Wednesday, March 30, 2011

When in 2 Cities, Ask for the King of Theatre

Live Theater
"To be, or not to be...that is the question." My wife and I are officially area reps for the Utah Shakespearean Festival located in Cedar City, Utah. When you are asking yourself to be in a live theater or not to be in a live theater, the answer should be to be. Live theater (i.e. musicals and plays) has an impact that movies and books just do not have. There is something about sitting in a theater and the actors just pull you right in..."its like your there" (see the great commercial below! Two of my favorite things in one video...you can see the others too...check them out)...you're involved with the show and it makes it that much more powerful and enjoyable.


The Once and Future King

T.H. White brings to us a classic. The Once and Future King  compiles four different books into one telling of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. The first book is basically the Disney movie The Sword in the Stone. It shows us King Arthur's childhood (or I should say Wart's childhood), and his education with the wizard Merlyn. "Education is experience, and the essence of experience is self-reliance."

The other books are "The Queen of Air and Darkness," "The Ill-Made Knight," and "The Candle in the Wind." These books have a very melancholy feel to them even with White's clever humor. It goes into depth about Sir Lancelot and one of the most famous third wheels of all time. It is a good classic read, but was a bit slow at times.

When in Rome
A movie that I watched recently for a good laugh. It was actually a pretty entertaining movie and it made me laugh. It just didn't have the nice quality that other flicks of the same genre have such as Hitch, The Proposal, and Dan in Real Life. I don't know if it was a problem with the actors/actresses (Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro were perfect), but it just didn't get passed two up for me.

The Tale of Two Cities (The Musical)
The Hale Center Theatre is currently showing "The Tale of Two Cities," a musical version. It is an amazing show. I have not read the book myself (not yet anyway), but what a powerful performance. The talent was amazing, and the show was dead on. There was some really good musical numbers (although the music over all was not as powerful as the story of the show, excluding one song which was just amazing), and if you have the chance, you should see the show. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."

Oh...Yes! Wyoming! And that is How Lou Sees It!

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you liked The Tale of Two Cities! I'm going to see it in May! What do you suggest? Should I read the book, a synopsys or just go in blind?

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  2. I think any of those options would be great, you can't go wrong. I read the synopsis in the play book right before, and I think that is probably the best. That way you know the characters and the general plot and you can focus a bit more on the music, costumes, and dialogue.

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