BALLET WEST’S BEER & BALLET, CAPITOL THEATRE, Thursday-Friday, 5 p.m., $25
Now THIS is some brilliant marketing right here. Ballet West is teaming up with Epic Brewing for an intimate party where you can mingle with the dancers and choreographers of the troupe, and enjoy a few tasty beverages while you see some dancing in an environment that will be tough to match. The Friday night session is already sold out, so hop on that Thursday night session while you still can.
QUEEN: HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY: LIVE IN BUDAPEST ’86, VARIOUS LOCATIONS, opens Thursday, 7:30 p.m., $12.50
I don’t have a lot of musical regrets, and I was too young to do anything about it when the band was still around, but I REALLY wish I could have seen Queen in concert. And no, the version of “Queen” that’s toured with Paul Rodgers taking the place of iconic frontman Freddie Mercury doesn’t count. I have, however, seen plenty of Queen live shows on TV and video, and they were masterful rock performers. This concert in front of 80,000 fans in Budapest has been remastered into hi-def and translated into 5.1 surround sound, and includes a short documentary about the band’s year from 1985’s majestic Live Aid performance through this show. I can’t wait. You can see it several places on Sept. 20, 23 and 27:
- HOLLYWOOD CONNECTION 15, 3217 SOUTH DECKER LAKE DR., WEST VALLEY CENTER
- CARMIKE WEST JORDAN 12, 1600 WEST FOX PARK DR., WEST JORDAN
- PROVO WYNNSONG 12, 4925 N. EDGEWOOD DR., PROVO
Now THIS is the kind of musical theater I can get into.
In The Heights, the season opener for the Pioneer Theatre Company, is a thoroughly modern musical, infusing its story about the struggles of a scuffling Domican-dominated community in New York City with spirited songs and complex choreography that illustrate well the neighborhood’s vitality and passionate residents. Hip-hop, rock and songs full of Latin rhythms that made me want to move in my seat fill the show, and rare is the occasion when I believe characters breaking out into song improves a night at the theater–but this is one of those occasions.
In The Heights is relatively complex in both its story and delivery. Virtually everyone the audience meets from the neighborhood coming to life on the Pioneer stage has a story to tell. There are Kevin (John Herrera) and Camila (Natalie Toro), immigrant parents and small business owners trying to come up with the money to keep their daughter and neighborhood shining star Nina (Emily Vasquez) in Stanford. There’s Benny (Joshua Boone), who works for Nina’s parents while he pursues both her and his own career. Usnavi (Joseph Morales) owns the neighborhood bodega, where his ambitious younger cousin Sonny (Anthony Ramos Martinez) works with him as Usnavi chases local salon worker Vanessa (Manoly Farrell) and tends to Abuela (Debra Cardona), who essentially raised him.
L-R: Manoly Farrell (Vanessa), Natalie Hill (Daniela), Emily Vasquez (Nina) and Ariana Escalante (Carla). Photo by Alexander Weisman
You might think keeping track of the various stories would be difficult, but the action flows easily from scene to scene, with different characters matching up for songs and dances that propel the plot forward. The opening stage-filling performance of “In The Heights” manages to introduce the neighborhood and its denizens in efficient, highly entertaining fashion, while “No Mi Dega” evokes the gossip-filled salon, and “When You’re Home” establishes the lifelong relationship of Nina and Benny.
The events on stage take place on a scorching July 4th eve through July 5, and the remarkable set allows you to get lost in Washington Heights, the north Manhattan neighborhood that gave the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the name. Fire escapes, storefronts and weathered old buildings fill the stage, with different parts–Nina’s parents’ car-service shop, Vanessa’s salon, Usnavi’s bodega, opening up to reveal the action inside.
The live orchestra does a remarkable job handling the different musical styles that switch on a dime throughout In The Heights, and the performers on stage are just as deft. Morales proves a fine rapper, and Farrell and Vasquez both tackle both high-energy dance numbers and powerful ballads more than capably.
All together, the performers and production values equal more than a worthy season opener for new Pioneer artistic director Karen Azenberg. If all the shows under her watch are as successful, Salt Lake City is in store for great things ahead at the theater on the University of Utah campus.
