty and playful (it reminded me of ragtime).  Cann performed it with so much emotion and expression and I loved watching her (the only thing that could distract me from her fabulous gown and the diamond clip in her hair was seeing her fingers flying up and down the keyboard).  The audience exploded into cheers and applause so she gave a marvelous encore featuring a jazz arrangement of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp Major by Hazel Scott (which I, of course, loved).  After the intermission came Symphony No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich which is absolutely epic (in my opinion, any piece that features the gong is automatically epic).  Many believe it is in response to the terror of Stalin's reign with a conclusion that depicts the ultimate triumph of the individual over tyranny.  There are beautiful and wistful themes played throughout by the various woodwinds which represent Shostakovich and violent and urgent themes by the strings, brass, and percussion (the aforementioned gong is spectacular) which represent Stalin and are quite unsettling.  Luckily, Shostakovich is the winner in this battle of wills in the powerful conclusion!  The orchestra was under the baton of guest composer Tito Munoz and I enjoyed watching him lead the orchestra through a wonderful performance that I highly recommend!  Go here for tickets to tonight's concert which features the same program.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Last night I finally had the chance to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and it was so much fun!  A bard named Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) becomes a thief in a crew with Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a barbarian, Simon Aumar (Justice Smith), a sorcerer, and Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), a rogue, to support his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) after his wife is murdered.  He agrees to a dangerous raid for a mysterious stranger named Sofina (Daisy Head) because he wants to steal a Tablet of Reawakening to bring his wife back to life but he and Holga are caught and put in prison while the others are able to get away.  After two years in Revel's End prison, Edgin and Holga stage a daring escape only to discover that Forge, now the Lord of Neverwinter, is in league with Sofina, who is a Red Witch, and that the two of them orchestrated their capture.  Forge has also been taking care of Kira and has poisoned her against her father.  Elgin decides that the only way to get revenge and win Kira back is to rob Forge's vault but, in order to do that, they must go on a fantastical quest that has them reunite with Simon, recruit a shapeshifting druid named Doric (Sophia Lillas) and a paladin named Xenk Yendar (Rege-Jean Page), visit an underworld, retrieve an ancient relic, fight assassins, elude dragons, escape from a maze, and eventually defeat the Red Witch.  What I loved most about this adaptation of the popular role-playing game is that there are a lot of references and Easter eggs to keep players happy but it is accessible enough that you don't need to know anything about D&D in order to enjoy it (I have never played but a lot of my friends in high school did so I understood many of the references).  I also really liked the dynamic within the group of characters because, while there is a lot of witty banter and slapstick comedy, each of them has an important arc which allows them to overcome obstacles and grow over the course of the campaign!  Pine is incredibly charismatic, Rodriguez is a bad ass, and Grant is his usual hilarious self as a smarmy villain but Page steals the show and his detailed explanations had me laughing out loud.  The action sequences are great, especially those involving Rodriguez, and I loved all of the visual effects, particularly a sequence when Doric shapeshifts into several different animals to escape from Forge's castle.  As a fantasy loving nerd I expected to enjoy this but I actually really loved it and I highly recommend it!

