Festival of Trees 2024

Yesterday I volunteered as a hostess at the Festival of Trees for the fourteenth year.  Various individuals and organizations decorate trees, usually to commemorate someone who has been a patient at Primary Children's Hospital, and then donate them.  These trees are put up for auction and then displayed at the Mountain America Expo Center for the public to view for the duration of the festival.  All of the proceeds go directly to Primary Children's Hospital so it is a really worthwhile cause.  In addition to the trees, there are centerpieces, wreaths, quilts, and and gingerbread houses with lots of crafts and treats for sale (I highly recommend the cinnamon rolls).  After I am finished I like to wander around and look at all of the trees.  Here are some of my favorites.

This American Red Cross tree was my favorite in my assigned area.

The festival continues at the Mountain America Expo Center through Saturday.  Go here for more information and tickets.

A Christmas Carol at HCTO 2024

Last night I went to HTCO for the fifth and final production of A Christmas Carol that I have scheduled this season (whew!).  This tells the well-known story of Ebenezer Scrooge's reclamation by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future but it is a much simpler version.  Several of the extraneous scenes involving interactions between Scrooge and various townspeople have been omitted and other scenes feature voice-over narration rather than action.  The set is also very minimal with only a few pieces brought on and off the stage by the ensemble.  Even though the production is spartan, it is no less powerful and there were many moments that I found very impactful.  The scene between Scrooge (Mark Fossen) and Jacob Marley (Morgan Gunter) is incredibly eerie because we only hear Marley's disembodied voice for much of the time until he suddenly appears to Scrooge to prove that he is real.  There were lots of audible gasps from the audience during this scene!  I was also very struck by the scenes between Young Ebenezer (Lucas Morley) and Belle (Ondine Morgan-Garner) because he has a playful demeanor when he is wooing her but then he is incredibly cold and heartless when she leaves him.  Morley's portrayal of this transformation is very compelling because it mirrors that of Fossen before his reclamation.  Finally, the scene with Bob Cratchit (Bryson Smellie) and Mrs. Cratchit (Shani Harper) at Tiny Tim's grave moved me to tears because it is so heartbreaking.  As with the production at HCT, this one also uses music to tell the story.  I especially loved "Joy to the World," "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella," "Coventry Carol," and "Christmas is Coming" by the Carolers (Delaney Johns, Eliza Stevenson, Ally Johnson, Elizabeth Thompson, Ben Driggs, Jake Oaklyn, Ryan Withers, and Steve Winters), "What Child is This?" by Bob Cratchit, and the original songs "I Was a Boy" by Young Ebenezer and Scrooge, "Hey Old Joe" by Old Joe (Chip Brown), the Undertaker (Morgan Gunter), the Laundress (Natalie Killpack-Daniel), and the Charwoman (Kelsea Kocherhans Smellie), and "Am I That Man?" by Scrooge (these songs really add to the narrative).  As with every production that I have seen at HCTO, I was so impressed by the costumes because they all feature beautiful fabrics with lots of elaborate embellishments.  I particularly loved a green and white houndstooth cloak worn by one of the carolers, a purple frock coat worn by Mr. Fezziwig (David Kocherhans), and a white fur coat and hat worn by Belle.  I thoroughly enjoyed this show and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) to one of the performances through December 28.

Note:  This is the final production at the theatre in Orem.  I am really looking forward to the inaugural season at The Ruth beginning with Ragtime in January.

A Christmas Carol at HCT 2024

Last night I went to Hale Centre Theatre for the fourth of five productions of A Christmas Carol that I have scheduled this holiday season. This is a very traditional version of Ebenezer Scrooge's reclamation by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future and it is my sentimental favorite. I have been attending this show 25+ years and, since it isn't part of the season subscription, I sometimes try to convince myself that I don't need to see it every year but then I realize that I would really miss it and end up getting a ticket. I am so glad that I did this year because I enjoyed this production even more than usual. I wait with anticipation for every single scene (I think I have the whole show memorized) and I love seeing actors return year after year in the same role, particularly Stephen Kerr as Scrooge because his transformation is very powerful. I also really enjoy seeing new interpretations of characters and I especially loved John Rex Kocherhans because he brings a dignity to Bob Cratchit, Ben Parkes because he is so overwrought as Marley, and Taylor J. Smith because he is absolutely hilarious as the Ghost of Christmas Present (his facial expressions are so funny and I laughed out loud every time he threw confetti at Scrooge). One of the things I love best about HCT's production is the use of music to tell the story with an octet (Brett Myers, Zack Grob, Dan VanOrmer, Quinn Dietlein, Rachel Worthen Grob, Jennifer Riley, Luana Parkes, and Courtney McMullin) who sing in between the scenes and various characters who sing as part of the narrative. My favorites are "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" by Mr. Fezziwig (Mark Brocksmith) and his party guests, "Greensleeves" by Belle (Jordyn Aspyn Durfey), "Wassail, Wassail" by Fred (Josh Durfey) and his party guests, "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" by the Poor Wife (Dawn Dietlein), and "Sussex Carol" by the Company. I also really love the elaborate sets, particularly the attention to detail in Scrooge's counting house (I love the ledgers and file boxes on the shelves), Scrooge's bed chamber (I love the opulent fabrics and wallpaper), Bob Cratchit's house (I love the fireplace), Fred's house (I love the Christmas tree), and the Rag and Bottle Shop (I love all of the items for sale displayed on the shelves). The only criticism I ever have of this show is that I think the scene at the Rag and Bottle Shop goes on a bit too long but last night I loved it because Taylor J. Smith made me laugh out loud as Old Joe. The holidays just wouldn't be the same without this show and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) but act quickly because many dates are sold out. It runs on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through December 28.

