Theatre

Triple-bill review: PYGmalion Theatre Company’s Witch, Salt Lake Acting Company’s Very Like A Whale, Westminster University’s Chance Operations

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PYGMALION THEATRE COMPANY: WITCH Playwright Jen Silverman certainly is admired by Salt Lake City theater companies. The most recent example is the outstanding production of Witch (a 2018 play), directed by Morag Shepherd, in a PYGmalion Theatre Company run which continues through Oct. 17. This is the third Silverman play within the last year to … Read more

Sugar Skull! A Dia de Los Muertos Musical Adventure: two City Academy students review this UtahPresents’ Family Sunday show

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Editor’s Note: In extending a tradition to feature student reviewers, The Utah Review, with the assistance of Christal Jackson, an English teacher at City Academy, is offering opportunities this year for students to review productions representing Ballet West, Salt Lake Acting Company and Utah Presents. This is the first of seven shows that students will … Read more

A supreme opener for Pioneer Theatre Company’s 65th season: Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain

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In one of the many classroom scenes, vintage 2018, in Kimberly Belflower’s play John Proctor Is the Villain, Nell (Rocky Anicette), who just recently transferred from a school in Atlanta to one in a small Georgia town, is talking to Mason (Gage Martinez), the class jokester who really wants to play basketball but ends up … Read more

UtahPresents’ 11th season set to continue blockbuster momentum on all performing arts fronts

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UtahPresents’ 10th anniversary season provided a continuous stream of blockbuster moments, combined with just as consistently sold-out houses for its shows. The 11th season promises to be just as impactful, with family shows as well as series highlighting internationally acclaimed dance companies, and contemporary and jazz musicians, along with the equally outstanding Stage Door Series, … Read more

Theater roundup: Footpath Theatre Company’s Western Minerals and Their Origins, The Rose Performing Arts Coalition’s Nevermore, ThreePenny Theatre Company’s The Death of Nero

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WESTERN MINERALS AND THEIR ORIGINS: FOOTPATH THEATRE COMPANY IN ASSOCIATION WITH FLYING BOBCAT THEATRICAL LABORATORY AND UTAHPRESENTS  Setting an impressive benchmark for UtahPresents’ Stage Door Series opener, Western Minerals and Their Origins by Footpath Theatre Company in collaboration with Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory is among the best chamber theater plays that have emerged over the … Read more

The joys of creating on a usable past: ThreePenny Theatre Company’s forthcoming premiere production adapting Mikhail Kuzmin’s 1929 play The Death of Nero

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During his lifetime, Mikhail Kuzmin produced an extraordinary output, including poetry, novels, critical essays, musical scores, and plays. However, in the mid 1920s, as Stalin tightened his grip on the new Soviet state, Kuzmin became persona non grata in the eyes of the regime and published virtually nothing during the last 10 years of his … Read more

Nevermore: once again, annual Performing Arts Coalition show at The Rose set to raise the bar with comedic riff on Poe’s The Raven

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Only a literary figure with stature such as Edgar Allan Poe has an NFL team honoring his creative legacy. When the Baltimore Ravens won its first Super Bowl in 2001, playing perfect defense and winning by a score of 34-7 against the New York Giants, game announcer Chris Berman proclaimed, “Quoth the Ravens, never score!”  … Read more

A fine finish to artistically gratifying 12th Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival

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The 12th Great Salt Lake Fringe (GSLF) is in the books. Once again, the venue of the Alliance Theater, connected to the Utah Arts Alliance, at Trolley Square, was ideal for this event, along with the MadKing Fellowship Theater at The Gateway and Lightree Studios. This year’s edition with 28 shows was the strongest in … Read more

A very robust first weekend: 12th Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival resumes July 30-Aug. 2 at four Salt Lake City venues

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The first weekend of the Great Salt Lake Fringe (GSLF) finished on a strong note, with sales approaching $20,000, up more than 20% from the same point in 2025. Audience numbers also have increased to 1,500, up 50% from last year’s first weekend. Shows resume for the second weekend, July 30-Aug. 2. Four venues are … Read more

Voodoo Theatre Company’s production of David Ives’ Venus in Fur finds its seductive groove in excellent performances

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Sometimes, great novels make great plays and films. More often than not, novels definitely less than great make far better plays and films. That is certainly the case with Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novel, Venus im Pelz (Venus in Fur), an autobiographical treatment which literally put the M—masochism—in S&M. David Ives’ theatrical adaptation, which later … Read more