Are You Ready for Some Football?

I sure am!  Fall means the return of college football and I always love going to Rice-Eccles Stadium to cheer on the Utah Utes!  Last night my friend Chelsea and I went to the season opener against the Idaho State Bengals and it was a lot of fun!  The Utes basically had their way with the Bengals, eventually beating them 56-14.  There were some really exciting plays, including a dramatic punt return for a touchdown at the end of the first half, but Idaho State isn't a very good team and I see lots of room for improvement for the Utes.  The rest of the season will certainly be a bit more challenging but it was great to see the home team win so decisively and it was fun watching the game with Chelsea!  We are planning to go to a few more games.  Go Utes!

If I Stay

Thursday night I went to the first screening of If I Stay.  I have been looking forward to this movie ever since I finished reading the best-selling book.  Like most young adult fiction, I began reading If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, because I noticed that quite a few of my students were reading it.  I, like my students, was drawn into the story of Mia's choice between dying of injuries sustained in a devastating car accident, which kills her parents and younger brother, or fighting to survive in order to stay with her boyfriend, Adam.  The love story between Mia, a classical cellist, and Adam, the lead singer in an up-and-coming rock band, is quite poignant.  The cello and guitar become a metaphor for their love: two unlikely instruments can make beautiful music together.  (The novel specifically mentions Nirvana's live performance of "Something in the Way," which features the cello and is one of my favorite songs by that band).  I liked the movie adaptation but I should tell you that I am a sucker for melodramatic teen romances (I loved the Twilight movies).  I guess I am just a 15 year old girl at heart!  The movie is pretty faithful to the book (I guess Yo-Yo Ma was unavailable to film the concert Adam takes Mia to on their first date) and follows the same sequence with the events of the crash interspersed with flashbacks of Mia's life and relationships.  Chloe Grace Moretz gives a very affecting performance as Mia, especially when she learns that Teddy is dead.  Jamie Blackley is not only easy on the eyes as Adam, but he also provides all of the vocals for Adam's band Willamette Stone.  Very impressive.  Most of the other performances are pretty bland and don't ring true but Stacy Keach (Mia's Grandpa) had me sobbing when he begs Mia to fight but gives her permission to go if she needs to (bring Kleenex).  One of the best features of this movie is the music (I downloaded the soundtrack before I left the theater).  I really enjoyed all of the cello pieces Mia plays, such as the instantly recognizable Bach Cello Suite No. 1 and the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in A Minor, and, as previously mentioned, I am a fan of the fictional band Willamette Stone (I'm very partial to "I Want What You Have").  The soundtrack also features The Orwells, Beck, and Sonic Youth.  I have had Beck's "Morning" on repeat since I saw the movie!  I recommend this movie to 15 year old girls (and 15 year old girls at heart) everywhere!

Note:  My summer has been book-ended by movies based on young adult fiction!  I saw The Fault In Our Stars the day school got out.

She Loves Me at HCT

Last night (after a little nap) I saw Hale Theatre's production of the musical She Loves Me.  This Broadway show was the inspiration for the films Little Shop Around the Corner and, more recently, You've Got Mail.  The setting is Maraczek's Perfumery, a little shop with an eccentric group of clerks, in the 1940s.  We learn that one of the clerks, Georg Nowack (Derek Smith), has been corresponding with an unknown woman whom he calls "Friend."  Amalia Balash (Amy Shreeve Keeler) is soon hired as a new clerk and Georg takes an immediate dislike to her. The feeling is mutual and, soon, they are bickering constantly. Amalia has an unknown correspondent as well and, of course, it is Georg! Can this couple realize that they really do love each other? I will admit that I wasn't immediately drawn into the musical numbers but, as the show progressed, I found them to be more and more charming!  I thought Georg's song "Tonight at Eight" was incredibly endearing. I never imagine that a man gets nervous before meeting a woman for a date!  Amalia's song "Will He Like Me?" perfectly expresses what a woman feels like before a date and Keeler sings it with such vulnerability.  The choreography is quite innovative and intricate.  I loved the scene where the clerks decorate the shop for Christmas and Ilona and Steve dance with a garland!  So fun!  Both of the leads are great in their roles but, in my opinion, Megan Lynn Heaps (a frequent performer with HCT) and Harrison Young steal the show as Ilona and Arpad, respectively.  I loved watching Heaps' facial expressions and Young is as irrepressible as a puppy!  The set is absolutely incredible! Kacey Udy, as usual, has outdone himself with the amazing perfume counter in the center of the stage.  Michelle Jensen is to be commended for all of the beautiful props used on the perfume counter.  Finding all of those vintage perfume bottles and assorted baubles must have been a Herculean task!  This little gem of a show was a lovely interlude in the middle of a busy week getting ready for the new school year!  I recommend it, especially for people who are nostalgic for a simpler time! She Loves Me runs through September 27 but shows are selling out quickly.  Go here for more information.

