Opera, Shakespeare, Ibsen adaptation, a trio of clowns and local satire are some highlights of 8th Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part I of a two-part series featuring reviews of some of the shows at the 8th Great Salt Lake Fringe festival. The event continues this weekend, Aug. 4-7, at The Gateway. See The Utah Review preview here. There may be nine fewer shows and one less venue than last year for … Read more

Eighth Great Salt Lake Fringe set to open July 28 at The Gateway

With two dozen shows in four performing venues at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City, the Great Salt Lake Fringe (GSLF) returns for the eighth year, with shows spanning the two weekends from July 28 through Aug. 7. This is also the first year since 2019 that all shows will be in person. The … Read more

SLACabaret: Down The Rabbit Hole is scintillating summer delight in Salt Lake Acting Company production

IYKYK. The writers, cast, musicians and production crew deliver fully on the premise of the title in Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC)’s SLACabaret: Down the Rabbit Hole — pleasurable, scintillating, invigorating and chic like a brand new pair of white sneakers😉😈. Indeed, 2022 is the year that SLAC’s summer production has successfully cemented itself as … Read more

Exhibitions about identity, body positivity, best of Utah design arts, a tribute to a beloved grandmother, artistic reflection on human mortality and realism highlight summer shows at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art

The newest main gallery exhibition at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) enlightens, elucidates and calls for an empathetic understanding of individual artists who give their identity an artistic voice decoupled from stereotypes, perceptions, mirrored images and mass media portrayals. The exhibition, i know you are, but what am i? (De)Framing Identity and the … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Fear No Film, Artist Marketplace, WordFest Poetry Slam, Wasatch IronPen award winners announced

Black Slide.

Twelve awards were announced today in the 19th annual Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, including a Grand Jury Prize, two Utah Short Film of The Year honors, Fearless Filmmaker Award, three honorable mentions and five audience awards. This year’s Grand Jury Prize: Best of Show represents two firsts in Fear No … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: With individual, team poetry slams back in full force, an inside look at how teams prepare for invitationals

With the Utah Arts Festival back at full steam, one of its most popular literary arts offerings (and most competitive) also returns to full bloom for the first time in three years. This year’s poetry slam offerings includes individual and team invitationals with prizes at the youth and professional level as well as performances by … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Wordfest Stage headliners include Monarch The Poet, and George McEwan, known as Utah’s Biggest Liar

Monarch The Poet: June 24, Wordfest (Literary Arts) Stage, 7 p.m. For Monarch The Poet, some of his best role models include the best known names on the poetry scene, including Nikki Giovanni and Jericho Brown, whose writing style resonated with the stream of consciousness and raw melodic flow he has crafted in his work. … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: The beautiful metaphysical muses of Tree Hill, Ami Divine

Two Las Vegas musicians who started as poets and spoken word performers and admire each other greatly — Tree Hill and Ami Divine — are set to perform at the Utah Arts Festival, as part of the Emerging Artists program. Tree Hill with DJ DuwopRose The Vinylist: June 24, The Round, 3:15 p.m. and June … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Theo Croker, Spirit Machines set to light up Friday evening performances

Theo Croker: June 24, Festival Stage, 9:45 p.m. Max Roach, the drummer who was a pioneer of bebop, asked once in a lecture: “In the work of black music where plagiarism and exploitation is wantonly practiced, we ask ourselves why it happens?  how it happens? and who is responsible? Do the answers lie in the … Read more

Backstage at the Utah Arts Festival 2022: Two of the festival’s newest dance offerings feature Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl de Utah, Carnaval de Barranquilla Utah

EDITOR’S NOTE: This feature is presented in Spanish and English versions, both primarily made possible by Mark Alvarez. The Utah Review deeply appreciates his willingness and linguistic fluency to prepare proper versions in  both languages. For the Spanish version of this feature, see here.  A point often made in The Utah Review is that dance … Read more