- BW Productions
Pioneer Theatre Company: Jersey Boys
"Jukebox musicals" have gotten a bad rap as being kind of a lesser form of musical theater, cashing in on nostalgia and a familiarity with existing songs rather than creating something new. But as with any creative form, there are better and worse examples—and one of the most satisfying such musicals is one that not only places the songs in the context of the artists who created them, but evokes the golden age of the jukebox itself.
Jersey Boys—the 2005 musical with a book by Rick Elice and veteran screenwriter Marshall Brickman—chronicles the history of The Four Seasons, the vocal group behind such beloved 1960s hits as "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "My Eyes Adored You," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Walk Like a Man." The narrative takes a Rashomon-like approach by allowing all four founding members of the group—Bob Gaudio, Frankie Vallie, Nick Massi and Tommy DeVito—a chance to offer their individual perspectives on how they and their music came to be. Along the way, the story explores the artistic quarrels, personal strife and even gambling difficulties that threatened to break them apart.
Pioneer Theatre Company kicks off its 2024-2025 season with its first-ever production of Jersey Boys in its original Broadway version. The production runs Sept. 13 – 28, with performances Monday – Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday – Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and 2 p.m. Saturday matinees. Tickets are $57 - $88, visit pioneertheatre.org to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)
- CourtesyPhoto
Good Company Theatre: God Kinda Looks Like Tupac
Ogden-based Good Company Theatre has been on hiatus for more than a year, as co-founders Camille and Alicia Washington focused on personal matters. That makes this season's inaugural production of Emilio Rodriguez's God Kinda Looks Like Tupac—a Utah premiere—a chance to re-introduce the company and its mission to the community. It's the story of a high-school art teacher who has one of his students submit a work for a competition that includes some provocative imagery—as suggested by the title of the play—and has to consider whether stifling that student's individual voice is more important than some viewers potentially being uncomfortable.
"I'd read this show in 2018-2019," Alicia Washington recalls, "and I thought, 'I'm absolutely bookmarking this. On the heels of the [Utah] legislative session, and the removal of DEI from certain spaces, this speaks to everything we want to hit on as facilitators of Good Company Theatre. ... This is us. This is us in a script. The striking thing about the piece that the student in the show creates is, it's not uncomfortable in that the work is jarring or has nudity or anything, but the censorship surrounding the creativity of a young person, to keep it palatable for a general audience."
God Kinda Looks Like Tupac comes to Good Company Theatre (2404 Wall Ave., Ogden) Sept. 12 – 29, with performances Friday – Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Individual tickets are $25 through Sept. 13, $30 starting Sept. 14. Visit goodcotheatre.com to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (SR)
- Fidalis Buehler
Modern West Art Gallery: In Dialogue
Gallery shows combining the work of more than one artist often look for thematic ways that the works can be "in dialogue"—similar backgrounds for the artists, stylistic overlap and the like. It is much simpler, however, when the artists themselves are often in literal dialogue, as is the case with artists Mich Mantle and Fidalis Buehler. Friends, colleagues and collaborators for more than a decade, Mantle and Buehler share the space at Modern West Art Gallery for the joint show In Dialogue.
It would be easy to see the ways these two artists seem un-alike—Mantle a Southern Utah native now living in Arizona, Buehler from Northern Utah, and their cultural heritages having very distinct elements. But as Buehler says about their interactions, "Our conversations are meaningful and stem from familiar ground about family life, spousal relationships, being a dad, vulnerabilities and fears." Their styles both demonstrate an improvisational quality, even as Mantle works primarily in paint, and Buehler in mixed media. Buehler incorporates a kind of dream-logic, mythologized imagery in work like "Child With Bird Messenger" (pictured), while Mantle's bold work like "Orange-Red Man" can suggest both child-like openness and danger.
In Dialogue runs at Modern West Fine Art (412 S. 700 West, Suite 150) Sept. 13 – Nov. 1, with a Gallery Stroll reception Friday, Sept. 13, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public during regular gallery hours, Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday by appointment. Visit modernwestfineart.com for additional event information. (SR)
