Arts - The Salt Lake Tribune

Drama testing friendship between gay and Mormon youth goes to ‘Fringe NYC’

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:47:41 MDT

Drama testing friendship between gay and Mormon youth goes to ‘Fringe NYC’

by Ben Fulton The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 17, 2013 02:47PM MDT

New York City loves, loves, loves plays about gay Mormons. Or at least Mormons and their gay friends. Playwright and actor Steven Fales took his one-man show “Confessions of a Mormon Boy,” chronicling his journey from closeted LDS missionary to New York City call-boy, to the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival. Three years later, Plan-B Theatre Company took Carol Lynn Pearson’s drama “Facing East,” about Mormon parents grieving the suicide of their gay son, to an off-Broadway stage. Now ...

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May’s gallery stroll features bikes, BYU artists and ‘Star Wars’

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:25:25 MDT

May’s gallery stroll features bikes, BYU artists and ‘Star Wars’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 16, 2013 11:25AM MDT

May is usually a good time for a stroll — or at least the art exhibitors taking part in this month’s Salt Lake Gallery Stroll Friday, May 17, hope it is. The monthly open house for local art galleries takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. at galleries in and around downtown Salt Lake City. Go to gallerystroll.org for a list of participating galleries. Here are a few highlights: Stroll or roll • Since May is National Bike Month, organizers of the Gallery Stroll are encouraging folks to ride bikes betwee...

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Salt Lake County Library joins Big Library Read for global library book club

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:43:04 MDT

Salt Lake County Library joins Big Library Read for global library book club

by Ben Fulton The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 15, 2013 01:43PM MDT

Salt Lake County Library will be one of 35,000 libraries worldwide participating in a two-week “Big Library Read” program, allowing thousands of patrons to read to a free downloadable book. Starting Wednesday and running through June 1, patrons can download Michael Malone’s 2009 novel The Four Corners of the Sky, about a young woman who follows her navy pilot father in adventures across the United States and into Cuba. The campaign marks a second wind for so-called collective book clubs, in ...

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Coalville artist Keetch wins People’s Choice Award

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:18:30 MDT

Coalville artist Keetch wins People’s Choice Award

by Scott Iwasaki Special To The Tribune

Published May 14, 2013 09:18AM MDT

Coalville metal sculptor Cody Keetch has won the Summit County Public Art Advisory Board’s People’s Choice Award. Residents selected Keetch’s work, titled “Metal Mulley,” through online and paper ballot votes. The city of Coalville will purchase the artwork, which depicts a monster buck made from welded and hammered pieces of scrap metal, to display at the Summit County Public Art Artscape outdoor gallery. In addition, Keetch will receive $2,500. Read the full story: http://www.parkrecord.co...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Bellow — up close and personal

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:24:25 MDT

Bellow — up close and personal

by Seth Lerer San Francisco Chronicle

Published May 13, 2013 11:24AM MDT

Saul Bellow was one of America’s most autobiographical novelists. From The Adventures of Augie March, through Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Humboldt’s Gift and Ravelstein, old friends and enemies, ex-wives and lovers rise and fall like buoys in a current of memory. Never reluctant to make public statements, Bellow fueled our fascination with his art and life, and James Atlas’ massive biography, published in 2000, opened up that life for a new generation of readers. Greg Bellow, Bellow’s eldes...

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After a rich sense of art and culture

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:24:25 MDT

After a rich sense of art and culture

by David L. Ulin Los Angeles Times

Published May 13, 2013 11:24AM MDT

Janet Malcolm may end up best known for a single paragraph: the one that starts her 1990 book The Journalist and the Murderer. “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible,” she writes there. “He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people’s vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.” The indictment is more powerful because Malcolm never renders herself i...

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The Grand gives ‘La Cage aux Folles’ a flamboyant, funny production

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:41:19 MDT

The Grand gives ‘La Cage aux Folles’ a flamboyant, funny production

by Barbara M. Bannon Special To The Tribune

Published May 10, 2013 08:41AM MDT

What happens when family values collide with lifestyles that are out of society’s mainstream? Thirty years ago, Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s campy musical comedy “La Cage aux Folles” addressed that question with an attitude that was part tongue-in-cheek and part social commentary. The Grand Theatre’s current version of this multiple Tony Award-winning show is a fast-moving, no-holds-barred production that is consistently entertaining. The good news is that “La Cage” does not seem dated,...

