The truth is I have actually written this review twice. I loved seeing Once at Centerpoint Legacy this Tuesday, and as I was late getting to see it (because of my recent travel) I wrote up my review on Wednesday and then I heard of the passing of Glen Hansard who wrote the music for Once, and I knew I had to come up with something else. Mostly I just feel grateful to have been able to witness a wonderful production of Hansard’s beautiful work the night before his passing. I’ll always treasure that gift of experience.

Anyway, back to the production. I admire Centerpoint for taking on the musical Once. It is definitely a stretching show for them and their audience. They are doing the squeaky clean version language-wise of this show but even so it is more mature than what they typically select; thereby, making it a bold pick. It also is challenging because all of the actors also play their own live music. This is tough for a company like Centerpoint that usually performs to recorded backtracks not a live orchestra. I’m amazed they found such all-around talented performers not only for one cast but enough to double cast it.

I definitely want to see the MWF cast because this TThS cast is incredible. I was truly impressed with all involved. Their talents and chemistry together is a joy to watch. Everything is led by Spencer Hunsicker as Guy and Ellie Hughes as girl. My friend who is Irish said Hunsicker’s accent is ‘insanely good.’

Once is also is a very intimate story for the large sprawling Centerpoint stage. Fortunately director David Martin succeeds in getting the best out of his actors and making the tenderness of the scenes sing out to the mezzanine where I was sitting. The set by Truxton-Moulton captures a street of Dublin but allows us to peer into the shops and storefronts and see what is happening. Again, it makes it feel intimate despite being such a large stage. I also really enjoyed how they used a marquee lighted sign to make Girl’s Czech language and background a part of the story.

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If you are unfamiliar with the story of Once it is all about recognizing the small victories of life. Girl sees Guy singing on the street with the opening song “Leave” and can sense his despair. She decides to encourage him and they strike up a friendship. This doesn’t lead to a grand record contract or a concert before thousands. It leads to one day of recording together and then they all move on. They capture a moment together and that’s enough to be special- it’s one moment as the title suggests. “Falling Slowly” is the highlight of the show but there isn’t a bad song to be had, and they are performed beautifully by this talented cast.

There were some problems the night I attended with the sound mix coming off echoey and a little off at times but this is understandable as they don’t normally work with live performers on stage and it is a big theater space. Still, I really enjoyed it and feel grateful to have been able to be inspired by Hansard’s work the night before his passing. That is a gift. I hope I get to see the MWF cast at Centerpoint. I definitely recommend seeing this beautiful show before it closes on August 18th. Tickets are very affordable and can be purchased here. I also highly recommend their Tarzan which is still playing until August 15th.

Once has music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová with a book by Enda Walsh. It is based on the film which is written and directed by John Carney (who also did one of my favorite movies Sing Street which also has a musical version I have not seen but I’m dying to see it with a book by Walsh.) The film went on to win Hansard an Oscar Once premiered Off-Broadway in 2011 and on Broadway in 2012. It won 8 Tony Awards including best musical.

If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

This last Saturday was evidently my day for trying out musicals I didn’t like the first time around and fortunately I had a better experience with both of them on the second watch. The first was The Lightning Thief at The Empress (review here) and then I saw Ride the Cyclone at a new company Roller Coaster Theatrics. I had previously seen this cult favorite show a few years ago and did not have a great experience (see review here) Thankfully I had a much better experience this time and found a new company to be excited about.

It’s really quite poetic that Roller Coaster Theatrics would start out their company with a production of Ride the Cyclone. Like I said this is a cult favorite musical about what happens when a group of choir students has an accident on a roller coaster, all die and have to plead their cases to a fortune teller named The Amazing Karmak.

This show takes place at The Hive Collaborative and it is directed by Kate Allen with music direction by Zachary Sharp. They smartly keep things simple and in some ways it feels like a black box space rather than a thrust theater. It’s got that small intimate feeling of a black box. The cast is small with 7 in the afterlife and 2 actors playing Karnak (I think I had Alaina Hyland but I’m not positive.)

Each of the recently deceased has a song that serves as their introduction to the audience and their testimony before the Karmak to win a trip back to Earth. They are all very well performed with Maryn Christensen being the standout as Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg. My favorite part of Christensen’s performance is actually her acting outside of her song. Her responses when the others are singing is very compelling. She really creates a complete character we come to understand throughout the musical. I also loved Hailey Portolesi as Jane Doe. She has a beautiful voice and is perhaps the character who surprises us the most as viewers.

