Rogue One

I love the anticipation of a big blockbuster:  buying a ticket weeks in advance, looking forward to the screening all day, entering the theater with an excited and rowdy crowd, and eating a big tub of popcorn while waiting for the lights to dim.  Since I am a huge fan of the Stars Wars franchise, it is no surprise that I did all of the above for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  I scored a ticket to an advance screening, a hot commodity in these parts, late last night (early this morning?) and I absolutely loved it!  I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about a so-called standalone story leading up to the events portrayed in the first trilogy.  Would it live up to the magic of the originals?  Then I saw the first extended trailer and I started getting excited, which is always a bit dangerous because, when you walk into the theater with high expectations, you are sometimes disappointed.  Rogue One actually exceeded my expectations because it is a powerful exploration of what it means to believe in something enough to die for it.  An Imperial scientist with a conscience named Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) is forced back into service to create a powerful weapon for the Empire.  When the Death Star is about to become operational, Galen secretly sends an Imperial pilot with a message for his daughter, Jyn (Felicity Jones), telling her about a weakness that he created in the design.  She along with a band of misfits, including Rebel Officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna, sigh), a reprogrammed straight-talking Imperial droid named K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) the Imperial pilot who defected to the rebellion, Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) a blind monk with the power of the Force, and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) a mercenary who doubts the Force, embark on a dangerous mission to recover the plans for the Death Star.  There are a myriad of characters and locations in the beginning and a great deal of exposition but it is worth it to get to the climactic final battle which is exciting, intense, and suspenseful.  The crowd cheered every time a familiar character made an appearance, especially Governor Tarkin, Darth Vader, C-3PO, and R2-D2 and they just about lost their minds over the final scene.  Again, I loved this movie, much more than I thought I would, and I definitely recommend it to fans of the franchise.

Note:  On another Thursday night exactly one year ago, I attended an advance screening of The Force Awakens (in the same theater).  That was an epic, never-to-be-forgotten experience but this movie was a lot of fun, too!

Colorado Avalanche vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Last spring, when I heard that Air Canada was coming to the Salt Lake City airport, I got really excited!  That meant that I could fly directly from SLC to Toronto for a reasonable price.  I knew that I wanted to plan a trip because I hadn't been to my hometown since 2005!  I've always wanted to see my favorite hockey team, the Colorado Avalanche, play a road game so I thought it would be epic to see them play the Maple Leafs in the Air Canada Centre!  I mentioned it to my Dad and we eagerly awaited the release of the 2016-2017 hockey schedule to see when the two teams would be playing.  When we learned that they would be playing on a weekend, it seemed feasible.  We bought our tickets about a month ago and I flew to Toronto last weekend for an amazing trip (My Dad got there a week earlier).  I can't tell you how amazing it was to be back home for a few days!  My Dad picked me up at the airport and took me visiting people who have known me my whole life and love me.  Brian, my Dad's best friend from childhood, and his wife took us to dinner and we didn't stop talking or laughing.  I got to visit all of my favorite spots, including a quick trip to Niagara Falls to see them illuminated with colored lights, several trips to Tim Hortons for donuts, a visit to my grandparents' graves, and a visit to the locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway (a big cargo ship had just entered a lock when we got there and I got to see it go through).  Sunday night was the game and it was absolutely thrilling to be in the ACC!  I loved all of the Stanley Cup banners!  It was fun to cheer for the road team, especially in a place that loves their team as much as Leafs fans do!  I did, however, see quite a few people in Avalanche jerseys and we would high five each other in solidarity!  My Dad's friend Brian, despite the fact that he lives there, had never been to a game before so we got him a ticket.  He took me to my first Blue Jays game back in the day so I thought it was fun that I got to take him to his first Maple Leafs game!  I asked him who he was going to cheer for and he emphatically said, "Toronto!"  Although, I did catch him cheering for the Avs so maybe I converted him!  It was a great game!  Colorado scored two really pretty power play goals and, after the second one in the third period, the usher in my section came and told me that I was being too loud!  The Avs got two penalties in quick succession late in the third so the Leafs pulled their goalie and scored.  The guy sitting next to me gave me a hard time throughout the whole game so when he started cheering like a crazy man after the goal, I told him that the only way the Leafs could score was when they had a six on three advantage!  The Avs scored an empty net goal in the last few minutes to win 3-1!  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and having the Avalanche win was like icing on the cake!

It was so much fun to watch my Dad and Brian interact with each other!  They were like two teenage boys!  I think it is amazing that they have been such good friends for so long!

This was definitely a bucket list game for both me and my Dad and I am so glad that we got to do it!

Note:  I have always considered myself to be Canadian and it was very emotional for me to be back home.  While my life is in SLC and it would be difficult for me to pull up stakes and move back, I have to admit that I shed a tear when I boarded the plane to leave!

