Hi theatre friends! I hope you had a wonderful December. As we finish off 2024 I will have my traditional best of the year posts as well as finishing off a couple stray Broadway reviews I still need to finish. Before that, however, I have a log to update everyone on the last shows I saw in the year here in Utah.

THE NUTCRACKER- BALLET WEST, SALT LAKE CITY

I must admit I am not the biggest ballet fan. Nothing against the very talented dancers and creators involved it just tends to not engage me the way other performing arts does. However, when I heard Ballet West was celebrating their 80th year of The Nutcracker I had to attend. Believe it or not Salt Lake City was the first place to ever perform The Nutcracker in US. Even though I don’t love ballet whenever I see anything at Ballet West it is always a world class production. I am not knowledgeable enough in ballet to tell you what was done excellently or less proficiently. All I know is it all looked incredible to me and they make everything look effortless (of course it is not. It takes great effort but that’s the skill level they have.)

I was happy I had Rylee Ann Rogers as the Sugarplum Fairy because I follow her on instagram and think she’s an incredible talent, which she was. I do think the second half of The Nutcracker when you have the various dancers performing for the royalty is more entertaining than the first half. There’s just a little more variety to the dancing and music in that segment, which I find more entertaining.

All the other production elements like the sets and costumes were perfect and make a trip to Ballet West well worth the investment. They are one of the finest ballet companies in the world and we are lucky to have them in our city. Here’s to 80 more years of The Nutcracker.

You can find out more about Ballet West here.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL- HALE CENTER THEATRE OREM, OREM

I have very mixed feelings about the changes happening at Hale Center Theatre Orem. After 35 years they are shutting down the Orem location and opening a new huge complex in Pleasant Grove they are naming The Ruth. As a long-time season ticket holder (and former voice lesson student) I am going to miss the intimacy and unique atmosphere of HCTO but I hope for the best and wish them all the best.

Anyway, it was bittersweet to see A Christmas Carol at HCTO this year because it is the last production at the Orem location. I went with my parents this time and we all had a wonderful time and it was nice they had some performances after Christmas as things get so crazy those days leading up to the holiday (especially for me with Hallmarkies Podcast.)

In previous years they had done some interesting things with A Christmas Carol but for this production they went back to the traditional version by Cody Hale. This makes sense as a tribute to the many years they used this version but it honestly isn’t my favorite. Particularly the original songs I’ve never loved. I also felt Daniel Hess as Scrooge was better as the show went along. When he was supposed to be angry Scrooge it felt somewhat phony and like he was reciting lines rather than really believing what he was saying.

The Jacob Marley reveal was spooky and very well done as was Adrian Alita’s performance in the role. I also really appreciate they got actors who looked like actual teens to play Young Scrooge (Cameron Ward) and Dick Wilkins (Parker Smith.) Marshall Lamm was endearing as Bob Cratchit and I particularly loved his rendition of “What Child is This” in the Future section. Overall, this was a very entertaining version of A Christmas Carol and I’m glad I got to see one last show at HCTO. Cheers to some great memories over the years.

You can find out more about The Ruth and their upcoming season here.

ANASTASIA- DRAPER HISTORIC THEATRE, DRAPER

The last show that I saw in 2024 I can’t fully log. I saw Anastasia at Draper Historic Theatre. Everyone probably knows by now this is not my favorite adaptation. I just feel like the team took all the energy and fun out of the animated film and made it quite dull. Nevertheless, obviously if I am going to see a show I am going to give the company a fair shot. Unfortunately I had a blow of air conditioning on my head, and I started to get a quite bad headache. I almost never do this (only 2 other times this year out of 171 shows,) but I decided to leave at intermission because I just wasn’t feeling well.

As far as what I saw it was another terrific production for this small community theatre. Mira Hulme has a beautiful voice and fits the part of Anastasia perfectly and Mathew Davids was a standout as Vlad. The production was more sparse and reliant on projections than some of their other shows but it was certainly more than sufficient as were the beautiful costumes and hair/makeup.

If you are looking for where to get some of the biggest bang for your buck I would seriously consider Draper Historic Theatre. They have a really fun season coming up for 2025 including my favorite show, Bright Star (I’m so hyped for that.) So even though I had to leave early on this one I highly recommend taking a look at DHT. You can find information here.

These logged shows I pay for out of pocket 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.