A lovely little ROMEO AND JULIET
SALT LAKE CITY — Each year, the Utah Shakespeare Festival (USF) fills patrons’ lives with wondrous professional theater, both classic and contemporary. They go above and beyond simply producing shows…
KICKING THE HOBBIT is a big, nerdy in-joke
MURRAY — Desert Star Playhouse is known for its satirical, slapstick, musical renditions of popular movies, books, and plays. As a recent fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, I was rather…
Hear THE VOICE OF THE PRAIRIE for yourself
SALT LAKE CITY — The Grand Theatre’s production of The Voice of the Prairie under the direction of John Caywood brings to the stage a complex plot featuring over a…
Gimme a show like HAIR!
SALT LAKE CITY — The reason live theater is such an enduring and beloved art form is that there is something deeply resonant about shared experience. So powerful is the…
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL provides laughs at the Empress Theater
MAGNA — There are few things that can tempt me to leave my warm, cozy apartment on a cold winter’s eve, but a good musical is among them—especially a classic.…
Lead actress and designers create a beautiful A PHILADELPHIA STORY
SALT LAKE CITY — I sat happily through the production of A Philadelphia Story, at the Pioneer Theater Company, making notes to later compose my review. I didn’t have to…
THE 39 STEPS leads to an adventure in laughs
WEST VALLEY CITY — Start with one arena stage, two straight backed chairs, three old fashioned steamer trunks, and four extremely versatile actors. Toss in a foley artist and a…
Orem Hale’s LEND ME A TENOR took some warming up
OREM — I love a good farce. With mistaken identities, slamming doors, running back and forth, and just a dash of innuendo, Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor is a…
THE ZION CURTAIN was OK, but disconnected
SALT LAKE CITY — The set for The Zion Curtain was no more than three chairs. Two of the three actors, Jacob Lewis and Napsugar Hegedus, wore just white t-shirts…
Grassroots has more than a TEMPEST in a teapot
SALT LAKE CITY — Grassroots Shakespeare Company has a very strong and vocal following. They proudly proclaim that they are an original practices company, meaning—just like in Shakespeare‘s time—that they…