A missionary among theater goers.

There's a definite possibility that I was the only actual returned missionary in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre for a recent performance of the hit Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, a show all about Mormon missionaries.  Still, it's obvious that Trey Parker, Matt Stone,  and Robert Lopez have done their homework.  They're surprisingly adept at capturing the realities of being a Mormon missionary, particularly since none of them have been on a mission.  Sure, they get a bunch of stuff wrong.  The way they represent the Missionary Training Center (MTC) is off by at least a mile but nonetheless hysterically funny.  The stuff they get right, they get really right.  As a return missionary, there a few moments that were freakishly accurate.


The show-stopping song, Turn It Off, about that "nifty Mormon trick" of ignoring troubling issues and putting on a happy face certainly rang true for me. Or how about Scary Mormon Hell Dream.  This satanic, chorus-line-inspired extravaganza is a riotous good time.  My favorite moment? The dancing coffee cups as a temptation.  Brilliant.


Which brings me to a few ideas raised by this show.  First, the calculated offensiveness of the show.  This is a musical designed to push buttons.  A lot of Mormons might be upset by the flippant way the creators treated their beliefs.  But skewering Mormons is just the beginning.  The Book of Mormon takes on everything from AIDS to female circumcision (I'm pretty sure this is the only musical that uses the word clitoris on multiple occasions) with a South-Park willingness to offend.  And while it's brilliant today, I wonder if this show will be as tolerable in the future.  I can imagine a time when some of the ideas expressed in this show won't be acceptable to a more politically-correct audience.  Although I was surprised at how relevant a sexist musical like How to Succeed in Business is in our modern world.


On the positive side, it's obvious that Parker, Stone, and Lopez love Broadway.  With toasts to Rodgers and Hammerstein and The Lion King, even the work of early musical-theater geniuses like Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, this show is a little love letter to the Great White Way.


I also have to note how spectacularly The Book of Mormon communicates the style of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.  I approach most things with a eye toward visual art.  I appreciate artists that are informed by history, but create new and exciting work with an identifiable style. Stone and Parker have accomplished that difficult trick.


In the end, this is a story about faith.  About believing in something bigger than ourselves. And while The Book of Mormon may have a riotous good time at the expense of Mormons, it also reminds us that people who believe in things that might seem incredible, often accomplish miracles.  Maybe that's why it's so delightful.

Take off and landing without the pesky seat belts and tray tables.

Remember the days when you could smoke on airplanes and sexy stewardesses offered up coffee or tea?  I don't.  But I can imagine what it was like thanks to Broadway's take on a story that's also been the subject of books and movies.  It's Catch Me If You Can now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre and nominated for four Tony awards.

OK, Stewardesses probably didn't have as much sparkle and their skirts probably weren't as short.  But for a Broadway chorus line, I'm not sure you could ask for better inspiration than the stylized travel attire of flight attendants and pilots in the 1960s and 70s.  Add in a few sexy nurses, set the whole affair dancing, and it's hard not to like this stuff. 

Unfortunately, Catch Me If You Can is an endeavor in which the parts are greater than the sum.  There are some spectacular production numbers like Don't Break the Rules featuring Norbert Leo Butz as Agent Carl Hanratty and the chorus line which pretty much stops the show.  It's brilliant.  Hanratty was nominated for a Tony for lead actor in a musical.  Aaron Tveit who plays the real lead actor in this musical was not nominated and I think he was robbed.  Because I saw three musicals in three days all of which were about male leads.  And from my vantage point Tveit was the best.  Too bad Catch Me If You Can was the worst of the three shows. Otherwise, I think Tveit might have been nominated.

Yes this show stalls more than once.  But even if it was my least favorite Broadway show of the trip, I still left the theater happy I paid the nearly $150 ticket price.

24 hours. 15 actors. 5 premieres. Welcome to Plan B's Slam.

