Theatre

Salt Lake Acting Company’s summer show Close Encounters in the Beehive successfully works comic premise of extraterrestrial visitors

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Solid ensemble chemistry, a nice selection of musical sendups and the especially strong performances of Zeb and Skruuck, the extraterrestrial character leads, have combined to make Salt Lake Acting Company’s (SLAC) summer show Close Encounters in the Beehive the perfect light fare during this hot, dry season. Directed and choreographed by Cynthia Fleming and with … Read more

Great Salt Lake Fringe 2024: Festival marks 10th anniversary with 22 shows, 2nd year at Trolley Square in Alliance Theater campus

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 2 of a two-part feature about the Great Salt Lake Fringe (GSLF) festival’s 10th anniversary, This year’s festival will comprise two weekends of performances (July 26-28 and August 2-4) at the Alliance Theater, connected to the Utah Arts Alliance, at Trolley Square. See Part 1 here, for a feature about … Read more

Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival 2024: A look back at its first decade

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 1 of a two-part feature about the Great Salt Lake Fringe festival’s 10th anniversary, This year’s festival will comprise two weekends of performances (July 26-28 and August 2-4) at the Alliance Theater, connected to the Utah Arts Alliance, at Trolley Square. See Part 2 here, for a summary of this … Read more

Meeting feral, ferocious, paganistic expectations: Voodoo Theatre Company’s Utah premiere of Clare Barron’s Dance Nation made for sizzling summer fare

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A show-stopping moment in the Voodoo Theatre Company’s Utah premiere production of Clare Barron’s Dance Nation comes when Ashlee, who is just coming into her teen years, delivers the mother of all monologues that any adolescent girl could ever dream of speaking. Running approximately three and a half pages in the script, Ashlee knocks the … Read more

Generous, heartwarming performances, well-timed comedic delivery highlight Meanwhile Park’s world premiere of Tom Misuraca’s In Dogs We Trust

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In Tom Misuraca’s gay romantic comedy In Dogs We Trust, a wonderful first date for the young couple of Darryl and Noah quickly sours on a Sunday morning at a West Hollywood dog park, when Noah brings the wrong dog back to Darryl. While it might be a deal breaker before what seems to be … Read more

An outstanding, riveting collaboration: Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre, Hart Theater Company stage Paul Zindel’s classic The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

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The question of and quest for personal dignity come through with sharp bites in the outstanding production of Paul Zindel’s The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, with  Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre in collaboration with Hart Theater Company. Directed by Morag Shepherd, the production reinvigorates for a contemporary generation a 1965 play which some critics … Read more

Meanwhile Park set for world premiere of Thomas Misuraca’s gay romantic comedy In Dogs We Trust

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The splendid Meanwhile Park outdoor theatrical venue will be the site for the upcoming world premiere of Thomas Misuraca’s In Dogs We Trust, a gay romantic comedy set in a West Hollywood dog park. The play by Misuraca, a Los Angeles-based playwright whose short- and full-length plays have been produced internationally, was selected by a … Read more

Backstage at the 2024 Utah Arts Festival: Street theater returns on a large scale, with Voodoo Productions

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Before the pandemic, street theater, roaming stiltwalkers, and aerial artists were part of the Utah Arts Festival  experience and audiences scrambled whenever there was a performance either along the south-facing glass wall of the City Library or along the crescent arch or in the heart of the festival grounds. In 2014, Australia’s Strange Fruit using … Read more

Backstage at the 2024 Utah Arts Festival: Numerous fresh highlights for the 48th edition, which runs June 28-30

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review begins its preview coverage today of the 48th Utah Arts Festival, which will be held June 28-30 (noon to 11 p.m. on June 28-30) on the Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City. As this is the state’s largest multidisciplinary arts and cultural gathering each year, The Utah Review considers … Read more

Asian Voices front and center in Ballet West’s 6th Choreographic Festival, set for SLC June 5-8, and Kennedy Center, June 18-23

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Ballet West’s 60th anniversary season has been simultaneously a celebration of its groundbreaking legacy in American dance and an exploration of fresh artistic possibilities going into the second quarter of the 21st century.  Phil Chan, an internationally known choreographer whose organization Final Bow for Yellowface initially engaged the ballet world’s artistic gatekeepers to resist treating … Read more