Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

Last night I went back to the Broadway to see Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.  I am not a big fan of romantic comedies but if Jane Austen is in the title I will be seated and I really enjoyed this.  Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is a struggling writer in Paris who has put her life on hold after a traumatic car accident that took the lives of her parents several years ago.  Her best friend Felix (Pablo Pauly) wants to give her a spark so he sends some of her previous work to the Jane Austen Residency run by descendants of the author in England and she is accepted.  Felix convinces a reluctant Agathe to go and, because she is secretly in love with him, she spontaneously kisses him as she leaves and sends him a provocative text when she arrives which confuses him.  She soon meets Oliver (Charlie Anson), the arrogant son of the proprietors, and they take an immediate dislike to each other.  However, she is still unable to write so she spends most of her time with Oliver and develops feelings for him before Felix arrives to surprise her.  She eventually realizes that she needs to resolve the trauma in her life before she can write or decide which man is meant for her.  This is a slow burn but it is so charming that it will win you over.  The cinematography is gorgeous and I enjoyed all of the locations, especially Shakespeare and Company where Agathe works.  I loved the scene where Agathe compares herself to Anne Elliot in Persuasion because she is letting life pass her by and Felix to Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park because he is a cad who is unwilling to commit (I also loved that Oliver is obviously modeled on Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice).  There are lots of other moments that put a smile on my face but I definitely swooned during the Regency costume ball when Agathe dances with Felix and then with Oliver because it is so apparent who she belongs with (I wrote a paper in college about the importance of dancing in Jane Austen's works).  Rutherford and Anson are very appealing and have tremendous chemistry but I really appreciate that this focuses just as much on Agathe's journey to find herself as a writer as it does on finding a romantic partner.  This is a lot more subtle and thoughtful than Austenland and The Jane Austen Book Club but it is a lot of fun and I recommend it.

Bring Her Back

As a huge fan of Talk to Me, I was really eager to see what Danny and Michael Philippou would do next.  Their latest, Bring Her Back, is now playing at the Broadway so I went to see it last night and, like their first movie, it is incredibly gory and disturbing but it is also a powerful exploration of grief.  After their father dies, Andy (Billy Barratt) and his visually impaired step-sister Piper (Sora Wong) are temporarily placed with Laura (Sally Hawkins) and her other foster child Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).  Laura overtly favors Piper but Andy believes it is because she had a visually impaired twelve-year-old daughter named Cathy (Mischa Heywood) who accidentally drowned in the backyard pool so he tries to make the best of the situation.  However, Andy is soon disconcerted by strange goings-on, especially the erratic behavior exhibited by Oliver, who is frequently locked in his room and denied food, and the demonic ritual shown on a grainy VHS tape that Laura obsessively watches at night.  Laura turns Piper against Andy with the hope that she will stay with her permanently so he goes searching for answers and discovers Laura's plan to implement the strange ritual with Piper and Oliver in order to bring her daughter back to life.  The escalating dread is almost unbearable because the characters are unpredictable and keep each other (and the audience) off balance.  Laura is often sympathetic and almost debilitated by her grief over the death of her daughter but then she becomes increasingly unhinged as time goes on while Andy is volatile with unclear motivations until they are slowly revealed.  Hawkins gives a powerful and unsettling performance as she transitions from warm and caring to evil and manipulative and back again (she is so scary).  The young actors are also outstanding and I was particularly impressed with Phillips because he matches Hawkins in intensity.  The visuals add to the unease because the camera angles are disorienting and the focus is sometimes distorted to mimic what Piper is seeing inside the house.  Finally, this is not for the faint of heart because the scenes involving the ritual (which feature elaborate prosthetics worn by Phillips) are so grisly that I averted my eyes several times (and I have a strong tolerance for body horror).  This might be a brutal watch but fans of the genre are sure to find it as riveting as I did.

Final Destination Bloodlines

I am a casual fan of the Final Destination franchise at best (my favorite is the third one but they all kind of blend together because they are so formulaic) but I had heard great things about the latest installment, Final Destination Bloodlines, so I decided to see a matinee yesterday.  I really liked it and I think it is the best movie in the series.  College student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) is tormented by a recurring dream in which a woman named Iris (Brec Bassinger) and her fiance Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) die in an explosion during the opening of a restaurant in a high-rise tower fifty years ago.  She eventually realizes that Iris is the estranged grandmother she has never met and finds her living in an isolated and fortified cabin.  Iris (Gabrielle Rose) tells her that she had a premonition about the explosion and was able to evacuate everyone before the tragedy could happen.  However, Death refused to be thwarted and started killing the survivors in the order they died in her vision.  She and a little boy named J.B. (Jayden Oniah) were the last to die and Death is finally catching up to the two of them as well as her descendants who were never meant to be born.  After Iris is impaled by a weather vane, Stefani tries to warn her uncle Howard (Alex Zahara), her estranged mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt), her cousins Erik (Richard Harmon), Julia (Anna Lore), and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner), and her brother Charlie (Tio Briones) that they are next to die but they refuse to listen because Howard and Darlene believe that their mother was delusional.  After Howard dies in a freak accident with a lawn mower, Stefani searches for J.B., who turns out to be William Bludworth (Tony Todd), to get answers before it is too late for her family.  I love that there is a twist to the usual formula and that expectations are often cleverly subverted (especially with Erik).  The characters and their relationships with each other are much more developed than they are in the previous movies and the family dynamic adds an emotional core that I found very compelling.  I also found William Bludworth's arc (it is ingenious how he ties all of the movies together) to be quite moving and I loved his message that death is coming for us all one way or another and that we might as well live our lives to the fullest while we can (Todd knew he didn't have long to live and this makes his performance all the more poignant).  Another shout out goes to Harmon because he steals every scene he is in and he also gives a surprisingly touching performance.  Finally, all of the elaborate sequences leading to the deaths of each character are absolutely epic (I will never have another MRI).  I enjoyed this so much more than I expected and I highly recommend it.

Note:  There are a lot of really fun Easter eggs for fans of the franchise (pay close attention to Iris's book).