Part of the reason I didn’t like Ride the Cyclone before is it felt forced in its comedy and quirkiness. Because its a cult classic it felt like everyone was laughing at inside jokes that I didn’t get. This is obnoxious. I also felt like the actors were shouting at me in every song. It reminded me of Beetlejuice which in this aspect is not a good thing. Thankfully I did not feel this way in this more intimate heartfelt staging. I also really enjoyed the video of the actors as children made to look like old film reels (I don’t have program so not sure who to credit for that.)

That said if you do like Beetlejuice you probably will like Ride the Cyclone. They both have similar styles and themes. I think this feels a little more creative because it’s an original story but they have some elements in common. Unfortunately Ride the Cyclone is only playing 2 more times this weekend but I will be curious what Roller Coaster Theatrics does next. Tickets can be purchased here.

Ride the Cyclone has music, lyrics and book by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. It is an original story and it first premiered in 2009 in Canada. Then it had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2016. It had its premiere in London this year

If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

It’s always interesting when I’m asked to review a show I haven’t been the biggest fan of in the past. I always let the company know of my previous experience and if they still want my opinion I will try and be as fair as possible with the review. Often the company will help me see the material in a new way and at the very least see why it is popular or appealing to a particular audience. Such was my experience watching The Lightning Thief at The Empress. This is flawed material that the teens at The Empress Theatre were able to elevate into something creative and exciting.

I do still think the musical book (not the novel) for The Lightning Thief is a bit of a mess. Characters are introduced and then abandoned, others reappear out of nowhere, the same is true for plot-points. For most of the first act it seems like this is going to be a summer camp coming of age story, then it becomes a quest with muddled goal, confusing villains and stakes, and much more. I know it is based on the book (which I have read) as well as being based on mythology but the writers of the musical didn’t do a good job creating a coherent vision with character arcs that are interesting and make sense.

All that said, a company like The Empress can still do creative things with flawed material and that’s what they did here. Percy Jackson is played by Elias Silva, and I don’t think I’ve seen him before in local theater, but he’s terrific as our lead. He’s a talented actor who has to mine a lot of different emotions including grief, anger, shame, victory and more. Plus, he is up for the fight choreography throughout (which is another highlight of the production by Marc Reading.) The rest of the teens have a nice chemistry together with Parker Skeen as Grover, Beck Bassett as Luke, and Eloise Derr as Annabeth to name a few. I also really enjoyed Cheryl Cripps who has a lot of fun playing villainous roles of Mrs. Dodds/Medusa/Charon

Besides the teens, the standout of this production directed by Beth Bruner is the creative visual effects they use throughout. Given this is a story about a modern teen who ends up on a quest with the Greek gods there’s a lot of magic and monsters that has to be created on a very small budget. What Bruner and set (and lighting) designer David Bruner do is create shadow puppets and silhouettes to look like the various creatures and settings (for example, at one point The Gateway Arch is silhouetted on to the fabric backdrop and it becomes part of the story.) This not only works for the narrative (muddled as it might be) but it creates a cool mystical tone that kept surprising me as a viewer. It also looked like they had 3D printed items as part of Medusa’s gallery. This attention to detail is very impressive.

I also really enjoyed how immersive everything felt. There was even a scene where the character throws a necklace into the audience and it landed right in my lap and then on to the floor. They also did a good job of using both sides of the platform at The Empress (it’s an unusually shaped theater but sometimes they use the platforms more than others and this was a good example of that.)

Most importantly it seems like the teens were having a great time and growing as people and performers. This is something I will always support and celebrate. I know The Lightning Thief has a lot of fans as a musical- especially young fans. If you or someone in your family is one of those people I would particularly recommend seeing this production at The Empress. It’s creativity and the energy of the teens is definitely worth seeing. It is playing until August 8th and tickets can be purchased here.

The Lightning Thief has music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki with a book by Joe Tracz based on the novel of the same name by Rick Riordan. It was first premiered Off-Broadway in 2014 and on Broadway in 2019.

