Utah Symphony at the Waterfall

It was a lovely night for an outdoor concert last night!  This Utah Symphony concert at the Waterfall Amphitheatre at Thanksgiving Point is always one of my favorite events of the summer and I really missed it last year!  It felt so good to be sitting outside listening to wonderful music!  I brought a blanket, a picnic, and a book and happily waited in the sunshine for the orchestra, under the baton of Conner Covington, to take the stage for a stirring and patriotic program.  The concert began with Liberty Fanfare by John Williams and continued with Variations on America by Charles Ives (I loved all of the different versions of the theme from My Country, 'Tis of Thee in this piece).  Then the orchestra played the Overture to West Side Story and this made me really excited for the new movie coming in December.  Next came Semper Fidelis, which is the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps, by John Philip Sousa and this was quite stirring!  The first set concluded with Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland.  It was narrated by Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson and it was amazing because it combined the words of Abraham Lincoln with incredible music.  After the intermission, the orchestra played Silver Fanfare by Peter Boyer, Olympic Fanfare and Theme by John Williams (this made me realize that the Summer Olympics will be on in just a few weeks!), "Hymn to the Fallen" from Saving Private Ryan by John Williams, and "Nimrod" from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar (which was absolutely beautiful).  The final piece, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, is a Utah Symphony summer tradition and I am really happy that it is back!  It is absolutely epic and the final theme (you can probably hear it in your head right now) gave me goosebumps!  I loved it!  For the encore, they played a rousing rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa which ended in a spectacular fireworks show!  I had so much fun at this concert (I love outdoor performances) and I am looking forward to seeing the Utah Symphony perform several more concerts at the Deer Valley Music Festival this month (go here for information and tickets).

Guys and Dolls at HCT

Last night I saw HCT's wildly entertaining production of the old favorite Guys and Dolls and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The story, which is a bit dated but still a lot of fun, revolves around the romantic struggles between Nathan Detroit (Blake Barlow), who runs the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, and Miss Adelaide (Kelly Pulver), his long-suffering fiancee of fourteen years, as well as Sky Masterson (Preston Taylor), a charismatic professional gambler, and Sarah Brown (Jisel Soleil Ayon), an uptight sergeant with the Save-a-Soul Mission who is trying to reform him. When Nathan Detroit bets Sky Masterson that he can't take Sarah to Havana, chaos ensues! All four leads give wonderful performances but I found Taylor to be incredibly appealing as Sky, especially in "Never Been In Love Before," and I laughed out loud at Ayon's drunken antics in "Havana" and "If I Were a Bell." The choreography in this show is fantastic and "Luck Be a Lady" and "Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat" are absolute showstoppers! I also really enjoyed Miss Adelaide's performances of "Bushel and A Peck" and "Take Back Your Mink" with the Hot Box dancers. The period costumes are a lot of fun, particularly all of the patterns used in the men's suits (I loved the pinstripes) and all of the details on the Save-A-Soul Mission uniforms. I am almost always impressed with the set design at Hale but Kacey Udey really outdid himself with this show. I loved the bold primary colors used in Mindy's Cafe, the Hot Box, and the Save-a-Soul Mission and I loved the contrast with the tropical pastel palette used in the Havana scenes. The projections on the giant LED screens are very well-done and enhance, rather than detract from, what is happening on stage. Finally, the technical aspects of this show are also outstanding. There are set pieces coming in from the wings, up from the pit, and down from the rafters for nearly every scene and it is quite impressive how seamlessly this happens (especially so early in the run). This is a fun, colorful, and energetic show that everyone will enjoy (the tween sitting next to me loved it) and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It plays on the Young Living Centre Stage through August 14.

Note:  Also, don't forget Always Patsy Cline playing on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through August 28 (go here for tickets).

Always...Patsy Cline at HCT

Last night I went to see Always...Patsy Cline which is currently being performed on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage at Hale Centre Theatre. I must say at the outset that I am not much of a country music fan (it is probably my least favorite genre of music) but the portrayal of an improbable friendship is quite poignant and I certainly appreciated the talented musicians who performed live on stage! The show is basically a series of performances by Patsy Cline (Cori Cable Kidder) of all of her hits at various venues, including the Grand Ole Opry, interspersed with commentary from a real-life fan named Louise Seger (Adrien Swenson) who met Cline at a performance in Houston and then corresponded with her until her untimely death. I found the story to be a bit contrived but the music is outstanding! Kidder is fantastic in the role, looking and sounding enough like the iconic singer to be believable without seeming like a campy impersonation, and I especially enjoyed her renditions of "Walking After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Sweet Dreams," "Crazy," and "True Love."  The band, consisting of Kelly DeHaan (director and music director) on piano, Bryan Hague on guitar, Mark Maxson on lap steel guitar, Mark Robinette on bass, Aaron Ashton on fiddle, and James Densley on drums, is also fantastic and I really liked their spontaneous interactions with Kidder. Swenson is enthusiastic and fully committed to Louise's over-the-top persona but, in my opinion, the role itself is a little bit problematic because, in reality, there's not a lot for her to do. The shtick gets tedious after a while and sometimes detracts from the music. I was, as always, impressed with the set design, which features fun projections on cowboy boots and hats, and the many different costumes worn by Cline during her performances. This was not really my cup of tea (I don't think I will ever see it again) but it is an outstanding production with amazing performances and I'm sure that fans of country music and of Patsy Cline will appreciate it much more than I did.  It runs on the Jewel Box stage until August 28 and tickets may be purchased here.