Friendship

Last night I took my nephew to see Friendship at the Broadway because the trailer made me laugh out loud.  It is absolutely hilarious but it is also a really sad exploration of the extent to which someone will go to be accepted.  Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is an unremarkable middle-aged man living in the suburbs with a corporate job who is so socially awkward that he gets nosebleeds when he gets excited.  He meets Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd), a charismatic TV weatherman, when he moves into Craig's neighborhood and they soon begin spending lots of time together.  Craig becomes infatuated with Austin but, when they are hanging out with Austin's friends, he commits a social faux pas that ends the evening on a sour note.  This causes Austin to distance himself from Craig because he is also insecure and wants to keep his friend group.  Eventually, Craig goes to extreme lengths to reestablish his friendship with Austin even though his actions threaten his job and his relationships with his wife Tami (Kate Mara) and his son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer).  I was unfamiliar with Tim Robinson and his popular sketch comedy I Think You Should Leave so this was my introduction to his particular brand of cringe comedy and I laughed out loud so many times (as did everyone else in the audience) at his antics.  He has outstanding comedic timing and his facial expressions, physical movements, and line deliveries as a character who cannot read social cues but desperately wants to fit in are brilliant.  Rudd is also very funny as the straight man to all of Robinson's mania.  Having said all of that, this is sometimes very difficult to watch because both Craig and Austin are profoundly lonely characters (even though Austin is more socially adept) searching for connection and, while it is realistic, the resolution between them is unsatisfying.  This will make you laugh but it will also make you squirm and I recommend it to fans of this specific genre (it's definitely not for everyone).

Memorial Day Weekend at Lava Hot Springs

Marilyn and I decided to spend the long Memorial Day weekend in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho (a two hour drive north from where I live) at a KOA campground.  We stayed in a cabin located near the bank of the Portneuf River (a tributary of the Snake River) with trees and mountains all around us and it was beautiful.  The cabin was very comfortable with two beds, a table and chairs, a kitchen (with a mini fridge, microwave, and a sink with running water) and a full bathroom.  We spent the majority of our time outside on our patio which had a fire pit, two Adirondack chairs, a metal table and chairs, and a barbecue.  The weather was absolutely perfect so I really enjoyed reading outside during the day and sitting by the fire in the evening (my favorite part of camping).  We made tin foil dinners in the fire on Saturday night and burgers on the barbecue on Sunday night and we ate outside (everything tastes so much better outside).  Marilyn's dog Reese loved it because everyone (in the other cabins next to us and the RVs across from us) was so friendly and would talk to us and pet her.

This quick trip was so relaxing and we had a great time!  We were sad to leave yesterday but we have decided that we want to come back (we have even scoped out a cabin in another area of the campground that we want to reserve next time).  I highly recommend this KOA (go here to reserve RV hookups, cabins, and tent sites) because there are a lot of different activities available and the staff is extremely helpful and friendly.

Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique

I specifically picked last night's Utah Symphony concert for the program but I was really excited to discover that the guest conductor was the new Music Director Markus Poschner.  I've seen him conduct the orchestra before and I always enjoy watching him on the podium because he is so expressive (and frequently conducts without a score as he did last night).  The orchestra began with For A Younger Self, a violin concerto composed by Kris Bowers who is known primarily for his film scores, with Charles Yang, to whom the piece is dedicated, as soloist.  The composer likened this piece to the Hero's Journey as a musician finds confidence as a performer after years of study.  I really liked the back and forth between Yang and the orchestra in the first movement because it is so chaotic and then I loved Yang's virtuosity in the violin solos featured in the second movement.  The final movement is incredibly dynamic and I enjoyed watching Yang's fingers fly up and down his violin!  Yang is known for an encore that went viral on social media featuring "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke which he spontaneously improvised after a performance with the Dallas Symphony and I was absolutely thrilled when he did it for us.  Not only does he play a bluesy rendition of the song but he also sings it (he has a great voice and could probably have a singing career if playing the violin doesn't work out) and the crowd went crazy!  After the intermission, the orchestra played Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz and I was so excited to hear this piece performed live in its entirety for the first time.  It begins as a daydream about a woman the protagonist loves but then turns into a nightmare where he kills her and she comes back to haunt him (it is rumored to be inspired by the composer's own unrequited infatuation with Harriet Smithson) and you can really hear a shift in the mood as the piece progresses.  There is a recurring theme, which represents his obsession with the woman he loves, introduced by the flutes and violins in the first movement and then repeated by various instruments throughout but I especially love the theme played by the brass with a tolling bell in the final movement because it is so ominous (I always see the opening credits of The Shining in my mind whenever I hear this).  It was an epic performance and I haven't felt so exhilarated by a Utah Symphony concert in a very long time!  This same program will be repeated tonight and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).

Note:  I was sitting next to a college student attending his first Utah Symphony concert and he asked me lots of questions about the orchestra and classical music.  I am definitely not an expert (to say the least) but I enjoyed talking to him because I attended my first Utah Symphony concert when I was in college and I would have loved to have had someone answer my questions.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

I am a huge fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise so I was beyond excited to see Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning at a Thursday preview with my sister last night.  It is unbelievably convoluted but it is an epic and heartfelt conclusion to the series (if, in fact, it is actually the conclusion) and we both loved it!  Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) now has the cruciform key needed to acquire the source code for the Entity from the wreckage of the Russian submarine Sevastopol.  However, Gabriel (Esai Morales) has stolen the malware, called the poison pill, created by Luther (Ving Rhames) which will enable him to control it.  Ethan and his team, Benji (Simon Pegg), Grace (Hayley Atwell), Paris (Pom Klementieff), and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), must get the source code from the submarine and the poison pill from Gabriel before the Entity gains access to the world's nuclear codes and before President Sloane (Angela Bassett) launches a preemptive strike to mitigate the fallout for the United States.  They must also evade CIA Director Kittridge (Henry Czerny) and Agent Briggs (Shea Whigham), who have personal reasons for stopping Ethan.  The first hour is really exposition heavy but, once it gets going, there are some amazing action set pieces (Tom Cruise is a madman).  I especially loved the cross-cutting between a scene of hand-to-hand combat between Ethan and a sailor on a submarine and a scene where the team fights a group of Russian soldiers on an island in the Bering Sea and, of course, the much hyped aerial sequence between Ethan and Gabriel on a biplane is spectacular (it is even better than I was expecting) but my favorite scene is a breathtaking underwater sequence where Ethan dives to the wreckage of the Sevastopol and gets trapped (I was on the edge of my seat the whole time because the sound design is so foreboding).  I also enjoyed Ethan's arc because he feels the weight of all of his decisions even more in this installment and there are some really touching moments between him and several other characters (especially with one from his earliest mission) which lead to a very satisfying resolution for him.  Cruise shines in a role he has been playing for thirty years (a montage of all of his missions while he is receiving his latest one is very well done) and the rest of the large cast does a great job (the standout for me is Tramell Tillman as the captain of a submarine because one of his line readings made me laugh out loud).  It is not without faults (I had only the vaguest notion of why things needed to happen and a scene where Ethan communicates directly with the Entity is a bit silly) but it is exhilarating and it must be seen on the big screen (my sister and I are already planning to see it again in IMAX).