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse 2024

Last night I went to the Terrace Plaza Playhouse for the third of five productions of A Christmas Carol that I have scheduled this season. This version, which is an adaptation by Beverly Olsen of the musical Scrooge with music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, tells the well-known story of the reclamation of Ebenezer Scrooge's soul by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future but it is much more lighthearted and whimsical than other local productions. Scrooge (Kim Florence) is more a figure of fun who is ridiculed by everyone around him rather than feared and, even though Florence plays him as a doddering old buffoon, he does have a few poignant moments, especially his reactions when Isabelle (Lauren Bailey) leaves young Ebenezer (Jace Fawcett), when he learns the fate of Tiny Tim (Holden Cahoon), and when he realizes that everyone is celebrating his death. I really love the songs "Christmas Children" by Bob Cratchit (Brian Sears) and his children Tiny Tim and Kathy (Brooke Thompson), "December the Twenty-Fifth" by Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig (Duane Beesley and Carla Zarate, respectively), "Happiness" by Young Ebenezer and Isabelle, and "The Beautiful Day" by Tiny Tim. I also enjoyed the spirited choreography in "Father Christmas" as the children make fun of Scrooge and "Thank You Very Much" as Tommy Jones (Brent Taft) and the rest of the debtors who owe Scrooge money dance around his coffin. I am always so impressed with how well the space on the small and intimate stage is used and this show is no exception, particularly in the opening number "Sing a Christmas Carol," because of the sheer number of townspeople involved, and as the Ghost of Christmas Present (Don Wilhelm) conducts Scrooge all around the theatre and through the audience to get to the Cratchit house and Fred's house. The sets are really impressive and bring Victorian London vividly to life with a backdrop of a cobblestone street, platforms on either side of the stage featuring Scrooge's counting house and the entrance to Scrooge's house (I love how Marley's head appears on the door knocker), and various set pieces that are moved on and off the stage (my favorites are Fezziwig's factory and the white silhouettes used to represent Scrooge's childhood). The costumes are beautiful, especially the ball gowns worn at Fred's party and the Ghost of Christmas Present's robe. However, there are several elements that deviate from the original musical and really detract from my enjoyment of this production. I do not like how Jacci Florence portrays the Ghost of Christmas Past because, to me, she seems like a deranged Sugar Plum Fairy and her shtick goes on way too long. I am also bewildered by the Ladies of the Late Afternoon (???) who dance a burlesque while stealing from Scrooge's house. This is my least favorite of all the local productions of this Christmas classic (I prefer a darker and more dramatic tone) but I love the community spirit of this theatre and I think this is perfect for families. It runs nightly (excluding Sundays) through December 23 and tickets may be purchased here.

Sean Is Twenty!

Yesterday my family celebrated Sean's twentieth birthday (his actual birthday is tomorrow).  We went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square (one of Sean's favorite restaurants) and then came back to my sister's house for cake and presents.  He didn't really know what he wanted for his birthday so Marilyn and I just gave him Amazon gift cards (which came in these cute holders).

We love getting ice cream cakes from Baskin-Robbins and, since he has picked a polar bear three different times, I thought it would be really funny for him to pick it again but he ended up getting this cute Santa Claus (it had white cake and bubblegum ice cream).  I can't believe that he is twenty because it seems like yesterday that he was cutest little boy!  I sure do love him (he is the best movie buddy) and I hope he had a really good day!

