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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sting and Honey Company deliver a very smart production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull

There is always room for Anton Chekhov in the theatrical season. Plays such as Uncle Vanya, Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters remain relevant and timeless. And, The Seagull became the first of the great Chekhov quartet of plays when it premiered in 1896. It stands out for rendering complex psychological profiles of characters — notably … Read more

An exhilarating cavalcade of pop music excellence: Pioneer Theatre’s 63rd season opens with Jersey Boys

At the end of Jersey Boys, Tommy DeVito says to the audience, “Everyone remembers it how they need to, right?” When the Tony Award-winning musical about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons premiered on Broadway in 2005, it was among a substantial string of biographical musicals that have emerged during the first two decades of … Read more