Note:  I rewatched all of the earlier movies in preparation for this one and I think Fallout is still my favorite.

Dreamgirls at the Grand Theatre

I was so excited for Dreamgirls at the Grand Theatre last night because I had never seen it before (not even the movie).  This production is thoroughly entertaining with an incredibly talented cast and I loved it! The Dreamettes, a girl group from Chicago consisting of Effie White (Quesley Soto), Deena Jones (Kandyce Marie), and Lorrell Robinson (Darby Mest), enter a talent competition at the Apollo Theatre in New York singing a song written by Effie's brother C.C. White (Asher Head).  The contest is rigged against them by a used car salesman named Curtis Taylor (Steven Taylor) because he wants to manage them.  He arranges for them to sing back up for James "Thunder" Early (Kiirt Banks) on tour but he soon has the girl group, renamed The Dreams, perform on their own.  He wants Deena to replace Effie as the lead singer because, even though Effie is a better singer, he thinks Deena is prettier.  Effie is eventually replaced by the singer Michelle Morris (Kimberly Teitter) and, several years later, Deena Jones and the Dreams are incredibly successful while Effie is a struggling singer in a club.  C.C. is unhappy with how Curtis wants to record his latest song so he offers it to Effie and her version becomes a hit.  Deena, Lorrell, and Michelle become disillusioned with performing, and with Curtis, so they give a farewell concert and sing one final number with Effie.  The show is basically a series of performances by James "Thunder" Early, The Dreams, and Effie at various locations interspersed with a narrative about how the pressures of the music industry impact their friendship with each other and their romantic relationships but these performances are amazing!  My favorite numbers were "Move (You're Steppin' On My Heart)" during the talent competition, "Steppin' to the Bad Side" which becomes the group's first hit single with Early, "(And I Am Telling You) I'm Not Going" after Effie is replaced, "I Miss You, Old Friend" when C.C. and Effie reconcile, "One Night Only" as Effie makes a comeback, and "Dreamgirls" during the final number with Effie.  The set consists of a multi-tiered stage (a fantastic live band sits on the top tier) with multiple backdrops to denote different locations (I loved the red velvet curtains of the Apollo Theatre) and smaller set pieces are brought on and off in front of the stage by the ensemble for the more intimate scenes.  The girl group costumes from the 1960s and 1970s are as fabulous as you would expect (with as many sequins as you would expect) and the lighting is very dramatic.  Finally, the entire cast is insanely talented but Soto blows the roof off of the theatre!  I had a lot of fun at this show (audience participation is highly encouraged) and I definitely recommend it!  There are performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (go here for tickets) through June 14.

Twelve Angry Men at HCT

Last night I was back at Hale Theatre to see Twelve Angry Men and I think it is not only one of the best productions I have seen at HCT but it is one of the best productions I have seen anywhere! It is a sweltering afternoon in New York City in the summer of 1957 when the jurors (Bradley Moss, Bradley Mackay, Jake Ben Suazo, Neal C. Johnson, Garret Woolley, Dustin Bolt, Bryan Dayley, Dylan Hamilton Wright, David Nieman, Brian Neal Clark, Mark Fotheringham, and Derrick Dean) begin deliberating a first degree murder case involving a sixteen-year-old boy who is accused of stabbing his father to death. Eleven of the jurors are convinced that he is guilty but, because a guilty verdict carries an automatic sentence of death, one lone juror insists that they examine the case against him in detail (much to the chagrin of everyone else). As they slowly work their way through the witnesses and the evidence, tempers are frayed, recriminations are leveled, and prejudices and biases are revealed but they eventually reach a unanimous verdict. Despite the fact that this takes place in one location (the set is minimal but highly effective) in real time with lots of dialogue and very little action, it is absolutely riveting and there were moments when everyone in the audience was holding their breath (I heard a collective sigh of relief followed by nervous laughter after a particularly charged scene at the end of the first act). I was on the edge of my seat waiting in anticipation to see what would eventually change each juror's mind and I was especially struck by the scene where one of the jurors realizes that he has been projecting his troubled relationship with his son on to the defendant (this is an amazing moment). The message of this play is incredibly powerful (and timely) because it is so important to stand up for what you believe even if you are the only one standing. Finally, every member of the cast is giving a master class in acting and they all have moments of absolute brilliance but I was beyond impressed with Clark because his monologue near the end of act two is a literal show stopper (this was another moment when the audience was holding its breath). Believe me when I say that you definitely do not want to miss this thought-provoking show (tickets may be purchased here). It runs on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through July 26.

Tuck Everlasting at CPT

Last night I went to CPT with both of my sisters to see Tuck Everlasting, a delightful musical adaptation of the book by Natalie Babbitt (you probably read it in elementary school). All three of us really enjoyed this charming production. Winnie Foster (Penny Hodson) feels trapped in a house where her mother Betsy (Amanda Rogers) and her Nana (Meredith Carlson) are in mourning for her dead father and she longs for adventure. One day she sneaks into the woods and meets Jesse Tuck (Maxwell Sperry). He stops her from taking a drink from a stream and inadvertently reveals that the water has made his family immortal. Jesse is happy to have made a friend but the rest of the Tuck family, including Mae (Brooke Liljenquist), Angus (Andy Leger), and Miles (Cameron Ropp), worry that their secret will be revealed. However, the Man in the Yellow Suit (Tyler Hanson) has overheard Jesse and has nefarious plans for the water. Eventually, Jesse asks Winnie to drink the water when she turns seventeen but his family warns that being immortal is not as enchanting as it appears. Hodson is really endearing as Winnie and I was very impressed by her stage presence because she very ably provides the heart of the show. I love that she still has the voice of a child and that she displays a wide-eyed wonder at everything she sees. Her interactions with Sperry, especially, are really sweet and their renditions of "Top of the World" and "Seventeen" are highlights. I was also very touched by Liljenquist's performance of "My Most Beautiful Day" (I also really liked the choreography in this number) and Ropp's emotional performance of "Time." My favorite number in the show is "The Wheel" where Angus tells Winnie that she doesn't need to live forever she just needs to live (this message is so lovely) and both Leger and Hodson sing it beautifully (it is also staged very well). The staging of the scenes at the fair is simple with a minimal cast but it is very effective and I enjoyed the choreography in "Join the Parade" and its reprise as well as in "Partner in Crime." I also liked that the characterization for the Man in the Yellow Suit is more menacing (Hanson actually provides a bit of comic relief) than evil which I've seen in some productions. One of my favorite aspects of this show is how the members of the ensemble seem to shadow Winnie and the revelation of who they are in "The Story of Winnie Foster" is incredibly poignant in this production. Finally, the set is quite spectacular and includes a lush backdrop of trees with sets for Winnie's front porch and garden (I loved the white picket fence covered by flowers), the Tuck's cabin, and Jesse's tree and the stream on a rotating turntable. This is a wonderful show for the whole family and I recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on the Mountain America Main Stage through June 17.

