Something Rotten at CPT

I love the musical Something Rotten!  Because I am a former high school English teacher and a self-professed theatre junkie I feel like this hilarious spoof of Shakespeare and musical theatre was written just for me! I was so excited when I saw that it was part of the 2023 season at CPT and I couldn't wait for my sisters to experience it (I may or may not have been hyping it up to them for months). Needless to say they now love it as much as I do after seeing a performance last night!  Nick and Nigel Bottom (J.R. Moore and Zach Watts, respectively) are playwrights in London during the Renaissance but, unfortunately, they have not been very successful. Their patron, Lord Clapham (Doug Caldwell), is withdrawing his support, Shylock (Doug Caldwell) wants his loan repaid, Nick's wife Bea (Annie Ferrin) is pregnant, and Nigel has fallen in love with Portia (Grace Liljenquist), the daughter of a Puritan (Dan Call) who wants to shut down the theaters for debauchery. To make matters worse, they are constantly overshadowed by the immensely popular William Shakespeare (Isaac Carillo). In desperation, Nick consults with the soothsayer Nostradamus (Scott W. Butler) to see what will be popular in the future. He suggests writing a play with singing and dancing in one of my favorite numbers in the show, "A Musical." When inspiration fails yet again, Nick asks Nostradamus to look into the future to see what Shakespeare's most popular play will be but, instead of Hamlet, he sees omelette (so close!).  As Nick tries to produce Omelette: The Musical, Shakespeare suffers from writer's block in another one of my favorite numbers, "Hard to Be the Bard," and tries to steal his own play back! Chaos ensues until Nigel teaches Nick an important lesson in "To Thine Own Self." This show is hysterically funny and I honestly don't think I stopped laughing from beginning to end! I had so much fun spotting all of the references to musical theatre (my favorite is RENT in "A Musical") and to Shakespeare's plays (my favorite is Richard III in "Will Power"). The entire cast is outstanding! My sisters really liked Butler because of his fully committed physical performance when predicting the future and I loved Carillo because he is so over the top and plays Shakespeare as if he was a rock star strutting across the stage while posing for his adoring fans (his facial expressions when he hears Nigel's play about a Danish prince had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe). The ensemble is also incredible, especially with the high energy choreography in "A Musical" and "Make an Omelette." Speaking of which, it is absolutely brilliant because it mimics the instantly recognizable choreography of the musicals being parodied (I loved the homage to "Sisters" in White Christmas as well as all of the Fosse-style Jazz hands and the high-kicking chorus lines).  The elaborate set, featuring half-timbered thatched-roof buildings and a replica of the Globe Theatre, and the Renaissance costumes are a lot of fun (although I missed Shakespeare's giant cod piece from the Broadway touring production). This is an incredibly entertaining show that will have you laughing out loud and I highly recommend it!  It runs on the Barlow Main Stage through September 2 (go here for tickets). My sisters and I want to see it again!

West Side Story at West Valley Arts

I have always really loved the musical West Side Story so I was very happy to have the opportunity to see a production at West Valley Arts last night! It is fantastic! The story revolves around the forbidden romance between Tony (Maxx Teuscher) and Maria (Samantha Paredes) and the animosity it stirs up between the Jets and the Sharks, two rival street gangs who are vying for territory. My favorite aspect of this particular show is the dynamic choreography by Ben Roeling! I especially loved the Prologue because it immediately establishes the tension between the two gangs just by using stylized movement, the Dance at the Gym because the way in which the Jets, the Sharks, and their girls part when Tony and Maria first see each other is incredibly dramatic, "America" because Anita (Sophia Morrill Mancilla) and the girls are so athletic and exuberant, the dream sequence during "Somewhere" because it is unbelievably ethereal and heartbreaking, and "Gee, Officer Krupke" with Action (Byerly Nielson) and the rest of the Jets because the physical comedy is hilarious. The performances in this show are outstanding and I particularly loved Teuscher's renditions of "Something's Coming" and "Maria" as well as his versions of "Tonight" and "One Hand, One Heart" with Paredes. Speaking of Paredes, her performance in the final scene is so affecting that it brought tears to my eyes. However, I was most impressed with Mancilla because her rage during "A Boy Like That" and her terror during the scene at the drug store when the Jets attack her are palpable. The minimal set, featuring brick walls and chain link fences surrounding the main stage and fire escapes (where the famous balcony scenes take place) in the areas above the wings, is very effective and so is the lighting design which uses warm reds for the Sharks and cool blues for the Jets. Having said that, I wish the costume design had done more to distinguish between the two gangs (especially at the dance) but I loved all of the period dresses with all of the layers of tulle. This is a beautiful production of a show with a powerful message that it still very relevant today and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs at the West Valley Performing Arts Center through August 26 with performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

