It’s now time to do my first theatre update of 2024. It’s funny because I feel like I’ve hardly seen anything but that’s only because I didn’t see my first show of the year until 1/4 so there were like 2 weeks without any live theatre- madness! I now have a bunch of shows to update you all on and it’s turned out to be a promising start of the theatre year.

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM VALLEY SPELLING BEE- UVP, SPRINGVILLE

My first show of the season was Spelling Bee at Utah Valley Players (which was new to me company) and this was a wonderful production of this very funny show. Unfortunately it also had a very short run closing on 1/9. You can read my full review at UTBA here. Look for future shows at UVP here.

A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER- REGALO, LEHI

Reviewing something like A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Regalo is a tricky prospect for a critic. It’s one of those productions with the best of intentions where seemingly little goes as planned. Especially with a community theatre production I hate to kick a man when he’s down but it was not a satisfying night of theatre. The biggest problem was obvious. The actor playing Monty ended up ill at the last minute (we arrived Thursday 1/5 and they asked me to come back on 1/9) and unfortunately the understudy was not prepared and had to perform with the script in hand.

A Gentleman’s Guide is already a show I have mixed feelings on. It can be quite funny but pretty much all the music is forgettable. With a show being so reliant on comedic timing and chemistry, having a flat, non-emotive lead actor just reading lines really hurt the overall enjoyment and everyone else’s performances suffered as a result. I understand you work with what you’ve got in community theatre, but I also can’t pretend to enjoy something when I really didn’t. Fortunately, the strength of the production was in the costumes (designer Brooke Holahan) and the 2 ladies playing Phoebe (Brittini Smith) and Sibella (Joy Austin.) It was, however, still an overall rough sit. I’m not sure if the understudy changed things but the way they staged the romantic scenes and kisses was also very strange with dramatic fake kisses. It’s like they were trying to make it more Utah Country friendly but it just felt awkward.

I’ve loved everything else I’ve seen at Regalo so this is just a bump in the road and hopefully in the future they will make sure their understudies are more ready to go. It’s just not fair to the rest of the performers to literally be acting opposite a talking script book. Oh well! Can’t win them all. A Gentleman’s Guide plays at Regalo until 1/20 and tickets can be purchased here.

STARLIGHT EXPRESS- LIAHONA THEATRE FOR YOUTH, PLEASANT GROVE

When I saw A Christmas Carol at Alpine Community Theatre they were using the theater at Liahona Preparatory Academy, and I noticed their school’s theatre was doing Starlight Express in January, and I was highly intrigued. I have heard about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s roller skating show but never had a chance to see it, so I immediately bought a ticket. I don’t always see youth theatre, but I really wanted to see this show so I went for it, and I’m so glad I did.

I understand that the skating element might make this show more daunting but for how much Joseph is done I wish more would consider Starlight Express instead. The skating was so fresh and fun with them turning the theater into a race track for multiple scenes (I was amazed that none of the cast slipped even once.) It’s not a show with a ton of plot but similar to Cats or Joseph it’s about the bubbly songs and the quirky characters.

I really enjoyed the songs in particular “Light at the End of the Tunnel” and “Momma Sings the Blues.” Lily Bennion and Amara Davis were my favorites of the cast as Pearl and Dinah respectively but the whole cast shined with their energy and joy. All the costumes and lighting were excellent, and like I said, the racetrack was outstanding. I will definitely see anything else that director Jordan Long does in the future because he got the best out of his young cast and the whole thing was fresh and exciting. There were a few technical flubs but nothing that impacted my overall enjoyment. I loved it.

Starlight Express has shows today and one on 1/15 and I highly recommend it. You can purchase tickets here.