Note:  I saw this show on Broadway and then it closed two days later!

Finding Neverland at HCT

I don't think I have ever had a more emotional response to a show than than the one I had when I saw Finding Neverland on Broadway (I was crying my eyes out by the end) so I was beyond excited when it was announced as part of the 2025 season at HCT and I have been eagerly awaiting my chance to see it ever since (I've also been recommending it to all of my theatre friends). I went to a matinee yesterday afternoon and, while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I feel like it is missing some of the magic of the Broadway production. J.M. Barrie (Keith McKay Evans) is a playwright suffering from writers' block, much to the chagrin of his snobby society wife Mary (Jordyn Aspyn Durfey) and his exasperated theatre director Charles Frohman (Alex King), when he meets the Llewelyn Davies brothers, George (Lucas Huizingh), Jack (Andrew Laudie), Peter (Flynn Mitchell), and Michael (Link Evans), and their mother Sylvia (Amy Shreeve Keeler), in Kensington Gardens. The Llewelyn Davies family, especially Sylvia and Peter, help him find his imagination again and inspire him to write the play Peter Pan while Barrie helps Sylvia, who is sick, and Peter, who is still mourning the loss of his father, learn that you shouldn't take life too seriously. I really love all of the music in this show but I was especially impressed by Evans' passionate rendition of "My Imagination" and Keeler's powerful performance of "All That Matters" (they both have beautiful voices) and their chemistry is palpable in "Neverland" and "What You Mean to Me."  I loved the innovative staging of "Believe," when the brothers fly around Kensington Gardens in a giant paper boat, "Circus of Your Mind," when ticking clocks (which represent the people who disapprove of Barrie) are transformed into a giant crocodile, "Stronger," when Barrie's alter ego Captain Hook (Alex King) takes him to a pirate ship to encourage him to be bolder, and "What You Mean to Me," as Barrie and Sylvia dance with their shadows (performed by aerialists Lance Nielson and Samantha Nielson). I also enjoyed seeing Peter Pan (Tyson Russell) fly around Barrie in certain scenes because he represents Barrie. The stage is brilliantly configured as a series of giant books with projections of text all around the theatre and many of the set pieces, which come in from the wings, up from the pit, and down from the rafters, look like line drawings (I especially liked the duvets on the beds in the nursery). The period costumes are gorgeous, especially all of Sylvia's gowns and Captain Cook's elaborate frock coat. However, with the exception of Shelby Maughan, who plays Mr. Henshaw, and Colton James Kraus, who plays Mr. Cromer, I found the acting troupe to be very bland (they are completely over-the-top in the Broadway production) so the songs "The World Is Upside Down," "Something About This Night," and "Neverland (Reprise)" are a bit underwhelming. To be fair, I attended a matinee with many empty seats (my whole row was empty) so that may have affected the energy. Finally, I waited with great anticipation for the penultimate scene with Sylvia because, in the Broadway production, it is one of the most magical bits of stage craft that I have ever seen and, honestly, I was disappointed with this version because I found it a bit pedestrian (I expected more from Dave Tinney and the state-of-the-art stage). There is actually a lot to love about HCT's version and my comparison to the Broadway production is probably unfair so I definitely think it is worth seeing. It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through June 14 (go here for tickets) but act quickly because many shows are sold out.

Note:  A huge shout-out to Indy, who is making her acting debut as the Barries' dog Porthos, because she is adorable and she does such a great job!

Juliet & Romeo

My sister and I are not the biggest fans of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet but, as soon as we saw the trailer for a new adaptation, we knew immediately that we wanted to see it because it is a musical!  We had the chance to see it yesterday and both of our inner thirteen year old selves loved it.  Prince Escalus (Rupert Graves) is fighting to keep control of Verona and he must ally himself with either House Montague or House Capulet to get the support he needs and this escalates the ongoing feud between them.  Lord Montague (Jason Isaacs) looks to his adopted son Mercutio (Nicholas Podany) to advance their cause because his own son Romeo (Jamie Ward) has started to rebel while Lord and Lady Capulet (Rupert Everett and Rebel Wilson, respectively) bring their unsuspecting daughter Juliet (Clara Rugaard) home from school to form an alliance with Lord Paris (Dennis Andres) in exchange for his army.  Romeo spots Juliet across a crowded square and they bond over their appreciation of Dante Alighieri.  They eventually fall in love and, when they realize that they represent opposing houses, they turn to the Friar (Derek Jacobi) who sees their union as a way to achieve peace and he marries them.  However, when violence erupts on the streets leading to the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), Romeo is banished and he must resort to a bold plan involving the Apothecary (Dan Fogler) in order to be with Juliet.  This takes quite a few liberties with the source material, including a really wild ending, and this would normally bother me but the changes work within the context of a story about choosing your own destiny.  The runtime starts to feel long during the third act when Juliet takes the potion and Romeo misses the message from the Friar but I always find this section of the play tedious when it is performed on stage so I can't fault the movie for it.  The songs eventually all blend together and they definitely have a Disney Channel Original Movie sound but I really enjoyed them (see the aforementioned comment about my inner thirteen year old self) and I suspect that teens everywhere (the target audience) will love them.  My favorites are "Beat the Same," "I Should Write This Down," "The Mask I Wear," and "Streets On Fire."  Ward and Rugaard are very appealing and have great chemistry as the titular characters and I also liked Jacobi as the Friar because he acts as a sort of narrator.  The visuals are gorgeous, with production design by Dante Ferreti and costume design by Luciano Capozzi (I loved the masquerade ball), and the cinematography is dazzling (especially the overhead shots of the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt on the bridge).  I know that everyone is going to hate this but, to me, it was a bit of escapist fun and my sister and I had a blast watching it.

