Shakespeare Saturday: The Utah Shakespeare Festival

Several years ago, I made a goal to one year attend all of the plays performed at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

This was not that year.

There were only four plays I was interested in seeing during the summer season -- Peter and the Starcatcher, The Tempest, King John, and Twelve Angry Men. Due to a bunch of reasons and other plans, it was difficult to find two consecutive days to see the Festival, and very little likelihood I'd get to see all four of those particular plays during any two-day period. So, I picked the only day that the two I wanted to see most were playing, and put it on my schedule. Sadly, by the time I'd picked a day, none of the people I'd invited could come. Unsadly, I'm fairly used to seeing plays by myself ;) Also, other friends had been, so I had no shortage of people to talk to about them!

... The trip was awesome! With the exception of being stressed about driving to and from Cedar City in time for my commitments (because I am terrible at time management), it was a relaxing, blissful trip. 

Peter and Starcatcher

This is the play that has been receiving the most buzz, and now I know why. It's the Regional premiere (meaning that this is the first time ANYONE has done this play, except for Broadway), which is a pretty big deal. The story is based on a prequel novel written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, and during the course of the action things like how Peter arrived in Neverland, why he can fly and doesn't age, how Captain Hook lost his hand, and where fairies and mermaids come from are explained.

When the elderly couple with the seats next to mine sat down before the show, the woman said, "I love Peter Pan," and the husband said, "I hate Peter Pan." He clarified for me during intermission (because he could tell I was loving it) "I like Peter Pan who flies and lives in Neverland." So, I could understand why he wasn't a fan, especially during the first act.

Peter and the Starcatchers is NOT your grandmother's Peter Pan. If you were looking forward to a "classic" play with huge sets and complicated scene changes and flying children, you were disappointed. You could see exactly how all of the theater "magic" was done -- no hidden wires, few off-stage costume changes, no special effects aside from lighting -- even the Foley artists making the sound effects and playing the music were onstage, seated comfortably in two ships positioned above the actors. Each of the actors had a primary role, such as the boy (who eventually becomes Peter), Black Stache (Captain Hook), and so forth, but they also played all of the ensemble roles like the pirates or Indian tribe. The script itself is SILLY! The closest play I can think to compare it to is The 39 Steps, but Peter manages to fit in serious moments and a surprisingly emotional story. They made a lot of pop-culture references, and suddenly, out-of-nowhere, they broke into song. Yet, it worked so well with the rest of the storytelling that even though I wouldn't categorize the play as a "musical", it wasn't weird... except perhaps for a musical number that began the second act that has to be seen to be believed. I really thought the guy sitting next to me was going to walk out. I about passed out because I was laughing so hard.

View from the balcony

I think the reason why the play worked so well for me was that it reminded me often that live theater really is a unique experience. Since they weren't going for realism, I got to enjoy the process with them. We weren't asked to get up on stage or respond in any specific way, but we were still a part of it. The actors pantomimed going up and down stairs, they interacted with the audience just a smidgen, and it was very obvious they were having a great time. One of my very favorite moments was when the Black Stache lost his hand, and everyone onstage was completely silent and in shock, and the Black Stache was whimpering in pain, and most of the audience laughed because of his reaction and the way it happened... and a little girl in the orchestra (I could hear her from the balcony even though she wasn't yelling) asked very clearly: "Are you okay?" and the Black Stache looked at her, nodded, and said -- still in pain -- "Uh-huh" as if to reassure her. I can't describe it in a way to give it justice, but the audience DIED. Since it was such a silly play and we were all in it together, it wasn't out of place that she yelled out, that he responded, or that we all laughed. I want to see it again just so I can watch the Black Stache up close; his performance was genius. There are times as an actor that you really feel like you connect with an audience and that the audience realizes that the performance is directly affected by their support, be it applause or laughter or energy. I get the feeling that the cast of Peter and the Starcatcher feels that every day. Lucky!

