Utah Queer Film Festival 2024: Four world premieres by Utah-based composers set for Life After Laramie: A Matthew Shepard Memorial Concert

A film festival is more than a festival, for there are many community members who see it as a place they can find as home, Russell Roots, director of the Utah Queer Film Festival (UQFF) says. During the 21st Utah Queer Film Festival, which will run Oct. 25-27 at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts … Read more

A detailed rundown of the slate of films for the 2024 Utah Queer Film Festival of the Utah Film Center

The Utah Review has screened many of the films on this year’s slate for the Utah Film Center’s Utah Queer Film Festival. The following is a detailed run down of the entire slate of feature-length and short films. FEATURE FILMS Documentaries  The ABCs of Book Banning 2023/ USA/ Documentary (Sheila Nevins) While this MTV Documentary … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s 53rd season opens with Chisa Hutchinson’s Whitelisted: A bristling ride of a horror story

Chisa Hutchinson’s Whitelisted opens not on stage, but in the theater, as Yvette (splendidly played by Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin) rises from a seat and is asking for donations from audience members. Her sincerity is striking. Yvette is mourning the untimely death of her daughter, and is asking for assistance to help with the costs of burying … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s 59th season opener showcasing Noa Zuk choreography wows audience with invigorating, incisive performances

Outdoors, Noa Zuk, Repertory Dance Theatre. Photo Credit: Sharon Kain.

Invigorated and sharp in every moment of the trio of works by choreographer Noa Zuk, the Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) dancers put on a master class about the Gaga movement language to open the company’s 59th season. This season’s theme is Reflection, as the company paves the path for the forthcoming 60th anniversary celebration in the … Read more

A jewel of chamber theater opens PYGmalion Theatre Company’s 2024-2025 season: Julie Jensen’s Tender Hooks

It is clear to comprehend why Julie Jensen’s outstanding body of plays have earned her the honor of being Utah’s most widely produced playwright in and out of state. With her exceptional instincts for word economy and layering wholly credible emotional profiles for her characters, Jensen’s plays evoke Utah’s geography while conveying epiphanies that are … Read more

Daniel Charon to step down as Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company artistic director next spring after 12 seasons: A detailed look at his tenure, forthcoming transition

EDITOR’S NOTE: Daniel Charon, artistic director of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, has announced that he will step down at the end of his 12th season in the spring of 2025. This feature encompasses interviews with Charon and Thom Dancy, executive director, as well as an overview of Charon’s work over the last 12 years. In the … Read more

The act of memory as art: Current Utah Museum of Contemporary Art exhibitions offer impressive scope for viewer to absorb

The act of memory as art, viewed within a far-reaching scope of how it reverberates through human expression, is the dominant theme in the current exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA).  The Utah Review summarizes each of the shows:  IN MEMORY: continuing through Feb. 22, 2025 In a review of a rare … Read more

Inaugural Utah Chamber Music Festival will feature concerts in Logan, Provo, Salt Lake City, with piano quartets by Mozart, Brahms, Dvořák

The outstanding range of Utah’s chamber music is about to expand with a new festival that features four internationally acclaimed musicians performing three of the best examples of the classic piano quartet literature in concerts slated for Logan, Provo and Salt Lake City. The three concerts comprise the inaugural Utah Chamber Music Festival, organized by … Read more

A treasured friendship: Repertory Dance Theatre’s 59th season opener features works by choreographer Noa Zuk

For choreographer Noa Zuk, her long-time friendship with Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) feels so natural and strong that even when months or years lapse before they connect again, they can pick up wherever they left off, just as easily as if they had chatted earlier that day.  That relationship started in 2014 when the Israeli … Read more

Making a bit of Utah dance history: Audience’s roaring approval propels Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Re-Play season opener

Made evident by the consistently enthusiastic response by the audience throughout the 90-minute show, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s 61st season opener, Re-Play, was a roaring successful sampler of the legendary institution’s artistic brand and character. Joining a sharper, more rousing rendition of LajaMartin’s The Bunker (2022), the two world premieres — Purple Sonata 24 by Daniel … Read more