Shadow Force

I wasn't really interested in Shadow Force but there are not a lot of new releases in theaters this weekend and my nephew is a fan of Omar Sy so we went to see it last night.  If I hadn't seen Magic Farm at Sundance I would call this my worst movie of 2025.  Isaac Sarr (Sy) and Kyrah Owens (Kerry Washington) are highly trained agents who were once part of a multinational covert organization, known as Shadow Force, led by Jack Cinder (Mark Strong) who now works for the G7.  After they fell in love, got married, and had a son, they decided to leave the organization knowing that this decision would put a bounty on their heads.  Kyrah spends the next four years hunting down the agents who were once their colleagues while Isaac goes deep under cover to care for their son Ky (Jahleel Kamara).  However, when Isaac uses his highly specialized training to foil a bank robbery, he blows his cover and Cinder doubles the bounty on them because he doesn't want his involvement in the organization to come to light and ruin his chances of becoming Secretary General (does such a position even exist?) of the G7 (or it might be because he is in love with Kyrah and is bitter that she rejected him).  They go on the run to evade all of the other operatives now chasing them but they are helped by the spies "Auntie" (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and "Unc" (Clifford "Method Man" Smith), who have some sort of unexplained connection to them.  Eventually, everyone involved ends up on an island off the coast of Colombia for a final confrontation (that lasts forever).  The script is an absolute mess because it relies on having the characters, who are supposed to be the most elite and highly trained covert assassins in the world, make one incomprehensible decision after another in order to sustain the action.  At one point, Kyrah has all five of the operatives she has been chasing for the past four years in her sights (they are literally standing in a row) but she just walks away from them.  At least this afforded us many opportunities to yell at the screen ("Take the shot!") and that was somewhat entertaining.  There are a lot of (unnamed) characters to keep track of and one's betrayal is telegraphed almost from his first appearance and another one's assistance comes out of nowhere (it made me laugh out loud).  With the exception of Kamara, who is adorable, and Sy, who has a few touching moments with Kamara, the acting is incredibly melodramatic (Washington has several monologues that are meant to be poignant but they made my nephew laugh out loud because they are so cheesy).  All of this might be forgiven if the action sequences were exciting but they are edited in such a scattershot way that it is difficult to see what is going on most of the time.  My nephew said that he wasn't expecting this to be great but he also wasn't expecting it to be so bad.

Utah Opera's Madame Butterfly

I really love Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly (Utah Opera's 2014 production is one of my very favorites by the company) so it was with a bit of trepidation that I went to see a bold new version last night at Capitol Theatre.  I tend to be a purist and I usually dislike it when classics, especially classics that I love, are reimagined.  However, much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it because it retains the story and, more importantly, the incomparable music but adds a framing device to emphasize the fact that the character of Butterfly is Pinkerton's stereotyped version of a Japanese woman and not reality.  It is very effective!  Act I begins when a young man named B.F. Pinkerton (Eric Taylor) enters his sleek and modern apartment, which is decorated with posters depicting Japanese anime characters, and, using a VR headset, joins a game set in Japan at the turn of the century using the avatar of a U.S. naval officer.  The alternate world he enters is a fantastical one.  He is wearing a uniform but the cut is exaggerated and it is without adornment, his house features shoji screens, lanterns, and cherry blossoms but everything is bright and stylized, and the Japanese people he interacts with are dressed traditionally but the colors are vivid and bold and the hairstyles reflect the cuts and colors you would find in Japanese anime.  Pinkerton is an interactive player in the game and he soon requests that Sharpless (Nmon Ford), the U.S. Consul, allow him to wed a Japanese geisha named Cio-Cio San (Hiromi Omura), or Butterfly, for convenience.  Sharpless agrees but warns him to treat her carefully because she loves him.  After they are married, Butterfly confesses that she has secretly converted to Christianity, which causes her uncle the Bonze (Zaikuan Song) to disown her, so he comforts her before they spend a blissful night together.  Act II begins three years later and Pinkerton, who is now married to Kate (Sarah Scofield), is a passive observer in the game.  Butterfly eagerly awaits Pinkerton's return and she chastises her maid Suzuki (Nina Yoshida Nelsen) for saying that he is not coming back, refuses a marriage proposal from Prince Yamadori (Kevin Nakatani), and dismisses Sharpless when he attempts to read her a goodbye letter from Pinkerton.  Butterfly eventually sees Pinkerton's ship in the harbor and keeps vigil all night waiting for him to come to her and their son.  In Act III, Pinkerton, an active participant once again, reaches a new level in the game and is allowed to pick a wife but, when he chooses Kate's avatar rather than Butterfly's, he sees how his actions have impacted Butterfly.  She decides that her child will have a better life with Pinkerton and Kate but this drives her to a desperate act that abruptly ends the game leaving present-day Pinkerton in despair.  This particular narrative is absolutely brilliant and I was mesmerized by the staging but I was most impressed by the cast!  Omura gives an incredibly passionate performance.  The love duet between Butterfly and Pinkerton after their wedding ("Love me, please") is beautiful and filled with longing while the aria she sings insisting that Pinkerton will return to her ("One fine day we shall see") is so emotional that I had tears in my eyes (the audience burst into spontaneous applause).  Taylor has an expressive voice but I especially enjoyed the transformation in Pinkerton as he silently observes Butterfly's love for him in Act II.  I also loved Ford's voice in the duet between Sharpless and Butterfly ("Now for us") because it is filled with compassion knowing that the truth will devastate her.  Finally, my favorite moment features the "Humming Chorus" because it is so haunting and I was very moved hearing the Utah Opera Chorus sing it last night.  I did not expect to love this thought-provoking production as much as I did and I highly recommend it!  There are two more performances but act quickly (go here) because there are not many tickets left.