Air

I love a good sports movie but I have to admit that I had my doubts about Air when I first heard about it.  How could a movie about the making of a basketball shoe be entertaining?  I had the chance to see a sneak peek last night and, not only was I completely riveted, I wanted to stand up and cheer by the end of it!  In 1984 Nike's fledgling basketball division is in third place behind Converse and Adidas.  A Nike executive named Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) wants to change that by betting the entire budget on only one player, Michael Jordan, who has yet to play a game in the NBA because he sees greatness in him.  First he must convince the Nike Director of Marketing Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), Nike CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), sports agent David Falk (Chris Messina), and then a reluctant Michael Jordan who wants to sign with Adidas.  But, more importantly, he must convince Jordan's mother Deloris (Viola Davis) because she also understands her son's worth.  This movie is about how a game-changing partnership between an athlete and a sponsor came about but, rather ironically given my reservations, my favorite scenes involved the designing of the shoe!  I laughed out loud when the Creative Director Peter Moore (Matthew Maher) unveiled the prototype to Vaccaro and Strasser for the first time because it is bathed in light but the audience doesn't actually see the shoe just the reaction to it!  Damon and Davis are outstanding with several goosebump inducing moments but, really, the entire ensemble cast is great!  Bateman delivers a poignant monologue about the high stakes of this deal, Messina is completely unhinged in a scene on the phone, and Affleck is hilarious as an aphorism-spouting CEO beholden to his board.  As a child of the 80s, I really loved the nostalgia of the production design as well as the needle drops, especially the opening montage of pop cultural references with "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits underneath it.  I also enjoyed the references to John Stockton (Utah Jazz fan here).  Affleck's direction should also be praised because, even though much of the action consists of conversations, many occurring over the phone, and almost everyone, even those who do not follow basketball, knows the outcome of the negotiations, he somehow infuses the narrative with heart and humor.  This is a crowd-pleasing slam dunk and I highly recommend it!  

Enys Men

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Enys Men (which is Cornish for "Stone Island").  I am a big fan of experimental horror and I found this to be incredibly unsettling.  A Volunteer (Mary Woodvine) conducts daily observations of and logs the data for a group of white flowers on the cliff of an isolated and inhospitable island off the coast of Cornwall in 1973.  She follows the exact same monotonous routine every day and the results of her observations do not change.  She has very little contact with the outside world except for a short-wave radio and a Boatman (Edward Rowe) who periodically brings her supplies.  After the Boatman and his smashed up boat wash up on shore, however, the Volunteer begins to be haunted by the spirits of people who once inhabited the island and a strange lichen appears on both the flowers and on the Volunteer's body.  It seems as if the Volunteer is being subsumed by both memory and nature but this is my interpretation (everything is open to interpretation because what this movie does so well is put you inside the head of the main character so that, like her, you begin to question everything that you see on the screen).  The action happens in a very non-linear structure (the Volunteer is shown with a yellow rain slicker well before we see the floating body of the Boatman wearing it and she places a piece of his boat on the mantel before we see the wreck in the water) and the images are steeped in mythology and allegory, particularly the oft-repeated wide shots of circling birds, crashing waves, and a mysterious stone monolith.  The sound design, which features wind, waves, and static from the radio, emphasizes the disorientation and the use of grainy 16-millimeter film is incredibly evocative (it is almost as if the movie itself is a relic unearthed from the past).  Woodvine is absolutely riveting as a woman slowly going mad.  The narrative can be frustrating because it focuses more on atmosphere than plot and it is more unnerving than scary but I was fascinated by this movie and highly recommend seeking it out (it is playing in a very limited engagement at the Broadway).

A Thousand and One

I was so excited for another double feature at the Broadway last night!  I started with A Thousand and One because, after hearing all of the buzz, I really regretted missing it at Sundance this year.  Now that I've seen it, I definitely understand why it won the Grand Jury Prize at the festival because I loved this powerful exploration of what makes a home and family.  Inez de la Paz (Teyana Taylor), who is herself a product of the foster system, impulsively decides to kidnap her six-year-old son Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola) from his foster placement after being released from Rikers Island.  She loves her son fiercely and, even though what she has done is illegal, she is determined that he will have a better life than her.  Through sheer force of will and despite many obstacles she creates a home for Terry and enters a tumultuous relationship with a former boyfriend (Will Catlett) so that he will have a male role model.  As Terry grows older (Aven Courtney at age 13 and Josiah Cross at age 17) Inez is hard on him and pushes him to succeed in school but this gives him many more opportunities than she had.  However, their hard-won sense of security is threatened by the gentrification overtaking New York and by a secret that eventually comes to light.  This story about a young woman trying to build a stable home for her son is made even more poignant by the fact that she never had one herself and I had tears in my eyes several times!  Taylor gives an absolutely brilliant performance because it is so lived in.  It almost seems as if events are happening to her in real time because all of the many emotions she portrays are incredibly authentic.  I was also really impressed with the three actors who play Terry because they all have a stillness that belies what is going on behind their eyes.  I was especially moved by a scene in which Adetola asks why no one is looking for him and another one in which Cross tells his mother he will always remember his home.  This is now one of my favorite movies of 2023 and I highly recommend it!

