Early summer is always special at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA). The Utah Review looks at two of the latest exhibitions, including Out Loud: 2025 and the works by 57 Utah artists that are available in the 2025 Gala Art Auction: The Factory. OUT LOUD: GROWING PAINS A wonderful lead-in to the Utah … Read more
Ballet West’s inaugural Works from Within program proved to be an excellent showcase for highlighting the choreographic strengths of five of the company’s dancers. While the program featured worthy pieces by two dancers who already have carved out solid niches as choreographers, the three newcomers delighted the audience with choreography that produced some of the … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in an ongoing series of features highlighting authors and new books published by Torrey House Press in Utah. In 2011, like many others, Zak Podmore thought that the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell would be around for centuries, with the Colorado River being sacrificed and forever stripped of its … Read more
The traveling exhibition Gateway to Himalayan Art, which continues at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) through July 27, is extraordinary on several levels. The exceptional amounts of detail in traditional scroll paintings (thangka), sculptures, medical instruments and ritual objects are mesmerizing. Just as extraordinary are the equally meticulous installations outlining step-by-step lost-wax metal … Read more
In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Be Here Now, the character of Bari epitomizes what an academic diet heavy in post-structuralist theory with oversized portions of Barthes, Derrida and Foucault can do in wreaking havoc on one’s psyche. However, as much as Bari wants to flex her intellectual prowess in the study of nihilism, she is at … Read more
It has been a banner year for musicals in Pioneer Theatre Company’s (PTC) 63rd season. There were the exuberant cavalcade of pop music excellence in Jersey Boys, roof-raising performances in Beautiful, The Carole King Musical and while not a musical per se, the two-hander Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins was … Read more
Two current exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) point to substantial sociocultural epiphanies: Amanda Smith: Trust Issues (through May 3) and Holly Rios: I’d Like to Return this Body (through May 31). Visitors also are encouraged to visit the galleries for three shows featuring ceramic artists from the recent the National Council … Read more
Closing out its 59th season with DEUX, Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) brought out two crown jewels from its extraordinary catalog with performances that once again put the exclamation point on why the company is heralded as one of modern dance’s most distinguished institutions. Conditioned with stamina, grace and agility that would be the pride of … Read more
Remember when fake news was simply freakish entertainment? When the Weekly World News had run dry on its long streak of ‘Elvis Is Alive’ stories, editorial staff member Dick Kulpa came up with ‘Bat Child Found in West Virginia Cave.’ When the story ran in June, 1992, Weekly World News sold 975,000 copies. Other ‘Bat … Read more
A novel but apt choice to close out a memorable season for Westminster Performing Arts’ Concert Series, the Austin-based A’lante Flamenco Ensemble gave the audience an enthralling tour of the world of flamenco music and dance. With the broad theme of love as its anchor, the concert made the case for how the seven ensemble members … Read more