EDITOR’S NOTE: In addition to this summary of the slate for the 12th edition of the Great Salt Lake Fringe festival, please see this link for the curtain raiser. The following is a summary of shows on the 12th edition slate of the Great Salt Lake Fringe: Having presented some of the most memorable performances … Read more
At one point, in Matthew Ivan Bennett’s A French Toast, Lucy goes into an emotional frenzy. She unwittingly consumed alcohol, which shocks her with fear that she has broken the rules of her Mormon faith and is no longer worthy. Of course, it happened at the reception for her former husband’s gay wedding. At the … Read more
The marvelous Meanwhile Park outdoor theatrical venue in a neighborhood close to Liberty Park will be the perfect spot for Matthew Ivan Bennett’s newest play, the rom-com A French Toast, which opens next week. The four characters in the play are staying at À Côté du Palais, a small bed and breakfast in the south … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: For preview coverage of the 50th Utah Arts Festival, which runs June 18-21, The Utah Review is presenting individual or group profiles of artists, performers, entertainers and some newcomers to the event. The curtain raiser highlights the history of the Festival which is marking its golden anniversary. BANDALOOP, among the most prominent pioneers … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: For preview coverage of the 50th Utah Arts Festival, which runs June 18-21, The Utah Review is presenting individual or group profiles of artists, performers, entertainers and some newcomers to the event. The curtain raiser highlights the history of the Festival which is marking its golden anniversary. BANDALOOP, among the most prominent pioneers … Read more
Dark comedies such as Andrea D. Peterson’s (plan c), which is receiving its world premiere in a PYGmalion Theatre Company production, challenge the critic’s charge to give it a constructive review. Humor is an effective defense mechanism to a certain degree. Audiences might struggle in coming to terms with the story of Ginnifer, a woman … Read more
Back in its heyday before jets capable of making the transoceanic long haul became common, Canada’s Gander airport was “basically a pump-and-go station,” as journalist Andrea Sachs described in a 2019 Washington Post feature. “Locals would hitchhike up to the airport to buy ice cream and search for famous faces waiting to reboard, such as … Read more
When she was writing (plan c), which the PYGmalion Theatre Company will open this weekend in a world premiere production, playwright Andrea D. Peterson originally thought of titling this new dark comedy, The Day My Vagina Met Richard Gere. In a recent Stage Whisper: Whisper in the Wings podcast interview, she said, “I was at … Read more
I think of my pictures as dramas… They have been created from the need for a group of actors who are able to move dramatically without embarrassment and execute gestures without shame. Neither the action nor the actors can be anticipated, or described in advance. They begin as an unknown adventure in an unknown space. … Read more
One does not go to Murder Ballad, the wonderful musical by Juliana Nash and Julia Jordan, looking for meaty inventive and intelligent plot elements of a whodunit story. Man and Woman end their relationship, Woman meets New Man but still has feelings for first Man, cheats, and yada yada yada, the situation escalates, ending in … Read more