I'm guessing that if you're a playwright, you might occasionally have this nightmare: 24 hours from now will be the premiere of your latest play.  And you haven't written a word.  You don't even know who the actors are.  Holy cow! You don't even know the title.


Bringing playwright's nightmares to life is Plan B Theatre Company's annual Slam event.  Here's the idea: You assemble five playwrights.  You give each of them a title of a play and an inspirational photo. Then you assign them each three actors.  Exactly 24 hours later, you expect them to have a ten-minute play on stage in front of a live audience.  I was part of that audience.


This year, the playwrights were all given the same title: Control_Alt_Delete.  Even the inspirational photos were similar.  So it's no surprise that many of the plays took new beginnings as their theme.  Most of the plays explored the idea of resetting, of hoping that we could push a few buttons and get a fresh start.  Three plays stood out for me.


The first  was written by Eric Samuelson.  (Marcine Lake, Director with Joe Debevc, John Graham, and Christy Summerhays as actors.)  I recently read Donovan Hohn's Moby Duck.  And it was obvious from this play that Samuelson also read this book.  One of the central characters in the play is a junior high-school teacher writing a book about 28,800 rubber bath toys lost at sea.  Much of the play references the book and even delivers a number of the facts from the book.  I loved that book and I can see why it inspired this play.  Samuelson's play is an environmental treatise that reiterates the issues raised by Hohn's book. It's a reminder that we should be more concerned about the plastics we so readily discard. A statement about a desire to reset planet earth in hopes of repenting for our environmental sins.  That was the good part of the play.  Unfortunately, the play often lost its focused (and I can hear Samuelson rightly screaming at this comment, "Of course it lost focus, I HAD 24 HOURS.")  That lack of focus left me wanting more.


A better 24-hour play was Matthew Ivan Bennett's version of Control_Atl_Delete.  The last play of the night, it focused on a couple trying to restart their marriage.  With charm and a lot of sexually-charged humor, Bennett reminded us that relationships are as much about jealously as they are about love. 


The best play of the night was written by Jenifer Nii. Theatre is always best when it's about stories.  And Nii's version of Control_Alt_Delete is grounded in story telling.  It centers around a man who recently learned that he has cancer.  Rather than tell his partner, he chooses to leave. His brother (and his brother's wife) express their sympathy and their concern about the situation. The result is a story filled with emotion and centered on the idea that sometimes life demands a reset.


I'll bet Plan B's Slam is a nightmare for playwrights, actors, directors, stage hands, and others.  But it's a delight for audiences.  

You're right. This is totally gay.

I've been following this story for a while and it's finally a reality.  I just got my tickets. And even though this event won't happen until June of 2011, I'm so excited I had to write a post.  Next June, in what may be the gayest trip ever, I'll be going to San Francisco to see a new musical theater production based on Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City with music and lyrics by Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters.  Holy cow.  Even for me, that's a whole lotta gay.  I can hardly wait!

Love sucks.

It's Halloween so I figure there's no better day for a post about Pioneer Theatre Company's (PTC) current production of Bram Stoker's Dracula.  I recently read a modern vampire tale, The Passage.  In that book, there's a scene where one of the main characters, Peter, watches an old vampire movie.  And he comments on how slow Dracula moves compared to his experience with vampires.  A little bit, this production felt the same way.  Yes I know that's because I've been desensitized by Hollywood's ability to produce stuff that's faster, bigger, more spectacular, and scarier than pretty much anything PTC can put on stage. But it's still a valid point.

Nonetheless, there is plenty to like about Charles Morey's stage adaptation of Stoker's classic novel. The play delivers a spooky Victorian attitude that I liked.  It made me want to know what it would be like to read a scary, strange story at a time before TV, Movies, or CGI.  And PTC did get my heart racing several times during the production. 

Mark Elliot Wilson is creepy and repulsive as Count Dracula.  And isn't that what you want from Dracula? Bob Ari delivers a perfect, Victorian version of Abraham Van Helsing.  I also liked Stephanie Fieger as Lucy Westenra, but aren't we glad that women have progressed since the late 19th Century.

