Revel in the Magic of Ballet West’s The Nutcracker

Katie Critchlow & Alexander MacFarlan in THE NUTCRACKER - Photo by Beau Pearson

On the heels of Ballet West’s critically acclaimed opening of “The Nutcracker” at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in early December, the company has returned to Salt Lake City to share the magic of Willam Christensen’s holiday favorite with Utah audiences. Holding the distinction of being the first and longest-running full-length production of “The … Read more

Riot Act Theatre’s Anatomy of Arithmetic unrepressed first-class production

Unlikely couples are a staple of great literature. Take Benedick and Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, who constantly battle each other and then, of course, Beatrice commands Benedick to kill his friend to demonstrate his passion to her. In the genteel Victorian era, we have Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, who appear in … Read more

Live blog and review: Troll presented by Plan-B Theatre, KUER-FM’s RadioWest

Listen live at KUER-FM’s RadioWest, and click on the ‘listen live’ icon in the upper right hand corner. The show will be rebroadcast today (Dec. 13) at 7 p.m. and will be available in the RadioWest archives. For a preview of Radio Hour Episode 13: Troll, written by Matthew Ivan Bennett and produced by Plan-B … Read more

Two examples of artistic entrepreneurship: Will The Sheep Come to Be Cleaned, The Wreath

Two recent premieres of works by young Utah artists demonstrate their skills in developing as creative entrepreneurs in the community. Reviews of both are presented. Will The Sheep Come to Be Cleaned – Dat Nguyen In his most recent work Will The Sheep Come to Be Cleaned, Choreographer Dat Nguyen riffs off a metaphor that … Read more

Unconventional comedic holiday season treat: Plan-B Theatre, KUER’s RadioWest plan live broadcast premiere of Radio Hour Episode 13: Troll

NOTE: On Thursday, Dec. 13, at 9 a.m., The Utah Review will live blog the only live performance of Radio Hour Episode 13: Troll, 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. Four years ago for the Halloween season, Plan-B Theatre’s Radio Hour … Read more

Utah Film Center to present Hale County This Morning, This Evening, with director RaMell Ross attending Dec. 12

Among the most prominent recurring elements in Toni Morrison’s novels are the roots of the small town black community in the South, even when the stories and characters are living and working in the North. Take, for example, Jazz (1992), a story set in Harlem where both main characters left the South because of the … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series set to present R/Evolution: A Millennium of Musical Mavericks

One of the most popular programming approaches to highlight the string quartet’s extraordinary versatility as a chamber music ensemble is to organize cycles of a particular composer’s output in the genre or to juxtapose a series that emphasize parallels between how two composers developed their musical language for string players. The case is strong for … Read more

Sackerson’s The Distance of the Moon is marvelously inventive in word, movement, interpretation

More than the first half of Sackerson’s marvelously inventive premiere production of The Distance of the Moon overflows with magical expectations. Weaving together the lines of Italo Calvino’s short story converted to dialogue, the story line additions of playwright Morag Shepherd, the spot-on choreography of Breanne Saxton and the translucent sound design of Shawn Francis … Read more

Gratitude in three wonderful Utah programs: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Mosaic, NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Royal Musings, Spy Hop’s PitchNic

This month, three leading organizations in Utah’s arts and culture scene presented programs: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Mosaic, NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Royal Musings and Spy Hop Productions’ 16th annual PitchNic premieres. Reviews of all three programs are presented. REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE: MOSAIC It took 93 minutes of dance to create the opulent mosaic of movement … Read more

The peculiar, poetic magic of The Distance of The Moon to premiere in Sackerson holiday production

For this holiday season, the wonderfully unconventional Sackerson theatrical company turns to the peculiar magic of The Distance of the Moon, one of the short stories that Italo Calvino wrote more than a half century ago as part of his unique Cosmicomics collection. At its surface, this fantastical tale springs from the incidental scientific premise … Read more