Gentri Christmas at the Eccles 2024

I love hearing Christmas music performed live so I was really excited to go to my first Christmas concert of the season with Gentri at the Eccles Theatre.  The Gentlemen Trio, or Gentri as they are more commonly known, was established when Casey Elliott, Bradley Quinn Lever, and Brad Robins were cast in a production of Les Miserables at HCT and then continued singing together when the run was over because their voices blend so well.  This was the third time I've seen their Christmas show and I think this one was my favorite because it was just them without any other guests.  They began the concert with an arrangement of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" with snippets from "The Carol of the Bells" and then performed a rousing rendition of "He Is Born The Heavenly Child" which I had never heard before but really loved.  They continued with "I Saw Three Ships" and then a beautiful version of "Still, Still, Still" which is one of my favorite Christmas songs because I sang it in choir when I was in college.  Next came their arrangement of "Noel" (which also contained snippets of "The Carol of the Bells") followed by a very moving version of "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day."  I always hope that I will hear "O Holy Night" (it has been my favorite Christmas song ever since I was a little girl) and their version did not disappoint because, while most singers build to a powerful crescendo at the end, they sing it very softly and it is so beautiful.  They ended their first set with "The Little Drummer Boy" which is one of their most popular songs.  After the intermission they performed a mashup of "Coventry Carol" and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" with dramatic themes by the cello (this was my favorite song at last year's concert) and then "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" which is another favorite from my college choir days.  Next they had their music director Stephen Nelson arrange a piece on the spot from an iconic movie score and a Christmas song suggested by the audience (they do this every year).  Our audience picked the theme form Raiders of the Lost Ark and "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day" and it was actually amazing!  My favorite moment came next when they performed "Defying Gravity" from Wicked (I have now seen the movie three times) to the absolute delight of the crowd!  Their version was so good!  To conclude the concert they performed "Mary Did You Know," "Away in a Manger," "Love Is Alive" (with audience participation), and "O Come, All Ye Faithful" while narrating the Christmas story in between them.  I loved this concert and it was the perfect way to start the holiday season!

We Need a Little Christmas

I love it when my house is decorated for Christmas (it is really the only holiday that I decorate for) and I enjoy putting up my tree because all of the ornaments that I have collected over the years have a sentimental meaning.  I actually put my tree up earlier in the week (I usually wait until the day after Thanksgiving) because I was in desperate need of some Christmas cheer.  This year I am especially looking forward to celebrating Christmas, including three more productions of A Christmas Carol, five Christmas concerts (I love hearing Christmas music performed live and I always hope to hear "O Holy Night"), a performance of The Nutcracker, the movie White Christmas on the big screen, and all of the traditional activities that my nephew is planning for us (I am most looking forward to our night of Christmas baking and our gingerbread house party).  I will also be volunteering for the Festival of Trees once again.  Now, more than ever, I hope this holiday season can bring all of us some comfort and joy.

Thanksgiving 2024

I spent Thanksgiving with my family (we definitely missed Tashena and Tucker who live in Washington) and it was a really nice day.  We had a wonderful dinner with ham (instead of the traditional turkey), potatoes, stuffing, yams, pomegranate salad (a family favorite), rolls, and vegetables with dip.  My sisters are amazing cooks and I am so glad that I am always invited because I am definitely not (my contribution is to bring store-bought pies).  After dinner we all had a rest (my nephew and I watched a movie) and then we played this crazy card game called Shanghai rummy.  We haven't played for a long time and it was a lot of fun (I won).  We had lots of treats while we played and then ended the night with pie.  I enjoyed spending the day with my family and I am really looking forward to all of the fun things we have planned for the rest of the holidays.  I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving with the ones you love.

Maria

My nephew and I went to a matinee of Maria at the Broadway yesterday and, even though it is my least favorite of Pablo Larrain's portraits of enigmatic women, I absolutely loved Angelina Jolie's bravura performance.  Maria Callas (Jolie) spends the final days of her life in Paris reminiscing about her celebrated career on stage and her turbulent relationship with Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer), worrying her devoted butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housekeeper (Alba Rohrwacher) with her increasing dependence on prescription drugs, and rehearsing with a vocal coach (Stephen Ashfield) to improve her deteriorating voice in an attempt to become La Callas again.  She also has regular hallucinations in which a reporter named Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the personification of the drug she has become addicted to, interviews her for a documentary about her life.  However, it is only when she is able to break free from the prison of her voice and sing for herself that she finally finds peace (this is incredibly fatalistic but I think there is an exultation in Maria's final scene).  The narrative sometimes feels crowded and disjointed but it looks absolutely gorgeous with warm and saturated colors evoking Paris during the 1970s along with dramatic black and white images used to represent moments from the past.  I loved the elaborate staging of operas both on stage in famous opera houses around the world and in various locations around Paris in Maria's hallucinations (my favorites were the mad scene from Anna Bolena at La Scala and a surrealistic interpretation of the "Humming Chorus" from Madame Butterfly on the steps of a historic building during a rainstorm).  I also loved the parallels between the operas used and the events depicted (and, as a fan of opera, I loved that extended excerpts are used rather than brief snippets).  The costumes and sets are incredibly lavish but it sometimes feels like there is more style than substance.  The highlight is Jolie's brilliant performance because she imbues Maria with an imperiousness (I laughed every time she made her butler move the piano for no reason) and a vulnerability that is absolutely captivating.  I think this is a role that Jolie was born to play because her own star status and troubled off-screen persona add credibility to the performance (just give her the Oscar now) even if the script leaves us wanting to know more about the character.  This will not be for everyone but it is a must-see for fans of Jolie and I recommend it when it comes to Netflix on December 11.

