Rachmaninoff & Shostakovich

As a card carrying Russophile (I absolutely love Russia and have been there twice), I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time!  Not only did I get to see Ballet West's production of Onegin on Friday night but I also got to see a Utah Symphony concert featuring the works of Rachmaninoff (my favorite) and Shostakovich last night!  I loved both the ballet and the concert so much!  The orchestra began with Dances of Galanta by Zoltan Kodaly.  I was unfamiliar with this piece but I really enjoyed the Hungarian folk music heard throughout and I loved the themes played by the woodwinds.  Next the orchestra continued with Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninoff.  I love this piece so much, especially the second movement which is incredibly romantic and emotional but tinged with just a bit of melancholy.  Soloist Simon Trpceski played it brilliantly with a lot of expression.  He was so energetic and fun to watch!  He literally bounced up and down on the piano bench and his fingers seemed to fly up and down the keyboard.  The concert concluded with a powerful rendition of Symphony No. 12 by Dmitri Shostakovich.  This piece is quite dramatic and I really loved the themes played by the brass and the timpani, especially the triumphant conclusion.  It was an amazing evening of music and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

Ballet West's Onegin

Even though I studied British literature in college, I have a great passion for Russian literature and Alexander Pushkin is one of my favorite Russian authors.  I would have to say that The Captain's Daughter is my favorite piece by Pushkin but Eugene Onegin would definitely be a close second.  I love the opera based on the novel with music by Tchaikovsky (I wish Utah Opera would program it again) so I have been looking forward to Ballet West's production of Onegin since they announced their season.  I was lucky enough to see it last night and it was absolutely glorious!  I loved everything about it including the story, the music, the choreography, the performances, the sets, and the costumes.  A young girl named Tatiana (Katie Critchlow) is preparing for a ball in honor of her birthday with her mother (Emily Adams), her sister Olga (Jenna Rae Herrera), and friends from the countryside.  Lensky (Joshua Shutkind), a poet engaged to Olga, arrives with Onegin (Adrian Fry), his friend from St. Petersburg.  Onegin is worldly and sophisticated and Tatiana falls desperately in love with him.  She impetuously writes a passionate letter declaring her love to him and has her nurse deliver it.  Prince Gremin (Dominic Ballard) attends the ball and falls in love with Tatiana but she ignores him in favor of Onegin who, thinking her a silly girl who has read too many romantic novels, rejects her and tears up her letter.  Onegin soon grows bored with the company and flirts outrageously with Olga.  Lensky challenges him to a duel and Onegin ends up killing him.  Years later a disillusioned Onegin visits Prince Gremin in St. Petersburg and is shocked to discover that his friend has married Tatiana.  He realizes that he is in love with the beautiful princess and writes her a letter.  In a reversal in fortune, she rejects him and tears up his letter.  The magnificent music by Tchaikovsky is the perfect backdrop for this tragic love story.  It isn't as well known as some of his other more iconic scores but it is no less dramatic and passionate.  I especially loved the music during the duel because it is so heartbreaking.  The choreography is incredibly innovative.  I enjoyed the wild abandon of the folk dances in the countryside, particularly the leaps across the stage by the women in the ensemble, juxtaposed with the elegant and stately waltzes at the ball in St. Petersburg.  I was blown away by the tumultuous and acrobatic final Pas de Deux between Onegin and Tatiana.  Critchlow and Fry danced their roles brilliantly, executing some of the trickiest throws and maneuvers I've ever seen with such emotion!  The elegant sets and beautiful costumes in muted jewel tones transport the audience to imperial Russia for a few hours and it is a journey that I definitely recommend taking!  There are two more performances today at the Eccles Theatre (go here for tickets and more information).

