I've Never... Seen a Premiere

… and this week I got to see two!

DON VERDEAN

I’ve lived in Utah for 8ish years now and I’ve only taken part in the Sundance Film Festival a handful of times. “But Amy!” you may exclaim, “you were a film major!” I know, right? In my defense, the festival happens at a pretty inconvenient time. During school, a new semester was well underway, I usually had a job, and I rarely had a car that I felt confident driving through the canyon in the snow. And now I work for a tax company making the end of January/beginning of February pretty busy for me.

I’ve gone up on the odd Saturday to celebrity-see here or there. I even saw a short program in SLC a few years ago where I got to meet Joseph Gordon-Levitt!

2009- Amy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt just enjoying some film!

But I had never seen a film, let alone a premiere. I decided to try it out.

For those who don’t know how the Sundance Waitlist works, you’re not alone. I had never waitlisted a ticket before and all day I had been racked with uncertainty about the process and my ability to work the system.

Turns out, it’s super easy and I’m a little embarrassed by how preoccupied I was with it all day. Two hours before any showing, a specific number of waitlist spots are made available online. You add a film to your waitlist, are assigned a number, and then you go to the theater and get in line. If they have enough left over seats, they sell the tickets to those waiting. Piece of cake.

On Wednesday afternoon I rushed home from work and sat anxiously at my computer, anticipating 4:30: the second that waitlist tickets would become available for Jared Hess’s newest film, Don Verdean.

San Rockwell and Jemaine Clement in Don Verdean

4:30 hit and I clicked like my little heart depended on it. Reserving two waitlist numbers (for Desiree and myself) we got numbers 8 and 9 out of 300. So I was pretty stoked.

We then immediately drove up to Park City. The drive is less than an hour, but we had to be at the theater at least 30 minutes early or our spot would be given away. Luckily the showing was at the biggest theater closest to the free parking!

Desiree and Amy on the Sundance Shuttle

Everything went incredibly smoothly. We met some colorful people in line, got in to see the show, laughed a LOT, and then watched the awkward but fun Q&A with the cast and creators afterwards. All in all: awesome!

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

The second premiere was not a film, but a play. A musical, to be exact. Frank Wildhorn, the same musical genius to bring us such classics as Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel has written a new musical based on the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.

BYU Cast of The Count of Monte Cristo

I’m not going to lie: I have no idea how musicals get made. He and Jack Murphy wrote it back in 2009 and it’s been performed in several different locations and in several different languages. But its English premiere in its entirety was made at BYU? I think?

Regardless of the semantics, Wildhorn selected BYU to premiere his show and I got to see it.

Although the musical was based more on the movie than the book, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The music was excellent and the acting was incredibly impressive. Mormons are talented. Like, really talented. So talented that it’s kind of depressing to be one sometimes. But they sure do put on a good show.

I knew one of the cast members and had met in passing a few of the others. It was incredible to see such talent on stage and to see one of my favorite stories performed in one of my favorite styles (I freaking love musicals).

We were also fortunate enough to participate in the Q&A with the cast afterwards. Turns out Wildhorn and Murphy were changing the show throughout the entire rehearsal process and even into tech week. They’d add songs, cut lines, rearrange things. Kept the cast on their toes, but you wouldn’t have known from the performance they put on.

Also, Q&A’s are really uncomfortable. They definitely prove that there is such thing as a stupid question.

But it’s been quite the week of firsts for me. Did I get much done on my thesis? Nope. Did I get to the gym as much as I should? HA! Nope. But that’s the point of all this, isn’t it? To try new things. And I loved both of the premieres I saw and the experience of seeing something so new. Definitely a “never” that I hope to make a more “regular” thing.