Moana 2

Last night I went with both of my sisters and my nephew to see Moana 2 at an early preview.  The original is my all-time favorite animated movie from Disney so I was both excited and nervous to see the sequel.  It is definitely not as good as the first one but I enjoyed it.  Moana (Auli'i Cravalho), who is now a Wayfinder, receives a vision from one of her ancestors asking her to break a curse placed by the storm god Nalo on the island Montufetu which once connected all of the people living in Oceania.  She sets sail with a crew of fellow islanders, including a master builder (Rose Matafeo), a grumpy farmer (David Fane), and a storyteller (Hualalai Chung), and eventually finds Maui (Dwayne Johnson), who has been captured by an underworld goddess named Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), while battling a giant clam for the Kakamora.  Maui joins the crew but they must survive Nalo's destructive storms in order to find Montufetu.  The story follows the original beat for beat and seems better suited for streaming but the gorgeous animation, particularly the dazzling storm sequences, makes it worth seeing on the big screen.  The message about needing to work together in order to solve a problem is not particularly subtle but I really loved the idea that you sometimes need to find a different way to do something.  The villains are not very memorable (Matangi had potential but she is abandoned after one epic scene) and many of the other new characters are one-dimensional but I really liked the dynamic between Moana and Maui (Cravalho and Johnson are great).  I think a lot of the humor is very crude (it involves a lot of slime being expelled from various orifices) but the children in the audience were laughing out loud the whole time.  Finally, the songs are definitely not as good as the ones by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the original (I absolutely love "How Far I'll Go" and "We Know The Way" so it was always going to be hard to top them) but I did like "Get Lost" in a fun sequence with Matangi and her back-up singing bats and "Can I Get A Chee Hoo" as Maui tries to boost Moana's confidence.  This is a fun movie to see with the family over the Thanksgiving holiday (the kids will love it) but it is good rather than great.

A Christmas Carol at Parker Theatre

Last night I went to Parker Theatre for the second of five productions of A Christmas Carol that I have scheduled this season. This version tells the well-known story of the reclamation of Ebenezer Scrooge's soul by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future but it is much more atmospheric than others I've seen and I loved it! I especially enjoyed some of the more dramatic differences, such as when Jacob Marley (Stephen Harmon) dies at the beginning of the show and then haunts Scrooge (Brinton M. Wilkins) before he appears to him in his chambers, when characters that Scrooge meets on the streets of London return at key moments from his past to soften his heart, when young Ebenezer (Matthew Delafuente) has a romantic dance with Belle (Isabelle Purdie), and when Scrooge learns the truth about his fate by opening his coffin in the cemetery (it is so ominous). I also enjoyed all of the elaborate special effects as Scrooge interacts with the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Helene Parker), Present (David Hanson), and Future (Helene Parker) because they are quite impressive. The use of a scrim, fog, and atmospheric lighting as Scrooge sees memories from his past as well as shadows and silhouettes as he is shown a frightening possible future is incredibly effective in creating an otherworldly mood. Wilkins is outstanding as Scrooge because there is a marked change, shown through facial expressions and body language, between the bitter old miser at the beginning of the show and the lighthearted character he becomes at the end after his transformation. His interactions with Bob Cratchit (Lucas Charon), when his clerk tearfully thanks Scrooge for his generosity, and with Fred (Tanner Tate), when Scrooge entreats his nephew to let him into his life, are very moving and brought a tear to my eyes. The sets and costumes may be simpler than other local productions but they portray a more realistic interpretation of Victorian London (I loved the street lamps). This is one of my favorite adaptations of the novel by Charles Dickens and I highly recommend including it as one of your Christmas traditions. It runs at Parker Theatre on Fridays and Saturdays through December 24 (go here for tickets).

Note:  I have become a huge fan of Parker Theatre and I am so excited for next season!  The shows include Persuasion, The Sting, Noises Off, Macbeth, Silent Sky, and A Christmas Carol.  Season and individual tickets are now on sale (go here).

Gladiator II

Last night my nephew and I went to a Thursday preview of Gladiator II and we were both definitely entertained.  Rome is now ruled by a pair of tyrannical twin emperors, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who are bloodthirsty in their desire to acquire more and more land.  General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) leads an invasion of Numidia for them during which a Roman refugee named Hanno (Paul Mescal) is captured and his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) is killed.  Hanno, as a prisoner of war, is eventually purchased by a former slave named Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and he agrees to become a gladiator for him in order to take his revenge on Acacius.  Meanwhile, Acacius is growing disillusioned with fighting wars on behalf of the corrupt emperors and he and his wife Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the daughter of Marcus Aurelius, plot to overthrow them with his personal army.  Hanno begins winning the gladiator contests in the Colosseum and Macrinus plans to use him in his own plot to rule Rome but Lucilla recognizes him as her son Lucius who was sent away after the death of his father Maximus and is next in line to the imperial throne.  Will Lucius fight for revenge, for Macrinus, or for Rome?  The original movie is one of my very favorites and, while I did really enjoy this one, the plot often feels like a repeat without the same emotional stakes.  I think that Mescal does a great job, especially in the action sequences, but his character is not as compelling as Maximus because Lucius achieves success in the arena by emulating him rather than because of his own skills (there are lots of callbacks to Maximus when Lucius is fighting).  I also found Geta and Caracalla to be less villainous than Commodus because the two of them are unstable rather than evil (I hated Commodus by the end of the original but Geta and Caracalla are just annoying) and Quinn and Hechinger don't have a lot to do but wear more and more eyeliner to show their debauchery.  Pascal provides a great moment of pathos in the arena but even Acacius has a similar character arc to Maximus.  However, Macrinus is absolutely fascinating because he has risen from slavery to become a powerful political player and he gleefully treats everyone like chess pieces in the pursuit of his own agenda.  Washington commands the screen in a riveting performance (while having the time of his life chewing the scenery).  Finally, Ridley Scott can always be counted on to create a grand spectacle and he certainly does so here with some epic and exhilarating set pieces, especially those in the Colosseum involving a rhinoceros and the staging of a naval battle (although the battle with a bunch apes is a bit weird).  I also really loved the visuals, particularly some black and white sequences involving the afterlife.  This is ultimately a lot of fun (my nephew and I left the theater with big smiles on our faces) and, even though it doesn't reach the heights of the original, it is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible.