Storm Boy

When I saw the trailer for Storm Boy I thought it was so visually stunning that I immediately decided I wanted to see it.  I didn't hear anything more about the film or its release date so I kind of forgot about it.  Last night I was looking at the website for a movie chain that I sometimes frequent to see about getting advanced tickets for another movie and I saw that it was playing.  I spontaneously decided to see it and I am glad that I did because this lovely film about the bond between a boy and a wild pelican really touched me (at one point I was sobbing like a baby).  Michael Kingley (Geoffrey Rush) is a retired businessman whose former company, now controlled by his son-in-law (Erik Thomson), owns vast holdings of real estate.  He has been called to a shareholder's meeting to vote on a proposal to lease a tract of land to a mining company.  His granddaughter Maddie (Morgana Davies) angrily confronts him about the proposal and accuses him of not caring about the environment.  He then begins telling her about his childhood on an isolated beach in South Australia where his father Tom (Jai Courtney) brought him to hide from the world after the death of his mother and sister.  When young Michael (Finn Little) sees a group of pelicans who have been killed by hunters he discovers three newly hatched birds who will most likely die without their mother.  He decides to save them and, with the help of an aboriginal man (Trevor Jamieson) who lives nearby, he learns how to care for them.  His friendship with one of the pelicans (who he calls Mr. Percival after a character in Lord of the Flies) ultimately changes his life and changes his mind about the land deal.  I loved this movie so much!  It is a gentle and beautiful story that is told very simply.  Australia is one of the most beautiful places I've visited and the scenes on the beaches (it was shot in Coorong National Park) are absolutely breathtaking.  Courtney (who is hit or miss with me) gives a great performance and Little is so endearing as the young Michael.  I loved the scenes of him cavorting with the pelicans, especially when he is trying to teach them how to fly, and the scene where he lets them go back into the wild just about broke my heart.  This film is under the radar (at least in the SLC area) but it is definitely worth seeking out!

The Best of Enemies

Last night I went to see The Best of Enemies and, while there are flaws, I think it has a great message about listening to someone who has a different opinion to find common ground and this is definitely a message that is really needed right now!  This movie tells the true story of an unlikely friendship that develops when a "charrette," or an intensive community council where all parties involved come together to propose solutions and vote on a binding course of action, is held on school integration in the racially segregated city of Durham, North Carolina in 1971.  Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson), a civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis (Sam Rockwell), the leader of the local Ku Klux Klan, are chosen as co-chairs of the council.  At first their interactions with each other are incredibly acrimonious but as they are forced to spend time together (they literally have to sit together at the same table during lunch) they begin to see each other as people rather than enemies.  They are finally able to find some common ground and there is a stand-up-and-cheer moment at the end of the movie that, well, made everyone in my screening cheer out loud.  The biggest criticism that I have read about this movie is that it focuses too much on Ellis' journey of redemption and, while I would have liked more insight into Atwater's character, I think that Ellis needed to make the bigger transformation.  Both Henson and Rockwell give fantastic performances and they both have several incredibly poignant scenes.  I really enjoyed this movie, despite what the critics say, and I recommend it to everyone.

Shazam!

The one and only time I ever waited outside of a theater door is when I saw the Broadway revival of She Loves Me a few years ago because I wanted to meet Zachary Levi.  He signed Playbills and posed for pictures with every person in line and I thought he was adorable. I have been looking forward to seeing him in the new superhero movie Shazam! and I absolutely loved his performance!  In 1974 a young boy named Thaddeus Sivana is magically transported to the Rock of Eternity where the Wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) has been looking for a champion who is pure of heart to battle against the Seven Deadly Sins which have been unleashed into the world.  He is judged to be unworthy and sent back to Earth but in the present day the adult Sivana (Mark Strong) finds a way back to the Rock of Eternity to become the host for the Seven Deadly Sins.  Fourteen year old Billy Baston (Asher Angel), a troubled orphan searching for his birth mother, is placed in a group home along with Mary (Grace Fulton), Pedro (Jovan Armand), Eugene (Ian Chen), Darla (Faithe Herman), and Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) but he is not happy about being there.  When Billy saves Freddy from a group of bullies, he is summoned to the Rock of Eternity and chosen by the wizard to be his champion.  He is transformed into an adult (Zachary Levi) with all of the wizard's powers whenever he says his name.  With Freddy's help, he discovers all of his superpowers but lets them go to his head.  He is more concerned with his status as a YouTube personality rather than his responsibility as a hero. Sivana eventually discovers that the Wizard has a champion and challenges him but Billy must figure out what is worth fighting for before he can defeat him.  This movie is a really fun superhero origin story with a great message and I had a smile on my face the whole time.  Levi is so endearing in the title role because he is, essentially, playing a fourteen year old boy who happens to have superpowers.  Grazer is also fantastic as the disabled foster kid who has it all and the scenes where the two of them discover Shazam's powers are hilarious (and feature the song "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen!).  The special effects and action sequences are great and I really liked all of the bright primary colors (as opposed to the dark color palette used in most of the DCEU movies).   I enjoyed this movie so much and I highly recommend it!