Hey everyone! I hope you have been having a wonderful August and a nice end to your summer. I’ve been extremely busy (as usual) and seen lots of great theater. The latest episode of Theatre Tuesdays is up and it was a lot of fun with my giving my pick for the best shows I’ve seen at my favorite local (and Broadway) theaters.

I have also reviewed a lot for UTBA lately with reviews for 3 shows that are all still currently playing and that I heartily recommend:

The Music Man at Sandy Arts Guild- review here

Beauty and the Beast at Terrace Plaza- review here

West Side Story at WVPAC- review here

Of course there have been a few others so make sure you are following me on instagram to get my out of theatre reactions to everything I see both theatre and film.

ROMEO & JULIET- PARKER THEATRE, SALT LAKE CITY

I think everyone has Shakespeare plays that they love and others they could do without. Romeo & Juliet is one of the latter for me. It’s obviously incredibly important in the history of English literature but I would almost always rather watch one of its inspirations rather than the OG play itself. In fact, it was kind of fun that the same weekend I saw it at the Parker Theatre I saw West Side Story at WVPAC and as expected I much preferred WSS. That’s not to say this interpretation of R&J is bad. It just was a basic competent version of this play I find rather dull and uninspired.

We had our UTBA training at the Parker and my colleague Scott Savage was a lot harder on their Romeo & Juliet than I was. His review makes lots of good and fair points that someone who is more familiar with the source material could make. You can read it here. For my part, I thought it was fine with good performances from Dallin Suman and Isabelle Purdie as our leads, and I appreciate they tried to spice up the production with sword-fights and other action.

It also had a tremendous set design with beautiful lighting by James Parker. If you want an introduction to Romeo & Juliet you could certainly do worse and The Parker is a theatre worth your support (Plus, I love that they have show themed food at the concessions stand!) It’s also fun that you can see West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet at the same time at 2 awesome theater companies and compare them. Romeo & Juliet plays through Sept 2 and you can purchase tickets here.

BEETLEJUICE- BROADWAY AT THE ECCLES, NATIONAL TOUR

One thing I struggle with as a critic is how much my individual experience can impact my feelings about show or film. I try to reduce it as much as possible but I’m still a human reviewing a piece of media and not a robot so my life experience, individual biases and even daily moods can impact my overall impressions of a project. In 2021 I saw Beetlejuice on Broadway and I for the most part enjoyed it. I was particularly taken with the incredible production design and unusual artistic design that captured the energy and tone of the film despite it differing quite a bit storywise.

After this mostly positive response you can imagine my surprise when I felt quite the opposite about the National touring production at Eccles. The production design was still there but I was thoroughly annoyed by almost everything else. I found everything to be shouty and grating, which I get is part of its whole gimmick and appeal, but for whatever reason it did not work for me this go around. I also noticed how much Beetlejuice is off stage, which is a big problem because he had nearly all of the funny jokes. Andrew Kober is fine as Beetlejuice. All the performances are good but the show needs to take a second to breathe and actually help you to care about the characters and story. Instead it’s an unending gag-fest that felt like someone shouting in my ears for nearly 3 hours.

I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend it because the first time I did enjoy it for the production values alone but this national tour I’d probably skip (I’d be interested to know if they changed it at all for the tour) and I think it’s a show that I just have to be in the right mood for and I wasn’t this time. It’s weird and maybe unfair but true. You can find out more information about the tour here.

CINDERELLA- EMPRESS THEATRE, MAGNA

It’s interesting The Empress started their year off announcing a bold set of shows including Kinky Boots but then funding forced them to change plans and go with a more traditional set of shows including Freaky Friday and Cinderella. I sincerely hope they get to do Kinky Boots someday but it’s fascinating how they have taken something as tried and true as Cinderella and injected into it as much personality, style and edge as they can. Director Sarah Walker Bringhurst deserves a lot of credit for squeezing everything out of this production as possible. I loved how the Fairy Godmother (Marie in this version played by Cassie Hurt-McLarty) character was a continual presence throughout the show commenting on what was happening like a member of the audience herself.

Joy Austin was completely lovely as Ella and Aaron Allred stole the show as prince Topher. Their chemistry was off the charts and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful” was the highlight. The costumes by Ty Whiting and Callie Halverson stood out with Ella’s ballgown morphing into several different looks depending on the occasion (its final look as a wedding dress was too perfect!) I recently saw Cinderella at OPPA (and enjoyed that although the talent here was much stronger in the leads) but this was a different version based on the 2013 Broadway revival and it was so interesting to see the changes. Unfortunately the show closed on 8/12 but I am beyond excited for Empress’ next show my favorite Bright Star. Make sure you have tickets for what is sure to be an unbelievable production here.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN- SCERA SHELL, OREM

I think by my count I have seen the Broadway adaptation of Singin in the Rain 9 times including a recent production up at Terrace Plaza. I famously loved the production at Hale Centre Theatre Sandy so much I saw it 3 times! It’s such a good adaptation of the classic film. My latest outing to this classic is at the outdoor Scera Shell in Orem and once again I had an absolute blast with this high spirited night of song and dance.

Director DeLayne Bluth Dayton has put their own unique spin on the material with a sprawling stage made up mostly of a long staircase that made for terrific dance sequences like the “Broadway Melody” ballet having several layers of dance to look at. The casting is also strong particularly with TJ Thomas as Don Lockwood and Heidi Hughes as Kathy Seldon. Tanner Frederiksen was less successful as Cosmo but it wasn’t really his fault. The choreography they gave him for “Make Em Laugh” was odd with him flailing on the floor instead of doing the normal flips associated with the number. Tina Trimble is a riot as Lina Lamont and I loved the filmed silent movie segments even if the screen was very small because of the large staircase.

Overall, Singin in the Rain at Scera is a delightful night of theatre that any fan of film, dance or music should enjoy. The ensemble is large and talented and all the technical details from the sound, to the rain effects, to the costumes are very well executed. It is playing until 8/22 and tickets can be purchased here.

So there you have it! What have you been watching? Have you been able to see any of these shows? I would love to hear your thoughts on any of them. Thank you and remember theatre matters