Review

For their first ballet experience, two young reviewers are mesmerized by the exhilarating Ballet West production of The Nutcracker: case example of why it is a Living Historic Landmark

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For many in Salt Lake City, the greatest source of pride has been Willam Christensen’s efforts to make the first American version of The Nutcracker, which he transported from its San Francisco premiere in 1944 to the University of Utah in the 1950s and eventually to its permanent spot in the Ballet West repertoire. One … Read more

Two young reviewers rave about Salt Lake Acting Company’s regional premiere of Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! The Musical!

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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

Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre-ThreePenny Theatre Company’s A Catfish Christmas is jolly, delightful but also gutsy, earthy ride

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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

A glittering jewel for the holiday season: Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of Stephen Temperley’s Souvenir is exceptional two-hander

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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

Repertory Dance Theatre’s reprise of Natosha Washington’s I AM… is spectacular diamond on stage

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Last year, Repertory Dance Theatre’s world premiere performance of Natosha Washington’s I AM…, which the company commissioned, was outstanding. Coming 13 months later, in line with the company’s season theme of Reflection, the eight dancers, joined by narrator and singer Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin, took the evening-length work to new heights in a riveting display of spectacular … Read more

November concert roundup: NOVA’s Musical Marriages; Bachauer’s Carter Johnson: The Four B’s; Flamenco del Lago’s Why Are the Women Weeping?

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A roundup of several performing arts events this month in Salt Lake City: NOVA Chamber Music Series: Musical Marriages Two musical marriages — one from the 19th century and the other from current times — made for a splendid NOVA Chamber Music Series concert earlier this month. The first half was dedicated to Anthony Cheung … Read more

Ballet West’s triple-bill Pictures at an Exhibition is absolutely breathtaking from start to finish

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From 1910, in his seminal art theory book, On the Spiritual in Art, Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian painter who was one of the greatest early abstract artists, envisioned the concentric trinity of the visual arts, music and dance as separate in that each “has its own strength which cannot be substituted for another,”  but also … Read more

Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre, Lil Poppet Productions offer dynamite interpretation in stage adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery

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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

Sterling cast propels excellent Utah premiere production by Pioneer Theatre Company of Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic

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“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

Fascinating portal into history, memory, preservation of Native American artistic, cultural heritage: Russel Albert Daniels — Wild Roses at Material Art Gallery

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Perhaps the most significant impact of contemporary Native American artists is that their output affirms that their respective Indigenous cultures and people will always be here and the media in which they create their art, by reflecting upon their experiences in contemporary society, means they are always breathing life into their cultures. A multidisciplinary photographer … Read more