Harvey at the Grand Theatre

Last night I had the opportunity to see a delightful production of Harvey at the Grand Theatre.  I was especially excited for this play because I had never seen it, or the movie adaptation starring Jimmy Stewart, before and I was very pleasantly surprised by how moving I found it!  A social climber named Veta Louise Simmons (Kristin Housley) is exasperated when her brother, Elwood P. Dowd (Roger Dunbar), interrupts one of her gatherings by introducing his imaginary friend Harvey, a six foot one-and-a-half inch tall white rabbit, to her high society guests.  Veta is humiliated by his behavior, and what it might mean for her daughter Myrtle Mae (Niki Rahimi) and her chances for an advantageous marriage, so she makes the drastic decision to have him committed to a sanitariam called Chumley's Rest.  However, when Veta attempts to explain the existence of Harvey to Dr. Sanderson (Aron Cain), he mistakenly assumes that she is the one who needs to be committed.  Hijinks ensue when everyone, including Dr. Harold Chumley (Mickey Goldstein), the orderly Duane Wilson (Robert A. Easton), Nurse Ruth Kelly (Angie Nicole), and Veta's lawyer Judge Omar Gaffney (Jeffrey Owen), tries to determine who is really crazy!  In the end, Veta realizes that Elwood is a kind man and that she doesn't want to change him even if it means living with Harvey!  I really loved the message about the importance of kindness, which seems particularly salient in these times, and Dunbar is fantastic as Elwood because he exudes warmth and charm in every scene even when all of the other characters are caught up in the chaos.  Housley is also a lot of fun to watch, especially when Veta becomes hilariously overwrought on Dr. Sanderson's fainting couch!  Speaking of which, the elaborate sets consisting of the wood paneled library in the old Dowd family mansion and the reception room of Chumley's Rest are quite impressive.  There is a fun bit of business involving a maid (Teresa McLeod) as the sets are changed from one to the other that is very effective as well as some great special effects that make the invisible Harvey an actual presence on stage (I especially liked his inclusion during the bows).  This heart-warming show put a huge smile on my face and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets).

Return to Seoul

When I saw the trailer for Return to Seoul, I thought it sounded like something my nephew would enjoy so I took him to see it last night.  We both found this complex exploration of one young woman's search for self to be incredibly thought-provoking.  Frederique "Freddie" Benoit (Ji-Min Park), a 25-year-old Korean woman who was adopted by a French couple as a baby, spontaneously decides to travel to Seoul when her flight to Tokyo is canceled.  She tells two new acquaintances that she is not there specifically to find her biological parents but she eventually ends up at the Hammond Adoption Agency and has them contact her mother and father to see if they will respond to her request to meet.  Her father (Oh Kwang-rok) responds immediately but, when she visits him and his family, she is repulsed by his emotional professions of guilt over abandoning her and she viciously rejects his pleas for her to move to Korea and live with him.  She returns several more times to Korea but doesn't attempt to learn the language or understand the culture, pushes everyone who tries to form a relationship with her away, and engages in reckless and self-destructive behavior.  It takes seven more years for her mother (Cho-woo Choi) to agree to a meeting when she is back in Korea on a business trip and, while they have an emotional reunion, Freddie refuses to communicate with her further.  She is clearly looking for an identity but she doesn't feel at home in either France or Korea, doesn't belong with her adoptive or biological families, and doesn't stay with any of the men or women she hooks up with.  It is only when we see her alone in an unknown location that she seems to be at peace.  Ji-Min Park, in her debut, gives an absolutely phenomenal performance because, even though her character is very unlikable, you simply cannot look away from her because of her chaotic energy, especially in a five minute scene where she dances with abandon to avoid her feelings.  I really loved the use of music in this movie because, in different scenes, Freddie uses music to bond with people, to escape from stressful situations, and, ultimately, to find herself (it features a fantastic soundtrack).  When she has no other label for herself, she becomes a musician.  I also really enjoyed the ambiguity in the narrative, particularly when things get lost in translation from French to Korean, and it is so interesting to speculate about what happens to Freddie next (my nephew and I had a very spirited discussion about this afterwards) because there are no easy answers about this kind of trauma.  The themes of identity really resonated with me (and my nephew) for lots of reasons and I highly recommend seeking this out!

