As the title suggests, the show follows its own winding yellow brick path, offering a story that's a mashup of the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked," the popular Broadway musical.
Here's the plot setup: A tornado carries Dorothy from her home in Kamas to the Land of Odd, where she's caught up in a power struggle between two witches. Along the way, she finds a magical pair of ruby sneakers and friends to accompany her on her journey and discovers things never turn out quite as you might expect.
"The Wizard of Odd" was written by Ben E. Millet, author of "Spamlet" and "My Valley Fair Lady," and directed by Scott Holman. The show plays through June 7. Curtain is at 7 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with additional shows at 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at noon and 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
For ticket prices and reservations, call 801-266-2600 or visit www.Desert Star.biz. The theater is at 4861 S. State St., Murray.
A darkly romantic musical: The premiere of what's billed as a darkly romantic musical, "Notes on a Sunday," plays at the University of Utah's Studio 115 Thursday through March 30.
The musical, written by U. senior Sam Wessels, is set in lonely suburbia and follows a family on the edge of destruction. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and March 30. Tickets, $9 ($5 students), are available by calling 801-581-7100. The theater is on the U. campus just west of the bookstore. The show contains mature themes and language, and isn't appropriate for youth under 14.
The world circus: An unusual performance exploring the dreamlike magic of Carnivale will take place in four locations, including Salt Lake City, on Friday, Saturday and March 30.
"Carnivale" - described as "a live, distributed, real-time, surrealist, cinematic performance" - is directed by Jimmy and Beth Miklavcic. Performers in different locations are videotaped simultaneously and the video streams are then "captured, mixed, digitized, encoded and streamed onto the network" as a "director" manipulates the streams to create an "audio-visual tapestry."
Utah characters include Madame Flambé, the Bearded Woman (Ryan Lucas); Soliloquy, the sword-fighting Harlequin Soldier (Hanelle Miklavcic); Mystique Francesca Futura, the Gypsy Fortune Teller (Elizabeth A. Miklavcic); Raqs Sharqi, the Belly Dancer (Maia Taylor); and Ballistrina Helium, the Balloon Peddler (Priscilla Steed). These characters will come alive along with other virtual and real circus performers, under the command of Ringmaster Mr. Barney Carnacle (Travis Eberhard).
The show's animated, multilayered display, inspired by a carousel and other amusement-park rides, was created by Mike Daley of Cardiff University. Puppets were created by Marla Schweppe and Joe Geigel of New York's Rochester Institute of Technology, with music by composer Joe Reitzer of West Chicago, Ill.
In Salt Lake City, "Carnivale" will play at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. March 30, in the U.'s Intermountain Network and Scientific Computation Center Auditorium, 155 S. 1452 East, north of the Park Building on Presidents Circle, Salt Lake City.
Tickets are $7 ($5 students), available at the door (appropriate for ages 12 and above). For information, visit www.anotherlanguage.org/interplay or call 801-531-9419.
Mormon Boy, Part II: The Utah Pride Center is sponsoring performances of "Mormon American Princess," the newest work by Steven Fales, on Saturday and Sunday.
Fales is the creator of the one-man show "Confessions of a Mormon Boy," which has received more than 500 performances around the country after garnering attention at the 2004 New York Fringe Festival. The new piece is billed as an exploration of a self-absorbed society. "God has seen me through excommunication, divorce, prostitution and drugs. Now we're working on narcissism. And it's not going well!" Fales says.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Pride Center. The show will be performed at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Saturday, when tickets are $30 and include a reception; and 7 p.m. March 30, with tickets $25 for a cabaret fireside show. For reservations, call 801-355-ARTS or visit www.arttix.org.
