Utah Opera’s Silk & Spices Festival, March 19 & 20

To celebrate the Utah Opera’s spring production of Turandot, they are highlighting the Chinese culture and cuisine during the Silk & Spices Festival. The opera is set in Peking so Silk & Spices highlights Utah’s growing Chinese culture— including Salt Lake’s new Chinatown on State Street near 3300 South. For two evenings only, enjoy a … Read more

Utah Opera Presents Turandot

Utah Opera Turandot rehearsal

Love, passion and death are guarantees in opera and Turandot is no exception.  It’s the tale of a cold-hearted princess who requires suitors to answer a series of riddles in order to win her hand in marriage–but a wrong answer results in death.  The opera is extravagant on several levels, with a massive cast, an … Read more

Clearing thoughts on a tough subject: Highly entertaining Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Clearing Bombs’

'Clearing Bombs'

NOTE: Les Roka appreciates Mark Alvarez, an attorney and immigration expert who happens to have studied economics as an undergraduate student, for reviewing Plan-B Theatre’s latest premiere, ‘Clearing Bombs’ which runs through March 2. There are still a few seats available for the remaining performances and ticket information can be found at www.planbtheatre.org. Photos courtesy … Read more

Utah ‘Transmormon’ film by OHO Media, VideoWest garners Artistic Vision Award at Big Sky Film Fest

Eri Hayward, today

‘The most striking thing about the crowd is their ordinariness: just a bunch of earnest suburban moms and dads, accompanied by young children still so androgynous-looking that the trans kids are indistinguishable from their non-trans siblings.’ — Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Rolling Stone Magazine, Nov. 7, 2013 Eri Hayward, the young Utah woman at the heart … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Clearing Bombs’ seeks to bring sense to the clash of economic principles

plan b theatre clearing bombs featured image

‘Having spent much of the past three years reading and writing about this subject, I wonder whether it is even worth engaging with these arguments. The aversion to government spending, and government activity generally, which animates many Americans isn’t actually based on economics, or logic: it is an emotionally driven belief system, founded upon a … Read more

Ballet West’s The Sleeping Beauty: Last-minute Deal

Ballet West is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year with a favorite classic during the month of February—The Sleeping Beauty. Ballet West typically stages a romantic-leaning performance in it’s first ballet of the calendar year and the timeless tale of The Sleeping Beauty is always a hit with audiences young and old. The ballet is … Read more