A Good Person

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was A Good Person and, even though the movie itself is a little uneven, the performances make it worth a watch.  Allison (Florence Pugh) is happily engaged to Nathan (Chinaza Uche) and is successful in her career but her world is destroyed when the car she is driving is involved in an accident which kills Nathan's sister Molly (Nichelle Hines) and her husband Jason (Toby Onwumere) and leaves their daughter Ryan (Celeste O'Connor) an orphan.  One year later, Allison's life is in a downward spiral after she ends her engagement and becomes addicted to the Oxycontin prescribed for her injuries.  When she finally decides to get sober, she attends an AA meeting where she encounters Molly and Nathan's father Daniel (Morgan Freeman), a recovering alcoholic who is struggling with the responsibility of raising his granddaughter and fears a relapse.  Both Nathan and Ryan offer her a way forward through their unlikely friendship but it is only when she is able to forgive herself that she can deal with her trauma, guilt, and addiction.  There is an incredibly heavy-handed metaphor involving model trains with figurines that can be controlled unlike real people who make a mess of their lives and this sets the tone for what is to come.  The themes are overly familiar, the plot sometimes descends into melodrama (one scene in particular in the third act is completely overwrought), and the runtime is definitely too long (I thought it was over three different times only to have another coda appear) but both Pugh and Freeman give unbelievably affecting performances (especially when they are interacting with each other).  Molly Shannon brings a lot of pathos as a mother who doesn't know how to help her daughter and Alex Wolff has a short scene as Allison's former classmate that is probably my favorite in the whole movie.  I would recommend this but it is definitely one you can wait to see when it streams.

The Lost King

Last night I decided on a double feature at the Broadway and I started with The Lost King which is incredibly charming.  After missing out on a promotion because she suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, Philippa Langley (Sally Hawkins) attends a production of Richard III and decides that he was unfairly maligned by Shakespeare because he had a disability.  She identifies with Richard, as someone who also feels misunderstood, so she reads every biography she can find and joins a Richard III Society (there is a hilarious scene where one of the members says she looks too normal to want to join them).  She also begins seeing an apparition of Richard (Harry Lloyd) which spurs her on. When she decides to search for his missing remains, which have been lost for over 500 years, her ex-husband John (Steve Coogan) is concerned, a University of Leicester archaeologist named Richard Buckley (Mark Addy) is skeptical, and the University of Leicester registrar Richard Taylor (Lee Ingleby) is dismissive, but despite all of these obstacles she perseveres and is ultimately successful.  This is based on a true story (with a little magical realism thrown in for good measure) and the details about the search for Richard are compelling but I also really appreciated the journey Langley takes to assert her worth against all odds.  Hawkins is absolutely delightful in the role and gives a warm and spirited performance worth cheering for (many in my crowded theater laughed and cheered throughout).  This fun and lighthearted movie about a quirky British underdog who is unwilling to give up reminded me of Dream Horse, The Duke, and The Phantom of the Open and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I recommend seeking this out when you have a free afternoon.

Thierry Fischer Conducts Bruckner 5

Last night's Utah Symphony concert was really exciting because Maestro Thierry Fischer was back on the podium (for the first of his final four appearances as music director of the symphony) and he led the orchestra in a brilliant performance of Symphony No. 5 by Anton Bruckner.  I had never heard this piece before but it was very dramatic, to say the least, and I loved it!  The first movement begins very softly and slowly and then builds and builds into a powerful conclusion.  The second movement features a plaintive theme introduced by a solo oboe and then continues with variations by the strings, which are incredibly beautiful, and by the brass.  The third movement alternates between a menacing theme and a slow pastoral theme and they compete for dominance and then kind of meld together.  The opening notes of the fourth movement mirror those of the first and then there is a jaunty theme played by the solo clarinet (which I absolutely loved) that is echoed by the strings and then becomes a fugue where the instruments seem to be chasing each other.  The movement concludes with the repetition of all of the various themes found throughout the piece and it was absolutely epic!  I really loved the emotion and, even though I am not as knowledgeable about the structure of music as I would like to be, I enjoyed the fact that I could recognize all the themes that were being repeated!  This is the only piece on the program (it is 76 minutes long) and it will be performed again tonight (go here for tickets).