If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

Hi theatre friends! We are nearing the end of the month so I have some theater to update you on that I attended as a patron not a critic (or I have already reviewed the production and I saw a different cast.) Here are my quick thoughts on these shows:

Xanadu- West Valley Arts, West Valley City

Honestly I debated about whether I wanted to see Xanadu at West Valley Arts. I had previously seen it at the University of Utah and found it quite dull and difficult to connect with. However, I decided to give it another chance and I’m glad that I did. Director Brooklyn Kohler did a good job creating an immersive experience and using the theatre-in-the-round set up to its fullest (this is a critique I’ve sometimes had with WVA productions.) But most importantly they brought out the humor of Xanadu making it fun to watch even if the plot is on the convoluted side. I also love Ariana Bagley who was perfectly cast as Kira. I do wish there was more rollerskating in this show but it’s fun the amount we do get (nothing will ever top Starlight Express at Liahona in that department!) WVA has Newsies coming up next and tickets can be purchased here.

Ancestral Voices- The Hive Collaborative, Provo

I love any chance I have to attend live readings especially with talented people like Matthew De La Fuente, Star Hermann and more. I had been invited to this reading for Ancestral Voices by director Heidi Mendez Harrison when she was on my podcast about senior focused productions (listen here) They only had one performance and it was free to the public so I’m glad I had the chance to see it when I did. This play is by AR Gurney and it tells the story of a family in the 1940s and how they looked at the divorce of the family grandparents. It definitely has that nostalgic feel which makes for a pleasant night of theatre. I hope I get to see it fully staged some day but this was still a very enjoyable staged reading. Make sure you are following Heidi for all the cool stuff she is involved with and the many performances held at the Hive.

Once On this Island- The Ruth, Pleasant Grove

I was so excited when I went to see Once On This Island at The Ruth in May. I hadn’t seen it since I was in high school so it was such a treat to get to see this incredible staging with one of the most impressive sets I’m likely to see this year (my review here.) Because it is so rarely performed here I wanted to fit in seeing the other cast which I did on their final performance! Everything I said about the other cast was still true especially with the dance and how immersive the experience was. The standout on this other cast was Aria Love Jackson as Asaka. The highlight of the night was her rendition of “Mama Will Provide” to close out Act 1. It was incredible. I also got to mee the talented AJ Nielsen that night who was single cast in the show as Man 1. He will be in their upcoming production of Frozen which I am greatly looking forward to.

The Ruth is currently performing The Scarlet Pimpernel which is wonderful. Tickets for that can be purchased here.

Hadestown: Teen Edition- The Ruth, Pleasant Grove

Speaking of The Ruth I have also reviewed their teen production of Hadestown: Teen Edition (read that review here.) However, members of the other cast reached out to me so I really wanted to make sure to see both casts. The Ruth was kind enough to allow me to see the other cast on their closing night. First of all, it was such a brilliant choice by The Ruth to take the set of Once On This Island and transform it for Hadestown. The vibes are very similar with Hadestown being set in New Orleans all they needed to do was add a railway sign and it remove the sand/water and it worked great. Both teen casts were incredible but I loved the rawness of this MWF cast. There was mania that Jackson Marsh, Claire Hendershot brought to their performances of Hades and Persephone respectively. I also LOVED how director Brighton Sloan integrated dance into the production. It was truly stunning. Ezekiel Binkerd brought an emotion to the role of Hermes I rarely see. He literally cried at the ending, which was incredible. The next teen production at The Ruth is going to be Beetlejuice Jr and I’m sure it will be worth a watch. More information can be found here.

My Fair Lady- Hale Center Theatre, Sandy

I absolutely loved Hale Center Theater‘s production of My Fair Lady and they were kind enough to let me see both casts of this wonderful show (can read my review here.) I loved both casts but this one the Eliza played by Lisa Zimmerman was basically perfect in her acting for this role. She was so good at songs like “Rain in Spain” making it seem like she was actually doing vocal exercises and her sound was actually changing and evolving. She even put her hands on her face like she was doing the exercises. Keith McKay Evans brought a manic energy to Professor Higgins I really enjoyed. Particularly in Act II he was very unhinged which made him more endearing and likable as a character. I also really enjoyed Daniel Hess as Alfred P Doolittle even though he is my least favorite character in the show. Hess is such a charming actor he even makes Alfie likable. I just loved this production and am so glad I got to see it twice. Director Ryan Simmons and the team at Hale knocked it out of the park. Hale has Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on the big stage which I am seeing next week. Tickets can be purchased here. Also make sure to watch Our Town and Harmony on the other stages.

