Elf The Musical at CPT

Yesterday I went to see a matinee of Elf The Musical at CPT and it was so much fun. This show tells the story of Buddy (Ben Heder), who has been raised as an elf at the North Pole after crawling into Santa's bag when he was a baby. After discovering that he is really a human instead of an elf, he decides to travel to New York City to find his Dad (Andrew Gemperline) and ends up giving Christmas cheer to his new family, his girlfriend Jovie (Niki Waite), and all of New York City. The singing and dancing in this show is fantastic and I especially liked the choreography in "Sparklejollytwinklejingley" as Buddy helps the tap dancing Macy's employees decorate the store for Santa and "A Christmas Song" as Buddy takes Jovie ice skating in front of Rockefeller Plaza (on a rink that was so realistic it actually looked like the actors were skating). Santa Claus (Randy Honaker) narrates the story as if he were reading a Christmas book to the audience and I liked the use of a giant book with projections illustrating different scenes. The costumes worn by the elves, including Buddy, at the North Pole are colorful and whimsical and Santa's suit is incredibly elaborate (in contrast, I found the costumes worn by the New Yorkers to be rather bland and sometimes ill-fitting). Heder is really charming in the lead role, giving Buddy an innocence that is really heartwarming. I also really liked Waite as Jovie because she gives her a bit of vulnerability.  It is an adorable show and you would have to be a cotton headed ninny muggins not to enjoy it.  Unfortunately, the run ended yesterday but you can go here for CPT's 2019 season which begins with Lend Me a Tenor.

The Nutcracker 2018

I am now officially on winter break and I am so happy to have a little bit of time off!  I celebrated the end of the longest week in recorded history by going to see Ballet West's The Nutcracker last night and it was wonderful!  This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions and, even though I have seen this ballet more times than I can count, I always look forward to every scene!  The party for Clara and Fritz is enchanting, the Nutcracker coming to life is magical, and the dance of the Snow Queen and her snowflakes is dazzling.  When Clara and her Nutcracker Prince travel to the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, I love all of the divertissements devised for Clara's entertainment but my favorites are the Arabian dance because it is so exotic and the Russian dance for the sheer athleticism!  My favorite scene in the entire ballet is the Grand Pas de Deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier because Tchaikovsky's music and William Christensen's choreography in this section are unbelievably romantic.  Emily Adams and Adrian Fry danced their roles beautifully and I thought they had a lot of chemistry.  The sets and costumes were completely redesigned last year and I really like the changes because the party scene incorporates rich jewel tones and the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy is more exotic.  I also really like all of the special effects, especially when the Christmas tree grows in size and the fireworks display during the finale.  I love all of the children in the cast because they are so exuberant, particularly Mother Buffoon's children.  I highly recommend this lovely production because it is sure to become a Christmas tradition (go here for tickets).

Aquaman

Last night I got to see a Thursday preview of Aquaman, the latest installment in the DCEU.  I have really been looking forward to this movie for the simple reason that it stars Jason Momoa and two and half hours of looking at Jason Momoa on a big screen is pretty much awesome!  The movie begins with the backstory of how Arthur Curry's father Tom (Temuera Morrison), a lighthouse keeper, finds Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), a queen from the lost civilization of Atlantis, washed up on shore.  They fall in love and have a son named Arthur who grows up to become the anti-hero (Momoa) that we met in The Justice League.  Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Atlantis, Arthur's half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson) is trying to unite the seven underwater kingdoms, either by an alliance or by force if necessary, to become Ocean Master so that he can wage war on land to punish humanity for polluting and militarizing the ocean.  King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) has formed an alliance with Orm but his daughter Mera (Amber Heard) wants to avoid war.  She asks Arthur to take his rightful position as king by challenging Orm but he is ultimately unsuccessful.  Mera believes the only way Arthur can defeat Orm is by finding a lost trident wielded by an ancient king of Atlantis which will give him control of the sea.  They go on a quest to find it but Arthur must also contend with a pirate, known as Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who has been given Atlantean technology and blames Arthur for his father's death.  The movie concludes with an epic confrontation between Arthur and Orm for control of the ocean.  This movie has some flaws but it is quite the spectacle and I really enjoyed it (Did I mention that it stars Jason Momoa?).  It sometimes feels overlong and repetitive and there is some truly cringe-worthy dialogue but the world-building and visuals are amazing.  The underwater battles are incredibly dynamic with 360-degree camera work, fast-paced action sequences, psychedelic colors, and fantastical creatures (my favorites are the armored seahorses).  Arthur has a nice character arc as a reluctant hero who learns what it means to be a king and Momoa imbues him with a wisecracking charisma that is a lot of fun.  Again, there are flaws but I think this movie is awesome (Did I mention that it stars Jason Momoa?)

