Three of this week's 11 new productions touch on Christmas themes, which means the "Christmas theater season" has officially arrived.
Those in the latter category include an encore stop by the national tour of "Rent," at the Capitol Theatre; "Kissed by an Angel," at Desert Star Playhouse; and "Mother and Child," premiering at the Little London Dinner Theatre in Pleasant Grove.
Other new shows opening this week include Salt Lake Acting Company's regional premiere of Terry Johnson's farce, "Hysteria," "An Ideal Husband" at BYU, "Glory Bo," at the Rose Wagner Center; "Phantom of the Soap Opera," being staged by Bountiful Community Theatre at Viewmont High School; "Circus of Desire" in the University of Utah's Lab Theater; a staged reading of "Autumn in the Valley" by the Egyptian Theatre Company; and two mystery dinner-theater productions are also on tap.
"HYSTERIA," an award-winning farce which brings Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dali together in a London suburb in 1939, has its regional premiere Nov. 15-Dec. 17 at Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North.
British playwright Terry Johnson won the Olivier Award (Great Britain's version of the Tony) for his script, which is part farce and part psychological mystery. Guest-director Meg Gibson's cast includes Gene Pack, Joe Pitti, Tony Larimer, Jim Pitts, Kristin Kahle and Melissa Gessel. (For details, see the Deseret News Weekend entertainment section for Friday, Nov. 10).
Discounted preview performances will be 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, and Thursday, Nov. 16, and 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17. The production formally opens on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m., after which it will continue through Dec. 17, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets are $17.50 and $22.50 for the previews, and $24.50 and $26.50 for regular performances. Student and group rates are also available. Student tickets are $10, available in advance for all performances (with valid student activity card). All seating is reserved. Tickets may be purchased in advance at all ArtTix outlets, including Abravanel Hall and the Capitol Theatre, or by calling 355-2787. For group rates, call SLAC at 363-7522.
There will be a free post-play discussion following the Sunday matinee on Nov. 19 with director Gibson.
"PHANTOM OF THE SOAP OPERA," a spoof involving a mysterious phantom inhabiting the murky depths of a television studio, will be presented by Bountiful Community Theater, Nov. 17-20 at Viewmont High School.
The plot revolves around murder and mayhem on the set of a soap opera, "As the Heart Burns."
Directed by Phill Wright, the cast includes Rosemary Rogers as diva Daphne Davis, Bryan Wilson as police-detective Digby Wright, Logan Field as line-flubbing Quentin Harris, Amy Jo Fisher as scatterbrained secretary Lily Ponds, Paul Okelberry as uptight director Addison Meriwether, Charlene Adams as long-suffering writer Emily Parrish and Rocky Revels as Sam, the Sandwich Man.
Also in the cast are Ayrial Wright, Kurk Easthope, Gary Nelson, Lora Harpster, Paula Taylor, Katie Christiansen, Lynsey Barus, Vickie Bloomquist, Phill Wright, Rick Shurtliff, Mark Ashcraft, Sarah Wilson and Mickell Wright.
Performances are 7 p.m. on Nov. 17, 18 and 20, with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Nov. 20. Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for students and senior citizens and $24 for a family pass. Tickets are available in advance at Top Hat Video.
BCT and Bountiful city are planning to renovate the long-closed indoor swimming pool in Bountiful's City Complex into a 550-seat theater.
"KISSED BY AN ANGEL," written and directed by Scott Holman, pits toy-store owner George Kringlinsky (Jack Drayton) against villainous Peter D'Jerc (Steven Fehr), who is bent on destroying a newly invented "perfect toy." The cast of "Kissed by an Angel" also includes Arika Schockmel as Mary, the villain's dim-witted girlfriend; JulieAnn Christensen and Diana Dayley alternating in the role of Sarah, Kringlinsky's granddaughter, and Holman, Mary Parker Williams and Thomas Murphy as the Kringlinskys' three behind-the-scenes angels, Tess, Roma and Joe Black. All performances will also include a post-show "Let It Snow-lio" olio revue, featuring songs of the season.
The show also marks the final stages of completion of Desert Star Playhouse's two-year remodeling project. The lobby is finished, and the new, on-site pizza kitchen is up and running (meaning that pizza delivery is just across the hall, instead of several blocks away).
Due to the popularity of DSP's holiday shows, the theater is expanding the number of performances after Thanksgiving. The venue's regular schedule (7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Fridays and 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays), will be in place Nov. 16-Dec. 2 and Dec. 25-Jan. 6. For the period from Dec. 4-23, there will be performances at 6 and 8:30 p.m., Mondays-Thursdays, 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays.
All seats are reserved. Tickets range from $8-$12 for adults, $6 for children, and $7 for students and senior citizens (for selected performances). There is also a discounted family pass for some performances. DSP features cabaret seating with optional food and beverage service (additional charge). For reservations, call 266-7600.
"MOTHER AND CHILD," an original play by Paul "Wally" Walstad, newly appointed artistic director at the Little London Dinner Theater, is scheduled for five performances at the Pleasant Grove venue, Nov. 17-25. The humorous play deals with a family a Christmastime. Walstad said, "It's about trying to remember how wonderful Christmas and family is — despite problems and past hurts."