John Wick: Chapter 4

I really love the John Wick franchise because the stakes keep getting higher and the action sequences keep getting more exhilarating with each movie.  That is especially true of the latest installment John Wick: Chapter 4, which I saw in IMAX last night, because I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, and cheering out loud!  After John Wick (Keanu Reeves) kills the Elder (George Georgiou), the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), acting under the auspices of the High Table, targets the New York and Osaka Continentals as well as their mangers, Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada), and concierges Charon (Lance Reddick) and Akira (Rina Sawayama), respectively, for aiding him.  The Marquis also compels Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind assassin and old friend of Wick's, to come out of retirement and kill him and he offers a contract to a bounty hunter known as the Tracker (Shamier Anderson).  Wick eventually finds an archaic way to end his obligation to the High Table but first he must reconnect with the Ruska Roma crime syndicate and survive a $40 million bounty placed on his head.  The action sequences are absolutely amazing with spectacular set pieces that are intense and unrelenting!  The fight choreography is brilliant with ingenious and visually stunning shot compositions, particularly a fight against dozens of assassins with just a pair of nunchucks in between glass display cases, hand to hand combat while dodging groups of dancers in a neon-lit nightclub, a continuous overhead shot involving dragon's breath ammunition, an epic car chase in the traffic around the Arc de Triomphe, and another fight against dozens of assassins on the 222 stairs leading to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica.  In fact, the action in the final act might be the best I've ever seen and I loved it!  Reeves gives his best performance in the franchise, in my opinion, because Wick must finally face the consequences of his actions in a very visceral way but Skarsgard is perfect as a petulant villain and Yen almost steals the show (one particular line delivery made my audience laugh out loud).  I was also really impressed with Sawayama because she holds her own in a great fight sequence.  Much has been made of the nearly three hour runtime but I didn't feel it at all and some might not like the final resolution but, if this is indeed the last movie in the franchise, I think it is really the only way Wick's character arc could have ended.  I had so much fun watching this and, it you are a fan of the franchise, I think you will be blown away!

The Last Russian Doll

My March Book of the Month selection was The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch (the other options were The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner, Weyward by Emilia Hart, The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth, Rootless by Krystle Zarah Appiah, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and Lone Women by Victor LaValle). I have been defaulting to the thriller for the past several months so I thought it was time to pick a historical novel and this is a good one. In 1991 Rosie (Raisa) and her mother have been living in England since they defected from the Soviet Union in 1977 after her father and sister were brutally murdered. She has always wanted to understand what happened on that fateful day so, when when she finds a cryptic clue about her family's past inside a porcelain doll after her mother's sudden death, she contrives to return to the Soviet Union as a research assistant for a famous author. In 1915 Antonina (Tonya) is trapped in a loveless marriage to a wealthy nobleman in St. Petersburg who treats her like the porcelain doll he had made especially for her. She begins a passionate and scandalous affair with Valentin, one of her husband's workers, at the beginning of the Bolshevik revolution but events conspire to separate them. The narrative alternates between the two timelines as Rosie's investigation leads her to Tonya. I really loved the mystery aspect of this novel because every single clue that Rosie finds leads her to another mystery, just like a nesting Matryoshka doll, and, even though I knew the two storylines would eventually converge, I was completely engaged until the final resolution. As someone who loves Russian history, culture, literature, and music, I was fascinated by all of the historical references to the 1917 revolution, the Russian Civil War, Stalin's purges, the siege of Leningrad during World War II, and the fall of communism. I also loved the use of Russian fairy tales at the beginning of every chapter because they very cleverly inform what is happening in the main plot. All of the characters are interesting and well-developed but I especially enjoyed Tonya's arc because she begins the novel as little more than an ornament without autonomy but she is transformed by events into an incredibly resourceful and resilient woman. She is the perfect personification of Russia itself (beautiful but formidable) and I was enthralled by her journey. This is a beautifully written multi-generational saga set against the backdrop of 20th century Russian history so I literally couldn't help but love it. This is definitely my favorite book of 2023 so far and I highly recommend it!

