If World War II had not intervened, Frederick Knott might not have written a play like Dial M for Murder. Before the war, Knott, a talented tennis player at Cambridge, had set his sights on Wimbledon. However, after serving in Britain’s Royal Artillery during the war, he saw writing mainly for the purpose of making … Read more
It is like no other tale Salt Lake City audiences will hear this holiday season. Televangelist Lucas Karol heals the “sick,” performs “exorcisms,” but most importantly, collects donations from his followers for these miracles on his daytime TV show, Scriptures Unscripted. However, during the premiere of Pastor Karol Presents: A Christmas Carol, a rowdy mob … Read more
Keeping with the spirit of the Salt Lake Acting Company’s (SLAC) commendable tradition of featuring a theatrical production annually for young audiences, The Utah Review thought it most appropriate to invite two students from the Salt Lake Arts Academy to wear the reviewer’s cap, by attending the opening night performance of the regional premiere of … Read more
Fresh holiday season fare is always welcome each year and it is not surprising that the new musical A Catfish Christmas, Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre’s latest creative venture produced with ThreePenny Theatre Company, is a jolly delight but is also an earthy and gutsy ride. Written by Ariana Broumas Farber with music and lyrics by Spencer … Read more
For the impetus of his 1999 book, For the Love of It: Amateuring and Its Rivals, Wayne Booth, a prominent American literary critic, recalled how in his sixties he stumbled over the hurdles of trying to master the thumb position down toward the cello’s bridge. An amateur musician, Booth already had been playing for more … Read more
Misery, one of Stephen King’s best novels, is about an author’s deepest terror as he desperately tries to figure out how to stay alive, while he is imprisoned in the home of the woman who calls herself “his number one fan.” When the 1987 novel was adapted three years later into a film, directed by … Read more
“History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past,” James Baldwin wrote in a 1965 essay for Ebony magazine (titled, The White Man’s Guilt). He added, “On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the … Read more
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
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
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