All You Need Is Love

Fifteen years ago I went on a girls trip to Las Vegas with my friend Candi.  During our stay at Treasure Island we saw the show Mystere performed by Cirque du Soleil.  I had never seen anything like it before and was mesmerized by the acrobatic, aerial, and trapeze performances accompanied by fabulous live music (I especially liked the taiko drums).  I absolutely loved it!  Several years ago the Beatles collaborated with Cirque du Soleil to create a similar show called Love using the recorded music of the Beatles (their long-time producer, George Martin, gave Cirque du Soleil access to original Abbey Road Studio recordings so the music is absolutely amazing) at the Mirage.  I immediately wanted to see this show!  Since I loved Mystere so much, I figured that a Cirque du Soleil show featuring the music of my all-time favorite band would be an epic experience (it was).  I have wanted to see this show for so long (I tried to see it on my spring break trip to Southern Utah but for some reason it was dark that entire week) but I finally made it happen last Friday while I was in Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival (Las Vegas is a two hour drive from Cedar City).  I loved this show so much!  Every single song and performance was amazing but a few of them stand out in my mind.  The stage is in the round and, at the opening of the show, it is divided into quadrants by blue scrims.  Four performers dressed in blue slowly began climbing ropes suspended from the ceiling to "Because," a slow song sung a capella.  In my opinion, it was a bit anticlimactic.  Then the scrims fell and "Get Back" played while men and women bounced perpendicularly on bungee cords.  The women seemed to drop straight down from the men and it was incredible!  I also loved the performance to "Something."  A man wearing black performed an acrobatic routine while four women dressed in white flew around him on trapezes.  He interacted with them but they all seemed tantalizingly out of reach.  So beautiful and atmospheric!  During the song "Within You Without You" a group of children played on a bed in the center of the stage.  Then a huge white parachute spread around them and throughout the audience, literally covering most of them.  I don't know what the people covered by the parachute saw, but I was sitting in an upper row and it looked like the bed was bouncing on a fluffy white cloud.  I actually felt like I was floating on the cloud and it was surreal, to say the least.  The very next song was "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and strings of LED lights descended from the ceiling while a girl dressed in silver flew around the theater on a trapeze.  The lights blinked on and off and it literally felt like I was surrounded by stars.  For "Here Comes the Sun," a globe of lights descended from the ceiling and four women dressed in yellow performed aerial dances on suspended ropes.  At the end each woman tumbled down her rope one after the other, perfectly timed to the last four guitar riffs in the song.  It was spectacular!  During "Come Together," four couples danced an acrobatic routine while spotlights flashed on them individually in syncopation with the music.  I was blown away by the performances and I literally had tears in my eyes during the encore, "All You Need Is Love" with images of the Beatles projected on scrims.  Now I want to see it again (I almost bought a ticket to the 9:00 show that same night).  Words do not do justice to this spectacle and I highly recommend Love to anyone who is a fan of the Beatles!