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‘World’s Strongest Librarian’ strengthens writing voice in new memoir

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:39:50 MDT

‘World’s Strongest Librarian’ strengthens writing voice in new memoir

by Ben Fulton the Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 8, 2013 11:39AM MDT

Don’t share your thoughts about librarians leading bored, desperate lives with Josh Hanagarne. As an employee at the Salt Lake City Main Library, with a specialty on third-floor volumes encompassing medicine, finance, psychology and cooking — “the problem-solving books,” as he puts it — he’s exposed to the fullest possible range of human folly, tragedy and glory. “The public library contains multitudes. And each person who visits contains multitudes as well,” he’ll tell you. “I watched a man ch...

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Review: Pioneer Theatre’s ‘Les Misérables’ adroitly balances spectacle and intimacy

Tue, 07 May 2013 08:59:33 MDT

Review: Pioneer Theatre’s ‘Les Misérables’ adroitly balances spectacle and intimacy

by Barbara Bannon Special To The Tribune

Published May 7, 2013 08:59AM MDT

It is stating the obvious to say that “Les Misérables“ has become one of Utah’s favorite musicals. The opening of Pioneer Theatre Company’s eloquent and emotionally powerful production offers another opportunity to discover why. Perhaps the most obvious reason is the richness of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s multilayered musical score and its uncanny ability to capture both the complexity and simplicity of Victor Hugo’s sprawling portrait of France at a tumultuous turning point i...

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Preview: An ‘anti-biennial’ takes over UMOCA

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:52:29 MDT

Preview: An ‘anti-biennial’ takes over UMOCA

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 6, 2013 08:52AM MDT

In the art world, a biennial is a once-every-two-years event, a massive group show that aims to cover the waterfront of what’s new and now in contemporary art. Venice started the tradition — which is why biennale, the Italian version of the word, is often used by snooty art types — in 1895, and starts this year’s edition on June 1. The Whitney Museum of American Art has one of the most famous biennials in the United States, surveying contemporary art every even-numbered year. This month, the Uta...

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‘Les Misérables’ once more at Pioneer Theatre Company

Sat, 04 May 2013 19:33:20 MDT

‘Les Misérables’ once more at Pioneer Theatre Company

by Ben Fulton The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 4, 2013 07:33PM MDT

It’s tempting — too tempting, really — to dismiss “Les Misérables” as a musical so perennially popular and fiscally dependable it could pass as the crutch of choice for theater companies with nothing better to do. There’s more than a little truth to that nasty allegation. But in the case of Pioneer Theatre Company’s upcoming production of the Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil musical juggernaut, you’d be horribly, terribly wrong. Never mind that this musical has been ever so kind to Uta...

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New novel: A Bountiful ‘Journey’ for young, struggling Mormon

Sat, 04 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

New novel: A Bountiful ‘Journey’ for young, struggling Mormon

by Diane Cole Special To The Tribune

Published May 4, 2013 01:01AM MDT

In the first book of his promised trilogy, Journey (If Where You’re Going Isn’t Home), Max Zimmer takes us on a soul-searching trip to 1950s Bountiful, Utah, where he and his fictional adolescent counterpart, Shake Tauffler, grew up in the shadow of LDS Church headquarters. It’s a trip worth taking, whether the reader’s roots are in Utah or elsewhere. Readers curious about the ideas and customs that contributed to the development of men such as Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s last presidenti...

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SUU alumnus garners Tony Award nomination for role in ‘Hands on a Hardbody’

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:30:29 MDT

SUU alumnus garners Tony Award nomination for role in ‘Hands on a Hardbody’

by Ben Fulton The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 2, 2013 10:30AM MDT

A Southern Utah University alumnus was nominated Tuesday for a Tony Award. Keala Settle, who played the character of Norma Valverde in the Broadway premiere of “Hands on a Hardbody,” is one of five nominees for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. Settle said in an email she was excited by the news but had no time to talk about her nomination. The musical, based on a 1997 documentary film, follows 10 Texans determined to win a pickup truck after a car lot sponsors a co...

