Singin' in the Rain at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre

Last night I had a great time at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre watching a really fun production of Singin' in the Rain (my second one of the summer).  It tells the well-known story of how a silent film star of the 1920s dubs the voice of his obnoxious partner with that of an aspiring actress with whom he is in love after the studio transitions to talking movies. What I love most about this show is all of the big song and dance numbers and they are absolutely spectacular in SCERA's version.  I especially enjoyed the choreography in "Moses Supposes" and "Broadway Melody" because they feature fantastic tapping and that always impresses me. "Make 'Em Laugh" and "Good Mornin'" are also a lot of fun because they integrate set pieces and props into the dancing and I was enchanted by "You Were Meant for Me" because it is so romantic with some cool lighting and special effects. However, the highlight of the show is, of course, the iconic number "Singin' in the Rain" because it actually rains on stage! It was thrilling to watch all of the exuberant high energy dancing and splashing in the puddles! Both TJ Thomas, as Don Lockwood, and Heidi Hughes, as Kathy Seldon, are great singers and dancers and have tremendous chemistry, particularly in "You Were Meant for Me" and "You Are My Lucky Star."  Tia Trimble, as Lina Lamont, is an absolute hoot and I laughed out loud during her rendition of "What's Wrong With Me?"  I also really enjoyed Tanner Frederickson's brilliant comedic timing and physicality as Don's sidekick Cosmo Brown. The set is amazing (one of the major highlights of the show) with the logo for Monumental Pictures above a red curtain, that opens and closes to reveal a giant screen, and stairs that light up.  This becomes a sound stage where the movies are filmed and a theater where they are viewed (the movie footage is incredibly well done) with the addition of a few props (which are cleverly brought on and off stage by members of the ensemble acting as the crew for a large film production). On one side of the stage there is an elaborate entrance to the theater and on the other is a street corner including the famous lamp post! Finally, the 1920s period costumes are impressive with lots of sequined flapper dresses and argyle sweaters! This is the perfect show to see outside on a summer evening and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets). It runs through August 22 with performances every night but Wednesday and Sunday.

Jules

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the Broadway seeing the movie Jules.  It is utterly delightful and put a big smile on my face.  Lonely septuagenarian Milton (Ben Kingsley) is beginning to exhibit signs of dementia which causes his frazzled daughter Denise (Zoe Winters) to consider putting him in an assisted living facility when a space ship carrying an alien crash lands in his backyard (and ruins his azaleas!).  No one believes him because of his declining mental abilities (and because he regularly makes a nuisance of himself at the local town council meetings).   He befriends the alien, who comes to be known as Jules (Jade Quon), and he finds him to be a sympathetic listener.  Eventually two other lonely septuagenarians (and regulars at the town council meetings), Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin), learn Milton's secret and also begin confiding in Jules.  They become friends as they protect Jules from discovery and help him return home (this movie is like E.T. for the senior citizen set) which then gives them the courage to face their own challenges.  This exploration of loneliness, loss, and growing older is surprisingly funny (I laughed out loud several times) as well as poignant and I was particularly struck by the realistic portrayal of caring for an aging parent (I had a tear in my eye at one point).  Kingsley, Harris, and Curtin give wonderful performances and their characters have very relatable arcs.  Quon is also noteworthy because she is riveting in a completely physical performance.  The story is simplistic and it takes a while to get going but it is a heartwarming way to spend an afternoon and I recommend it.

Beetlejuice at the Eccles

Believe it or not I have never seen the movie Beetlejuice (the people I sit by at the Eccles Theater were incredulous when I mentioned this) so I didn't really know what to expect when I saw the musical adaptation last night.  It ended up being a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Beetlejuice (Andrew Kober) is a lonely demon who is tired of being invisible but in order to be seen he needs someone who is alive to say his name three times.  He enlists the help of Barbara and Adam Maitland (Britney Coleman and Will Burton, respectively), a recently deceased but very mild-mannered couple, and convinces them to haunt their former house which is now owned by Charles Deetz (Jesse Sharp) and his daughter Lydia (Isabella Esler).  She is obsessed with death because she is still mourning the loss of her mother and this enables her to see the Maitlands and Beetlejuice.  Chaos ensues as Lydia uses Beetlejuice and the Maitlands to stop her father from replacing her mother with her life coach Delia (Kate Marilly) and to find her mother in the Netherworld while Beetlejuice uses her to bring him to life.  As with many musicals that are adapted from popular movies, most of the songs (except for"Dead Mom" and "Home" which are my favorites from the show) are not particularly memorable but the performances more than make up for this.  Kober acts as a sort of Master of Ceremonies and breaks the fourth wall with lots of off-color but humorous asides to the audience.  His renditions of "The Whole 'Being Dead' Thing," and its many reprises, "Fright of Their Lives," "Say My Name," and "That Beautiful Sound" are incredibly frenetic and highly entertaining with an ensemble backing him up as a marching band and cheerleaders, a gospel choir, cloned versions of himself, and large skeleton puppets.  Marilly brings a lot of comedy and physicality to "No Reason" and both Coleman and Burton are the perfect foils to Kober's mania in "Fright of Their Lives" and "Say My Name."  However, the star of the show, in my opinion, is Esler.  Her version of "Dead Mom" is incredibly moving as Lydia asks her mother to help her through her grief.  I think this show loses a bit of focus and momentum in the second act but the song "Home" is such a beautiful turning point because Lydia realizes that her mother is dead but that there are people in her life who love her and Esler just about blows the roof off the Eccles Theater singing it.  I loved all of the special effects, especially how falling into the Netherworld is depicted, the amazing set featuring a house that is transformed multiple times, and the iconic Beetlejuice striped suit (which I saw many people in the audience wearing).  I enjoyed this so much more than I expected and I am sure fans of the movie will love it (although the people around me told me that it differed quite a bit from the source material but in a good way).  It runs at the Eccles Theater through Sunday August 13 (go here for tickets).

