What better way to celebrate the Halloween season than with the first-class productions of Ballet West’s Dracula and Pioneer Theatre Company’s The Rocky Horror Show. BALLET WEST: DRACULA By Chris Myers In 1997, choreographer Ben Stevenson chose to celebrate the centennial of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a ballet adaptation that would not have seemed out … Read more
Earlier this year, playwright Morag Shepherd directed the excellent Pygmalion Theatre Company production of Debora Threedy’s Mountain Meadows, which was about historian Juanita Brooks’ search for the truth behind the Mountain Meadows massacre, one of the darkest stains in Mormon history. With news of the massacre, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints institutionalized … Read more
Now in Utah, Lu Wei’s first solo exhibition in the U.S., My Sole Desires comprises ink paintings, handmade art books and scrolls. Quickly, the viewer is drawn to how the Taiwanese artist exquisitely explores the vicissitudes of time and space in the female gaze. She captures with gentle elegance in warm hues the boundary layers … Read more
Joining what has been an outstanding start for several independent and local theatrical companies this season, the Salt Lake Acting Company has scored magnificently with Sarah Shippobotham’s solo show Can I Say Yes to That Dress?, directed by Jamie Rocha Allan. Channeling herself through the character she has written as Sîan Jones, Shippobotham presents a … Read more
In the adroit hands of The Sting and Honey Company, the recent production of David Mamet’s Oleanna, a controversial 1992 two-hander drama, was a riveting success. Directed by Javen Tanner, artistic director and founder of the company, who stars as John, a university professor up for tenure, and Suni Gigliotti as Carol, a student, the play … Read more
From the Utah Film Center, the 2023 offerings at the Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival represent five local filmmakers, 17 female directors, 10 directors identifying as a person of color, and 14 countries represented. A large majority of the films are receiving Utah premieres and at least one is being screened for the first time … Read more
PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express has remained resilient. It is surprising for a 1934 novel that more often than not has been denigrated by contemporary scholars of literature as lowbrow along with what they perceived as insensitive portrayals of cultural and ethnic stereotypes they contend … Read more
The trope of the female ballerina has forever been at the core of classical ballet, on and off stage. But, as with the spectrum of all performing arts companies and organizations, the world of classical ballet is slowly coming around to the realities of staying viable in an artistic world that represents new generations of … Read more
Five current shows at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) cumulatively paint an impressive portrait of the breadth and depth of contemporary works by Utah artists. The Utah Review summarizes the quintet of exhibitions in this roundup. A Greater Utah To those outside of Utah and, frankly, to many in the Beehive State, perceptions … Read more
In the opening moments of What Comes Around, a 2022 film directed by Amy Redford, Beth (Summer Phoenix) and her daughter Anna (Grace Van Dien) appear to have the same sort of relationship that the characters Lorelai and Rory, respectively, enjoyed in the popular television series Gilmore Girls. Beth and Anna appear to be ideal … Read more