In the Heights

I have seen the stage musical In the Heights several times and I love it so I have been anticipating the movie adaptation for what seems like forever (since the pandemic postponed the release for over a year).  I finally had the chance to see it last night and it is brilliant!  I loved it so much and I am sure that I will need to see it multiple times in the theater!  Washington Heights is a vibrant community where its many residents, under the watchful eye of Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz, who originated the role on Broadway), pursue their dreams for a better future.  Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) owns a bodega but dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic to restore his father's hotel.  His nephew Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV) is undocumented but hopes to become a citizen as a DREAMer (this is the biggest change from the musical but it is incredibly powerful).  Nina (Leslie Grace) returns to the neighborhood after her freshman year at Stanford but is thinking of giving up on her dream because she struggles to fit in with her wealthy and privileged classmates.  Benny (Corey Hawkins) wants a relationship with Nina, and wants to be accepted by her protective father Kevin (Jimmy Smits), but he doesn't want to hold her back (the lack of a serous conflict between Benny and Kevin is another change from the musical).  Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) works at a salon but dreams of moving downtown and becoming a fashion designer.  Abuela Claudia becomes an inspiration for them all as they come to realize what they really want.  This adaptation brings the musical to life in a joyful celebration of community with dynamic performances by all four leads and an exuberant staging of the musical numbers!  I was especially impressed by Ramos who is incredibly endearing (and sounds so much like Lin-Manuel Miranda who originated the role of Usnavi) and I found Daphne Rubin-Vega to be an absolute hoot as Daniela, the owner of the salon.  There are also a lot of really fun cameos (many with Hamilton references), such as the aforementioned Miranda as the Piraguero (stay for a post-credits scene with him), Christopher Jackson as Mr. Softee, Seth Stewart as a bartender, Marc Anthony as Sonny's father, Patrick Page (sigh) as the buyer for Rosario's, and Javier Munoz as a resident.  I really loved all of the big musical numbers but "96,000" is a showstopper that pays homage to all of the big Hollywood musicals of the past, "Alabanza" is incredibly affecting and had me openly weeping, and "When the Sun Goes Down," which is one of my favorites from the musical, is absolutely magical.  I could go on gushing about this amazing movie but you should probably stop reading right now and go see it for yourself!  I guarantee that you will leave the theater with a big smile on your face!

Note:  Speaking of Hamilton, pay close attention to the music playing when Kevin is on hold with Stanford.  I giggled with delight but I was the only one in my screening.

The Maidens

My Book of the Month selection for June was The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (the other options were Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon, Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie, Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian, and Mailbu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid). I haven't read The Silent Patient, the acclaimed debut novel by Michaelides, but I was, nevertheless, very eager to read this selection because I love atmospheric psychological thrillers and I was intrigued by the allusions to Greek mythology. Unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed. Mariana is a psychotherapist with a small practice living in London. She is still reeling from the death of her husband Sebastian who drowned while the two of them were vacationing on the island of Naxos over a year ago. She receives a troubling call from her niece Zoe, a student at Cambridge University, with the news that her friend Tara has been brutally murdered. Because Zoe is so distraught, she travels to Cambridge to comfort her and becomes involved in the investigation when someone whom she believes is innocent is arrested. She suspects Edward Fosca, a charismatic professor of Greek tragedy, when she learns that Tara belonged to a select group of students under his tutelage, known as the Maidens, who worship the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone and perform rituals involving death and rebirth. She becomes obsessed with proving Fosca's guilt but there are plenty of suspects when her own life is threatened. I found Mariana to be a really frustrating protagonist because she makes such bad decisions, especially considering the fact that she is a therapist, and her insertion into the murder mystery is incredibly contrived. All of the other characters, especially the eventual murderer, are very thinly developed and their motivations are unclear which makes the big plot twist seem to come from nowhere. The aforementioned allusions to Greek mythology, as well as the allusions to The Duchess of Malfi and the poetry of Tennyson, are interesting but prove to be nothing more than bits of misdirection once the mystery is solved. A major theme of the novel is the effect that childhood trauma can have on future criminal behavior but it is not explored in any meaningful way because there is no resolution for the specific character involved which I found very exasperating. It is atmospheric and foreboding but, with all of the hype surrounding this novel, I expected so much more.

Note:  I wish I had selected Half Sick of Shadows instead (it was my second choice).

Memorial Day Weekend 2021

I have had the most wonderful holiday weekend!  Kristine and Trent purchased some property in Tabiona (near Hanna which is our very favorite camping spot) a few years ago and are in the process of building a cabin.  They have also parked their trailer there for the summer.  I was invited to spend the weekend with them and Sean and I absolutely loved it there!

The area is incredibly beautiful and there are many places to visit in the nearby Uinta Mountains.  I drove up to the property early Sunday morning (they had been there since Friday) and when I got there we all decided to go for a drive.  The first place we visited was Moon Lake which was gorgeous, but cold.

We all enjoyed spending time on the beach but I think Ebony had the best time running around and jumping in the waves!