Wicked

I am a huge fan of the musical Wicked (I've seen it in London, on Broadway, in San Diego, and in SLC multiple times) so, even though I really enjoyed what Jon M. Chu did with In the Heights, I still had a bit of trepidation about a movie adaptation and I wasn't sure about the casting of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.  I went to see it at an early access screening last night and I needn't have worried because it is amazing and I loved it.  It is a very faithful adaptation of the musical (with a few surprises) and the decision to separate it into two parts allows it to delve deeper into the friendship between Glinda (Grande) and Elphaba (Erivo) as they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.  I really liked the flashbacks to Elphaba as a child (Karis Musungole) because we see her mistreatment for being different and her protective relationship with her sister Nessarose (played by Cesily Collette Taylor as a child) and I also enjoyed seeing Elphaba's training with Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and Dr. Dillamond's (Peter Dinklage) interactions with other animals.  The production design is dazzling and I loved how the worldbuilding has been expanded for the movie, particularly all of the elaborate classrooms and dorms at Shiz University and the Emerald City.  The choreography is incredibly lively and the large ensemble really adds to the exuberance, especially in "No One Mourns the Wicked," "Dancing Through Life," and "One Short Day."  Grande is perfect as Glinda and I laughed out loud at all of her antics (I love how she theatrically tosses her hair).  Her version of "Popular" is so much fun because she nails the physicality and the vocals.  However, I was most impressed by Erivo because she blew me away with her powerful and passionate renditions of "The Wizard and I" and "Defying Gravity" but I also loved her nuanced performance of "I'm Not That Girl" which is my favorite song in the show.  The two of them play off each other so well in the hilarious "What Is This Feeling?" and their poignant interactions in the Ozdust Ballroom brought me to tears.  Jonathan Bailey is a charismatic Fiyero (he is spectacular in "Dancing Through Life"), Yeoh adds dimension to Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum has a subversive charm as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  I was also really impressed with the casting of Marissa Bode as Nessarose because she has the same disability as the character.  I had very high expectations for this adaptation and it exceeded every one of them!  I highly recommend it because it is the perfect movie to see this holiday season.

A Real Pain

I enjoyed quite a few movies at Sundance this year but A Real Pain was my favorite by far so I was really excited to see it again with my nephew at the Broadway last night.  I loved it even more upon a second viewing!  Two cousins, outgoing and charismatic Benji (Keiran Culkin) and uptight and reserved David (Jesse Eisenberg), take a guided tour through Poland to see where their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who has recently died, was born.  They come face to face with the tragedy of the Holocaust but they also feel the pain of realizing that, even though they were once close, they have drifted apart.  This is a moving, but surprisingly funny, portrait of generational trauma and the guilt that these cousins feel when they compare the vicissitudes of their daily lives with the horrors experienced by their grandmother.  I also really enjoyed the comparison between the way in which the cousins express their pain because David keeps everything bottled up inside while Benji expresses his every unfiltered emotion which endears him to the tour group despite the fact that he is often inconsiderate and offensive.  The scenes at the Majdanek concentration camp are very sobering and I was particularly struck by the observation from one of the characters that this evil was perpetrated so close to people going about their everyday lives because that was my response when I visited Dachau.  Eisenberg, rather unusually, is the more subdued straight man to Culkin's mania but they both give brilliant performances.  I frequently laughed at all of Culkin's antics but Eisenberg delivers a monologue that had me in tears.  Finally, I loved the use of Chopin in the soundtrack.  This is a very powerful exploration of how people confront pain and I highly recommend it.

