Glass Art Guild of Utah: Art in the Garden
The creation of great art of any kind can seem like a magic trick, pulling beauty out of thin air. But there's an added component to the magic-show of creating glass art—a kind of danger like escaping from handcuffs while underwater. The fragility of the pieces only adds to the glory of their creation—and you can experience a glorious showcase of the 4,000-year-old art form when the Glass Art Guild of Utah presents the 22nd annual Art in the Garden show at Red Butte Garden.
More than 30 members of the Glass Art Guild of Utah—a community of artists working collaboratively to support, promote and develop warm glass art forms—will be bringing their work to this group show, part of a showcase of more than 1,000 individual one-of-a-kind pieces (Suzanne Larson's "Cheval Esprit" is pictured) available for purchase for personal display or for gifts as we hit the holiday season. The majority of the proceeds from the show go to the participating artists, with a small percentage going back to the guild and designated items going to a newly established scholarship fund, and a portion as a fundraiser for Red Butte Garden.
Art in the Garden runs Nov. 7 – Dec. 21 on the 2nd floor of the Red Butte Garden building (300 Wakara Way), with an opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 9 from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. offering a chance to meet with the artists. The exhibition is open to the public during regular operating hours; visit redbuttegarden.org or glassartguild.org for additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)
Mad King Productions: Heathers: The Musical
With the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earlier this year, audiences got a reminder of what it was like in the late-'80s, when Winona Ryder was an icon of dark comedies. That certainly includes Heathers, the 1989 feature starring Ryder and Christian Slater. It seemed like an unlikely candidate for being turned into a stage musical, but that was before composer Laurence O'Keefe got hold of it. And as the person who found stage-musical gold in a tabloid headline with Bat Boy: The Musical, O'Keefe might have been the perfect artist for this job.
The 2013 musical version sticks to the story of Veronica Sawyer, a teenager who becomes part of her high school's popular clique of three Heathers: Heather Duke, Heather McNamara and Heather Chandler. Veronica's frustration with the vapidity of her friend group finds a kindred spirit in new arrival J.D., a mysterious bad boy with a dark side. Soon, Veronica finds herself caught up in murder and other mayhem, set to grimly funny tunes like "Our Love is God," "My Dead Gay Son" and "Kindergarten Boyfriend," in a satire of teen life full of trigger-warning-worthy subject matter, but still all too relevant more than 35 years after the film's initial release.
Mad King Productions—known locally for its "Drunken Shakespeare" productions—takes on the task of bringing Heathers: The Musical to the stage of the Alliance Theater (602 E. 500 South) in Trolley Square, Nov. 7 – 17, with performances 7:30 p.m. evenings, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees. Tickets are $25; visit mkpslc.ticketleap.com/heathers-mkp/. (SR)
Ballet West: Pictures at an Exhibition
It's been quite a year in the local arts community for Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. That is perhaps understandable, given that the 1874 composition—a piano suite dedicated to the work of artist and Mussorgsky's friend, Viktor Hartmann—is celebrating its sesquicentennial in 2024. In September, the resident companies of the Rose Wagner Theater themed their annual group showcase around Pictures at an Exhibition; Utah Symphony presents a program featuring the work Nov. 15-16. And between the two, Ballet West offers its program named after a balletic interpretation of Mussorgsky's music.
First staged in 2014, Pictures at an Exhibition was created for New York City Ballet by Alexei Ratmansky, the celebrated former artistic director of the legendary Bolshoi Ballet. This performance marks the first time that Ballet West will be staging one of Ratmansky's pieces, and the choreographer will be working directly with the company during the first week of performances. Sharing the program with Pictures at an Exhibition is Serenade (pictured) by George Balanchine; set to Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings," Serenade was Balanchine's first-ever work created in America, and is celebrating its 90th anniversary. Finally, the program includes the Utah premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's 2008 work Within the Golden Hour.
Ballet West's Pictures at an Exhibition visits the J. Q. Lawson Capitol Theatre (50 W. 200 South), with performances Nov. 8, 9, 14 and 16 at 7:30 p.m., and a matinee on Saturday, Nov. 16. Tickets are $29 - $108; visit arttix.org to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (SR)