This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Marriage equality, stage by stage
Conceived by Brian Shnipper and directed by Stuart Ross as a chain of benefit events in Los Angeles, "Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays" has since taken the theater world by storm, with more than 25 theaters and universities across 19 states staging the play simultaneously on Monday. Plan-B Theatre Company is in on the action, sponsoring its own "Standing on Ceremony" event as part of its Script-In-Hand Series. The play will be book-ended by a live streaming introduction before the play, with a question-and-answer session afterward from New York City's Minetta Lane Theatre. Directed by Plan-B Theatre Company producing director Jerry Rapier, the play's cast features such local luminaries as Bill Allred of X96, RadioWest host Doug Fabrizio and Equality Utah Executive Director Brandie Balken.
When • Nov. 7 at 6 p.m.
Where • Salt Lake Art Center, 20 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City
Tickets • Free, but must be reserved at planbtheatre.org or equalityutah.org. Call 801-297-4200 for more information.
All dressed up
Eleanor Estes' play "The Hundred Dresses" is one of the better dramatic works about the importance of tolerance, taking the story of Wanda Petronski, a young Polish immigrant in small-town America, to poignant conclusion when local children learn the back story behind her many dresses. Performed by BYU's Young Company student actors and directors, this free production will performed Monday evening at Orem Library's Storytelling Wing. Donations of women's and girls dresses will be taken by cast members after the performance.
When • Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
Where • Orem Public Library, 58 N. State St., Orem
Tickets • Free. Call 801-229-7377 for more information.
'The Importance of Being Earnest' at Ogden High
Oscar Wilde's timeless drama about the most famous male name with all-important "vibrations" comes to Ogden High School's beautifully resorted Art Deco auditorium. It will be hard to find a high school drama production for which content and setting match so well.
When • Nov. 9-11, 7 p.m.
Where • Ogden High School, 2828 Harrison Blvd., Ogden
Tickets • $5. Call 801-737-8700 for more information, or visit http://www.ohs.ogdensd.org.
The original, and hirsute, rock opera
With song titles such as "Hashish," "Sodomy" and "I'm Black/Colored Spade" back to back, and all early in its first act, no musical wore its radical heart on so open a sleeve quite like "Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical." Ditto for its radio smash-hits, "Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine In." The 1968 Broadway opening of James Rado and Gerome Ragni's blockbuster musical, the first to be termed "rock opera," was so seismic it's almost touching to recall that it took a full 10 years for Milos Forman's film adaptation to somehow eclipse it in 1979. When it did, Rado and Ragni weren't at all happy. Not only had 10 songs been cut from the score, but the core sentiment of the United States' peace movement been lost, they felt. A very good reason, then, to see the University of Utah department of theatre's production of this seminal piece of musical theater, one of the few produced even as the touring production of its Broadway revival makes it way through the country. The U.'s production is directed by Alex Gelman, former head of the U.'s MFA program in directing, now director of Northern Illinois University's school of theatre and dance and producing artistic director of Chicago's Organic Theater Company. As musical theater experiences go, the stage production of "Hair" may be the last remaining artistic portal to understanding why the 1960s was more than casual sex in a water bed, or getting stoned to groovy music and the undulating fluid of a lava lamp.
When • Nov. 11-20, 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees Nov. 19 and 20.
Where • Babcock Theatre downstairs in Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the University of Utah campus, 300 S. 1400 East , Salt Lake City
Tickets • $7.50-$20. Call 801-581-7100 or visit http://www.kingsburyhall.org for more information.
An intimate 'Inspecting Carol' at SLCC
Written by Tony-winning Broadway director Daniel J. Sullivan, the 1991 comedy "Inspecting Carol" is, similar to Michael Frayn's "Noises Off!," one of the finest plays about theater, or about a group of people attempting to bring a play off the ground. About a small theater company in a mid-sized city that could be Anywhere, USA, it all revolves around a mixed-bag cast of characters whom a director named Zorah must herd into a workable dramatic production. See it in Salt Lake Community College's intimate, 55-seat Black Box Theatre.
When • Nov. 9-19, 7:30 p.m.
Where • The Black Box Theatre, room W 210 at Salt Lake Community College's South City Campus, 1575 S. State St., Salt Lake City
Tickets • $10, or free for SLCC students, faculty and staff with valid ID. Call 801-957-3322 for more information.