After the play ended, the gentleman next to me made sure to tell me how much he enjoyed the second act. He could not stop smiling! He loved getting to the island and discovering how the Peter Pan we knew came about. I think that's the highest praise I can give the show: an opinionated old man who went in expecting one thing completely changed his tune by the end. Guess you're never too old to love a well-told story, no matter how unfamiliar and unconventional the storytelling may be.

Turns out, a friend from high school saw the same performance. We met up during intermission to chat and take a photo. I had forgotten how much Lauren looks like Gwyneth Paltrow. Also how nice and cool she is (Lauren, not Gwyneth, though I'm sure G is lovely in person).

Neither of us has aged since high school.

After the play, I poked around the gift shops and ended up buying a really inexpensive copy of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. I wish there had been a Dover Thrift edition of Much Ado About Nothing, too, since I'm partial to that publisher and have seen several productions of that script lately. However, I was satisfied to have at least one thing -- besides memories, of course -- to commemorate the trip! I ate a leisurely -- and gigantic -- bagel sandwich from The Pastry Pub for dinner. I'd only recently heard about the place, but my SUU friends assured me it was a must-eat. I didn't love it, and was surprised by the dearth of pastry selection considering the name, but now I can say I've been.

I quite like this selfie in front of the
Adams Shakespearean Theater

I had about an hour before my evening play, so I went back to the campus and strolled around a bit. I even went to the orientation for King John and Anything Goes -- the two plays running that night -- so I could get a better feel for what to expect. Then I watched The Greenshow... I think it's okay if I skip it the next time. It didn't hold my attention. But I very much enjoyed the cherry tart I ate while I browsed on my phone!

King John

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has a goal to complete "The History Cycle" of Shakespeare plays in chronological order (and produce all of Shakespeare's plays in the next 13 years). These are the plays written about the actual kings of England. Shakespeare took liberties with the characters and embellished (and probably made up a lot of) the stories, but they give you an idea of what went on back in the day. I admit that I have never seen any of the History plays. It's a second goal of mine to see them all, in order, as they are produced (the next is this Fall).

The first play in The History Cycle is King John. The title character is Richard the Lionheart's little brother (you know, Prince John of Robin Hood fame) and the play deals with the question of who was supposed to rule after Richard died. I liked that it was fairly straightforward. Few of the actors played more than one role, the story was simple, there were almost no props or set changes beyond a throne and some banners to indicate whether they were in England or France's domain. It sounds like a similar set-up to Peter, but the results were very different. It was a traditional play in every sense. If you don't like Shakespeare, you would HATE this play. This was all about the dialogue and the conflict. If I was exhausted at the end it was because no one onstage was left unscathed -- there was a lot of action, a lot of angst, even a few sword fights. I liked that it was plain and simple. A great story that was well-acted and didn't need any flash. I sat with a middle-aged gentleman who sees a TON of plays in SLC and southern Utah and NYC and Vegas (I wish there were more like him), and he and I both liked King John. I kind of wish it were done more often. Someone needs to do a double-feature of The Lion in Winter and then this one (you'll leave feeling very grateful that your family isn't royalty)!

I finally checked into my hotel room after 11pm and was sooo excited to crawl into the king-sized bed and burrow into the five pillows! One of the perks of having your own room! I slept like a log, and morning came far too soon. Fortunately, breakfast was included with the room, so I got to eat a perfect, slightly crispy waffle before facing the fact I had to go home. 

There you have it. One short day, and it was all over. It was everything I hoped, and just a little more than I expected. I wasn't quite ready to come home, of course. I could have used just one more day of vacation...two would have been just right ;-)

There's always next year, except next year I really do want to see ALL of the shows! 2014 is going to be the year I fulfill that dream, I just know it! I don't want to miss any of the plays they have lined up:

Put it on your calendars now!

Are you at all interested in seeing any of these? Does Peter and the Starcatcher sound intriguing to you, or are you more of a traditionalist?