L-R: Joshua Boone (Benny), Emily Vaquez (Nina), Natalie Toro (Camila) and John Herrera (Kevin). Photo by Alexander Weisman.
In The Heights runs through Sept. 29 at Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Mondays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with a matinee Saturdays at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $38 to $59, available at the Pioneer Web site.
It’s not very often that you can roll into a concert with sky-high expectations, and have them soundly and decidedly exceeded. But Dave Alvin managed to do just that at The State Room Friday night.
Accompanied by his stellar backing band The Guilty Ones, Alvin rocketed through songs spanning his career as a roots-rock pioneer, a run that stretches back to the ’70s when he formed the Blasters with his brother, Phil, through a stint in X in the ’80s and then a long-running solo career.
Alvin opened with “4th of July,” a song X turned into an almost-hit with their John Doe-sung version, and Alvin totally reclaims ownership of the tune when he plays it live. From the get-go, the combination of Alvin’s pliable voice–he easily shifts from deep, bass-y growls to rockabilly shouts–and raucous guitar-playing proved a potent one-two punch. Throw in a band featuring the slippery slide-guitar of Chris Miller interweaving through Alvin’s guitar parts and it was truly a treat to witness what was happening on stage. Drummer Lisa Pinkratz and bass player Brad Porter rounded out Alvin’s Guilty Ones.
Alvin followed “4th of July” with “Harlan County Line,” a song familiar to some from its presence on the TV show Justified and part of Alvin’s most recent album, Eleven Eleven. From there it was a deep dive into one of the strongest American songwriting catalogs of the past 30 years. Old Blasters faves like “Long White Cadillac” and “Marie Marie” settled in easily next to newer fare like “Black Rose of Texas” and “Ashgrove.”
“Johnny Ace is Dead,” another new song, was a definite highlight, as was “King of California.” “Abilene” erupted into a lengthy instrumental workout–and this is one band that’s a pleasure to watch stretch out. Alvin standing on stage, legs splayed apart and ripping into his Stratocaster–that’s an iconic image for roots-rock fans that never gets out, which makes all the more sense because Alvin’s music is so timeless. The guy is a serious music historian, mining old stories of blues legends like Big Mama Thornton and the aforementioned Johnny Ace for lyrical content, and then putting those lyrics to sounds invoking folk, rock, country, R&B–you name it. As Alvin puts it on his Website, there is both loud folk music and soft folk music, and he plays both kinds.
Opening the show was the Hollering Pines, a relatively new Salt Lake City band made up of members of The Folka Dots and The Trappers. The harmonies of Marie Bradshaw, Kiki Sieger and Corinne Gentry that make the Folka Dots such a pleasure to hear are in full effect in the classic-country sound of the Hollering Pines, and when you add a male counterpart to the mix via the Trappers’ Dan Buehner, you get a winning combination. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.
FEAST OF THE FIVE SENSES, ALTA CLUB, Sunday, 5:30 p.m., $85/$35 optional wine pairing
Slow Food Utah throws this culinary feast each year as a fundraiser to support its micro-grant program, and if there’s any way to get someone like me to support a good cause, it’s by offering incredibly tasty treats as part of the deal. This year’s even certainly fits that bill, with Greg Neville of Lugano, Brian Edwards of Alta Club, Nathan Powers of Bambara, Kassie Little of Liberty Heights Fresh, Amber Billingsley of Vinto, Phelix Gardner of Finca, Romina Rasmussen of Les Madeleines and Ethan Lappe of Caffe Niche all on board, cooking with local produce and products.
Nathan Powers of Bambara at last year’s Feast of the Five Senses.
AN EVENING WITH HENRY ROLLINS: CAPITALISM, THE STATE ROOM, Sunday, 8 p.m., $30
Even if Henry Rollins had done nothing after his stint as lead singer of punk legends Black Flag, he would still be a towering figure of American alternative culture. The fact that he’s spent the past 30 years expanding his artistic reach via writing, acting, leading the Rollins Band and entrancing spoken-word performances is proof that the passion he showed as a long-haired punk rocker is still boiling inside the guy. If you’ve never seen him do spoken-word, you’re in for a treat–it’s part standup comedy, part history lesson, part political diatribe, part travelogue and all entertaining.
- Henry Rollins does spoken-word at The State Room Sunday night.
Daniel Nailen 