Utah Shakespeare Festival 2014

Last week I had the opportunity to spend three days at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  I had so much fun eating tarts (the cream cheese are my favorite) and seeing all of the plays this season.  It was the perfect way to cap off the summer!  Tuesday afternoon I saw the matinee of Sense and Sensibility.  Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors and I have read this novel so many times that, quite honestly, I did not care for the adaptation.  I kept comparing it to the book and there were many subtle differences.  However, I loved the staging and the performances were outstanding.  There are many journeys by carriage in the story and the way the actors simulated the movement of the horses was very entertaining.  Changes in scenery and the movement of props were effected by actors costumed as liveried servants and I thought this was ingenious.  All of the actors were well suited to their roles but Sam Ashdown was perfect as the rake, Willoughby.  He is very handsome and I don't think any proper English miss could possibly resist his charms.  In my opinion, Bria Sudia stole the show as the silly Charlotte Palmer.  I laughed out loud at everything she said and did.  It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  Tuesday evening I saw The Comedy of Errors outside in the Adams Theatre (an excellent replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre).  This show was easily my favorite!  For this production the setting was the wild West during the gold rush of 1849 and the stage included a saloon, a brothel, and a barber shop.  I usually don't like it when directors stray too much from the source material but this show was hilarious (the spittoon)!  I can't remember when I have laughed so hard!  The actors had to pause several times to wait for the audience to stop laughing!  The story is about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who, unbeknownst to them, are all in the same town and are mistaken for each other with outrageous consequences!  The four actors playing the twins (Chris Amos, Drew Shirley, Aaron Galligan-Stierle, and Misha Fristensky) had brilliant timing and were quite adept at all of the physical comedy.  Definitely my favorite show!  Wednesday afternoon I saw the matinee of Twelfth Night which was directed by one of my festival favorites, David Ivers.  This show also involves twins mistaken for each other and a lot of physical comedy.  My favorite character was definitely Malvolio (David Pichette), who is duped into believing that the lady he serves is in love with him.  The costume he wears to woo her is hilarious and I laughed and laughed when he practiced his smile!  Wednesday evening I saw Measure for Measure, which I had never seen before.  This play is about justice and mercy and I found it to be quite intense and thought-provoking.  Steve Wojtas was excellent as Angelo, a man who judges the act of another man but then commits the same act.  There is a bit of comic relief to all of this seriousness in the form of Lucio (Jonathan Smoots).  He criticizes the Duke (John G. Preston) to the Friar, who is really the Duke in disguise, and then criticizes the Friar to the Duke.  The scene where he gets his comeuppance is hilarious.  Thursday I saw the matinee of Into the Woods, which is one of my very favorite musicals (I am beyond excited to see the new movie coming out on Christmas Day).  The story incorporates well-known fairy tale characters to demonstrate that actions can sometimes have unintended consequences.  I really loved the set!  Backdrops and props looked like original illustrations of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales (I especially liked Milky White the cow).  The cast was amazing, including my favorite festival actor, Brian Vaughn, as the Baker.  I especially loved Peter Saide as Cinderella's Prince because he was completely over the top (he was raised to be charming not sincere).  His song "Agony" with Rapunzel's Prince (Kyle Eberlein) had everyone laughing!  Such a great show!  Finally, on Thursday evening I saw Henry IV Part One, a definite contender for my favorite show of the festival!  It was so good!  Sam Ashdown (who played Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility) was incredibly charismatic as Prince Hal.  Sigh!  Henry Woronicz was irrepressible as Sir John Falstaff, the unsuitable companion of the prince.  While their naughty hijinx were a lot of fun to watch, the scene where Hal is confronted by his father, the king, was incredibly powerful and left me breathless!  I also thought the final scene was very well staged:  a spotlight with King Henry standing on the balcony and Prince Hal standing below him.  A portent of things to come (the festival is currently producing all of the history plays chronologically).  I really enjoyed my time at the Utah Shakespeare Festival this year!  There are so many things to do in addition to watching the plays like backstage tours, play orientations, play seminars with the actors and directors, a greenshow every evening (I especially enjoyed Scottish night with a piper), and, of course, the aforementioned tarts!  The festival continues through August 30.  Go here for more information.