Utah Shakespeare Festival shows- Cedar City

I am grateful I was able to review 3 shows at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. However, there were 3 shows I attended that I was not able to review unfortunately. Here are my quick thoughts. The first was Something Rotten which was fun to see a spoof of Shakespeare at the festival but I wish the execution had been on the professional level I had hoped for. The cast is very talented and I’ll never have a bad time seeing Something Rotten but it felt underwhelming with a minimal set that changed only a panel and costumes that aside from the eggs felt used from other shows. Still a fun show but disappointing.

Then that same cast did She Loves Me and it was so much better. This had a substantial rotating set that portrayed both the storefront and insides of the Maraczek’s store. They also had sets for the backroom of the store, restaurant and Amalia’s room. The cast was all the same for Something Rotten and they are all very talented with Ali Ewoldt and Matt Koenig having great chemistry as Amalia and Georg respectively. The whole cast was delightful and with the set and choreography I felt like I got my moneys-worth with a professional production.

The final show was See How They Run which I have become very interested in with my assistant directing it next year at The Empress (I love the show anyways. It’s so funny.) My favorite part of this production was Caitlin Wise as Miss Skillon. She threw her entire body into the performance literally flinging herself over loveseats and into closets, really selling the physical comedy of her character. It made me realize how important Miss Skillon is to the success of the show. I definitely will be paying extra attention to that casting next year. I would take any chance to see See How They Run no matter where you see it but it’s a lot of fun at Utah Shakes.

So there you have it! That’s everything I’ve been watching as a patron over the last month. What have you been seeing? I hope you’ve seen some great stuff.

Xanadu has music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar with a book by Douglas Carter Beane. It is based on the movie from 1980 and the classic Greek mythology. Once on this Island has music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics and book by Lynn Ahrens based on the novel My Love, or the Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy. My Fair Lady has music by Frederick Loewe with lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Hadestown has music, lyrics and book by Anais Mitchell based on the greek mythology. Ancestral Voices is a lay by AR Gurney. She Loves Me has music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick with a book by Joe Masteroff based on the Parfumerie play by Miklos Laszlo. Something Rotten has msuic and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick with book by Karey and John O’Farrell. See How They Run is a play by Philip King.

These logged shows I pay for out of pocket unless otherwise noted and I’d love to do that as much as possible. If you have a show you’d like me to take a look at and write a full review let me know. I also have my patreon which is a great way to support what I do and get some really fun perks. Find out more here.

So much of successful community theatre is matching the right show with the right company. This is true both on a talent and casting perspective but also from the point of view of the audience and what they are primed to appreciate and enjoy. A great example of the right show for the right venue is Annie Get Your Gun at Westgate Theater in West Yellowstone. Everything about the town of West Yellowstone screams Annie Get Your Gun and I can’t think of anything better on a Yellowstone vacation than seeing this classic musical in their newly renovated intimate thrust theater space.

Truth is I’m not sure why more community theaters don’t do Annie Get Your Gun more. I know it has some outdated elements (much of which were eliminated in the 1999 revival and the current book/songs) but it isn’t any more outdated than The Music Man and that’s done all the time (I love both for the record, but I’d love to see Annie Get Your Gun more.)

Anyway, it was so much fun to see Annie Get Your Gun in a western town in a theater with a western aesthetic to the front. Isn’t this just the perfect show for this venue? They are going to have a hard time finding another show that so fits their aesthetic!

Of course it’s not all about looks- the show still has to be good and this is. I had a ton of fun with this energetic romantic comedy classic. Cam Carter was my favorite part of See How They Run playing the maid Ida and she’s given the starring role here as Annie Oakley. I particularly loved her in Act II as the rivalry between Annie and Frank Butler heats up. Jacob Reinhart is charming as Frank and the duo have sparkling chemistry together. I also really enjoyed Malorie Grace and Parker Smith as Winnie Tate and Tommy Keeler respectively. “Who Do You Love, I Hope” and “I’ll Share it All With You” are two of my favorite songs of this musical and they are very cute here.

