The Count of Monte Cristo

I LOVE the Count of Monte Cristo. I love the movie, I love the book....and now I officially love the musical. :)

I heard that BYU was doing a musical version, but tickets got snapped up fast. I thought I would have to miss out. Then today Melissa facebook messaged me that they were releasing cheap tickets for a dress rehearsal tonight.

I read up a little bit on the show before we went. Turns out, it's an even bigger deal than I thought. It's a musical originally commissioned for a theater in Switzerland. It's done very well overseas, but this was the first time it's been performed in the US. 

Frank Wildhorn, the composer (a famous composer who's done many Broadway shows) was invited to perform a concert at BYU back in 2013 and to teach master classes to the BYU theater students. He was so impressed with the quality of their work, that he decided to do something essentially unheard of and debut his musical for the first time in America at BYU, before it goes to Broadway.

You can read more about it in this awesome article from the Deseret News: 

BYU readies English premiere of Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn's 'The Count of Monte Cristo'

Or you can watch Frank Wildhorn talk about it here: :)

Anyway, all of that really impressed me. I felt like I was getting to preview a Broadway show. And it felt very Broadway. (Okay, I've only ever seen Wicked, but still). The set and the special effects blew my mind. The actors were all super talented with amazing voices.

And the book was adapted beautifully into the musical, in a way that felt true to the original story. I loved it.

And I love that we got to see it on dress rehearsal night, even before the official opening night. We were some of the first people (on American soil, anyways) to see the musical! I loved it so much--I wouldn't be surprised if it's hugely popular once it hits Broadway. If you ever have a chance to see it, you should go!!

I think I'm going to reread the book.

Updates!

So the last couple weeks have been pretty eventful!

This happened:

Yep, two years of hard work have officially paid off. I am a master of Marriage, Family, and Human Development! Haha, funny story on that... For my last class (Outreach in Family Life Education) we had a chance to be interviewed by the communications students on our "areas of expertise". The communications professor introduced me to my interviewer by calling me a "marriage preparation expert." The girl (happily married and a couple months away from delivering her first child) asked, "Wait, you're not married? How can you be an expert on marriage preparation if you're not married?" Hey, first of all, I wasn't the one who said I was an expert... that was the communications professor! And second of all, I DO know all about marriage preparation-I'm probably better versed in that than some people who have been married for a while and started to forget the preparation stage! :)

After graduation, I successfully moved back to Colorado. I have loved being with my family again! I've taken things kind of easy the last couple weeks, but now we're kicking it into high gear as we get ready to move to a new house later this month.

In other exciting news, last night this happened:

We fulfilled a years-long dream of seeing the Wicked musical!!! It was AMAZING! It way surpassed my expectations. The plot is awesome-I love how they tie everything into the original Wizard of Oz story. The music was excellent-no one ever missed a note! The sets were spectacular. I want to go again!!! They really need to make a Wicked movie so I can at least somewhat relive the experience over and over again in my living room.

So basically, life is going pretty well right now. It's looking like it's going to be a fun summer. :)