Wonka

My sister and I finally had the chance to see Wonka last night and we both loved this whimsical and delightful prequel to the classic movie.  Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) hopes to make his dream of sharing his chocolates with the world come true by opening a shop in the Galeries Gourmet.  He immediately runs afoul of a Chocolate Cartel comprised of Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Gerald Prodnose (Matt Lucas), and Felix Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton) who bribe the chief of police (Keegan-Michael Key) and a priest (Rowan Atkinson) with chocolate to foil Wonka's plans.  He is also tricked into indentured servitude at a lauderette run by Mrs. Scrubitt (Olivia Colman) and her henchman Bleacher (Tom Davis) because he fails to read the fine print.  However, he enlists the help of an orphan named Noodle (Calah Lane), the other captives at the launderette, including Abacus Crunch (Jim Carter), Piper Benz (Natasha Rothwell), Larry Chucklesworth (Rich Fulcher), and Lottie Bell (Rakhee Thakrar), as well as an Oompa-Loompa (Hugh Grant), and uses his delectable chocolates to defeat the Cartel and build his famous Chocolate Factory.  Chalamet is absolutely adorable as Wonka and I was quite impressed with his singing and dancing because I usually think of him more as a dramatic actor.  I especially loved his earnest performance in the songs "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This" and "A World of Your Own."  Lane is very affecting as Noodle (her duet with Chalamet in "For a Moment" is incredibly heartfelt and they have great chemistry together), Joseph is so much fun as the unctuous villain Slugworth, Colman looks like she is having a blast as a landlord straight out of Dickens, and it should come as no surprise that Grant is a hoot as an Oompa-Loompa.  The staging of the musical numbers is effervescent (I particularly enjoyed the use of a large balloon bouquet) and I loved the juxtaposition between the drab and dreary real world and Wonka's colorful imagination in the costumes and production design.  Both Marilyn and I were enchanted by this movie and I think it is perfect for families this holiday season.

Love Actually in Concert

I was back at Abravanel Hall again last night with my sister Kristine and my brother-in-law Trent to see the movie Love Actually on the big screen while the Utah Symphony performed the score by Craig Armstrong live.  I love the films in concert series but I think this one is my favorite because I love this movie (it is one of my favorite Christmas movies) and it was so much fun to for me to see Kristine and Trent (this was their first film in concert) enjoying it!  This movie involves a series of love stories involving many different characters (played by an all-star cast) at Christmas time.  My favorite involves Sam (Thomas Sangster), an eleven-year-old boy mourning the recent loss of his mother, who turns to his step-father Daniel (Liam Neeson) to help him get the attention of his crush Joanna (Olivia Olson).  When Sam's plan, which involves playing drums during Joanna's song at the school Christmas concert, doesn't work, he runs through the airport on Christmas Eve to catch her before she returns home to America (after saying my favorite line in the movie, "Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love.").  There are so many hilarious moments in this movie that made the audience laugh out loud, especially when the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) dances, when aging rock star Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) records a Christmas version of "Love is All Around," when the shy actors John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) act as stand-ins for a sex scene (these scenes got the loudest response), when the socially awkward Colin (Kris Marshall) thinks he can can get more attention from American girls, and when a salesman (Rowan Atkinson) elaborately wraps a Christmas present surreptitiously purchased by Harry (Alan Rickman) for another woman (another highlight for the audience).  The score has a pop sound and prominently features the piano and keyboard, drums, and guitars but there is also a lovely and plaintive theme played by the strings with variations that appear throughout the movie.  I loved the trumpets and trombones in "All You Need is Love" at the wedding of Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Juliet (Keira Knightley) and the clarinet solo when Sarah (Laura Linney) confirms that she is in love with Karl (Rodrigo Santoro).  The three of us had such a great time last night and I think I may have turned Kristine and Trent into fans of the films in concert series.  I definitely recommend getting a ticket to one of the remaining concerts (go here) this season.

The Disappearance of Shere Hite

One of the things I especially love about the Sundance Film Festival is the opportunity to talk to people about all of the films being screened.  Last year many of those I spoke to mentioned The Disappearance of Shere Hite as one of their favorites so I was excited to see it yesterday afternoon at the Broadway.  I thought it was an interesting and compelling portrait of a fascinating woman who was denied her rightful legacy.  While Shere Hite was a graduate student at Columbia University in New York City during the early 1970s, she was inspired by participating in the burgeoning feminist movement to create and distribute a questionnaire about women and sexuality.  She used the results of her study to write a groundbreaking book that became a best-seller despite facing backlash from those who feared the implications of some of her conclusions.  This documentary features lots of archival footage of Hite's many appearances on news programs and talk shows defending her results and methodology and it becomes more and more uncomfortable to watch as she is viciously attacked (an ambush by Maury Povich is especially egregious).  She eventually flees to Europe and eventually dies in relative obscurity after being rejected by the publishers who initially profited from her books.  This documentary suggests that her treatment was scurrilous and that she deserves more recognition for her work.  It also suggests that the erasure of her work has led to the regression of attitudes towards women's sexuality.  I found Shere Hite to be an incredibly vibrant woman ahead of her time and I particularly enjoyed the voice-over narration by Dakota Johnson, which is taken from her writings, because it really brings her to life very vividly.  I enjoyed this thought-provoking documentary and would highly recommend it.