The songs in general are a delight. One cannot find better music than Irving Berlin (music and lyrics.) What a treat to hear “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “I Got the Sun in the Moring,” and “My Defenses are Down” to name a few. I also love “Old Fashioned Wedding” with its duet between Frank and Annie that Reinhart and Carter sing together well. The space at the Westgate is small but they make the most of it with choreography from Parker and Malorie Smith.

I also really enjoyed the way director Lisa Burton-Carter staged the various shoot-outs and carnival antics of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. They had balloons popping when a target is hit and one character would “throw” a knife at the same time another would “catch.” This is all coordinated well and a lot of fun.

My least favorite part of Annie Get Your Gun is the character of Dolly. This is no shade on the actress Abby Huff who does all she can for the role. It’s just one of those characters from the 40s and 50s who’s only joke is ‘I’m racist. Isn’t that funny?’ You see the same thing with the Mother in Bye Bye Birdie and a little of those characters goes a long way.

Still if you have a trip to West Yellowstone planned a trip to Westgate Theatre is a definite must see. I had a great time with both of the shows I saw and they have an additional one called The Great Western Melodrama which sounds like a lot of fun. Annie Get Your Gun is playing until August 26th and tickets can be purchased here.

Annie Get Your Gun has music and lyrics by Irving Berlin with a book by Dorothy and Herbert (brother and sister) Fields. It is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. It first premiered on Broadway in 1946 with a film version in 1950. The show won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical in 1999

I would love to be the theatre critic for all of Southern and Northern Utah (and in this case Montana) but these areas require travel which can be very expensive. I know many of you really appreciate those reviews but I can’t do them alone. I need your help! If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it on this site but I am going to be assistant directing my first play next year for Empress Theatre and it is one of my favorites, See How They Run. With this in the future I am trying to see the play as much as possible this year and try to get some inspiration for what I might want to do next year. I saw it at Utah Shakespeare Festival (they didn’t ask me to review it unfortunately) last week and then I saw it is being performed at the newly renovated Westgate Theatre in West Yellowstone and decided to take a little 2 day trip up North and see what this cute little theatre has to offer. Not only was it a the beginning of a pleasant little getaway but I really enjoyed the evening of madcap community theatre with this classic play.

Currently at Westgate they have 3 shows playing on their thrust stage that feels very similar in setup to Hopebox theatre or even Terrace Plaza. It’s small and intimate with comfortable seats. A perfect setting for a single-set simple show like this. Plus the intimacy adds to the chaos of the comedy. This production is directed by Amelia Bahr and Lisa Burton-Carter and I can tell they focused on having a cast with chemistry and that played off of each other effectively. I really enjoyed the production I saw at Utah Shakespeare Festival of See How They Run but it was dominated by Caitlin Wise as Miss Skillon where this felt like more of an ensemble project.

I do think Miss Skillon is a key element in this show because she is the straight character that is shocked by everything that is going on. Without her shocked expressions nothing else would read quite as funny as they do. In this production. Burton-Carter told me later she has played Miss Skillon over 100 times in her career, which is absolutely incredible. She takes this experience and brings lots of laughs but also helps make all of the other actors better.

My favorite performance of the night actually came from Cam Carter (Burton-Carter’s daughter) who is playing Ida. I just loved her accent and expressions especially with how flirty she is with with Clive played by Sean Gariety. Parker Smith is also a lot of fun as Lionel Toop. He knows how to holler and scream very well! Burton-Carter also told me that the man playing the Bishop (Jackson Shackelford) was a substitute and that the Sargent is a swing which is very impressive particularly with the chemistry and comedic timing they all had together. I’m not sure the name of the swing but well done.

In looking at the crew things at Westgate appear to be a family affair with a Jeff Carter in charge of set design and a Jill Carter, Amelia Bahr on sound design. That family atmosphere is what makes theaters like Westgate special. It’s why I love community theater. And I love discovering new spots like this and any chance I have to see See How They Run. It’s hilarious, and I recommend this version. Unfortunately there are only 3 more chances to see this very funny play through August 1st. Tickets can be purchased here.