Waitress at PTC

I really love the musical Waitress so I was thrilled when it was announced as the final show this season at PTC. I went to see it last night and it exceeded my expectations in every way! Jenna (Claire Saunders) uses baking to cope with her dead-end job as a waitress and her unhappy marriage to an abusive husband (Brent Thiessen). When she learns that she is unexpectedly pregnant and begins an ill-advised affair with her gynecologist (Ben Jacoby), she expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations by telling the audience the ingredients for a pie that will help her current situation (play close attention to the specials board), always beginning with "Sugar. Butter. Flour." Eventually she realizes that the one ingredient she is missing is courage! I think all of the songs in this show are incredibly clever, especially "What's Inside," "Opening Up," and "It Only Takes a Taste," because, while they are ostensibly about baking, they are also great metaphors for life. However, my favorite song is "She Used to Be Mine" because it is such a powerful turning point for Jenna. I have been lucky enough to see Jessie Mueller, who originated the role of Jenna, perform it on Broadway and Sara Bareilles, who wrote the music and lyrics, perform it in concert and, in my opinion, Saunders is on par with both of them because her rendition is incredibly raw and emotional (I had tears in my eyes during the entire performance). The rest of the cast is also outstanding and I was very moved by the beautiful harmonies between Saunders and Candace Marie Woods as Becky and Lexi Rabadi as Dawn in "A Soft Place to Land" and "Everything Changes" as well as between Saunders and Jacoby in "You Matter to Me." In addition to the poignant messages about finding your inner strength, this show is also really funny and the cast does a great job with the witty one-liners and physical comedy, particularly in the songs "Never Ever Getting Rid of Me" and "Bad Idea" (they were definitely big crowd-pleasers last night). The use of the ensemble is brilliant because they are all distinct characters within the diner but they also come together to act out what is happening in the narrative of the songs (this is especially effective in "Bad Idea") and they assist Jenna whenever she makes the pies. I've seen this iconic show several times and I really appreciated all of the subtle touches used to differentiate it from other well-known productions, including the yellow gingham fabric used for the uniforms and the neon used throughout the diner. If you have seen this on Broadway or on tour, you will definitely not be disappointed with PTC's version and, if you have never seen it before, you are in for an amazing evening of laughter and tears! It runs through May 17 and tickets may be purchased here.

The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn Amphitheatre

Every year I try to see at least one show at Tuacahn Amphitheatre so last weekend I went on a quick road trip to St. George (a four hour drive south from where I live) to see The Little Mermaid and it was so much fun because my sister was able to come with me (it was easy to convince her because The Little Mermaid is one of her favorite shows).  The best production I had ever seen of The Little Mermaid was at Tuacahn in 2014 and this production surpasses that one because it is absolutely dazzling!  The state-of-the-art special effects are pretty incredible!  The stage is flooded at the beginning of the show so Ariel first appears on her rock in the middle of the water for "The World Above" and then Prince Eric's ship actually moves through the water during "Fathom's Below."  The LED screens all around the stage show sea creatures, seaweed, and coral moving from screen to screen and the large moving set pieces depict King Titon's throne, Ursula's lair, Ariel's grotto, and Prince Eric's palace.  You might expect the sea creatures to fly around the stage during "Under the Sea" (and they do) but having Prince Eric's rowboat fly in order to show the fish and other sea creatures below it during "Kiss the Girls" is amazing and I was also very impressed by the aerial choreography when Ariel saves Prince Eric during the storm and during her transformation at the end of Act I.  The use of blacklight during "Les Poissons" is a lot of fun as is the fire in Ursuala's lair and the sparks from King Triton's trident.  The colorful neon costumes are spectacular (I loved the starfish) and the use of Segways by the mermaids, Heelys by Flounder, Flotsum, and Jetsum, and a cart with tentacles as wheels by Ursula is really clever.  The cast is as good as what you would see on Broadway!  Kelsey Lee Smith and James Everts have beautiful voices as Ariel and Prince Eric and their renditions of "Part of Your World" and "Her Voice," respectively, gave me goosebumps.  However, the entire cast is just as talented and I was equally impressed with Eric B. Anthony as Sebastian (he tones down the Jamaican accent and I think that really works), Fred Inkley as King Triton, and Julia Cardia as Ursula.  Alec Talbott and Scott Whipple steal the show as Flotsam and Jetsum, respectively, in "Sweet Child" while the tap dancing in "Positoovity" (usually my least favorite number in the show) blew me away!  I loved every aspect of this production (so did my sister) and I cannot recommend it enough (especially for kids).  It runs in repertory with The Wizard of Oz and Newsies through October 25 (go here for tickets).

Note:  We ate at the Tuacahn Cafe for the first time before the show and we were really impressed with the food (I had the cheeseburger basket and it was so good), the price, and the service.

Thunderbolts*

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of Thunderbolts* with my nephew and I can’t remember when I was so excited for an MCU movie!  Luckily, I was not disappointed because I absolutely loved it!  In fact, this is the first time I can say I loved an MCU movie without qualifications in a really long time!  CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is being investigated for illegal activities by Congress so she has her assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) get rid of the evidence against her, including the covert agents who work for her.  Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Antonia Dreykov/ Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ava Starr/ Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) are lured to a secret underground facility where they are tricked into attacking each other and Ghost kills Taskmaster before they realize that it is a trap.  They also discover a mysterious man named Bob Reynolds (Lewis Pullman) who creates a diversion that allows them to escape before he is captured by de Fontaine.  The group is eventually recovered by Alexei Shostakov/ Red Guardian (David Harbour) and then apprehended by Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) but they reluctantly decide to work together to rescue Bob when they learn that he was the subject of one of de Fontaine's secret experiments and that, because he now possesses superhuman strength, she plans to use him as the weapon Sentry.  This is very character-driven because they all have a reckoning over the things they have done, especially Yelena because she must reconcile her trauma in order to help Bob face the darkness he feels inside.  As someone who has struggled with mental health issues, I think the portrayal of the Void, the alter ego of the Sentry, is one of the best and most accurate depictions of depression that I've seen (I actually had tears in my eyes several times during the scenes with the Void because they resonated so deeply).  I really enjoyed seeing Bucky take on a leadership role as someone who has also had to make peace with his actions and the relationship between Alexei and Yelena is incredibly poignant (even though Alexei provides much of the comic relief).  Pugh is such a great actress and she gives an incredibly emotional performance throughout Yelena's arc (I was also really impressed with Pullman).  Finally, all of the action set pieces (many of which feature practical effects) are a lot of fun but I found the sequence where the Thunderbolts protect people from the Void and then are hailed as heroes to be especially moving.  It was so much fun to feel the same exhilaration that I once did for the MCU again and I am now really looking forward to Phase Six!

Note:  There is a mid-credits scene and an end-credits scene.  They are both really good!