The Music of Queen with the Utah Symphony

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I am a huge fan of the band Queen and since I also love the Utah Symphony last night's concert at Abravanel Hall was pretty much the best!  I loved every minute of it and I sang along with every word (and also played a mean air guitar and air piano).  The orchestra was joined by guest conductor Brent Havens and vocalist MiG Ayesa (who played Galileo Figaro in multiple productions of the musical We Will Rock You) to perform some of Queen's most well-known songs.  They began with "Tie Your Mother Down" and then continued with "Play the Game," and "These Are the Days of Our Lives."  Then "Another One Bites the Dust" got everyone up dancing and that was so much fun to see at Abravanel Hall!  Next came "Under Pressure" and "Killer Queen" and then Ayesa gave an incredibly sultry rendition of "My Melancholy Blues" (at one point he was lying across the podium) which featured an extended piano introduction.  This was followed by "One Vision" which included an extended drum solo.  The first set concluded with a beautiful and poignant performance of "The Show Must Go On" which is the final song recorded by Freddie Mercury.  After the intermission, Ayesa and the orchestra performed a rousing rendition of "Fat Bottomed Girls" followed by "You're My Best Friend."  One of my favorite moments of the show came next when the orchestra performed an incredible arrangement by Havens of "Who Wants to Live Forever?"  This brought tears to my eyes (hearing it performed live always makes me emotional).  The crowd got on their feet once again during "A Crazy Thing Called Love" and "Hammer to Fall" and then lit up their phones during "Somebody to Love."  A highly theatrical performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was another highlight for me (obviously) and I love that Ayesa wore a gold frock coat borrowed from the costume department of the Utah Opera for this song!  The concert concluded with "We Will Rock You" (with the requisite audience participation) and "We Are the Champions."  Ayesa gave an incredibly dynamic performance with lots of funny interactions with the crowd and even replicated Mercury's famous call and response!  I think many of Queen's songs are very symphonic so they sounded fantastic played by the orchestra!  I loved this show and had so much fun singing along with the energetic crowd!

Note:  Quite a few years ago there was a reality show called Rockstar: INXS on TV.  It was a competition to pick a new lead singer for INXS and Ayesa made it to the final three.  I remember him because I really wanted him to win!

The Smashing Pumpkins at USANA

The last time I saw The Smashing Pumpkins it was an absolutely amazing concert so I was really excited to get to see them again at USANA Amphitheatre last night.  I was definitely not disappointed!  The setlist was an eclectic mix of the band's biggest hits, deeper tracks from their extensive discography, as well as a few songs from ATUM, their latest release which has been billed as a rock opera in three acts, so I spent half the time screaming and singing along to my favorite songs and the other half just listening to the shredding guitars and Corgan's signature voice on some of the more unfamiliar (to me) songs.  I really enjoyed "The Everlasting Gaze," "Doomsday Clock," " Perfect," "The Celestials," "Purple Blood," and "This Time," despite the fact that I didn't remember all of the words, and the new songs "Beguiled," "Empires," and "Spellbinding," even though I wasn't familiar with them, because the band sounded as good as I've ever heard them.  However, it was when they performed "Today," "Disarm," "Ava Adore," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "Jellybelly," and "Hummer" that I really came alive because these songs took me back to the 1990s when I would listen to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Siamese Dream almost continuously on repeat!  They also played several covers and I have to admit that their version of "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads was really cool but almost unrecognizable!  My favorite moment of the show was an incredibly beautiful acoustic version of "Tonight, Tonight" by Corgan and James Iha.  Corgan dedicated it to SLC because of the lyric about a city by the lake.  The crowd was incredibly chill (almost everyone around me sat for most of the show) but the final three songs, which were "1979," "Cherub Rock," and "Zero," got the crowd up on their feet and it was the perfect way to end the concert!  The stage featured interesting (if somewhat strange) visuals and included dramatic lighting that was almost mesmerizing.  Corgan is such a weirdo and he was in fine form with white makeup on his bald head and face and a long black tunic featuring Masonic symbolism.  He was very tentative with the crowd at first and delegated all of the usual frontman duties to Iha (who favored us with a hilarious rap) but he eventually warmed up.  I had such a great time at this concert because it was filled with so much nostalgia and it was the perfect summer night for an outdoor show (not too hot with a nice breeze as the evening wore on).  I even got out of the USANA parking lot within 10 minutes!

Talk to Me

After hearing lots of praise for Talk to Me I was really excited to have a chance to see it at the Broadway last night.  The hype is definitely real because it is incredibly unsettling.  Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a teenager who is still traumatized by the suicide of her mother Rhea two years prior.  She reluctantly attends a party with several of her friends, including Jade (Alexandra Jensen), Riley (Joe Bird), Daniel (Otis Dhanji), Hayley (Zoe Terakes), and Joss (Chris Alosio), and one of them proposes a game that has been making the rounds on social media which uses a mysterious statue, purported to be the embalmed hand of a medium, in order to summon the spirits of the dead.  The subject lights a candle, holds the embalmed hand, and says "Talk to me" to meet a spirit then "I let you in" to be possessed by it but the candle must be blown out within 90 seconds or the connection will not be severed.  Mia volunteers to be the first subject and, even though she is possessed by a malevolent spirit who resists leaving, she is energized by the experience and all of the teens eventually have a turn and feel the same adrenaline rush that keeps them coming back for more.  However, when Riley takes a turn, Mia is convinced that he is being possessed by the spirit of her mother and events quickly spiral out of control.  There are some truly terrifying scenes (with mostly practical effects) but what kept me so unnerved is the way the filmmakers create escalating tension with ominous sound design and disturbing imagery.  In this regard it really reminded me of Hereditary because I felt the same sense of unrelenting dread (although, thankfully, I did not scream out loud).  The young and relatively unknown (to U.S. audiences) cast is outstanding, especially in the possession scenes, but I was particularly impressed with Wilde because her fully committed physical performance is electrifying.  Finally, I really enjoyed the exploration of how grief and trauma can take possession of someone interspersed between the scenes of gore.  I highly recommend this to fans of the horror genre.