A Christmas Carol at CPT

Last night I went to CPT with my sisters and my nephew to see the first of five productions of A Christmas Carol that I have scheduled this holiday season. This version is a musical, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and I have to admit that it was not my favorite adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens but I enjoyed this production because it got me really excited for Christmas. As the rest of London celebrates the coming of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (Nick Cash) berates his clerk Bob Cratchit (Nathan Sachs) for wanting the day off, refuses an invitation to dine from his nephew Fred (Paul Dixon), and ignores a debtor (Josh Lee) seeking relief. He also has interactions with a lamplighter (Dylan Floyd Panter), a man wearing a sandwich board advertising a Christmas show (Logan Stacey), and a blind beggar woman (Abrielle Hambleton) who eventually become the the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. When he arrives home, the Ghost of Jacob Marley (Brett Klumpp), his former partner, warns that he will be visited by these three ghosts in order to reclaim his soul. Scrooge takes their messages to heart and strives to make amends. Many of the interactions between Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future deviate from the source material and some of them really worked for me, such as having Scrooge's father put in debtors' prison (which is reportedly based on an incident from Charles Dickens' life), and some of them didn't, particularly a big production number involving tap dancing toy soldiers (I didn't know there were Rockettes in Dickensian London). Even though there are some incongruous elements, I really enjoyed all of the enthusiastic performances because the cast does a great job with the material. I also loved quite a few of the songs because they are beautiful, especially "You Mean More to Me" by Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim (Ross Clemens), "A Place Called Home" by Young Scrooge (Grayson Farr) and Fan (Liza Akerlow), "Christmas Together" by the Cratchits, Fred and his family, and the people of London, and "God Bless Us, Everyone" by the entire company. The staging of "Dancing on Your Grave" with the Ghost of Christmas Future and a group of monks and pallbearers is incredibly dramatic and I love how the scene transitions into Scrooge's reclamation in "Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today." My favorite part of this production is the absolutely amazing set which brings Dickensian London so vividly to life (I especially loved the Christmas decorations at Fezziwig's factory) and the incredibly immersive projections (those used during Jacob Marley's visit are very effective). The period costumes are very impressive, although the ghosts during the song "Link By Link" looked more like mental patients to me and I was confused by the showgirls in the scenes with the people of London. Even though I didn't love the show itself I did enjoy everything CPT did with it and the message is so heartwarming that it is the perfect way to usher in the holiday season.  It runs on the Barlow Main Stage through December 21 but act quickly  because tickets (go here) are going fast.

Note:  I'm so glad that my nephew came with us.  He has a lot of Christmas spirit this year and it is making all of us excited for the holidays.

The Great Gatsby on Broadway

When I saw Jeremy Jordan in concert earlier this year, he performed "For Her" from his forthcoming musical The Great Gatsby and I loved the song so much I decided then and there that I wanted to see it!  Since I was already going to be in New York for Hold on to Me Darling, I got a ticket for Saturday night and I considered seeing Jeremy Jordan as the cherry on top of an epic day!  Unfortunately, Jay Gatsby was being performed by the understudy that night but, even though I was a bit disappointed, I still really loved the show.  The musical is based on the novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald and tells the story of how an eccentric and mysterious self-made millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Austin Colby) attempts to rekindle a romance with his former lover Daisy Buchanan (Eva Noblezada) by throwing lavish parties to get her attention.  It is narrated by Gatsby's neighbor and Daisy's cousin Nick Carraway (Alex Prakken) as he becomes more and more disillusioned by the careless behavior of Daisy, her husband Tom (John Zdrojeski), and her friend Jordan Baker (Samantha Pauley) which leads to tragedy (there were so many audible gasps at the conclusion it made me wonder how many people in the audience had read the book).  The musical emphasizes the romance between Nick and Jordan a lot more than in the book and the role of Meyer Wolfsheim (Eric Anderson), who engages in bootlegging with Gatsby, is expanded and includes interactions with George Wilson (Charlie Pollack).  In addition to "For Her," which is my favorite song from the show, I also really liked "My Green Light," when Gatsby and Daisy find each other again, "Past is Catching Up to Me," as Gatsby tries to recreate a party he once attended with Daisy, and "Beautiful Little Fool," where Daisy hopes her daughter will only aspire to be a rich man's wife.  The dancing in "Roaring On," "New Money," and "La Dee Dah With You" is absolutely spectacular and I loved the dazzling costumes and opulent sets (the costumes and sets reminded me of Baz Luhrmann's 2013 movie).  I was also really impressed by all of the effects used in the party scenes and the use of real period cars.  Colby, Prakken, and Pauley are fantastic but Noblezada absolutely blew me away, especially in "For Better or Worse" and "Beautiful Little Fool."  There are some comedic elements, particularly in "The Met" and "Only Tea," that didn't really work for me and create some wild tonal shifts but I enjoyed this show and would definitely recommend it (I'm sure there will be a touring production eventually).

