Weekend report

Am back from the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. So much fun. It was just this wonderful revolving door of plays and food, food and plays. What could be more glorious?

First let's do quick mini-reviews of what we saw:

Lend Me a Tenor is a new musical based on an older play. The basic premise is that an opera company in 1930s Cleveland is putting on Othello and have paid the big bucks to get a famous Italian tenor to come sing the title role. First he's late, then he gets sick, and then he kind of seems dead in his hotel room. So the sweet geeky manager Max (played by Jered Tanner who is my new geeky boyfriend) gets roped into impersonating the tenor so they don't have to cancel the performance. Hijinks ensue.

Review: The first act was absolutely, wonderfully brilliant and hysterically funny. I didn't know how they were going to live up to that/surpass it in the second act. Turns out they kind of couldn't. And some of the songs are a bit forgettable. But it was still loads of fun and I'd definitely recommend seeing it. The hope is that this play will get picked up by Broadway. I don't know if it will or not, but best of luck to them if it does.

Twelfth Night came next and was really good. My new bf Jered played The Fool and had a hilarious belly-dancing scene. Other highlights: Michael Sharon, who I'd seen before as Lancelot, played Orsino and is my second new bf. I didn't fully appreciate The Hotness before. The is possibly because Lancelot never stripped off and hopped into a fabulous blue-tiled tub. And because I was too busy noticing Brian Vaughn as King Arthur. Brian Vaughn wasn't there this year, though. Not sure what's up with that.


King Lear was, of course, depressing. But the good kind. I think the other title should be "People Make Bad Choices and then Kind of Get What's Coming to Them, While Other Good People Just Get the Shaft." Dan Kremer as King Lear was great. Shelly Gaza as Cordelia kind of bugged, which is odd because I really liked her in Twelfth Night just a few hours earlier. Goneril and Regan were just nasty wicked. Also the bit where they gouged out Gloucester's eyes was really well done and awful. I had to close my own eyes for it.


Another really, really big highlight of the festival was that I did not hear one single cell phone ring during any of the performances. Some of you may remember about the last time we were there. Possibly word got out that I'd smuggled bricks in my bag and was going to launch them without remorse at the heads of anyone whose phone went off.


Getting fresh with Will. Don't worry, he liked it.


Spitfire and I goofed off in the gift shoppe until one of the ladies at the counter did the Big Sigh of "I hate my life and I hate these girls even more." But then I asked her a couple of questions and bought a poster from her, which I think strengthened our relationship considerably. The gift shop is fun because it gives you a hint of the kind of people who come to these things. The merchandise seemed geared toward three distinct audiences:

Shakespeare/Theater Lovers (books, plays, posters about Shakespeare and acting)
Rabid Anglophiles (imported English chutneys and candies)
Goth/Medieval people (fairy & dragon posters)

The first night we drove up the Canyon to Cedar Breaks, which is beautiful. Check it out:



And that was my weekend. I'm already thinking about which plays I want to see next year.