OEDIPUS THE KING, RED BUTTE GARDEN, Sunday, Sept. 29, 9 a.m., $15 for public/$10 for garden members
While the annual Classical Greek Theatre Festival has been bouncing around the state through the month of September, I was only able to catch this year’s performance of Oedipus The King during its last weekend. After watching the excellent performance Saturday morning at Red Butte Garden, consider this a hearty recommendation that you check out the Sunday finale. Yes, it was cold, so pack some coffee and maybe some breakfast for the 90-minute production. But as the sun moved higher in the sky, and the action on stage picked up momentum as Oedipus discovers the gods have cursed him essentially since birth, the venue warmed up and it was easy to enjoy one of the more unique live theater experiences available to Utahns. The last time I attended the Classical Greek Theatre Festival, the production was a decidedly modern affair, with electronic music and online cues incorpated into the show. This year’s show is much more traditional, and all the better for it. The direction, the haunting music score delivered by oboe soloist Hilary Coon, and the acting led by Ryon Sharette in the title role all combine to bring Sophocles’ classic to exuberant life. And what a story it is–Oedipus discovers a happenstance street fight in his youth in which he killed a man led to his later marrying and having children with his own mother. Obviously, that’s not news that anyone wants to hear. Watching Oedipus, his brother-in-law Creon and his mother/wife Jocasta, as well as the commoners of the kingdom, deal with the repercussions makes for a fine bit of breakfast-time entertainment. And just look at that picture–not a bad spot for starting your Sunday.
There is something deliciously appealing about a whodunit, especially in the right hands, and Something’s Afoot found the right hands in the skilled people at Pioneer Theatre Company in a production serving as the theater’s fall opener.
Directed and choreographed by Pioneer’s second-year Artistic Director Karen Azenberg, Something’s Afoot is a lighthearted farce, a musical comedy and homage to masters of the form like Agatha Christie, whose And Then There Were None clearly inspired the story of this show.
The setup is classic: Six guests are called to a mansion in the English countryside in late spring of 1935 by one Lord Dudley Rancour. None of them realize there will be other guests, nor do they know Rancour’s relationship to the others. Among them are a bloviating old soldier, Colonel Gillweather (James Judy)–who will remind you of Clue’s Colonel Mustard–along with the suspicious mystery buff Miss Tweed (Tia Speros), a wide-eyed young woman Hope Langdon (Laura Hall) and a shady-seeming nephew Nigel Rancour (Joseph Medeiros), as well as Dr. Grayburn (Richie Call) and the distinguished Lady Manley-Prowe Rebecca Watson).
, L-R: Tia Speros (Miss Tweed) and Joseph Medeiros (Nigel). Photo by Brent Uberty at the McCune Mansion.
Alongside the mansion’s servants Lettie the maid (Kate Marilley), Clive the butler (Jaron Barney) and handyman Flint (Paul Castree), the guests discover that their host has been murdered in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and Clive is dispatched with an exploding staircase as he calls the guests to dinner, a turn of events that leads to one of the better songs of the show, “Something’s Afoot,” that opens up all the guests to suspicion because “the butler didn’t do it.”
One by one the guests are picked off via ever-more-creative means, including a gas-spewing telephone, a random electrocution, and slow-working poison, among others. Each of the murders is a means to combine laughs, some strong vocal performances and a period piece that plays off the stereotypes the audience comes to the show holding already.
It’s all good fun, and delivered with strong performances by a cast heavy on new faces to Pioneer, particularly Speros as Miss Tweed, Will Ray as Geoffrey, a college student washed ashore near the mansion who at first is suspected to be the killer, only to be found innocent and fall in love with Hope.
Something’s Afoot Cast Photo by Brent Uberty at the McCune Mansion
It’s all light and fluffy fun that fans of whodunits should enjoy–particularly if they can go with the flow of the comedy and not think too much about who actually done it. The country mansion set is stunning, the costumes fitting and the special effects relatively ornate, thanks to explosions, lightning and electrocution sparks flying through the air.
Miss Tweed early on lists the various typical motives for murder, including revenge, passion, lust and greed, and it’s fun to watch Something’s Afoot touch on every one along its path.
Something’s Afoot runs at Pioneer Memorial Theatre through October 5. Tickets and show information is available at the theater’s website.