July flew by

July was a funny month. I did a lot of stuff... but I couldn't really tell you what I did. Anyone who does a play can tell you that after the show ends, you spend a LOT of time catching up with people and activities you neglected in favor of rehearsing and performing. The first couple of weeks after the show ends tend to crazy busy and exhausting and fun!

Meanwhile I am still waiting for my ankle to fully heal. In some ways, it gets better every day... I also seem to find new ways that I have to stretch/strengthen every day. Stairs are still a challenge (especially going UP stairs). I think I'm going to try wearing short heels this week. No pain = no gain, right? At least I'm getting better!

Now I'm just rambling. Sorry.

The upshot is, I went to a LOT of movies this month. Sadly for you, I also didn't take very many photos (maybe you aren't sad; maybe these monthly recaps are not your favorite of my posts). Here are a few I took, or were taken for me, illustrating what went down in July:

Celebrated my grandma's birthday (and Independence Day) with a family barbecue:

Pretty (awesome) people

Proud to be Americans!

Opened and closed Robin Hood:

Robin (center) and the Merry Men
(I am crouching on the floor on the right)

Alan A-Dale and his singing band narrate a montage acted out by puppets

Maid Marian (on the right) and her ladies-in-waiting

Chaos ensues at the Tournament

Saw Back to the Future during a special screening:

The movie was even better than I remembered!
I got really caught up in George and Lorraine's storyline this time. George spent the whole movie in disbelief that Lorraine could like him; anytime Marty tried to get them together, and Lorraine ignored him, George just slunk away... he did that a lot actually ("I've never been good at confrontation" "I can't handle that kind of rejection"). He lays out Biff to save her, but when the second guy steals her at the dance, it looks like that first time was a fluke. For all we know, the second guy has no idea what happened with Biff -- he thinks George is the same slacker he's always been. Then George makes the choice not to be a victim, he's not going to let someone decide "his destiny." Meanwhile... Lorraine is kind of hot-to-trot for any sad-sack that comes along. In the first past, she falls for George because her dad hits him with the car, then ends up miserably married to someone she doesn't even like. In the rewritten past, she falls in love because she sees George will fight for her -- he isn't a wimp. The kiss is symbolic that not only will they be OK in the future, they'll be OK because THEY made it happen in spite of all of the odds. Lorraine would respect him (and hopefully not be an alcoholic), and George would respect himself and realize "when you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

Free 8oz. Slurpee for 7-11 (July 11):

My dad had a birthday, and we kids gave him a tetherball setup:

The G-child thought he'd try using a bat...
it did not make the game easier ;)

That's it!

Oh, wait, I finally opened this; I had been saving it since December.

Christmas in July!
It was delicious :-D

August can only be more exciting than July was. For one thing, I am MUCH more mobile. For another, due to a happy coincidence, August is the month of "Shakespeare Saturdays", meaning that I have something Shakespeare-related going on each weekend! May not sound cool to you, but it is to me!

Life is good :-D

Throw-back Thursday: City Rep Memories

Once upon a time, I was 16 and did 8 plays/festivals in one year, most of which overlapped (if you count classes, it was more like 10). I recently had some of the film negatives from that year transferred to DVD. I'm a little disappointed in the quality, but I guess there's only so much you can do with scratched-up, almost 20 year-old negatives.

Still, some turned out okay! Here are three of my favorites:

The Little Mermaid

Tom Sawyer

The Secret Garden

Was I really ever that young? And was my hair really that long? *Nostalgic sigh*

Sweet harmony

The other day as I was driving, a song popped up in a playlist I hadn't listened to in awhile. I had to listen to it at least five -- possibly six -- times before I could move on:


I'm in love with listening to and learning the harmonies in songs like this. In this particular song, I can flip from the melody to the high part to the low and back to harmony pretty easily (at least, I could until Saturday when I realized the low part is a bit different than I thought, resulting in the three last repeats and a blown mind). I'm always a little amazed when people tell me they have a hard time picking out the harmony in songs. I have a hard time focusing on the melody because I WANT to sing harmony! It's one of the reasons I don't choose to sing soprano in plays whenever possible.