See How They Run is by playwright Phillip King and first premiered in England in 1944 and on the West Endin 1945. It’s been revived a ton of times in the UK but never in the US on Broadway which is a real missed opportunity. What a funny play

I would love to be the theatre critic for all of Southern and Northern Utah but these areas require travel which can be very expensive. I know many of you really appreciate those reviews but I can’t do them alone. I need your help! If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

I honestly go back and forth on which of Shakespeare’s comedies are my favorite- Twelfth Night or Much Ado About Nothing. I love both but Twelfth Night is probably more madcap of the two. They are both a lot of fun and I will jump at any chance to see either. This year’s Utah Shakespeare Festival trip concluded with seeing Twelfth Night and it did not disappoint. What a rollicking good time and one I highly recommend.

My favorite part of this production lies with the lead performance of Caitlin Wise as Viola. She was also terrific in the USF‘s See How They Run as Ms Skillion, which I didn’t get the chance to review but is very funny. She throws her entire body into the comedy, and I really admire her complete transformation to the roles she plays. She also knows just how to time a gag or response letting things get uncomfortable with an extended reaction or large response (which is made more funny by how petite she is!) Kayland Jordan is a nice contrast to Wise as Olivia and she plays the entire role very straight and serious which is needed for this type of farce to work.

Of course Malvolio is a key character in Twelfth Night and Rodney Lizcano does a good job of making us feel sorry for what the poor pompous man is being put through. It adds to the humor to see someone so stuck up get their comeuppance.

All of the actors did a good job interacting with the audience and breaking the fourth wall on occasion but my favorite is Gabriel W Elmore as the jester Feste (original music composer and sound designer John Nobori.) He sings multiple songs including one to an audience member named Margarita. He did a lot with a more minor character and never failed to make me laugh with his expressive performance. The rest of the team united against Malvolio are very funny with Blake Henri playing Toby Belch, Kathryn Tkel as Maria (they have great chemistry) and John Harrell as Andrew. I appreciated little details like what Henri does with his wigs throughout the performance. It’s very funny.

The production of Twelfth Night is directed by festival director John Di Antonio and he has kept the staging simple with an Italian background that makes sense for the story. This is how I prefer my Shakespeare. There is no need to reinvent the wheel with a production- just let the classic work do its job is my opinion and he does that here. The biggest unique aspect is having Wise enter the action on aerial wraps which are to symbolize the storm that she’s tossed around in. This is a fun way to start out the story.

Just 2 seats below me the night I attended there were 2 young girls attending with their Grandpa. He was concerned at first they wouldn’t understand what is happening. This is one of the great aspects of Twelfth Night is that it is probably the easiest Shakespeare play to follow. It makes it an excellent introduction to his work and one you can take the entire family to and all enjoy. I highly recommend this fun production at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. It is running through September 5th and tickets can be purchased here.

Twelfth Night is Shakespeare’s 21st play. It is written in between As You Like It and Hamlet around 1599-1600. It is one of his most quotable plays with classic lines like “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”

I would love to be the theatre critic for all of Southern and Northern Utah but these areas require travel which can be very expensive. I know many of you really appreciate those reviews but I can’t do them alone. I need your help! If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

Especially when I’m down in Southern Utah I like to try and support as many theaters as I can. So while I was ostensibly down there to review the Utah Shakespeare Festival I also reviewed Grease at Tuacahn and changed my plans around when I heard American Crossroads Theatre was putting on the Broadway classic Chicago as part of their ambitious summer theatre series. I’d never been to anything ACT has put on (previously the Simonfest which I’d also never attended) and I was honestly a little nervous about them taking on something as challenging as Chicago. However, it turns out my worries were unfounded and they blew me away with the quality of this wonderful production. I highly recommend it and now my only regret is that I won’t be down there to see their 3 other shows currently running including The Music Man which is a favorite of mine. I’m sure they crush that as well as they executed Chicago.

While I admire any company in Utah that tries to push themselves and their audience with edgier material it can at times be a bit of a rough sit for audiences. I’m just guessing but I don’t think that material often gets the same quality of talent auditioning as more family-friendly fare. This is why I went into Chicago at ACT with modest expectations. Fortunately, I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised by what I was presented with. One honestly couldn’t ask for more in a community theatre production of this musical in almost every area. It really is impressive what director Rebekah Bugg has pulled off here on what I can only imagine isn’t the greatest budget.