Meg 2: The Trench

I went to see The Meg on a whim and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it despite the negative reviews.  Even though the sequel, Meg 2: The Trench, also received negative reviews I thought it would still be a lot of fun so I went to see it last night.  Unfortunately, it has too much intrigue and not enough megalodons.  Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) exposes environmental crimes part time and, since Suyin Zhang has apparently died, he works with her brother Juiming Zhang (Wu Jing) on the Mana One research station while caring for her teenage daughter Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai).  Jonas and Juiming lead another expedition to the Mariana Trench along with Meiying (who stows away) and a few other expendable crew members and, once again, they are trapped and, once again, their escape allows several megalodons to reach the surface as well.  However, this time the megalodons are not the only threat.  Our heroes must also contend with a villainous financier (Sienna Guillory) who wants to use Juiming's technology for deep sea mining, an eco-terrorist (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) with a grudge against Jonas, and other prehistoric creatures that have escaped from the trench.  What made the first movie so much fun is all of the silly and campy action set pieces but, other than some dark and messy CGI sequences set on the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the first two acts of this one are incredibly dull and boring with way too much exposition.  It does get a bit better in the final act when Jonas and crew must save the tourists on Fun Island (the best scene involves Jonas fighting a group of megalodons with harpoons while on a jet ski because it is just so ridiculous) but it is too little and too late.  I was a bit disappointed with this and recommend giving it a miss.

Note:  Pippin makes another appearance and, honestly, that was the high point for me.

Catch Me If You Can at HCT

It is always really refreshing when I have the chance to see a play or musical with which I am not familiar (all of the theaters around me tend to cycle through the same popular shows) so I was excited for Catch Me If You Can at HCT last night. This is not the musical adaptation of the movie starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio but a cat and mouse mystery that kept me guessing until the very end! An advertising executive named Daniel Corban (Dallin Bradford) is honeymooning in the Catskills Mountains at a cabin owned by his boss. When his new wife Elizabeth goes missing after an argument, he coerces the bumbling local detective Inspector Levine (Jason Hackney), who is also investigating the theft of an expensive bracelet at a nearby hotel, into looking for her. Eventually the local priest, Father Kelleher (David Weekes), brings Elizabeth (Meg Flinders) back to the cabin but this woman is not his wife and this sets off a series of mysterious events, including murder, after Daniel is unable to convince Levine that she is an impostor. I really enjoyed this because it is filled with lots of twists and turns and red herrings but, when the mystery is finally solved, you realize that all of the clues have been there all along. It is so clever! Bradford gives an incredibly compelling performance because Daniel becomes more and more confused as the play goes on and you never really know if he is losing his mind or not and this provides a lot of tension. Hackney provides a bit of comic relief as a wise-cracking inspector who pits Daniel and Elizabeth against each other. Flinders also gives a brilliant performance because her portrayal of such an unlikable character is highly exaggerated and I loved the hostile interactions between her and Bradford as they attempt to outwit each other. The set, featuring a multi-level luxury cabin in the mountains, is really impressive with lots of 1960s period verisimilitude and I especially loved the wall of windows upstage through which projections of the woods are shown, the working fire pit, and the curved sofa. It was also fun to see the attention to detail with all of the props (so many ashtrays) and costumes. This is a well-crafted and entertaining murder mystery that might surprise you as much as it did me and I definitely recommend it (go here for tickets). It runs on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through November 11.

Note:  Do not miss the fantastic production of Newsies on the Young Living Stage through August 26 (go here for tickets).