The Lower Lights 2016

What a fun week I've been having (the essays are still not graded)!  Last night I went to my second holiday performance in as many days and, since I love hearing Christmas music performed live, I was thrilled to end the week with the Lower Lights Christmas concert at Kingsbury Hall!  Truth be told, I have been looking forward to this for weeks.  I went to my first Lower Lights Christmas concert last year and I loved it so much that I knew I had to make it a Christmas tradition.  The Lower Lights are a super-group of 21 insanely talented musicians and vocalists, many of whom are famous in their own rights (perhaps you've heard of Ryan Shupe?), who have a distinct folk-gospel sound.  The concert began with one man, one guitar, and one spotlight and a beautiful instrumental version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem."  Then for the next two and a half hours, a variety of different singers and musicians were featured performing both Christmas and gospel songs.  I was very impressed with how seamless the performances were with musicians coming and going from the stage and different singers moving to center stage to introduce songs and talk to the audience.  Some of the Christmas songs included "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "I Saw Three Ships," "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful," one of the most beautiful renditions of "Away in a Manger" I have ever heard, "White Christmas," "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,"  "Silver Bells," "Mary's Lullaby," "The Holly and the Ivy," "A Cradle in Bethlehem," and "Mary's Boy Child."  They sang "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella" which is one of my favorites because I used to sing it every Christmas when I was in the choir during college.  Another favorite from my choir days is "Still, Still, Still" which they performed so beautifully that it brought a tear to my eye.  They also sang a few songs from their latest album, Old Time Religion, including the title track and "Down to the River to Pray, encouraging the audience to sing, clap, dance, and cheer!  I will admit that we got a bit raucous!  Towards the end of the concert they invited the audience to sing along with "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and, like last year, they performed a very heart-felt version of "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day," hoping that we could all find a little bit of peace during these very dark days we are living through.  Another favorite moment was an epic instrumental version of "What Child Is This?" with a guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and bass.  For the encore, they performed a fun version of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and a rock and roll version of "Once in Royal David's City,"  The final number, like last year, was a beautiful rendition of "Silent Night" with just a guitar for accompaniment.  I loved this concert so much and I wish that everyone reading this could attend their final concert at Kingsbury Hall tonight (go here to see if there are any tickets left).

Note:  Mitt Romney was sitting two rows in front of me.  First Sting and now Mitt Romney!  I am a magnet for celebrities!

White Christmas at the Eccles

Last night I braved all of the downtown traffic (there was a Jazz game, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, The Nutcracker, and people seeing the lights at Temple Square, not to mention snow) to see the Broadway touring production of White Christmas.  This musical is such a holiday tradition for me!  I've seen the movie countless times and I saw the PTC production several years ago as well as productions at both Hunter High and Bountiful High but I had never seen the Broadway version before.  It was so much fun!  Broadway stars Bob Wallace (Sean Montgomery) and Phil Davis (Jeremy Benton) meet the Haynes sisters, Judy (Kelly Sheehan) and Betty (Kerry Conte), and decide to follow them to Vermont where they have a gig at the Columbia Inn.  There they meet their former commanding officer from the war, General Waverly (Conrad John Schuck), who owns the Columbia Inn and is having financial difficulties due to the lack of snow.  Wallace and Davis decide to bring their show to the Columbia Inn and invite the soldiers from their company to a performance on Christmas Eve.  Add a receptionist (Lorna Luft) and a granddaughter (Clancy Penny) who think they should be in show business, an overwrought stage manager (Aaron Galligan-Stierle), and love gone awry, and you have a delightful show full of big song and dance numbers.  I especially love the songs "Sisters" (my sisters and I sing this all of the time), "Snow," "Blue Skies," and "I Love a Piano."  The cast is superb (Lorna Luft is Judy Garland's daughter and she can certainly belt out a song) and the ensemble performs all of the high energy choreography (I loved the tap dancing) brilliantly.  The costumes are over-the-top and the sets are quite elaborate, especially the Regency Room.  The message is heart-warming and the final scene where the cast performs "White Christmas" just as it starts to snow (even in the audience) will definitely give you a big dose of Christmas cheer.  This holiday classic runs at the Eccles Theater until Dec. 11 and tickets may be purchased here.

Note:  Almost all of the people sitting around me have season tickets and, after meeting at Beautiful last month, we greeted each other like long lost friends last night!  The man in front of me called us the Thursday Night Club!

Oliver at PTC

This is the time of year when I visit Charles Dickens' London.  However, instead of the usual holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, I made the journey with PTC's Oliver, the musical adaptation of another Dickens classic (I will be seeing A Christmas Carol at HCT in a few weeks). It was a really great production about the exploits of an orphan named Oliver Twist (Maxwell Rimington).  We first meet him in an orphanage, then he is sold to an undertaker, next he joins up with a gang of pick-pockets, and finally he finds his real home.  All of the big production numbers are a lot of fun with very energetic choreography and I especially enjoyed "Food, Glorious Food" with all of the orphans, "Consider Yourself" with the Artful Dodger (Christian Labertew), "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" with Fagin  (Bill Nolte) and the pick-pockets, "It's A Fine Life" and "Oom-Pah-Pah" with Nancy (Natalie Hill), and "Who Will Buy?" with the vendors.  All of the actors give great performances, including all of the children in the cast, but Rimington will absolutely melt your heart as Oliver.  I actually had a tear in my eye when he sang "Where Is Love?"  I was also extremely impressed with Labertew's Artful Dodger.  I was sitting very close to the stage and I loved all of his facial expressions.  Speaking of the stage, the set was very clever with lots of different levels depicting alleys, bridges, streets, pubs, shops, and a proper Victorian mansion.   I thoroughly enjoyed this musical, as did all of the children in the audience, and I highly recommend it for the whole family as a great evening of holiday entertainment.  Oliver runs at PTC until Dec. 17 and tickets can be purchased here.