Utah Shakespeare Festival 2021

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is another activity that I really missed last summer.  I was especially sad when the 2020 season had to be canceled due to Covid because one of the plays was going to be Richard III, which is a favorite of mine, and I had been looking forward to it ever since it was announced in 2019.  Luckily, it is being performed this season and I was so excited to see it that I got a ticket for opening weekend!

I drove down to Cedar City in the afternoon on Friday, checked into my hotel, and then caught the Greenshow before seeing Richard III in the Engelstad Theatre.  Richard III is one of Shakespeare's darkest plays but I love it and, even though Richard is a villain who kills everyone in his path to take the throne of England, I find the character to be incredibly compelling (I almost always prefer the villains to the heroes).  This production is outstanding and Aidan O'Reilly is absolutely brilliant as Richard.  He gives an incredibly riveting physical performance and I couldn't take my eyes off him (he is diminutive in stature but he somehow fills the stage).  There were many moments when the staging of a scene took my breath away including Richard wooing Anne (Sarah Suzuki) over the coffin of her father-in law, the murder of the young princes (Jessica Sannar and Finley Caciola) in the Tower, the condemnation of Richard by his mother (Sarah Shippobotham) and the former queens (Desiree Mee Jung and Melinda Pfundstein), the ghosts of Richard's victims tormenting him and then encouraging Richmond (Cordell Cole) on the eve of battle, and Richard's dramatic death.  If you are planning a visit to the festival this summer, this show is not to be missed!

Saturday afternoon I saw Ragtime (which is one of my favorite musicals) in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.  The stories of a wealthy white family living in New Rochelle, a Black piano player in Harlem, and an Eastern European immigrant looking for a better life for his daughter in America converge with ragtime music as a metaphor for the dramatic changes happening in society at the turn of the century.  The narrative is incredibly poignant and the music is amazing!  My favorite song has always been "Sarah Brown Eyes" and Ezekial Andrew, as Coalhouse Walker Jr., and Daria Pilar Redus, as Sarah, sing it beautifully!  In this production I also really loved "Back to Before" by Melinda Pfundstein, as Mother, and "Make Them Hear You" by Andrew because their performances are so powerful.  This show is technically very complicated with a large ensemble and lots of different settings so the use of simple metal staircases, which are configured and reconfigured very quickly, is highly effective.  I loved this show and would highly recommend it!

My final show at the festival was a production of The Comedy of Errors in the Engelstad Theatre Saturday night and it was as funny as Richard III was intense the night before!  This play is about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who, unbeknownst to them, are all in the same place at the same time and are constantly mistaken for each other with hilarious consequences (an exorcism is required at one point).  The four actors playing the twins (Mauricio Miranda, Michael Doherty, Marco Antonio Vega, and Andrew Plinio) have brilliant comedic timing and all of the physical comedy had the audience (myself included) rolling with laughter!  I am usually not a big fan of changing the source material but this production is set during the 1970s on a Greek island (it features some pretty wild costumes and disco music) and it really worked for me.  Ironically, the last time this play was performed it was set in the Wild West and I loved it, too!  Bring the kids to this show because the ones around me were laughing the most!

I had a wonderful time at the festival this year and not just because I loved all three shows but also because I appreciated the experience so much more having missed out last year.  I highly recommend taking a trip to Cedar City for what might be the most memorable season in the festival's sixty year history (go here for more information).

The Little Mermaid at Murray Park Amphitheater

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is see a live performance outside under the stars and this was one of the things I missed most last summer when everything was shut down in response to Covid-19.  I am very happy to report that things are starting to open back up and the Murray Arts Council is sponsoring the Arts in the Park series once again this summer!  Marilyn and I took our Mom to see The Little Mermaid at the Murray Park Amphitheater last night and it was so much fun!  It has been incredibly hot in the Salt Lake Valley the past few weeks (we have even broken quite a few heat records) but it was actually quite pleasant to sit outside and the show was delightful.  Community theatre is always a little bit quirky but so many aspects of this production made me smile!  Kat Hawley Cook and Thomas Sant were wonderful as Ariel and Prince Eric, respectively, and they both had beautiful voices and great chemistry together but my favorites from the cast were Quentin Hedges as Sebastian and Alan LaFleur as Ursula.  Hodges was incredibly charismatic and his renditions of "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" were definitely highlights for me.  LaFleur, who also co-directed and choreographed the show, was absolutely hilarious in his characterization of Ursula as a sea witch in drag and I loved his over-the-top costume with black and purple sequins on tentacles that could be manipulated with his arms!  There were also some really fun effects, such as Ariel and her sisters (Olympia Pead, Alice Maphey, Chelsea West, Gretchen Divine, Camille Jensen, and Anna Roelofs) gliding around the stage on heelys (shoes with wheels) and thousands of bubbles blowing in the audience during "Under the Sea."  The costumes for the various sea creatures, especially the jelly fish made out of clear umbrellas, were quite innovative and the sets, particularly Prince Eric's ship and Ursula's reef, were very impressive.  We all definitely enjoyed this production (every time I looked at my Mom she had a huge grin on her face) and I hope it is the first of many outdoor performances this summer!

Note:  Unfortunately, last night was the final performance of The Little Mermaid but there are lots of other shows scheduled at the amphitheater this summer (go here for more information).