Salt Lake Acting Company’s Pete the Cat is superb Utah premiere of popular off-Broadway show

Never underestimate the discriminating influence of the young reader and children’s audiences in the performing arts. Few markets in the literary publishing industry are as competitive as children’s books. The most successful stories may start with a fantastical, even wacky, premise but they also give a magical resonance to a common childhood experience. They are … Read more

Sphere: Phase One dance concert highlights outstanding work from LajaMartin, Joseph ‘jo’ Blake, The Penguin Lady Dance Collective

The diverse, multilingual sphere of dance in Salt Lake City succeeds because choreographers and performers continuously take the risks to translate their movement into elucidating expressions that compel audiences to see dance as enhancing how we communicate about the issues, emotions and experiences that affect us. Introducing Sphere: Phase One, Natosha Washington told the audience … Read more

Another ‘dark, twisted’ Christmas: Plan-B Theatre, KUER’s RadioWest plan live broadcast premiere of Radio Hour Episode 14: Circle

NOTE: On Friday, Dec. 13, at 11 a.m., The Utah Review will live blog the only live performance of Radio Hour Episode 14: Circle, produced by Plan-B Theatre and KUER-FM’s RadioWest program. Tune into KUER-FM 90.1 and follow The Utah Review during the broadcast. “Yes, we’ve been doing Christmas lately, but it’s always ‘dark’ or ‘twisted’ … Read more

Speak, by Dan Higgins, set to premiere as part of Repertory Dance Theatre’s Link Series

Perhaps the most consequential development in Salt Lake City’s outstanding modern dance scene is the uninhibited freedom of choreographers and dance artists to create movement with a potent story-telling connection. Movement languages provide multiple canvases for dancers finding their voice precisely in the way a poet, author, playwright or philosopher would approach. Add music to … Read more

Dan Higgins: A profile of an emerging choreographer in Salt Lake City

In explaining the unrelenting discipline of training, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote, “Then when the contest comes on, you have to ‘dig in’ beside your opponent, and sometimes dislocate your wrist, sprain your ankle, swallow quantities of sand, sometimes take a scourging, and along with all that get beaten. After you have considered all these … Read more

Utah Film Center, KUER-FM’s RadioWest slate Dec. 11 screening for Errol Morris’ American Dharma

Several months before The Brink, Alison Klayman’s documentary about Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart News chair who served briefly as President Trump’s chief White House strategist, premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Errol Morris’ American Dharma was seen for the first time at the 2018 Venice Film Festival. Some dismayed critics were flabbergasted that … Read more

SONDERimmersive’s Thank You Theobromine is fascinating, enigmatic, captivating production

The craft of making chocolate is a temperamental passion. Driven to capture all of its magical potential, a chocolatier pursues the creative process with an uncompromising attitude, even sometimes sacrificing what previously mattered as most familiar or cherished in their life. The chocolatier relentlessly pursues that perfect intersection of taste, texture, and purity of ingredients, … Read more

A cornucopia of kinetic performances highlight Repertory Dance Theatre’s Sounds Familiar Concert

EDITOR’S NOTE: All photos are credited to Sharon Kain. Before recounting the overflowing cornucopia of kinetic performances that embodied Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) most recent concert Sounds Familiar, it is worth considering the aesthetic epiphany that emerged from asking a dozen choreographers to set a work of their own interpretation to some of the most … Read more

Concert roundup: Alexander Korsantia for Bachauer, Red Desert Ensemble, NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Contrasts, Samba Fogo

Salt Lake City’s music calendar is filled regularly with concerts offering a superior level of musicianship that would be envied in any major U.S. urban cultural center. The Utah Review summarizes four concerts from the last four weeks as a sampler of what is available in the local community throughout the fall, winter and spring … Read more

Utah Symphony’s America’s Wonders concert in 3-D registered plenty of sensory delights

What does it mean to taste sound, or connect it to other senses besides hearing? Some individuals have synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon, in which music, for example, allows the listener to see musical notes in different shades of colors. Scientists also believe that even individuals who do not have synesthesia actually can experience similar effects … Read more