The tragedy of LADY MACBETH

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SALT LAKE CITY — Longtime readers of this site will know that I love the works of William Shakespeare. So, I was thrilled to review Lady Macbeth, which Plan-B Theatre Company describes as a “Shakespearean mash-up.” The cast of characters including old favorites like Gertrude, Malvolio, Ophelia, Iago, Othello, Portia, and the title character. Director [...]

TEMPEST provides for a magical evening

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SALT LAKE CITY — William Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s foremost playwright. For over 400 years his works have captivated audiences around the globe. And perhaps it is a recent phenomenon, but it appears locally that there is rarely a time when one of Shakespeare’s plays [...]

SLEEPY HOLLOW: The Legend Lives On

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CENTERVILLE — CenterPoint Legacy Theatre’s beautiful new facility that truly impressed me from the lobby to the friendly staff, to the beautiful stage and technological capabilities. Jim Christian, writer and director of Sleepy Hollow, first brought this story to life at Weber State University in 2009. Christian, the director of the Musical Theater Department at [...]

A thrilling and hilarious MACBETH

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PROVO — The Grassroots Shakespeare company never ceases to put on a good—nay, a great—show. Their open air, “original practices” approach to Shakespeare, and to theater in general, is refreshing and just plain comfortable. Their current show Macbeth, while it wasn’t my favorite Grassroots production so far, nonetheless held up the theater company’s reputation for [...]

Covey’s MEDEA makes a valiant effort at a difficult piece

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PROVO — The tiny Brinton black box theater at the Covey Center has melted. That is the impression that is given when one enters the small room. For those who have never been, let me try to give you an image: the room is absolutely tiny and only fits about fifty chairs around three sides [...]

Worshipping the GOD OF CARNAGE

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SALT LAKE CITY — Parenting is a tricky business; as a single, childless individual I find it incredibly intimidating. Yasmina Reza’s Tony award-winning God of Carnage, translated by Christopher Hampton, goes a step further, an experiment in the potentially punishing arena of parents interacting with, well, other parents. The play opens with Veronica and Michael [...]

WAVES OF MU is food for your brain and soul

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SALT LAKE CITY — I hesitate to review this show using any sort of absolutes. I’m not going to say, “The show was this,” or “It had this effect,” because the whole experience was no doubt a singular experience for each audience member. Sticking with the “no absolutes” theme, I don’t want to put any [...]

STREET THEATER tells of “The Night the Gays Fought Back”

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SALT LAKE CITY — Not many people outside of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (GLBTQ) community have heard of the Stonewall riots.  However, for those in this community, Stonewall represents the birthplace of the gay (I will be using gay throughout the rest of the review as an all inclusive word for the [...]

Actors save Hale’s THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES

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OREM — Set at a high school prom in 1958, The Marvelous Wonderettes is a show aiming for nostalgia.  It depicts the performance of a female quartet at their prom then reconvenes in the second act with the same girls at their ten year reunion.  The show brings the audience to ‘58 with memorable tunes [...]

A classic take on FRANKENSTEIN with a twist

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OREM — As Halloween approaches each year, we always get a new crop of spooky themed theater offerings from Dracula to Sleepy Hollow to creepy whodunits. Salty Dinner Theater gives us this year its take on Frankenstein. Based on the Mary Shelley book (more than on the Hollywood versions that have come after it), Frankenstien [...]