Karaoke on the 2010 Western Caribbean Cruise

Though I love to sing and do it a lot, I'm very aware that I'm not much of a musician. I read music ok, but if I'm learning something new, I rely quite a bit on the person next to me (hoping they CAN sight read).

As an exercise in practicing sight reading and figuring out intervals between notes, I make it a point to sing all of the parts -- Soprano, Alto, Tenor (an octave higher), and Bass (also an octave higher) -- of the hymns during church each week. I've grown up singing many of those songs, and my mom always sang Alto and my dad Tenor, so I have a good jumping off point. It's the best when there are four verses; if there are fewer I skip the Soprano. I always at least try to pick out the Tenor. I'm not saying I always do a good job, but I try! It's a little frustrating when the song doesn't have any written parts. I may not remember the names of the notes, but I can tell if I'm singing out of tune (and am often surprised at some of the choices the composers/arrangers made). I also try not to sing the same part as whoever is sitting next to me (or behind me, if they are loud). It's fun to hear the rich harmony in the song, as it was written to have.

There are quite a few songs I have a tough time just listening to once. Here are a few of my favorites:

• I've toyed with teaching this to my brothers and making them sing it for our Christmas Eve family talent show, but I'm not sure if I'm up to teaching:

• Start at 1:25 for this one. I love this one because both parts weave seamlessly from melody into harmony and back. It's so, so cool!

• Lest you think I only listen to musicals, I'm a little obsessed with this song right now, too; I'm disappointed when there isn't one more repeat of the chorus. Such a happy, uplifting song, and some of the things they do with harmony are so unexpected!

• And I can sing any part in this classic:

What do you like most to sing? And where? I'm pretty partial to blasting music in my car and singing along... that way I can pretend I sound just like the person in the recording ;)

Happy Tuesday!

Megan reads The Children of Hamelin

The Children of Hamelin by Danny Lasko
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was a little nervous to read this book, because it was written by a friend, and what if I didn't like it?

In the end, my worries were unfounded. I DID like it! The concept is a cool one, the adventure and mystery were intriguing, and Danny's descriptions are gorgeous... if maybe a little too flowery, considering they were supposed to be relayed to us by a 17 year-old boy. Then again, we're told early on that he's a pretty special boy and takes creative writing classes.

For fans of classic young adult literature such as the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, and fans of dystopian future novels, I thoroughly recommend this one. This is the tale of a young man discovering his potential, learning to trust himself and others, and eventually accepting his fate. Danny was able to put his own spin on the genres, and answer questions I didn't even know I had: What happened to the children who were lead out of Hamelin in the classic tale? What would happen if California fell into the sea? Just how much control over our lives does the government have, and are we brave enough to challenge their authority when necessary?

**Spoilers**
A portion of this story takes place in Disneyland, and the descriptions of the place are enough to make any Disney-phile drool. It's obvious the writer loves the park, and if you know it even fairly well, you know exactly where Horatio and his friends are during those chapters. There's a conversation in the apartment above the Fire station that made me cry. I had to read it a couple of times. Golly, Walt Disney was a genius. It was my very favorite part of the book!
**End spoilers**

However, it took me awhile to get drawn into the book. The primary reason was that it came from the first-person point-of-view of the protagonist, Horatio... and I didn't like him. He came off as really arrogant, cynical, and ungrateful, and he analyzed everything to death. Even when he is injured and his mind is supposed to be cloudy, he continues to notice everything around him in unnecessarily-specific detail. His relationship with his girlfriend is just a little obsessive and too perfect; I couldn't help but wish that she had at least a couple of flaws, other than disagreeing with Horatio once in awhile.