Hold on to Me Darling Off-Broadway

Adam Driver has been my favorite actor ever since I saw Kylo Ren remove his helmet in The Force Awakens and it has long been a dream of mine to see him perform on stage.  When I heard that he would be in a play called Hold on to Me Darling by Kenneth Lonergan (he wrote Manchester by the Sea which is a favorite of mine) at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for a limited engagement this fall, I really wanted to go but I didn't do anything about it and every show sold out very quickly.  I was disappointed to be missing out so I kept randomly checking the website and, when I saw that some isolated single tickets had been released for a few shows, I found a date that would work for me and bought one.  I was able to get a flight and a hotel for a good price (the stars definitely aligned for this trip) so I left for New York last Friday and I had the best time!  I saw a matinee of the play on Saturday and I was on the fourth row!  I let out an audible sigh when Driver first appeared on stage (I was struck by how much he dwarfed the other actors on stage with him) and the three cute ladies sitting by me thought that was hilarious!  Driver plays Clarence "Strings" McCrane,  a country music star who is in the middle of an existential crisis brought on by the sudden death of his disapproving mother.  In an attempt to finally make her proud of him he decides to move back to his hometown in Tennessee, open a feed store with his estranged brother Duke (CJ Wilson), get married to his current fling Nancy (Heather Burns), and hopefully start a family.  His plans go awry when his notoriety disrupts life in his small hometown, when he is sued for dropping out of his current movie production and his upcoming world tour, when Nancy decides she would rather be married to a global superstar than the owner of a feed store, when he becomes reacquainted with his distant cousin Essie (Adelaide Clemons), and when someone (Frank Wood) from his past suddenly appears.  I really enjoyed the story because it is both funny and very moving with an interesting take on the price of fame and how it distorts one's view of one's self.  Driver is amazing in a role that requires sexy charisma one moment (he really delivers here!) and petulant narcissism the next with an emotional reckoning at the end that blew me, and my audience, away.  I also loved seeing him play the guitar (and get undressed *ahem*).  The rest of the cast is also outstanding (but it was sometimes hard for me to take my eyes off Driver because he has such a compelling stage presence) and I loved the rotating set, which consists of a funeral parlor, various hotel rooms, assorted living rooms, and a feed store, because it makes great use of the small stage.  I am still on a high from seeing this show and I am so glad that I was able to go!

Note:  Driver doesn't come to the stage door for matinees so I wasn't able to interact with him.  It was amazing just to see him perform so I wasn't too disappointed and, honestly, it was probably for the best because I'm sure I would have hyperventilated!

Memoir of a Snail

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Memoir of a Snail and I was surprised by how often I laughed out loud during a movie that is so melancholy.  After the death of her eccentric friend Pinky (Jacki Weaver), Grace (Sarah Snook) releases her favorite snail into Pinky's garden and begins telling it her life story.  She has a series of misadventures, the worst of which is when she and her twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee) are separated after the death of their parents and she is sent to live with a pair of swingers in Canberra while he is sent to live with members of a religious cult in Perth.  As her life becomes bleaker and bleaker, she retreats into herself just like the snails she obsessively collects hide inside their shells.  It is only when she receives a posthumous letter from Pinky that she finds the courage to come out of her shell and begin living her life (after so much trauma there is a happy ending).  I really loved the stop-motion animation because the style (all of the characters look like blobs of clay with exaggerated features) really suits the dark themes while providing so much comedy (I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe when Grace gets a perm).  I also loved the voice cast, especially when Magda Szubanski and Bernie Clifford (who play Gilbert's abusive foster parents) speak gibberish during their religious ceremonies.  The humor is incredibly dry and I loved it whenever I would notice something hilarious seemingly hidden on the screen (pay attention to everything, especially the names of books and what is written on all of the signs) and the messages are poignant (my favorite one is that kindness will eventually be repaid).  This strange little movie is one of my favorites this year and I highly recommend it!

Blitz

I had another double feature at the Broadway last night and I started with Blitz because I am a huge fan of Saoirse Ronan.  I have heard this criticized for being too episodic with themes that are introduced but never explored fully but that is why I like it because it is a slice-of-life portrait of the people the two main protagonists encounter, many of whom are often underrepresented, while trying to survive the Blitz.  Rita (Ronan) is a single mother of a biracial nine-year-old boy named George (Elliott Heffernan) who works at a munitions factory and lives with her father Gerald (Paul Weller) in east London.  She makes the difficult decision to evacuate George to the countryside for his safety and tearfully puts him on a train.  However, he doesn't want to leave her and jumps off the train at the first opportunity and then finds himself lost in London.  George undertakes the journey to get back home, experiencing both adventure and terror, while Rita does whatever she can to find him.  I really loved George's encounter with an air-raid warden originally from Nigeria named Ife (Benjamin Clementine) because not only does he help George find safety but he also helps him find his identity.  I also loved Rita's interactions with a firefighter named Jack (Harris Dickinson) who helps her search for George because he represents the spirit of community during dark times.  It was fascinating to see events portrayed through a different lens because I never knew about the looting that occurred after buildings were damaged (it seems obvious to me now) nor did I know that people were denied access to underground stations during the bombings (almost every other movie about the Blitz depicts people sheltering there).  The action sequences are absolutely visceral, especially the opening scene of firefighters trying to control a blaze, and the camera work is incredibly immersive, particularly the closing scene when the camera pulls back from Rita and George to reveal the devastation all around them. Ronan gives a very affecting performance (she also does a great job singing) but I was really impressed by Heffernan because he is captivating.  I really liked this and highly recommend it.