The best part of this Chicago is actually the 2 main male performances with Actors’ Equity member Trent Dahlin playing lawyer Billy Flynn and Taylor J Wilkes as sad sack husband Amos Hart. Amos’ song “Mister Cellophane” is one of my favorite songs from the show and he captures the despair of the character most vividly. Meanwhile Dahlin has all the showmanship that’s needed for the sleezy lawyer to the stars of his character. One might say he “razzle dazzle(s)” us with his performance.

Of course, any staging of this musical also needs 2 strong leading ladies with Tamara Reber as Velma Kelly and Gig Jones as Roxie Hart. Neither worries about making their characters likable or endearing. They are as sleezy as Billy but have even less of a moral backbone than that character, which isn’t much. I particularly liked how Jones plays up the sociopathic nature of Roxie especially when dealing with Amos. She doesn’t think twice before saying she’s pregnant if it will get more attention and then uses it as a tool to control Amos and even Billy. Margaret A Dunn is full of personality as Mama Morton and the rest of the ensemble are large and up for whatever is thrown at them.

Chicago is known for being a dance heavy show originally created by Broadway legend bob Fosse (he co-wrote the book with Fred Ebb and directed/choreographed the original production.) The plot is minimal and even on Broadway the set and lighting are simple, so it is all about the jazzy songs and the entertaining dance numbers and the team at ACT seem to understand this. The ensemble is large with a dozen or so dancers all in time and invested in the edginess of the piece. I particularly enjoyed all the women in “Cell Block Tango” especially our murderess who is married to the Mormon. That got some good laughs in Cedar City. The lighting for especially this scene is iconic with its bold colors and it all looks great creating the slinky sexy environment you want for this musical.

There are times when transitions are a little slow and the big echoey Heritage Center Theater is challenging to fill up (especially if a microphone fails) but I honestly think this production of Chicago is every bit as good as both of the equity musicals I saw at Utah Shakespeare Festival. So well done ACT. They should be very proud of all that they’ve accomplished, and like I said, I just wish I lived nearby so I could see the other 3 shows this season. Chicago is playing through August 8th, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the Cedar City area. Tickets can be purchased here. It’s a jazzy good time!

Chicago has music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Ebb and Bob Fosse wrote the book and like I said Fosse directed and choreographed the original production which opened in 1975. It is based off of a play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins. The current revival opened in 1996 and is now the longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history. The 2002 film adaptation by director Rob Marshall won 6 Oscars including Best Picture.

I would love to be the theatre critic for all of Southern and Northern Utah but these areas require travel which can be very expensive. I know many of you really appreciate those reviews but I can’t do them alone. I need your help!  If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look  here.

Sometimes as a theatre critic the hardest reviews to write are for the shows I have a simple response with. While there are certainly times I walk away from a production with a nuanced and complicated opinion on after seeing it other times I simply like or don’t like what I see on stage. This is magnified even more so when it is a classic play where the director doesn’t need to mess things up- just do the great work because it is in fact, great. This is how I felt coming out of Hamlet at The Utah Shakespeare Festival. Hamlet is one of the greatest plays ever written in the English language and this is a good version of Hamlet with an outstanding lead performance at the helm. Sometimes that’s all that is needed for a good night at the theatre and that’s what we get here.

The biggest point of praise for this production lies at the feet of our leading man Walter Kmiec playing Hamlet. He is honestly one of the finest classical actors I’ve ever seen on stage, and I’ve felt so each year I’ve seen him at the festival going back to his turn as Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing in 2024. I liked that performance and production so much I saw it twice- two days in a row. Whether comedy or drama (he played Macbeth last year excellently) Kmiec makes it easy to immerse yourself into the character and story. Here as Hamlet, he lets the madness inside the character grow slowly until he is completely unhinged by the ending. We also see the despair when he see’s them burying Ophelia and is ready to give himself up to Laertes which makes his famous soliloquy ‘to be or not to be’ all the more powerful (also it is moved to before the final battle, which is an interesting choice as I kept waiting in suspense for it.) We’ve seen him in despair so his contemplation of suicide feels real and with a little bit of madness in Kmiec’s performance quite possible.

