Review

Early spring bounty: SUPERWOMEN dance concert, Samba Fogo’s Still, Out of the Silence featuring Red Desert, DEXO’s children rock opera Hannah Saves the World

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Performing arts schedules are blossoming this spring, as companies and ensembles return to live productions in full swing. SUPERWOMEN: REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE’S LINK SERIES A regular point made in The Utah Review’s dance coverage is how and why this particular performing arts form wears the empress crown in arts and culture in Utah. Recently, that … Read more

Lots of March Goodness: Concord/Revisited, NOVA Chamber Music Series, Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, How Flowers Bloom, Échale Ganas: The Villa’s Tacos Story

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There were more signs in March of how arts and cultural events are returning with a full head of steam to Salt Lake City.  Within 10 days, there were two musical events – NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Songs of Play and Jason Hardink’s Concord/Revisited Project – with six world premieres by composers, including two who … Read more

Bounty of excellent news from Utah Museum of Fine Arts: Handstitched Worlds: The Cartography of Quilts, salt 15: Horacio Rodriguez, acquisition of Chiura Obata works for Japanese collection

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The early spring has brought new exhibitions to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at The University of Utah, including a traveling exhibition of quilts, organized by the American Folk Art Museum, and a fascinating, unique show by Salt Lake City artist Horacio Rodriuguez. Also, UMFA recently shared news of a major acquisition for its … Read more

Five Utah Museum of Contemporary Art exhibitions include shows about sociopolitical culture, coping with grief, queer community in Salt Lake City, short film about Indigenous culture, an artist’s spiritual reconciliation in relationship with father

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Five exhibitions round out the early spring slate at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA), including a major exhibition about contemporary political engagement, an exceptional show that translates the literary memoir genre into a visual art synthesis by an artist from the Carolinas, a celebration of queer voices in Salt Lake City, a regionally … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ all-British concert rare, exquisite treat, emphasizing Britten’s greatness

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A rare all-British NOVA Chamber Music Series concert was an exquisite treat last weekend for the organization’s only Gallery Concert of the current season in the G. W. Anderson Family Great Hall of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. The music of Benjamin Britten, John Dowland and Henry Purcell actually fit marvelously in the museum … Read more

An unsurpassed, extraordinary opening night performance for the premiere of Carleton Bluford’s The Clean-Up Project, Plan-B Theatre’s newest production

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Just slightly past the midway point of the opening night performance in the world premiere of Carleton Bluford’s The Clean-Up Project, it was evident that another Plan-B Theatre production was having the usual very good opener. Bluford’s script, about a swift revolution that has transformed the country and flipped the power structure, is complex in … Read more

Two worthy Utah premieres: Salt Lake Acting Company’s Egress, Pygmalion Theatre Company’s Bella Bella

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SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY: EGRESS Aided by excellent acting in a small ensemble cast, the Salt Lake Acting Company’s Utah premiere of Egress, a play by Melissa Crespo and Sarah Saltwick nicely elucidates the metaphors about exits and safety that embody the narrative about the trauma and the steps toward recovering from a horrific breakup … Read more

Two excellent dance concerts: Ririe-Woodbury’s Fill in the Blank; Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge: Sounds Delightful

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The Utah Review offers reviews of two dance concerts: the live performance of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Fill in the Blank and Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge concert film.  RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY: FILL IN THE BLANK In a word. Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Fill in the Blank concert was superb. Tremendous emotional intensity propelled the enthralling pace of … Read more

Sundance 2022: Sam Green’s 32 Sounds hugely entertaining, fascinating example of STEAM presentation into the wonders of sound

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Sam Green’s documentary 32 Sounds, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontiers program, is a superb example of a cross-disciplinary  STEAM presentation (that is, putting Art into STEM). Intelligent as it is hugely entertaining, Green has crafted an ideal film that will nourish anyone’s aspirations for a career or personal experiences, which integrate … Read more

Sundance 2022: Last Flight Home unforgettable documentary of unconditional love, profound devotion to ailing father who has prepared to die

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Generally, open discussions about death and dying in the U.S. are awkward at best and ignored at worst. It is often said that a son or daughter truly becomes an adult when they lose one or both parents. Yet, even when a parent has a prolonged illness and the inevitable is near, it remains difficult … Read more