Heretic

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Heretic and to say that I was excited to see it would be an understatement.  It is deeply unsettling but I found it very entertaining (for reasons).  Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who are invited in to give their message to Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant).  They are initially hesitant because the rules stipulate that they cannot be alone with a man without a woman present but they are told by Reed that his wife is there baking a blueberry pie and are reassured when they smell it baking.  They begin a discussion with him but soon become uncomfortable when he mentions some problematic points of doctrine.  When Sister Barnes realizes that the smell of the blueberry pie is coming from a candle, they try to leave only to discover that Reed has locked them inside.  Thus begins a terrifying cat-and-mouse game in which Reed forces them to examine their beliefs.  This is psychological horror at its best and I found Reed's thesis that all religions are just iterations of the same idea to be fascinating (the use of "The Air That I Breathe" by the Hollies and "Creep" by Radiohead to prove his point is brilliant) and his assertion that belief is really a surrender of control is disconcerting (to say the least) because it is so true.  The production design (I loved all of the religious iconography), lighting design, and sound design are all incredibly atmospheric and the cinematography emphasizes the claustrophobia.  Grant is so menacing as Reed because he is playing against type (I am really enjoying his villain era) and delivers the most disturbing monologues with his usual charm and charisma.  Thatcher and East also give outstanding performances because their escalating dread is entirely believable.  Watching this with a crowd in Utah was absolutely wild and I highly recommend it.

The Piano Lesson

There are so many movies playing at the Broadway right now that I want to see so I decided on a double feature last night (I have another one planned for tonight).  I started with The Piano Lesson and, even though I found it to be uneven, I enjoyed it.  It is a sprawling story about several generations of the Charles family beginning in rural Mississippi with the purchase of a piano by James Sutter (Jay Peterson) for his wife Ophelia (Melanie Jeffcoat).  He trades two of his slaves, Bernice and her young son Boy Charles, to buy it but Ophelia misses them so he has Willie Boy Charles (Malik J. Ali) carve the faces of his wife and son on the piano.  The grown up Boy Charles (Stephan James) and his brothers Wining Boy and Doaker eventually steal the piano but Boy is caught and burned alive.  Years later the piano belongs to Boy's daughter Berenice (Danielle Deadwyler), who lives in Pittsburgh with Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) and Wining Boy (Michael Potts), but his son Boy Willie (John David Washington) wants to sell it to buy the land in Mississippi once owned by the Sutters.  Berenice and Willie Boy clash over the piano because she believes it is an important reminder of her past and refuses to sell it while he sees it as a way to secure his future.  This exploration of one family's legacy is very powerful but, in my opinion, a supernatural subplot involving the haunting of the piano by the ghost of James Sutter, including a dramatic exorcism by Berenice's boyfriend Avery Brown (Corey Hawkins), is less compelling.  There are a lot of characters to keep track of (I was sometimes confused about who was who as well as the relationships between everyone) and a few extraneous scenes that create some strange tonal shifts (my mind often wandered when the action strayed from the central conflict).  However, I loved the performances, particularly the juxtaposition between the wild and exuberant Washington and the restrained Deadwyler.  I really liked this but not as much as I thought I would and I recommend waiting for it to stream on Netflix.

Small Things Like These

Last night my nephew and I saw Small Things Like These and I was incredibly moved by its theme of quiet heroism.  Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) is a coal merchant in a small town in Ireland in 1985.  He is the hard-working father of five daughters and his wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh) considers him to be too kind-hearted because of his concern for the less fortunate.  When he makes an earlier than usual delivery to the local convent, he discovers a young pregnant girl named Sarah (Zara Devlin) locked in the coal shed.  He brings her inside the convent and is taken to meet Sister Mary (Emily Watson), the Mother Superior, who implies that his younger daughters will not be admitted to the the convent school if he reveals what he saw and then gives him a "tip" for his services.  He begins to suspect that the many pregnant girls living at the convent are there against their will and are mistreated but he is conflicted about what to do.  Eileen and several townspeople want him to forget what he saw because he can't do anything about it but he has flashbacks to when his unmarried mother Sarah (Agnes O'Casey) was taken in by her employer Mrs. Wilson (Michelle Fairley) when she became pregnant with him (the young Bill is played by Louis Kirwan) and wonders what might have happened to him if someone hadn't intervened.  He spontaneously returns to the convent in the middle of the night and, when he finds Sarah locked in the coal shed once again, he makes a decision.  This is definitely a slow burn but I was so riveted by the story that I was genuinely startled when the screen went to black (my nephew mentioned that he could have kept watching for another hour).  I actually really enjoyed all of the subtle symbolism (the ringing of a church bell is especially ominous and the scenes of Bill scrubbing his hands at the end of the day are portentous) and the use of a bleak color palette to represent the hardship of Bill's life makes his small act of kindness even more powerful.  Murphy gives an incredible performance because you see everything he is feeling with very little dialogue (the one tear falling from his eye almost undid me) but Watson gave me chills with the malevolence she conveys over a cup of tea.  This is a haunting character study about man who refuses to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing and I highly recommend it.