theater and dance
BAD KIDS Present: Gods, Goddesses & Monsters Pageant @ Metro...
Pre-Pride weekend 2013 kicked off deliciously under last Thursday’s gorgeous sunset at Salt Lake’s Metro Bar as four founding members of Salt Lake’s alternative drag scene, the Bad Kids, hosted a pageant for its expanding fanbase. … read more
Green Jell-O and Prescription Pill Empowerment: The Righteous and Very...
Utah’s newest theatre production company, Alligator Press Productions, has opened its first theatrical season with The Righteous and Very Real Housewives of Utah County—a world premiere containing six strong female roles. … read more
Samba Fogo @ The Rose Wagner 04.18
I’ve made it my ongoing quest to expose my children to as many arts and cultural related events as humanly possible without breaking the budget. That, along with the fact that the mere words Samba Fogo gets my hips undulating and booty popping meant that I couldn’t miss “Espirito De Fofo” (Spirit of Fire) at the Rose Wagner Performing Art Center. … read more
Sample Tracks @ Sugar Space 04.05
Sugar Space is tucked away on 616 Wilmington Ave. in Sugarhouse, which provides for a sense of stealing away to a small mountain town, and lends her performances an intimate tone. Leah Nelson Del Porto and Cortney McGuire of fivefour kicked off the showcase with their piece, “my space is sometimes yours.” An older piece in their repertoire, “my space is sometimes yours” is honed and polished. The program previewed that the piece was devoid of musical accompaniment, which turned out to be an excellent choice, as the under-the-breath mutterings between Nelson and McGuire proved to be not only entertaining, but underpinned the conceptual content of the piece, which was negotiating space with another person and the shifting boundaries. … read more
Evil Dead: The Musical: Director Chance Newman Talks Blood and...
This spring, Last Chance Productions will be bringing Evil Dead: The Musical to the Grand Theatre. Director/producer Chance Newman was groovy enough to sit down with SLUG to discuss the unique challenges that come with crafting a musical that features seven different kinds of blood. … read more
Paul Vigil: Utah’s Second Magic Prophet
Paul Vigil’s weekly parlor performances are up close, casual and feature tinges of the supernatural, or as Vigil says, “It will make you go home and wonder what the hell just happened.” … read more
Coleman Barks with David Darling performing the poetry of Rumi
When I first read Rumi, the universe as I knew it exploded. Suddenly, I started realizing that the connections I share with others are bound by spontaneity, and I was opened to new levels of love. Reading Rumi is a transformative experience, and it’s something that I owe to Coleman Barks, a scholar who is well known for his translations of the Sufi poet. Although Coleman Barks doesn’t actually speak or read Farsi, what he’s done for the accessibility of this Sufi mystic—by re-translating the translations from AJ Arberry and Reynold A Nicholson—is something worthwhile to note. … read more
Lightning Strikes in Salt Lake: An Interview with Joey Arias
New York City cabaret/performance art/drag icon Joey Arias is performing in town with fellow East Village art scene veteran Kristian Hoffman as part of a West Coast tour called “Lightning Strikes.” I spoke with Joey about trending performance art, Z chromosomes and alien pop stars. … read more
Arrivals/Departures @ the Rio Gallery 01.18
Friday, Jan. 18, the Rio Grande hosted the opening of loveDANCEmore’s Arrivals/Departures before an audience who was free to migrate from piece to piece at their leisure, whether it be videos of dancers that play on hanging screens or live dance works that the dancers repeated over and over from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. … read more
Deep Love @ The Rose Wagner 10.30
With the recommendation to wear funeral attire, I felt it appropriate to give some holiday cheer a go, and decided to attend this rock opera based around a cemetery theme. Before the entertainment began, producers Ryan Hayes and Garrett Sherwood started with a brief disclaimer for the audience, informing us to react to the performance as you would a rock concert. Since most of us probably did not know what to expect from the show, this proved to be efficient in getting the crowd to appropriately respond with cheers, whoops and whistles throughout the evening. … read more