All seats are $25, including dinner and production. Dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., with curtain about 7:20 p.m. Performances will be Nov. 17, 18, 20, 24 and 25. For reservations, call 785-0287.
"AN IDEAL HUSBAND," Oscar Wilde's comedy about an incorruptible and respected politician — with one devastating indiscretion lurking in his past — will play Nov. 15-Dec. 2 in Brigham Young University's Pardoe Theatre. Directed by Barta Heiner, the cast includes Ary Farahnakian as Sir Robert Chiltern, the politician; Colleen Hanson as Mrs. Cheveley, who has unearthed the evidence against him; Hailey Smith as Lady Chiltern, and Matt Biedel as Goring, Chiltern's friend.
"We all have past indiscretions," said Heiner. "Chiltern admits, 'I have trouble telling the truth,' while Goring says, 'I try to get rid of the truth as fast as possible.' If we would try to get our mistakes out in the open, we would be more able to overcome them and move on."
Half-price preview performances will be Nov. 15 and 16. Regular performances continue Tuesdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 2, with one matinee on Nov. 25 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for the general public and $8 for BYU students, faculty and staff. For reservations, call 378-4322.
"RENT," the most honored musical since "A Chorus Line," played a sold-out two-week run at the Capitol Theatre two years ago. The landmark show, a rock version of Puccini's "La Boheme," is returning for eight performances, again at the Capitol, Nov. 14-19.
The success of "Rent," which is only the fifth musical to ever win both the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, is tempered by the fact that Jonathan Larson, who created the show, died of an aortic aneurysm on the morning of Jan. 25, 1996, just hours after the production's final dress rehearsal off Broadway and 10 days before his 36th birthday. After a brief run at the New York Theatre Workshop, "Rent" moved to Broadway on April 29, 1996, where it continues to play to standing-room-only audiences.
Performances will be 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $25-$60. For reservations, visit any ArtTix outlet, including the Capitol Theatre and Abravanel Hall, or call 355-2787. Tickets may also be ordered online at (www.arttix.org). For group rates, call Safia at 355-2200.
"CIRCUS OF DESIRE," an original drama by Adam Eisenstein, a second-year MFA directing student at the U., will be presented Nov. 16-19 in the Lab Theatre of the U.'s Performing Arts Building (directly west of the campus bookstore). Angie Prater, who is now completing the MFA directing program, is directing the play.
"Circus of Desire" is set during the mid-1990s during one long night at a college party in Ann Arbor, Mich., where seven students ponder their generational struggles and question their values and attitudes about hope, reason and love in the past and future.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16-18 and 7 p.m., Nov. 19, with one matinee at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17. Tickets are $6 for general admission and $4 for all students. Tickets will be available at the door or may be reserved in advance by calling 581-6961.
"AUTUMN IN THE VALLEY," an original play by John D. and James A. Bell, will have a staged reading on Saturday, Nov. 18, in the Mary G. Steiner Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main, Park City. John Bell is chairman of the zoology department at BYU. James Bell is a doctoral candidate in the school of theater at Florida State University.
The play, first presented as part of the Utah Shakespearean Festival's Plays-in-Progress program in 1999, explores a Utah woman's return home in 1936 for her mother's funeral. The woman then begins an exploration of her estranged family and their mysterious involvement with the real-life trial and execution of labor leader Joe Hill in 1915.
Following the reading, there will be a panel and "talk-back" discussion, featuring the two authors, along with two regional historians, John Sillito of Weber State University and Kent Powell.
"GLORY BOX," developed by controversial performance artist Tim Miller, is being presented under the auspices of Dance Theatre Coalition, Utah AIDS Foundation's Village and ABCD (a boy can dream) Productions at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 and 18 in the Rose Wagner Theatre, 138 W. Broadway.
The play is described as "a politically charged exploration of . . . immigration rights for lesbian and gay bi-national couples." Miller, who gained notoriety as one of the "NEA Four" — artists whose National Endowment for the Arts grants were rescinded in 1990 — will perform his one-man show, "Glory Box" (which takes its title from the Australian term for hope chest). During his visit to Salt Lake City, Miller will take part in a panel at the U., discussing First Amendment rights and arts funding in the United States.
Tickets are $14 for general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens. For reservations, call ArtTix at 355-2787. Tickets will also be available at the door.
TWO MYSTERY DINNERS are also scheduled this week: "Arabian Frights," at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, at Snowbird Resort, and "The Phantom Killer," Nov. 18, under the auspices of the Sevier Arts Council in Richfield.
"Arabian Frights" is a production of Chameleons, the Whodunit Company. Admission is $35 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. Group rates (20 or more) are also available. Patrons have a choice of four menu selections when calling Snowbird for reservations (933-2110, Ext. 4080). Advance reservations are required.
"The Phantom Killer," produced by Hunt Mystery and Company, is a spoof on "Phantom of the Opera." for information regarding the Richfield performance, call 435-896-9262.
Information on stage productions or auditions must be submitted at least three weeks in advance. Compiled by Ivan M. Lincoln, Deseret News theater editor, 1-801-236-6017. Send material to Deseret News, P.O. Box 1257, Salt Lake City, UT 84110 (Attn: Ivan Lincoln), or send it via e-mail: ivan@desnews.com or Fax to 1-801-237-2550.