Mary Poppins Returns

I have been anticipating Mary Poppins Returns for what seems like forever (it stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, after all).  I had the chance to see it last night and not even a theater full of crying and disruptive children could dampen my enthusiasm for this wonderful movie!  I absolutely loved it!  It is twenty years after the events in Mary Poppins and Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) still lives on Cherry Tree Lane with his children John (Nathanael Saleh), Annabel (Pixie Davies), and Georgie (Joel Dawson).  He is assisted by his incompetent housekeeper (Julie Walters) and his activist sister Jane (Emily Mortimer).  However, tragedy has struck the household because Michael's wife has recently died and the family home is about to be repossessed by the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, now being run by William Wilkins (Colin Firth).  It's Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) to the rescue when she retrieves Georgie's kite and returns to Cherry Tree Lane.  She and Jack the Lamplighter (Miranda) take the children on adventures in the bathtub ("Can You Imagine That?"), in a Royal Doulton bowl ("A Cover is Not the Book"), in a Fix-It Shop ("Turning Turtle"), and in the London fog ("Trip a Little Light Fantastic") before helping the Banks family find their mother ("The Place Where Lost Things Go") and save their house ("Nowhere to Go But Up").  I had a huge smile on my face the whole time I was watching it because, while it is a new story, it is just as whimsical and charming as the original.  Blunt and Miranda (sigh) are absolutely delightful, the children are adorable, the songs are a lot of fun, the choreography is spectacular (especially in "Trip a Little Light Fantastic" which is my favorite number because it reminds me of all of those old fashioned Hollywood musicals), and the visuals are stunning!  It is a heartwarming story and I may or may not have been openly weeping when the children sing a reprise of "The Place Where Lost Things Go."  I loved all of the cameos including Meryl Streep as Mary's eccentric cousin Topsy, David Warner as the Admiral who lives next door and Jim Norton as his First Mate, Dick Van Dyke as the Chairman of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, and Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady.  This movie is practically perfect in every way and I highly recommend it, especially if you are nostalgic for the original!

The Mule

Last night I crossed yet another movie off my list by seeing The Mule.  I was very intrigued by the trailer but I found the movie itself to be boring and very forgettable.  It is a character study of Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood), a 90 year old horticulturalist whose business has been ruined by the internet but not before it took him away from his family too many times.  He is trying to make amends with his ex-wife (Dianne Wiest), daughter (Allison Eastwood), and granddaughter (Taissa Farmiga) but they are not making it easy on him, for good reason. A random encounter leads to a job as a mule for a drug cartel which he thinks of as a one time thing to earn money for his granddaughter's wedding.  However, he keeps finding ways to use the money and continues, becoming more and more entrenched.  Despite the fact that Earl is a successful mule precisely because he is unpredictable, a cartel boss (Andy Garcia) assigns him a handler (Ignacio Serricchio) who puts pressure on him to conform to their instructions which, ironically, puts him on the radar of two DEA agents (Bradley Cooper and Michael Pena).  When his ex-wife gets sick, he decides to go AWOL from a drug run to reconcile with his family which gets both the drug cartel and the DEA after him.  There are quite a few problems with this movie, in my opinion.  I did not find Earl to be a very sympathetic character because he is a racist curmudgeon who just smiles when people call him out on his derogatory comments as if he can't be held accountable for anything because he is old.  It really bothered me.  Most of the other characters do not get a lot of development and, after leaving the theater, I struggled to remember their names.  Even great actors like Wiest, Pena, and Cooper can't do much with the material.  I found the portrayal of women to be very off-putting because every character is either a shrew or a sex object.  There are long sustained shots of women twerking and Earl has, not one but two, threesomes with prostitutes.  Ew!  Earl's reconciliation (undeserved, in my opinion) with his family happens very quickly and feels contrived so it doesn't have the emotional punch that this movie needs.  Finally, there are way too many scenes of Earl driving along the highway singing along to the radio and, after a while, I found them to be boring.  There is not a lot of tension in this movie and the final confrontation between Earl and the DEA feels inevitable and anticlimactic.  Meh.  Give this one a miss.