Champions

Last night I decided to have a double feature of 65 (for the third time) and then Champions.  I love a feel-good underdog sports movie and this was a lot of fun.  Marcus Marakovich (Woody Harrelson) is an incredibly volatile assistant coach for a minor league basketball team in Iowa.  An altercation with the head coach gets him fired and an accident while under the influence gets him sentenced to 90 days community service as a coach to a basketball team of adults with intellectual disabilities.  His first meeting with the quirky players, including Johnny (Kevin Iannucci), Cody (Ashton Gunning), Craig (Matthew Von Der Ahe), Blair (Tom Sinclair), Benny (James Day Keith), Arthur (Alex Hintz), Marlon (Casey Metcalfe), Showtime (Bradley Edens) and, eventually, Cosentino (Madison Tevlin), and Darius (Joshua Felder), goes about as well as you would expect!  Even though he knows everything there is to know about basketball, Marcus must get to know his players as people before they can start winning games.  The team's eventual success gets him an offer to coach in the NBA but it is when they play in the final game of the Special Olympics that he learns the true definition of a champion.  This features all of the training montages, inspirational locker room speeches, and come from behind wins that have become de rigueur for the genre but it is just so charming it doesn't matter that it is incredibly predictable.  Harrelson is great but I loved watching the actors with real-life intellectual disabilities who play the team members because their interactions with him are hilarious.  I especially loved Tevlin because her comedic timing rivals that of Harrelson!  This might be too crude for some people (it is directed by Bobby Farrelly, after all) but if you can get beyond that, it is very heart-warming and entertaining.

Matilda at CPT

Both of my sisters, my brother-in-law, my nephew, and I went to see Matilda at CPT last night and we had so much fun. This production features some innovative staging and I am always really appreciative when a show that I have seen several times does something to surprise me. Matilda Wormwood (Charlotte Witt) is a precocious five year old with a penchant for reading, telling stories, and being just a little bit naughty. She is ignored by her mother (Jaycee Harris), an amateur Latin ballroom dancer, and father (Caydin Bell), an unscrupulous used car salesman, and is terrorized by Miss Agatha Trunchbull (J.R. Moore), the former champion in hammer throwing who is now the headmistress of her school. With the help of a sympathetic teacher named Miss Honey (Amanda Frisby) and a story about an Escapologist (James Duncan) and an Acrobat (Keely Parry), Matilda triumphs over the neglectful adults in her life. I was incredibly impressed with the elaborate set because it is very different from the ones I have seen before. It features a large multi-level school made of bricks with barbed wire at the top of the walls, loudspeakers on poles, and a large iron gate (it looks like a cross between a medieval castle and a prison). There is a turntable which is used to bring in set pieces for the Wormwood's house and Miss Honey's classroom with other pieces brought on from the wings. As I mentioned, I really liked the staging of many of the numbers in this production, particularly "Miracle," because it includes the addition of a gospel choir backing up the Doctor (Garret Frazier), "School Song," because it features the use of typography with projections on an interactive chalk board, and "When I Grow Up" (my favorite song in the show), because, in addition to the usual swings, the choreography includes a seesaw, a hopscotch, a jump rope, fishing poles, hula hoops, and bubble blowers which give it a very playful feel. I also really enjoyed "The Smell of Rebellion" and "Revolting Children" because the children in the ensemble are absolutely fantastic! Other crowd favorites were "Loud," because Mrs. Wormwood (Harris is my brother-in-law's niece and we all loved her performance because her facial expressions are hilarious) and her dance partner Rudolpho (Caleb Birth) are completely over the top, and "Chokey Chant," because there is a fun effect involving throwing a child into the chokey. Witt does a great job and her renditions of "Naughty" and "Quiet" are wonderful but I sometimes couldn't hear her during "Escapologist Story." Frisby has a beautiful voice and her version of "My House" is very powerful and moving. However, Moore steals the show as Miss Trunchbull because his performance is a cross between Miss Hannigan and an East German Olympic athlete! I laughed and laughed at all of his antics during "The Hammer" and "The Smell of Rebellion," especially all of his facial expressions and gestures. Miss Trunchbull's costume in this show is probably my favorite of those I've seen for the character and I was also impressed by the attention to detail on the school uniforms worn by the children. So many elements of this show stood out to me as new and exciting and I really enjoyed it!  This show runs on the Barlow Main Stage through April 15 (go here for tickets) and I highly recommend it!