It also took me several chapters to figure out what the instructions in the different font was for. I kept thinking it was a choose-your-own adventure novel, and was frustrated that nothing happened when I chose one. Once I (and the protagonist) realized the purpose behind the different-fonted instructions, it stopped being a distraction and the story really took off.

The ending was satisfying... and happily left plenty of room for more stories from this future world. I now join with the others hoping for a sequel. I want to know what happens next, and would be especially intrigued to read it from several points of view, specifically Linus or even Horatio's little sister Lizzie.


View all my reviews

Happy Birthday, Disneyland!

58 years ago today, Disneyland park opened in Anaheim, California.

(I haven't had a chance to watch this yet. Hopefully tonight!

My dad grew up in California in the fifties, and I think Disneyland is a special place for him. He's worn a Mickey Mouse watch for as long as I can remember.

There are photos of me at the park from when I was younger than two years old.

I have several elementary-school memories of my parents picking me up after school on Friday, driving to Disneyland until late into the night, playing all day Saturday, and driving home on Sunday.

Tours Departing Daily -- photos of Disneyland

Baby Megan on Tom Sawyer Island

I even remember what my mom wore during one of these trips, because she said, "Now, if you get lost, find a Disneyland employee and tell them I am wearing red jeans and a white shirt." (I mentioned this to Mom last week, and she has no memory of every owning red jeans.) I still remember the year the original Star Tours opened, and we actually had to wait in the freakishly long -- and awesomely detailed -- line for two hours. That year, Dad took my two youngest brothers to the hotel for naps in the afternoon, and Mom told Aaron, Adam and I we would ride each of our favorite rides. I don't remember what Aaron chose, but Adam picked Star Tours, and I chose Thunder Mountain Railroad. 

Spring Break Senior Year

Thanks to high school show choir, I got to perform on one of the stages in the park -- the one that used to be across the street from Sleeping Beauty castle. There is nothing like singing and rocking out to "Footloose" while the sun shines on that gorgeous castle! I also broke up with my first boyfriend on one of those trips. (Luckily, it was mutual and amicable.)

I'd wanted to go to Disneyland before going on my mission, but ran out of time. The day I returned home, my family announced plans to go over Thanksgiving. It was the first time I'd seen Disneyland dressed up for the holidays, like the Nightmare Before Christmas-themed Haunted Mansion. Since then, I've only been twice when it wasn't in November or December!

Aaron and I went together the next year, and that's when we discovered Fast Passes :D

The family went again for the holiday several years later. It was the first time my nephew had been, and it was awesome to see it all through a child's eyes.

When I got my latest job, I celebrated by taking a two-day trip to the park... all by myself. Turns out, Disneyland is still fun even if you're alone. I got to ride all the rides I wanted to -- most of them twice -- and ate all the churros I wanted. Single-rider tickets rock!

I don't know how many times I have been in my lifetime, but I haven't yet tired of the place.

You know you go to Disneyland too much when...

The G-child's first visit

I have only been to Disneyland twice in the last four years... but I must talk about it a lot, because my friends and family seem to think I don't vacation anywhere else. I guess I can't blame them, because my next big vacation is to Disneyland! It'll be my nieces' first trip, and I can't wait to play with them there. We already have tickets to eat breakfast with the princesses. Woooooot! I can't wait!

There are many people who have never been to Disneyland, or have been and don't quite appreciate the appeal, and that's okay. To me, however, Disneyland really is a magical place. There is always something new for me to experience (I didn't experience the Tiki Room for the first time until about three years ago), and it's always a lot of fun.

Disney Parks Blog

Walt Disney summed it up the best during his dedication speech:

How could he have known how great it would be? That's faith. Good thing it worked out :-D

Happy Birthday, Disneyland! You are the first and the best of the parks, and I am grateful for the part you've played in my life. See you again, soon!

New Year's Eve 2012 dance party at It's a Small World