The Shrouds

David Cronenberg is definitely not for everyone but I really like him as a director so I was excited, and nervous, to introduce my nephew to him by seeing The Shrouds at the Broadway last night.  Businessman Karsh (Vincent Cassel) is so grief-stricken over the death of his wife Rebecca (Diane Kruger) from a virulent form of cancer that he creates a company called GraveTech which uses specially designed shrouds with 3D cameras to allow loved ones to watch the decomposition of the deceased's corpse through a live feed but this keeps him from moving on.  When several graves are vandalized, including Rebecca's, the live feed is hacked and Karsh is drawn into several conspiracy theories.  One involves Rebecca's oncologist, Dr. Jerry Eckler (Steve Switzman), who Karsh suspects was experimenting on his patients after discovering unusual protrusions on Rebecca's bones and on the bones of those in the other defaced graves.  Another involves a suspected plot by the Chinese government, who are investors in GraveTech, to use the live feed for surveillance.  Yet another involves his former brother-in-law Maury (Guy Pearce), who wrote the code for GraveTech's security, because of his growing paranoia over Karsh's relationship with Rebecca's sister, Terry (Diane Kruger).  I had prepared my nephew for Cronenberg's use of body horror in his movies but, while this does show the devastating effects of cancer when Karsh has a series of dreams about Rebecca's worsening condition before her death, I think it is pretty mild.  However, both of us found it incredibly thought-provoking with commentary on several topics.  My nephew was intrigued by the use of technology, particularly Karsh's reliance on the AI assistant modeled on Rebecca, but I was struck by the theme of obsession and its dangers.  Karsh is preoccupied by Rebecca's body which is why he eventually begins a relationship with Terry because her body is so similar to Rebecca's and why he is tormented by jealousy because Dr. Eckler was more intimately involved with her body at the end of her life than he was.  Both Karsh and Maury go to extreme lengths to maintain possession of Rebecca and Terry, respectively, because they cannot let them go.  I know that some will be frustrated by the ambiguity of the ending (there are no definitive answers about the conspiracy surrounding the vandalism of the graves) but, to me, the resolution comes from Karsh letting go of his obsession for Rebecca in order to move on (although I interpret the final scene to mean that, even though he has someone new in his life, he will still carry the memory of his wife wherever he goes).  I loved Cassel's detached and almost stilted delivery because, in my opinion, it shows that Karsh's desire to be with his wife has kept him from truly living.  I think this is brilliant (I haven't been able to stop thinking about it) but it is not something I would recommend to everyone.

Until Dawn

Despite the fact that I have never played the game, I really wanted to see Until Dawn because the premise sounded intriguing.  I convinced my nephew, who loves the game, to see it with me last night and we both hated it.  Clover (Ella Rubin) is still traumatized by the disappearance of her sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell) a year ago so she and her friends Max (Michael Cimino), Nina (Odessa A'zion), Megan (Ji-young Yoo), and Abel (Belmont Cameli) travel to her last known location hoping for some closure.  A severe thunderstorm forces them to stop at an abandoned house in Glore Valley and they notice some unsettling details.  There is a giant hourglass that suddenly flips over, there is a guestbook signed by each visitor (including Melanie) thirteen times, and there is a bulletin board filled with posters of missing people (including Melanie).  Nina signs the guestbook and then they are all brutally killed, one by one, by a mysterious figure in a mask.  Everything resets and the five of them are back to where they started the previous night but the hourglass flips again, Nina's name appears in the guestbook a second time, and all of them appear on the bulletin board as missing people.  Every night they are killed in a new and gruesome way (my favorite is when they explode after drinking the tap water) and then everything resets again.  They eventually realize that they will be stuck in this time loop until they can survive the night.  I thought this was really clever and I enjoyed the first act but then it becomes an incoherent mess.  They eventually learn that those who are killed more than thirteen times become wendigos, supernatural beings who then torment the next visitors to the house, and that Melanie is now a wendigo.  They also learn that Glore Valley was the site of a mining tragedy that killed over 11,000 people and that a psychologist named Dr. Hill (Peter Stormare, who is reprising his role from the game) was brought in to help the survivors overcome their trauma.  Dr. Hill is now running an elaborate experiment to help Clover, who is apparently his patient, overcome the trauma of her sister's disappearance (they never learn how Dr. Hill is able to create and manipulate all of the supernatural elements in the house).  There is absolutely no logic to the narrative and, in my opinion, the filmmakers should have chosen the supernatural story with the wendigos or the psychological story about trauma with Dr. Hill but not both.  I had so many questions for my nephew afterwards but he said that the movie is nothing like the game (the game actually sounds really interesting).  To add insult to injury, it looks terrible because it is so dark that you can't see what is happening and the dialogue is incredibly cringe-worthy (I lost track of how many times the characters say, "Holy shit").  This is definitely one to miss and my nephew recommends playing the game, instead.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

There was a time when A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder was the show that I most wanted to see so, even though I have now been to productions at just about every Utah theatre (with another one scheduled this summer), I was still really excited to see it again at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse last night because it is so hilarious. Some shows are better than others at this theatre and this is one of the best I've seen there! I absolutely loved it. After his mother dies, Monty Navarro (Joe Robinson) learns from one of her friends, Miss Shingle (Melissa Trenery), that she was part of the illustrious D'Ysquith Family (Scot D. Struble) and was disinherited for marrying his father. He is really Montague D'Ysquith Navarro and he is in line to inherit the earldom (there are only eight family members ahead of him). When his vain and heartless girlfriend Sibella (Karlie Ady) decides to marry the rich and handsome Lionel Holland, Monty decides to kill every family member ahead of him in the line of succession in order to become the earl and win her back. While in prison awaiting trial for the murder of the only D'Ysquith for which he is not actually guilty, he begins writing his memoirs detailing how the Reverend Lord Ezekial D'Ysquith fell from the tower of his cathedral, how Asquith D'Ysquith, Jr. fell through the ice in a skating accident, how Henry D'Ysquith was stung by a swarm of his own bees, how Lady Hyacinth D'Ysquith was presumed dead on a philanthropic mission to a tribe of cannibals, how Major Lord Bartholomew D'Ysquith was decapitated while lifting weights, how Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pomphrey was killed by real bullets in a prop gun during her debut in Hedda Gabler, how Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr. was driven to a heart attack by all of the family tragedies, and how Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith, the Earl of Highurst, was poisoned. He also details the relationship he began with Phoebe D'Ysquith (Jordyn Tracy) to make Sibella jealous. The charges are dismissed when Phoebe and Sibella each give proof that the other committed the murder but Monty might not live happily every after because Chauncey D'Ysquith, the next in line to the earldom, is lurking! This show features lots of madcap physical comedy and some really fun songs (my favorites are "Better With a Man" by the flamboyant Henry, "Lady Hyacinth Abroad" by the socially conscious Hyacinth, and "I've Decided to Marry You" by the lovestruck Phoebe). Robinson, Ady, and Tracy have beautiful voices but I especially loved Struble's performance because he is brilliant with distinct characterizations for each member of the D'Ysquith Family and I laughed out loud at all of his antics (this theatre is very intimate so I could see all of his facial expressions). Unlike other productions I have seen, this one has a very minimal set with just a few pieces moved on and off stage by the ensemble but this works because the projections and moving panels used as backdrops are fantastic.  The staging is extremely clever, especially when Monty tries to keep Sibella and Phoebe apart in different rooms at his flat and when the portraits at Highurst Castle sing. Finally, the beautiful period costumes are some of the best I've seen at this theatre and I particularly loved the gowns worn by Sibella and Phoebe at Highurst Castle. This is one show that you don't want to miss (go here for tickets). It runs on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays through May 31.