The Quiet Girl

Last night I went back to the Broadway to see The Quiet Girl, a recent Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature, and I was incredibly moved by this lovely coming of age story.  Nine-year-old Cait (Catherine Clinch) is the middle daughter of a large and impoverished family in rural Ireland.  Her ne'er-do-well father (Michael Patric) neglects their farm and spends his days drinking, gambling, and philandering and her exhausted mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) is overwhelmed by the imminent birth of another baby.  Cait is painfully shy and is often berated for wetting the bed and wandering off so it is decided that she will be sent to her mother's middle aged cousin Eibhlin Kinsella (Carrie Crowley) and her husband Sean (Andrew Bennett) in Waterford for the summer.  Eibhlin cares for her tenderly and, even though he is distant at first, Sean eventually bonds with her when she helps him on his dairy farm and when they make a game of her running down the lane to retrieve the post (which informs an incredibly poignant scene later in the movie that brought tears to my eyes).  Cait blossoms after experiencing kindness for the first time in her life and she helps the Kinsellas come to terms with the death of their son years earlier.  The action is slow and monotonous, with many scenes showing Cait peeling potatoes, walking to the well for water, and cleaning the barn, but every moment is fraught with meaning, especially one involving a cookie.  The cinematography is beautiful and I loved that people and places are often depicted from the perspective of a child.  Clinch gives an amazing physical performance because she conveys so much of what she is thinking and feeling without a lot of dialogue (you automatically know that she has suffered, with very little exposition, by the wary look in her eyes when she is around her father, mother, and sisters).  I loved this movie so much and I highly recommend seeking out this little gem.

Inside

I thought the trailer for Inside looked really intriguing so I decided to see it last night at the Broadway.  It was definitely thought-provoking!  Nemo (Willem Dafoe) breaks into the luxury penthouse apartment of an art collector to steal several valuable paintings.  As he attempts to leave, however, the security system malfunctions and traps him inside with no way out.  The owner is away on an extended trip so most of the utilities have been shut off, including water, and there is very little food.  He is completely alone with no way to contact the outside world beyond watching a housekeeper in the building named Jasmine (Eliza Stuyck) who appears on the security camera feed every day.  As the weeks turn into months, he struggles both to survive and to find a way out of the apartment while interacting with the owner's art collection.  Any survival thriller taking place in only one location has a tendency to become a bit one-note after a while but Dafoe has such a compelling presence that my attention never wavered because I wanted to see what he would do next.  Watching him slowly become unhinged is absolutely riveting (see also The Lighthouse).  The production design is brilliant because the apartment is almost like a character itself.  It is large, spacious, luxurious, monochromatic, and filled with priceless art but it is also cold and sterile and none of these beautiful pieces can sustain him.  I had to sit with this movie for a little while to determine what the filmmakers are saying about art and I've decided the message is that art might be beautiful and profound but it cannot take the place of human connection and that the price we place on it is excessive.  This is definitely not for everyone (the couple I spoke to in the lobby afterwards hated it and thought it was incredibly boring) and I don't think it is something I will ever watch again but it has stayed with me so I recommend it.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