Nathan Pacheco Christmas Concert

I first heard Nathan Pacheco sing when he was a guest vocalist for one of Kurt Bestor's Christmas concerts.  His rendition of "O Holy Night" at that concert is one of the best I've heard so, when I found out that he would be performing a Christmas concert at Abravanel Hall, I bought a ticket hoping that I would get to hear it again. The show was last night and I was not disappointed! He was backed by the Lyceum Philharmonic, which is led by Kayson Brown and features talented high school students from the American Heritage School, as well as his music director and pianist Leo Z and cellist Nicole Pinnell. They began with "O Come, All Ye Faithful" and "Carol of the Bells" and then Pacheco came to the stage singing one of his original songs, "Don't Cry." The concert was an eclectic mix of Christmas songs, original songs, covers, and songs from the classical repertoire and one of my favorite moments came next when he sang "Nessun Dorma" from the opera Turandot (it gave me goosebumps when he hit all of the high notes). He continued with "Silver Bells" and "Winter Wonderland" and then said that he had never performed the next song in front of a crowd before and brought Clara Hurtado Lee and a children's choir to the stage to sing "Adiemus" which was incredibly beautiful! He performed a really cool cover of "Take on Me" by a-ha and then "From Now On" from the movie The Greatest Showman. He told the audience that he had just written an original musical called Beloved and then gave us a sneak peak by singing "What You Become" from it. Emma Nissen joined him on stage for a lovely version of "The Prayer" and then he continued with the Christmas songs "Gaudete" (I loved this), "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and "Silent Night." He performed an acoustic cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Star Carol" (accompanying himself on guitar) and then a powerful version of his song "Forever." He concluded his main set by singing "O Holy Night."  I had been waiting all night for him to sing this and it was definitely worth the wait because he just about blew the roof off Abravanel Hall! For the encore, he brought his sister to the stage to sing the duet "Time to Say Goodbye" which was another favorite moment for me! I don't know if this was spontaneous or not because all of the musicians were prepared to play it but she seemed really hesitant to come up to the stage! He concluded with "God Bless Us Everyone" from the movie A Christmas Carol. This was an amazing show and Pacheco was incredibly charming and continually expressed his genuine gratitude to the crowd for supporting him. He said that he hoped to be back for another Christmas concert at Abravanel Hall next year and, if he is, I will be there, too!

Note:  My sister also had tickets to this show with her friend so we ended up going together!

Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir 2023

Whenever I am unable to get a ticket to the Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir concert, I go to the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast the following Sunday because it usually features the guest artists and a portion of the program.  It is actually quite nice because the parking situation is a bit easier on an early Sunday morning than it is in the evening with so many other events going on.  The guest artists this year were Michael Maliakel, who is currently starring as the title role in Aladdin on Broadway, and Lesley Nicol, who is best known for playing Mrs. Patmore on Downton Abbey.  The concert began with choir members in a procession down the aisles to "Sing We Now of Christmas" with the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble.  It was beautiful and incredibly dramatic!  Michael Maliakel joined the choir for "Joy to the World" and I really loved his voice and his rendition of this song.  I wasn't very familiar with him but now I will pay attention because he is extremely talented and charismatic!  Next, the choir sang "To The Cradle Run," which I was unfamiliar with but definitely enjoyed, and then Richard Elliott performed "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" on the organ with fanfares played by the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble (this gave me goosebumps because I love this song).  The choir performed another song I was unfamiliar with called "O Little One Sweet" and then Lesley Nicol read the Christmas story from the Bible.  The program concluded with a stirring version of "Angels from the Realms of Glory" by Michael Maliakel and this also gave me goosebumps.  After the broadcast concluded, the audience got to hear another portion of the concert when a story about Victor Hugo's Christmas fetes for the children on the island of Guernsey was told by Lesley Nicol.  A replica of Hautville House, Hugo's home on Guernsey, was featured with performers acting out the story while Nicol narrated (she was delightful).  It was so inspiring and I especially loved the use of Hugo's quote, "To love is to act."  It was a lovely concert and I'm glad I made the effort to get up early (and put on a skirt) to attend!