This production of Hamlet is directed by Beth Lopes and like I said she makes the wise decision to keep things simple with a relatively barebones set and visual effects mostly kept to the scenes with the ghosts, which are quite effective especially with Kmiec’s chilling reaction to said ghosts (scenic design by Mark Weaver, lighting Michael Gilliam.) We also get more ghosts than I typically see in Hamlet, which is a fun touch. In addition, the fight choreography by Caitlyn Herzlinger deserves a shoutout. All of these elements keep a more traditional staging of Hamlet from feeling stodgy or boring. Quite the opposite in fact.

My only main critique of this play is some of the casting I found to be distracting. There seemed to be no care for family members looking like believable family, which I guess is fine but does impact my immersion a little bit. But the main problem was with Kayland Jordan as Horatio. I’m often not opposed to gender swapping roles but making this dear friend a female is distracting for Hamlet and his story. There are times where they embrace quite intimately and talk about their friendship and are we supposed to feel this is any kind of conflict with Hamlet and Ophelia? I don’t see what having Horatio be a woman adds to the story, so it only distracts and weakens his complete bond with Ophelia making the audience question where his love lies unnecessarily.

Lopes and her team also highlight the lighter moments more than in other productions of Hamlet I’ve seen. Scenes like the gravediggers opining about life are a lot of fun to watch. Students and young people will enjoy this production and not get too antsy watching it. I recommend it if only for Kmiec’s performance alone. Fortunately there’s a lot of time left to get your tickets as it is playing at the Utah Shakespeare Festival through September 4th. Tickets can be purchased here.

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s 22nd play written in between 2 comedies Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor around 1600 although there is some debate amongst scholars about the actual date of the first production. It is widely considered to be the greatest play ever written in the English language.

I would love to be the theatre critic for all of Southern and Northern Utah but these areas require travel which can be very expensive. I know many of you really appreciate those reviews but I can’t do them alone. I need your help!  If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look  here.

With certain playwrights we go into watching their works with the assumption we will be seeing something great. This is perhaps nowhere more true than with William Shakespeare. Afterall he is credited with writing such seminal works as Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet and so much more. However, it also stands to reason that with 37 plays not all of them are going to be winners. Unfortunately his Troilus and Cressida is one of the bad ones. It is being performed this season at The Utah Shakespeare Festival but despite throwing a lot of talent and ideas at it they can’t save this mess of a play.

The main problem with this play is the main characters are an afterthought in their story. Cressida is barely on stage and the 2 of them spend almost no time together until literally ending up in bed with each other. I felt like I had missed something but I don’t think I did despite the Elizabethean language of Shakespeare sometimes being a little confusing.

Director Carolyn Howarth does what she can to elevate the story. The setting is moved up to 1940s war time (instead of Trojan War of original we have WWII) with characters in modern clothing and she even starts Act 2 with a random musical number (original music by Lindsay Jones.) The set by Mark Weaver is impressive with a giant angel statue at the top of the stage and grafiti and rubble beneath.

Most of the actors aren’t given much to do but pose and deliver long rambling monologues. The only one that was interesting is Acchiles played by Walter Kmiec. He has become one of my favorite returning players at the festival each season, and unsurprisingly he’s the standout here. They have him styled with long hair almost like a counter-revolutionary protestor of the 1960s. He fights it out with John Keabler’s Hector and honestly I felt like the play was more about them than the entitled Troilus and Cressida.

Evidently Troilus and Cressida is referred to by historians as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’ in that they don’t know where to categorize it. It’s not a comedy because of all the war themes. It’s not a tragedy with all the comedy of characters like Ajax (Lavour Addison.) It’s kind of a history but feels too soapy for that category. It’s lack of category demonstrates how big a mixture of tones and ideas it really is.

All that said, I do think it is worth seeing every Shakespearean play at least once and the company at USF does what they can to enliven this weaker entry from the great Bard. I’d see it just to check it off your bucket list and for Kmiec and the musical number. Just know you ain’t getting much of a love story and the story you do get is kind of a mess. Troilus and Cressida is playing through September 3rd and tickets can be purchased here.

Troilus and Cressida is Shakespeare’s 24th play squished in between 2 comedies with The Merry Wives of Windsor and All’s Well That Ends Well. It premiered around 1601.

I would love to be the theatre critic for all of Southern and Northern Utah but these areas require travel which can be very expensive. I know many of you really appreciate those reviews but I can’t do them alone. I need your help! If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.