I went to see Shazam! Fury of the Gods yesterday afternoon and it seems like I enjoyed it a lot more than most people.  The daughters of Atlas, Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler), steal the broken staff that once belonged to the Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) from a museum in Athens and compel him to repair it in order to reclaim the power stolen from their father.  They come into contact with the Wizard's champions, including Billy (Asher Angel and Zachary Levi), Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody), Eugene (Ian Chen and Ross Butler), Pedro (Jovan Armand and D.J. Cotrona), Mary (Grace Caroline Currey), and Darla (Faithe Herman and Meagan Good), because their powers are derived from the staff.  Mayhem ensues.  What I enjoyed most about this movie is the emphasis on the importance of family and the storyline where Billy worries about aging out of foster care is incredibly poignant.  I also really liked the fact all of the siblings end up being more powerful as themselves rather than their superhero alter egos and I think that is a great message.  I do think that the Billy character is supplanted a bit by the Shazam character but Levi's goofy performance as someone suffering from impostor syndrome who learns how to be a leader is a lot of fun.  Even though the villains are not very memorable (I would have preferred a face-off between Shazam and Black Adam) I still loved seeing Mirren in this role, especially her interactions with Levi.  The action sequences are great, particularly the final battle, with VFX that definitely look a lot better than other recent CBMs.  I am actually baffled by the critical response because, despite a cameo (that I actually enjoyed) and some mid- and post-credits scenes that don't really make sense any more with all of the changes made in the DCEU as well as one of the most egregious uses of product placement I've ever seen, this is very entertaining with a lot of heart and I would definitely recommend it.

Utah Opera's Rigoletto

I was so excited to see Utah Opera's production of Rigoletto last night because it is one of my favorite operas and it certainly didn't disappoint!  The hunchback Rigoletto (Scott Hendricks) is a jester in the court of the licentious Duke of Mantua (Matthew White).  He amuses the Duke by mocking the husbands and fathers of the women the Duke has seduced but this often earns their anger, especially Count Monterone (Christopher Clayton) who places a curse on Rigoletto in retaliation.  Rigoletto returns home to his beloved daughter Gilda (Jasmine Habersham) and, even though he is fiercely protective of her, she manages to meet and fall in love with a man she sees at church.  This mystery man, who is none other than the Duke, contrives to meet her that night and professes his undying love to her.  The courtiers, who want to teach Rigoletto a lesson, kidnap Gilda and bring her to the Duke.  Rigoletto is distraught and arranges for an assassin named Sparafucile (Kevin Thompson) to help him get revenge.  However, the plan goes horribly wrong leading Rigoletto to despair because Monterone's curse has come to pass.  The music in this opera is incredibly beautiful and I especially loved "Caro nome," in which Gilda declares her love for the Duke (who she thinks is a penniless student), because it uses coloraturas to mimic the themes played by two flutes, "La donna e mobile," in which the Duke accuses women of being fickle, because even though it is light and charming it is really an indictment of the Duke's behavior, and "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata," in which Rigoletto tearfully begs the courtiers to release his daughter, because it is so affecting.  I also really loved the themes played by a solo cello, a solo bass, and the woodwinds when Rigoletto first meets the assassin Sparafucile because it is so sinister.  The entire cast is outstanding (I was particularly struck by the ensemble in the number "Scorrendo uniti," in which the courtiers tell the Duke that they have kidnapped Rigoletto's daughter, because the staging is so humorous) but the three leads are absolutely phenomenal.  I loved White's voice but the choice to have such a young, charismatic, and handsome actor play the villain was very effective because it made his behavior seem even more reprehensible.  Habersham was absolutely luminous and her rendition of "Caro nome" just about brought the house down.  Hendricks has tremendous stage presence and he was brilliant at portraying both the foolish jester and the devoted father willing to do anything to protect his daughter (he made me laugh multiple times and brought a tear to my eye).  The period sets and costumes reflected the both opulence of the Duke's court (lots of luxurious red and gold fabrics) and the simplicity of Rigoletto's house and Sparafucile's workshop.  This production is heartbreaking but powerful and I enjoyed everything about it!  There are two more performances and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) to one of them!