Theater roundup: Voodoo Theatre Company’s The Antipodes, Classical Greek Theatre Festival’s The Oresteia, MadKing Productions’ Proof

It has been a busy winter for numerous indie theater companies in Salt Lake City. The Utah Review offers reviews of three productions. Voodoo Theatre Company: The Antipodes At once, the idea of setting a play around a nondescript conference table that could be in an equally nondescript workplace is ripe with surreal theatrical possibilities. … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s Regalia: So You Think You Can Choreograph, its largest annual fundraiser, set for March 15

After last year’s success with its newest version of Regalia — So You Think You Can Choreograph — Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) is re-upping it this year. Making their debut as choreographers will include the mother of one of RDT’s current artistic leaders and one of the event’s hosts and whose profession is as a … Read more

Torrey House Press series: Craig Childs’ The Wild Dark riveting masterpiece of creative nonfiction on stargazing with a full-dark sky

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in an ongoing series of features highlighting authors and new books published by Torrey House Press in Utah.  In an Ecological Society of America article published more than 20 years ago, Travis Longcore and Catherine Rich wrote, “Lights follow roads, and the proportion of ecosystems uninfluenced by altered light … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ biggest concert of the year: Grammy-Award-winning composer Jessie Montgomery set to perform, with music by her, Bartók and Okpebholo

NOVA Chamber Music Series has scored a major coup in securing Grammy-Award-winning composer Jessie Montgomery, not only for her music but also her performance as a violinist on the March 9 concert (3 p.m.) in Libby Gardner Hall.  In 2024.she won the Grammy for best contemporary classical composition, with Rounds, a 15-minute work for piano … Read more

February roundup: UtahPresents, NOVA Chamber Music Series, Westminster Concert Series, Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company

February was a busy month for the performing arts scene in Salt Lake City. Among the top events were the following: Christian McBride and Ursa Major: UtahPresents  A perfect end to UtahPresents’ inaugural jazz concert series for the 2024-25 season, Christian McBride and Ursa Major wowed the Kingsbury Hall crowd on Feb. 22, with plenty … Read more

PYGmalion Theatre Company’s world premiere of Morag Shepherd’s The Big Quiet is superb two-hander

In  Morag Shepherd’s  superb two-hander The Big Quiet, two Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sister missionaries could not be more different. But, by the end of the play, they are closer to each other than either could ever have imagined. In their respective ways, they realize that women in the Mormon community literally … Read more

An extraordinary chapter in the life of Spy Hop: A look back at Kasandra VerBrugghen’s stewardship at the helm of the nationally known youth media arts organization

In well-established nonprofit institutions, the ideal leading administrative figure is a visionary leader who by encompassing every dimension of that organization creates the right conditions for fundraising success that ensures the institution’s long-term viability. In 2018, when Spy Hop Productions was poised to announce the largest capital fundraising campaign in its history to build its … Read more

Pianist Stephen Beus’ imaginative take on Nocturnes and Nightmares set for Feb. 28 Bachauer concert

As a theme for programming recitals, the subject of dreams will always be a winner for performers and audiences. The universe of available music for this theme is vast enough for an equally wide scope of permutations. For Nocturnes and Nightmares, the theme of his upcoming solo concert, pianist Stephen Beus has taken a unique, … Read more

LFO exhibition at Material Gallery is superb collaboration, with Andrew Rease Shaw’s music, Mary Toscano’s quilts

The late composer Pauline Oliveros said deep listening was central in her creative process.  “As a musician, I am interested in the sensual nature of sound, its power of synchronization, coordination, release, and change,” she wrote. More recently, Polygonia, DJ and producer of ambient music, added, “It’s the little details which make the timbre of each … Read more

Full throttle excellence in roof-raising performances: Pioneer Theatre Company’s Beautiful: The Carole King Musical continues through March 1

… I’d like to know that your love Is a love I can be sure of So tell me now, and I won’t ask again Will you still love me tomorrow? (Gerry Goffin and Carole King) In 1960, Gerry Goffin and Carole King posed the question in the lyric, “Will you still love me tomorrow?,” … Read more