DREW DANBURRY, VELOUR LIVE MUSIC GALLERY, PROVO, Friday, Sept. 27, 8 p.m., $t.b.a., and Kilby Court, Saturday, Sept. 28, 7 p.m., $7
Talk about your renaissance men. Drew Danburry toured hard and put out a steady stream of music for years, garnering critical praise near and far and sharing stages with some great fellow artists, including Deer Tick, Wye Oak, Say Anything and more. And when he decided to take a pause in his melodic pursuits, he opened up a barber shop in downtown Provo–the aptly named Danburry Barber Shop. That doesn’t mean he’s done with music, though. After a restorative stint away from the pressures and challenges of pursuing a DIY music career, Danburry is back with a new release, Becoming Bastian Salazar, which he describes as “the story of how one person evolves from love to hate, hope to despair, and altruism to egocentricity,” something he felt happening to himself a few years back. It’s a fine addition to Danburry’s already stellar catalog, and hopefully marks a refreshing rebirth for him, and many more chances to hear Danburry play for us. Let’s start with two release parties, Friday at Velour in Provo and Saturday at Kilby Court. Opening at Kilby Court is the North Valley, JP Haynie and Ben Best. Seve vs. Evan, Deadtooth and Cameron McGill are also on the bill at Velour.
BURGERAMA CARAVAN OF STARS, THE URBAN LOUNGE, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 5 p.m., $14
It’s not every day that a traveling rock festival sets up shop at the diminutive Urban Lounge, but that’s what’s happening Tuesday thanks to the Burgerama Caravan of Stars. Headlined by the addictive psychedelic sounds of Cali-based The Growlers, the edition of the caravan stopping in Salt Lake City is packed with worthy artists joining them, including Hanni el Khatib, Cosmonauts, Gap Dream, Pangea and Bass Drum of Death. How to fit all those bands in one night? Easy–start earlier than pretty much any show in recent memory ever has at Urban. Not only can you pop in right at 5–there will be burgers barbecuing at the venue as well. A little dinner, some killer rock n’ roll–sounds like a fine way to spend a Tuesday night.
HARVEST MOON CELEBRATION, HISTORIC 25TH STREET, OGDEN, Saturday, Sept. 23, Noon
Given my own Ogden roots, it’s frustrating that I don’t take the time to go up and rage on Historic 25th Street. Other than the occasional family brunch at Rooster’s or Karen’s Cafe, or even rarer stop at Brewski’s or the Kokomo, I just don’t get there as often as i should. Events like the 12th annual Harvest Moon Celebration are just the types of things that get me thinking it’s time for a trip north from SLC, though. The day-long throwdown has fun for all ages–not to mention access to all the cool restaurants, bars and shops along 25th. There’s your typical family fare for the kids, along with live music all day long–this year headlined by multi-talented Ethan Tucker at 7 p.m.–along with somewhat odd attractions like an arm-wrestling contest. That’s the kind of thing that would have fit in nicely during the old Ogden street festival when I was in high school. With the Frontrunner running right to the west end of 25th, there’s no good excuse for missing out on this one.
Neko Case has built a solo catalog over the past dozen or so years that would easily allow her to tour for years and thrill the fans of her crystal-clear voice, way with lyrical twists and winning stage persona.
It’s to her credit that she doesn’t just settle into that comfortable greatest-hits mode, though, preferring to infuse her shows with a heavy dose of new music–even just a scant few days since her most recent album–the mouthful named The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You–hit the streets.
That was the case Monday night, when Case and her merry band of regulars closed down the Red Butte Garden summer concert series with a breezy blast of new songs dotted with some long-time faves. Her shock of red locks puffed through the wind into a “Zeppelin ’77” hairdo, as case put it, the singer led her troops through a winning 18 or so songs on a night when fall was clearly in the air, the elements competing with one of the best voices in American music.
Case wins in that decision. Despite the winde and mentioning an illness, you couldn’t hear anything wrong with Case or her regular vocal counterpart, Kelly Hogan, as they launched into the show with the brilliant “This Tornado Loves You” and the new “Bracing for Sunday” before Case paused for one of her classic between-song one-liners: “This weather is a menopausal woman’s dream! Thank you , Utah!”
Case strapped on an acoustic guitar for “Deep Red Bells,” and moved easily into the soaring “That Teenage Feeling,” a song that serves as a showcase for both Case and Hogan’s vocal dexterity. “People Gotta Lotta Nerve” followed, an energetic take on one of Case’s best songs, and “Ragtime” and “Maybe Sparrow” were both excellent as well.
Case regular guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse was joined by Crooked Fingers/Archers of Loaf leader Eric Bachmann on guitar and keyboards to help flesh out the new songs, which are more sonically diverse than any of Case’s previous efforts. Together, they sounded great pushing the band through songs in the latter half of the show, from “Calling Cards” to “Hold On, Hold On,” the raucous new “Man” to encore songs like “Local Girl.”
Closing the show with “I Wish I Was the Moon,” Case once again showed that not only is she an excellent songwriter and live performer–she’s one of those musicians who warrants lifelong attention. Hearing her explore new themes both musical and lyrical has always been worth the effort, and there’s no reason to think that will change in the next 10 or 20 years, given where’s she’s taken her fans in the past.
Daniel Nailen 