On Swift Horses

I didn't really know much about On Swift Horses but I was really excited about the stellar cast so I decided to see a matinee at the Broadway yesterday.  It looks beautiful and has a powerful message but I found it strangely underwhelming.  After a troubled childhood, Lee Walker (Will Poulter) has a plan for his life which includes going out West to California, buying a house, and starting a family but his wife Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and his brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) feel constrained by the conventions of the 1950s.  Muriel begins betting on horse races but she hides her winnings from her husband.  Julius takes a job as security in a Las Vegas casino even though he still acts as a card sharp.  However, the biggest gamble that Muriel and Julius take is to begin clandestine relationships with Sandra (Sasha Calle) and Henry (Diego Calva), respectively.  Will they risk it all for love?  I am really torn on this because the visuals are absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed the performances because they are filled with so much wistful longing shown with lots of closeups on the beautiful faces of Edgar-Jones and Elordi.  I also think the gambling metaphor works very well for the risk taking and secrecy involved in pursuing a forbidden love and the journey to break free from conformity is one I always appreciate.  There is just something that kept me from loving this.  The pacing is incredibly slow but I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters because they are not very well developed.  I also found the ending to be really ambiguous for all of the characters and I wanted something more after the endless build-up.  I suspect that the novel by Shannon Pufahl, upon which this is based, is much better and I recommend waiting for streaming to watch it.

Revenge of the Sith

Of the three Star Wars prequels, my favorite is Revenge of the Sith because, even though I already knew what would happen the first time I saw it (anyone familiar with A New Hope knew what would happen), I still found it incredibly compelling.  I was really curious about why Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) turned to the dark side of the Force and I wanted to see how he was physically transformed into Darth Vader.  I was eager for the confrontation that had been building between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and to learn why the latter was compelled to live as a hermit on Tatooine afterwards.  I wanted to know how Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) was able to take over the Senate and become the Emperor of the Galactic Empire.  Finally, I was most interested in how and why the twins Luke and Leia were taken from Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) and raised separately.  I eagerly awaited all of these revelations and I remember being blown away by the emotional conclusion to the trilogy.  Episode III is now back in theaters to commemorate its 20th anniversary (what?) and I was so excited to see it on the big screen again with my nephew last night.  I loved all of the exciting action sequences, especially the light saber battles between Anikan, Obi-Wan, and Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) during the rescue of Palpatine, between Obi-Wan and General Grievous on Utapau (even though he resorts to an uncivilized blaster to destroy him), between Palpatine and Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) in Palpatine's office on Coruscant, between Darth Vader and all of the Separatists on Mustafar, between Yoda (Frank Oz) and the newly created Emperor in the Senate chamber on Coruscant, and, of course, the epic battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader on Mustafar.  Christensen's performance has been much maligned but, in my opinion, his portrayal of the conflict within Anakin is very powerful and I loved the cross-cutting between Anakin in the council room and Padme in their apartment before he makes the fateful decision to go to Palpatine.  The music by John Williams is always a highlight and, while I found "The Battle of the Heroes" to be incredibly stirring, I absolutely loved the callbacks to "The Imperial March" when Anakin pledges himself to the Sith and to the Main Theme when Obi-Wan delivers Luke to Owen (Joel Edgerton) and Beru (Bonnie Piesse) on Tatooine.  I cheered every time I saw a reference to the original trilogy (Padme's buns!) and I was particularly struck by the armor worn by the clone troopers who execute Order 66 because they appear to be an early iteration of the armor eventually worn by the stormtroopers (I don't know why I have never noticed that before).  Seeing this again was so much fun and I highly recommend it (especially if you have never seen it on the big screen).

Note:  Apologies to my nephew for my unhinged behavior which started during the opening crawl (although he said I wasn't as crazy as some of the other people watching it with us).

The Wizard of Oz at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

My sisters were really impressed when we saw a preview of The Wizard of Oz at the SCERA gala in February so the three of us went to see it last night. The show is delightful and we had a lot of fun watching it. The stage musical, based on the 1939 movie, tells the story of how Dorothy Gale (Mia Hansen) lands, literally, in the fantastical world of Oz and how she travels with the Scarecrow (Jared Wilkinson), the Tin Man (Bryan Johnson), and the Cowardly Lion (Ambrocio Mireles, Jr.) to see the Wizard (Chad Taylor), hoping that he can get her back to Kansas, while avoiding the Wicked Witch of the West (Kimberly Nearon), who wants the ruby slippers given to her by Glinda the Good Witch (Camilla Curtis). Hansen gives an incredible performance and her rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (which is what impressed my sisters so much at the gala) will definitely give you goosebumps.  Wilkinson, Johnson, and Mireles are also outstanding and they each have a moment to shine in "If I Only Had a Brain," "If I Only Had a Heart," and "If I Only Had a Nerve," respectively. I especially enjoyed Wilkinson's acrobatics because it really seems like his body is made of straw (I was also impressed with his consistency in all of the of the choreography in the show). I loved seeing all of the children in the cast, especially Allison Farnsworth, Elsa Parry, and Scout Olenik as the Lullaby League and Ian Evans, Jeb Buffington, and Maxwell Harper as the Lollipop Guild, because they are adorable and very talented and Mia steals every scene she is in as Toto. The costumes are colorful and whimsical and one of the touches I really enjoyed is the change in Dorothy's gingham dress from a muted gray in Kansas to a vivid blue in Oz. I also liked that the costumes for the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion incorporate elements from their counterparts in Kansas. The costumes for Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West are as gorgeous as you would expect after seeing the movie Wicked. The flying effects are impressive, particularly when Mrs. Gulch flies across the stage on her bicycle and when the Wizard leaves Oz in his balloon, and the projections, especially for the tornado, are pretty spectacular. Finally, the scenic design, including the apparatus used by the Wizard (complete with moving eyes and mouth), the yellow brick road, and the farmhouse with its picket fence, is very effective in transporting the audience to both Kansas and Oz. My only complaint is that the pacing in the second act is a bit sluggish but I highly recommend this show (there were lots of families in the audience last night and the children were mesmerized). It runs at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through May 3 (go here for tickets).

Note:  My sisters are now eager to see more shows at SCERA.