News

Fascinating portal into history, memory, preservation of Native American artistic, cultural heritage: Russel Albert Daniels — Wild Roses at Material Art Gallery

by

Perhaps the most significant impact of contemporary Native American artists is that their output affirms that their respective Indigenous cultures and people will always be here and the media in which they create their art, by reflecting upon their experiences in contemporary society, means they are always breathing life into their cultures. A multidisciplinary photographer … Read more

‘One cannot fight what one cannot see’: Plan-B Theatre’s Full Color pops with heart, wit, poetry, intellectual depth, soul-bearing emotion

by

At the opening of Full Color, Plan-B Theatre’s 34th season opener, the setting is pleasant and inviting: eight people enjoying each other’s company and feeling comfortable at home, outside a tent in nature. As each person shares a story, the production’s epiphany expands organically, one narrative at a time. While the audience is welcomed to … Read more

Ballet West gives Val Caniparoli’s Jekyll & Hyde riveting, spine-tingling Utah premiere

by

One of numerous striking boundary-busting scenes in the riveting  Ballet West production of Val Caniparoli’s Jekyll & Hyde occurs just past midpoint in the second act. Hyde (David Huffmire) commandeers the attention when he arrives at Deacon Brodie’s Tavern, the after-hours refuge for the sophisticated Victorian gentlemen to indulge their libertine pleasures whatever they might … Read more

Fascinating, engaging parallels in art history: Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ inspired twin bill of Blue Grass, Green Skies, Photo-Secession

by

Double exhibitions have become a specialty well mastered at The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) and the latest examples produce one of the most fascinating engagements with art history in a fresh perspective that resonates effectively with contemporary visitors.  Blue Grass, Green Skies: American Impressionism and Realism from the Los Angeles County Museum of … Read more

Not the ordinary Gothic fiction fare for Halloween: Ballet West’s 61st season set to open with Val Caniparoli’s psychological thriller Jekyll and Hyde

by

Three years after Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published, Oscar Wilde, in his 1889 The Decay of Lying: An Observation, wrote, “the transformation of Dr. Jekyll reads dangerously like an experiment out of the Lancet [the famed British medical journal].” As English literature scholar Anne Stiles explained in … Read more

Eight BIPOC playwrights and eight doppelgängers: Plan-B Theatre’s 34th season set to open with Full Color

by

Between 2010 and 2020, Utah’s population grew at a faster rate than in any other state and more than 52% of that growth occurred in minority populations. Today, more than 1 in 4 Utahns identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC), compared to 1 in 5 in the 2010 U.S. Census. As the … Read more

Utah Film Center set to open 21st Utah Queer Film Festival with new name, impressively diverse film slate, local performers, Matthew Shepard memorial concert highlighting four world premieres by Utah-based composers

by

EDITOR’S NOTE: This three-article package highlights the Utah Film Center’s Utah Queer Film Festival, which marks its 21st year. The second feature is a feature about the Life After Laramie concert of world premieres and the third feature is a detailed rundown of the 2024 slate of feature and short films. Entering its third decade, … Read more

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

by

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

by

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

by

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