Next we went to the Yellowstone River which is another really beautiful area, one where Kristine and Trent would like to bring the trailer because the campsites are right along the river.

We also visited the reservoir near the river, another breathtaking area!

We saw this random brick chimney while we were driving around the area and I thought it was cool.

Sitting around the campfire late into the evening is one of my favorite parts of camping!

Monday morning, Memorial Day, we had a breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes outside and I don't think anything has ever tasted so good.  I think everything tastes so much better outside and, since I usually don't eat breakfast, I always love it when I wake up to the smell of bacon on the grill!

Sean and I took the side by side (he drove) up the trail to the top of Mt. Tabby.  It was a really bumpy and dusty ride but the views all the way up were spectacular!

On the other side of the mountain we stopped at Red Creek Reservoir where Ebony, once again, had fun playing in the water.  We got back to the property in the late afternoon and, sadly, had to pack everything up and come home.  I was tired, sunburned, and really dirty (from the dusty ride on the trail) when I got home so, in other words, it was a great weekend!

Thierry Fischer Conducts Jessie Montgomery, Mozart, Schoenberg & Copland

Last night I attended the final Utah Symphony concert of the unusual but highly memorable 2020-2021 season.  I sincerely appreciate the extraordinary lengths to which the Utah Symphony organization has gone in order to perform beautiful music for the community this season and, in my opinion, they definitely ended on a good note!  The concert began with a piece called Strum by Jessie Montgomery, a contemporary composer who was also featured earlier in the season.  I really loved this piece, so much so that I downloaded it from iTunes as soon as I got home!  It is incredibly dynamic and I especially enjoyed it whenever the musicians would pluck their strings.  Next the orchestra played my favorite piece by my favorite composer: Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  My heart just about burst when I heard the instantly recognizable opening notes (you can probably hear them in your head right now) and my delight only increased as every movement was performed.  It is so light, airy, and filled with joy and I always love hearing it (I played my vinyl recording of it over and over when I was in high school), especially performed live!  Next came Chamber Symphony No. 2 by Arnold Schoenberg and, in my opinion, this piece is very atmospheric and brooding and I particularly enjoyed the second movement.  The concert concluded with the Orchestral Suite from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.  This is another piece that I always love hearing performed live but it seemed particularly poignant last night.  I really enjoyed the variations on the Quaker hymn "Simple Gifts," which is first developed by a solo clarinet and then repeated by various instruments, because the pandemic has really helped me to appreciate the simple things in life.  The audience, which was the largest that I have seen at Abravanel Hall since the pandemic began, gave the orchestra a well deserved standing ovation for a beautiful concert last night and, I suspect, for persevering through all of the challenges this season!

Note:  Although the regular season is over, the Utah Symphony will be performing at the Deer Valley Music Festival (go here for updates on the availability of tickets) and at a variety of outdoor venues for the recently announced Forever Mighty Tour (go here for more information and free tickets) this summer.

A Quiet Place Part II

I really loved A Quiet Place so, when I heard that a sequel was in the works, I was quite apprehensive because I didn't think it could possibly compare to the original.  I saw the long-awaited Part II last night and all of my fears were allayed because it is brilliant.  The movie begins with a flashback to the day the aliens arrived and then the narrative shifts to the immediate aftermath of the alien attack on the Abbott family.  Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), and Marcus (Noah Jupe) decide to leave with their newborn baby because their house and barn have been destroyed.  They hope to find other people who have survived and immediately encounter their neighbor Emmett (Cillian Murphy) who is distraught over the fact that he didn't do more to save his wife and son.  They hear a radio broadcast from a nearby island and Regan wants to go to them to tell them that the aliens can be defeated by the feedback from her cochlear implants.  Emmett begrudgingly goes after her while Evelyn stays behind in a makeshift bunker to care for Marcus who was injured in a bear trap.  Both groups must contend with the aliens but Regan and Emmett must also face groups of survivors who may or may not be sympathetic.  I found this story to be even more compelling than the first because it is an exploration of the toll that survival has taken on all of the characters and it is very affecting, particularly Emmett's character arc.  The action sequences are intense, to say the least, and there were several times when I literally jumped out of my seat.  I loved all of the parallels between Emmett and Regan's narrative and that of Evelyn and Marcus and the editing is particularly effective in creating suspense.  The sound design and the atmospheric score add tremendously to the almost unbearable tension.  Blunt and Murphy are outstanding in their roles but, in my opinion, Simmonds gives an incredibly powerful performance as her character tries to live up to her father's memory.  I do think the aliens are more menacing in the original because they are mostly left to the imagination rather than shown as they are in this movie but that is a small criticism.  This is a worthy successor to the original and it is definitely worth the wait necessitated by the pandemic.  I recommend seeing it in a theater!

Note:  Crowds usually give me anxiety but being in a packed IMAX theater at the beginning of a holiday weekend made me very happy because it seemed so normal!  A man stood up just as the movie was about to start and shouted, "Three cheers because we are all at a movie on a Friday night!"  Three cheers, indeed!