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Author of ‘Falling in Love with Joseph Smith’ almost became Mormon

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:42:37 MDT

Author of ‘Falling in Love with Joseph Smith’ almost became Mormon

by Ben Fulton the Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 2, 2013 09:42AM MDT

Those who prefer a quiet reading environment are bound to be disappointed while skimming the pages of Jane Barnes’ Falling in Love With Joseph Smith. That’s because it won’t matter how silent your local library or living room may be. Barnes’ swooning ode to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ founding prophet is sometimes so loud and rapturous it recalls classic documentary footage of a Beatles concert. Open her book at any page. Barnes’ enthusiasm overflows in torrents of prose. ...

Book review: Back to basics with Michael Pollan

Wed, 01 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Book review: Back to basics with Michael Pollan

by Jack Bishop San Francisco Chronicle

Published May 1, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Michael Pollan is a great storyteller. He shapes seemingly random observations about the way we eat into a larger cultural and historical narrative that’s always thought provoking and often persuasive. At times, the broad themes are obvious (such as the pernicious effects of fast food on the American diet), but Pollan’s wide-ranging research, eye for interesting detail and ability to weave the two together make good reading. Cooked has a simple structure. The book is divided into four parts (Fi...

Tony Award nods largely skip stars for veterans

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:38:10 MDT

Tony Award nods largely skip stars for veterans

by Mark Kennedy The Associated Press

Published Apr 30, 2013 08:38PM MDT

NEW YORK • The Tony Awards committee largely favored tried-and-true stage veterans over flashy visitors Tuesday when announcing this year’s Tony nominations, with Hollywood stars such as Bette Midler, Jessica Chastain, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes and Scarlett Johansson never hearing their names called. With the exception of Broadway debutant Tom Hanks, the acting categories were mostly filled by established theater creatures such as Laurie Metcalf, Amy Morton, Laura Osnes, Nathan Lane, Tracy Letts, ...

Barbara Williams, 1925-2013: Utah children’s author connected to young readers

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:34:32 MDT

Barbara Williams, 1925-2013: Utah children’s author connected to young readers

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Apr 30, 2013 05:34PM MDT

Barbara Williams, a best-selling children’s author and an advocate for social justice, died last week in Salt Lake City. She was 88. Williams was “one of the towering figures in children’s literature,” said Betsy Burton, owner of The King’s English Bookstore in Salt Lake City. “Her voice was pitch perfect,” Burton said of Williams’ writing. “She got into the way young people think and feel. She connected to the people she was writing about and writing for.” Williams wrote 52 books over her deca...

David Sedaris brings wry humor to Salt Lake

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:28:12 MDT

David Sedaris brings wry humor to Salt Lake

by Ben Fulton The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Apr 29, 2013 07:28AM MDT

As one of the most well-traveled writers currently in the business, you’d expect David Sedaris to have an opinion on hotels. “I don’t like the [Manhattan] hotel I’m in at all. There are slamming doors everywhere,” he said, making his way through the rounds of phone interviews early this month. “But don’t you dare stand between me and the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City. There’s no place like it. It’s like a four-star motel. Everywhere else people would treat it as campy, but there’s no p...

Theater review: “A Night with the Family” mines foibles for humor

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:28:12 MDT

Theater review: “A Night with the Family” mines foibles for humor

by Barbara Bannon Special To The Tribune

Published Apr 29, 2013 07:28AM MDT

At one point in the first act of Matthew Ivan Bennett’s madcap comedy “A Night with the Family,” daughter Bree is running to the bathroom to throw up, mom Diane is passionately kissing her sexy French-Canadian boyfriend Antoine, and son Donny is having a panic attack brought on by a misunderstanding with his new wife, while dad Donald whips up undrinkable herbal smoothies in the kitchen. It’s just a typical Christmas Eve in the life of a far-from-typical family in Salt Lake City. Pygmalion Produ...