MUSICALS, COMEDIES, dramas, new shows, old shows and at least two new theaters are on the docket for Utah's constantly growing theater scene during the 1990-91 season.
But the biggest news for Utah theatergoers this season are plans - expected to be formally announced later this week - for the new Theatre League of Utah, an organized effort to bring an annual season of touring Broadway productions to Salt Lake City.The first season's shows, some of them still being negotiated, will be highlighted by next spring's two-week engagement of "Les Miserables" at the Capitol Theatre. The season will also include "A Chorus Line: The Farewell Tour," featuring cast members from the recently closed, long-run Broadway show.
At least one other and possibly a fourth show are also under consideration, but we can't divulge the titles of the productions or names of performers until the contracts have been signed. One of them, it's been reliably reported, is a two-character play that's been drawing rave reviews on both coasts, where it has been performed by a veritable revolving door of Who's Who celebrities.
When Lewis Friedman of the New York-based Edgewood Organization stopped in Salt Lake City several weeks ago ago, doing some advance groundwork for "Peter Pan," opening Sept. 5 at the Capitol Theatre, he noted that one problem Salt Lake City has had in attracting major Broadway touring shows was the lack of a Civic Light Opera-type of group to mount a local season. Other regional theater centers, such as Seattle, St. Louis, Atlanta and Houston, have well organized systems in place and are able to lure blockbuster productions year-round.
Hopefully, the new Utah effort will put Salt Lake City solidly on the map for big touring productions.
It looks promising.
New theaters in the works include a brand-new company, the Pages Lane Theater, opening in October in Centerville with Ralph Rodgers at its helm. TheatreWorks West anticipates moving into improved quarters later in the season when Westminster College's new Jewett Performing Arts Center makes its debut.
The Salt Lake Community Arts Center, under the guidance of Pat Davis, will be in transition during the 1990 season, with its first production (Robert Peterson and Duane Hill as "The Odd Couple") at the Redwood campus of Salt Lake Community College, to be followed by its second show (a "Nightmare Theater" spook alley) at the Utah State Fairpark. The Arts Center will finally move into what should be the company's permanent home at SLCC's new South City campus, in the former South High School building and auditorium.
In northern Davis County, where community theater has had its ups and downs in recent years, there's a flurry of activity, with both the Wasatch Playhouse and the Proscenium Players providing local theater. Dudley's, a gourmet continental restaurant, is experimenting with live theater by the Junior Shakespeare Company on a monthly basis.
While sturdy old warhorses such as "The Sound of Music" and "The Curious Savage" continue to draw audiences who enjoy the tried-and-true "safe" productions, for many others - including this drama critic - the real excitement in live theater is the discovery that comes with new and unfamiliar fare. Happily, there'll be plenty of that, too.
If the 1990-91 season has any kind of central focus, it might be the authors themselves. You could call this "the playwrights' season." Some of the theater world's most important writers, both past and present, will be represented in the dozens of productions being staged during the next nine months.
One playwright who became, somewhat reluctantly, an international political star is Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel. Utahns will have their first opportunity to see one of his plays when TheatreWorks West presents his comedy, "The Memorandum," as their season opener.
Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winners will also be in abundance - most of them regional premieres being staged for the first time for local theatergoers.
Wendy Wasserstein's "The Heidi Chronicles," which is closing next week after a long run on Broadway; David Henry Hwang's acclaimed "M. Butterfly," (both at Salt Lake Acting Company); "Ain't Misbehavin'," the all-black musical homage to Fats Waller; and the original stage version of "Driving Miss Daisy" (the latter two by Pioneer Theatre Company) are among some of the hot-ticket items we can expect between now and next spring.
Salt Lake Acting Company, going into its 20th anniversary season, has made some big changes in its usual schedule. SLAC's consistently big drawing card, "Saturday's Voyeur," has been shifted from the Christmas holidays into next summer in a new "Summer Roadshow '91" slot, complete with newly installed air conditioning. This will give the company some leeway in possible extensions of their four other productions, "M. Butterfly," "White Man Dancing," former Utahn Julie Jensen's "White Money" and "The Heidi Chronicles."
Another of the city's more important companies, TheatreWorks West, is giving new playwrights an opportunity to be seen with several evenings of ten "10-Minute Plays" in October and November.
And Pioneer Theatre Company will have 16 extra seats this year for its opening production. "Ain't Misbehavin' " takes place in a Harlem nightclub and 16 patrons will be allowed to purchase seats on stage around cabaret tables to be part of the on-stage action. (These would be great seats for drama critics - a little table for our notebooks and plenty of lighting.)
A touring production of "Into the Woods" will make stops at Logan, Provo and St. George (unfortunately bypassing Salt Lake City).
The city's big LDS market won't be overlooked, either. Writer Doug Stewart ("Saturday's Warrior") is bringing his long-awaited Book of Mormon-based epic production of "A Day, A Night and A Day" to the Vine Street Theatre for an open-ended run. It's already garnered positive reviews during out-of-town trial runs in St. George and Las Vegas, but Stewart's new Salt Lake City cast will be the one he hopes to use for the musical's official original cast album.
So far, in tabulating what's on the 1990-91 calendar accompanying this article, there are almost 150 productions from nearly 35 different theater companies this season, from one end of the Beehive State to the other.
Snow College and College of Eastern Utah hadn't finalized their calendars at press time, and some of the smaller companies may have been overlooked. For that, we apologize - and if we missed you, please give us a call at 237-2150.
Some of the dates, also, are bound to change. For up-to-date theater information, consult the Deseret News' Weekend and Sunday entertainment sections.