'Tempest' in Logan
Actors from the London Stage have come to Utah State University only five times in the past 12 years. Each visit by this self-directed ensemble of five professional actors is said to have been more impressive than the last. Comprised of actors from esteemed companies such as Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Shakespeare's Globe among others, this national outreach program of Shakespeare at Notre Dame has become a traveling program of choice among Bard aficionados. For its sixth visit to the USU campus, the Actors have chosen a minimalist production of "The Tempest" that, according to USU English professor Phebe Jensen, highlights Shakespeare's luminous language and mysterious plot-line against a minimalist set design. If you missed Pioneer Theatre Company's "theater machine" production of this timeless Shakespeare romance, directed by Charles Morey which ended last Saturday, now's your chance to make up for it.
When • Nov. 10-12, 7:30 p.m.
Where • Morgan Theatre at Chase Fine Arts Center, Utah State University, 4030 Old Main Hill, Logan
Tickets • $5-$15. Call 435-797-8022 or visit arts.usu.edu for more information.
'Nathan Hale' musical at Dixie State College
Last year, former House speaker and now Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich delighted in criticizing President Obama for his "Kenyan, anti-colonial" world view. What's lost in such comments, of course, is just how "anti-colonial" our nation's founders were when it came to rebellion against the British crown. Nathan Hale, the 21-year-old Connecticut school teacher turned revolutionary, is a case in point. Responsible for the heart-pumping patriotic phrase, "I only regret I have but one life to give for my country," Hale snuck behind enemy lines in New York City, only to find his premature end hanging from a British rope. Playwright Brent Hanson has written the book and lyrics for his world-premiere production, aptly titled "Nathan Hale," by Dixie State College's theatre and music departments. It features music by Benjamin Stratford and Ricky Valadez, with Shannon Roberts and Justin Hansen. Michael Harding, a resident Shakespeare scholar with Dixie State College, directs.
When • Nov. 10-12 and 15-19, 7:30 p.m.
Where • Eccles Fine Art Center at Dixie State College, 225 S. 700 E., St. George
Info • Call 435-652-7800 or visit http://www.tickets.dixie.edu for more information.
Egyptian Theatre turns 'Park City Burlesque'
That burlesque singing and dancing has grown from its roots of lower-class appeal in the late 1800s to one of today's greatest trends of nostalgic theater is a great irony. The honest among us, however, will also admit it's a source of great fun. Reprising its sold-out shows from this spring, Park City Burlesque has put a "circus theme" on its upcoming productions this Friday and Saturday. The cast is all local, with choreography by Tanya Taylor and direction by Amber Hansen. With seating capacity of 265, procrastinating your ticket purchase isn't recommended.
When • Nov. 11, 8 p.m.; Nov. 12, 6 and 9 p.m.
Where • The Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main Street, Park City
Info • $20-$23. Recommended for those 16 and older. Call 435-649-9371 or visit http://www.ParkCityShows.com for more information.
Olmos at Grand Theatre
Edward James Olmos, perhaps best-known for his Oscar nominated turn portraying a real-life calculus teacher in inner-city Los Angeles, will speak during a town hall-style meeting at Salt Lake Community College's Grand Theatre on Wednesday. In addition to his film role and subsequent fame playing Lt. Castillo on the "Miami Vice" television series, Olmos is producer, director and community activist. His presentation will be in English, with a question-and-answer portion to follow in both Spanish and English. Olmos' speaking engagement is also sponsored by SLCC, Centro Cívico Mexicano and the Salt Lake City Office of Diversity and Human Rights.
When • Nov. 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where • Grand Theatre on the South City Campus of Salt Lake Community College, 1575 S. State St., Salt Lake City.
Info • Free. Visit http://www.slcc.edu/ace or http://www.the-grand.org for more information.
'Battle' songs at SUU
"Bleeding chunks" is the term critics use to deride overtures and musical numbers excised for performance from the whole work to which they rightly belong. What these critics miss, however, is the sheer programmatic fun that awaits when creative directors wrap their imaginations around a great theme, then proceed to choose musical numbers reflecting the spirit of that single idea. Such is the case with "Bickerings, Battles and Brawls!" a concert program of songs from musical theater and opera productions. Directed by Lawrence Johnson, this four-night program includes pieces from works including Giacomo Puccini's "La Boheme," Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," Michael Ching's Buoso's "Ghost," Georges Bizet's "Carmen" as well as numbers from the musical theatre including Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's "Camelot" and "Gigi," Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's "Cinderella," Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer's "Les Miserables" and Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun."
When • Nov. 9-12, 7:30 p.m.
Where • Thorley Recital Hall, Southern Utah University campus, 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City
Info • $4-$8. Call 435-586-7872 or visit http://www.suu.edu/arts for more information.
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