The riveting counterpoint between Kennedy, a Kenyan driver for hire, and Sarah, a well-intentioned American engineer who leads a road construction project in the African country, animates the astutely integrated strands of historical, political, moral, social and economic ideas and philosophies that underpin the exceptional Utah premiere of Will Snider’s Death of a Driver, as … Read more
Just as families track their genealogy through tree charts, many creative artists and producers have traced their own lineage, often stretching decades, a century or more and, sometimes, even 300 years or longer. In music, the context of, say, an American School, French School or Afro-Cuban School of style, technique and pedagogy can be defined … Read more
The remarkable Sackerson theater company’s latest production A Brief Waltz in a Little Room: 23 Short Plays about Walter Eyer is one of the most incisive renderings of the consequential meanings and impact of a sense of place in Utah. Since Utah was settled more than 170 years ago, an all-abiding cult of perfectionism has shadowed, … Read more
Works by two prominent American composers along with a precedent-setting chamber piece for pianos and percussion by one of the 20th century’s greatest composers and three of Chopin’s most exquisite nocturnes for piano will comprise the opening concert for NOVA Chamber Music Series’ 42nd season. The Night Music concert also is the first being programmed … Read more
THE POST OFFICE In the fading daylight, Ash (Alexis Bitner, Olympus High School) tells the others surrounding her bed, “I can see the courier riding down the narrow road that winds like a ribbon through the trees. She’s traveled that road many times, a lantern in her hand and a bag of letters on her … Read more
Times change and sounds change. Genres and cultures change. What has to be constant is respect for what came before, and an appreciation for what comes after. It won’t all appeal to everyone, but there can’t be such a premium on a single era, region or take. Hip-hop is a decades-old, global phenomenon. It’s gone … Read more
There were so many moments in the two concerts capping the fourth annual New Century Dance Project (NCDP) of Francisco Gella, with the Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) as the co-sponsor, which brimmed with thrills of new choreography and performances. In the Student Choreography Showcase, the 12 young choreographers dazzled judges and audiences with creative ideas that were mature, sophisticated … Read more
Famous or unhistoric, the individual embodies a convoluted, mysterious existence. Fortunately but stubbornly so, we have finally given up our allegiance to the grand ‘great man’ style narrative that took hold in the 19th century. We all have our eccentricities, secrets, conflicts, fears, shames and yearnings – each capable of transcending the mundane days or … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: For a detailed preview of The Post Office, see The Utah Review’s accompanying feature. Ever experience the fatigue of using social media outlets but for fear of missing out (FOMO) on the latest trends you cannot escape the digital compulsion? For the eighth edition of the Rose Exposed, the six resident companies of … Read more
Of all his works as a Bengali dramatist, The Post Office has become Rabindranath Tagore’s (1861-1941) most famous play. It was completed in 1912, a year before he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The play’s story is simple. A boy who is confined to his home because of illness, … Read more