What I like best about PTC's Dracula is the staging and direction.  The set is great.  But it wouldn't be as great if it weren't used so skillfully by director Morey.  And none of that would have mattered if it weren't for Kendall Smith's lighting design.  This is one of the best lit shows I've seen at PTC.

If you're in the mood for some scary theater, you've got one more week.  Bram Stoker's Dracula runs through November 6.

Love is hard.

Here in Zion, we recently went through another gay debate as Boyd K. Packer reminded homosexuals where they fall in God's plan and the gays responded with indignation and more than one cheap shot. All this while gay teens are killing themselves at an alarming rate and everyone from Tim Gunn to a Texas City Councilman try to convince them that it gets better.

Against this backdrop, Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) offers its new production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.   And it's a reminder how much things have changed in the last 15 years, and how much they've stayed the same.  Certainly AIDS is no longer the absolute death sentence it once was.  And I don't think any of us ever imagined 15 years ago that gay marriage would be legal in six states.  Yet the disdain, even disgust that many feel for homosexuals is alive and well.

SLAC can sure do a lot with not a lot of theater. Without the capabilities of many of Salt Lake City's larger theaters, SLAC has to be more ingenious in staging plays.  Keven Myhre's set is a brilliant, travel-induced dream of lost luggage that helps fuel the story's crazed, globe-spanning hallucinations.  Myhre also directs this production with an almost Shakespearean sense of tragicomedy.

But the real reasons the show works are good actors delivering Kushner's brilliant dialogue.  Alexis Baigue crackles as Louis Ironson, the neurotic gay Jew who can't deal with a dying lover. Charles Lynn Frost makes you hate Roy Cohn, and at the same time somehow understand this complex character.  Alexander Bala is perfectly conflicted as the struggling, married Mormon trying to balance his sexuality with the rest of his life.  And I loved Colleen Baum as the mother, who convincingly communicates the difficulties of unconditional love.

In the end, this is a play that remembers, as Kushner's characters remind us, that "Love is hard."  It's hard if you're straight.  It's hard if you're a mother who learns her son is gay.  It's hard if you discover that your husband is gay.  And it's really hard if you're a man who falls in love with another man.  But Angels in America makes me want to stand on the side of love, no matter how hard it is.  And if we all do that, maybe the world will be a different place 15 years from now, when SLAC hopefully revisits this powerful play.

Angels in America runs through November 7, 2010.

The secret world of yoga.

Stephen Brown, the mastermind behind SBDance, is nothing if not fearless.  He's always pushing ideas and boundaries.  Maybe it's piles of newspapers as costumes.  Maybe it's asking his dancers to perform in the nude.  Maybe it's embracing stage musicals, or hand puppets, or steel troughs floating on a sea ping pong balls, or experimental specimens.  Or maybe it's abandoning the "dance" in SBDance and embracing your inner playwright.  That's pretty much the case in his latest work, Yoga Confidential: A Rat Bastard's Inside Guide to Yoga and Surrounding Regions.  And while I miss the dancing, Yoga Confidential is a good show.

The play was part of Salt Lake Acting Company's first ever Fearless Fringe Festival. Yoga Confidential qualifies as fringe (although Stephen Brown has been delightfully on the fringe of Utah's art scene for sometime).  It's a rewarding play.  Funny, strange, and all about yoga.  I know Stephen Brown as a choreographer and that's where I've appreciated his work most.  But he's a good writer too.  And for the first time I can remember, Stephen worked with a director (Winnie Wood) who brought extra clarity and intrigue to the story.

You've got to know a lot more about yoga than I do to understand all the intricacies of this story.  But what I love about the play is that Stephen (who is an established yoga instructor) treats the subject with both love and hatred.  He laughs at the silliness of the whole affair while still respecting the traditions.  He asks us to wonder whether or not the whole things is a sham, yet still recognizes the benefits it brings to life.  All in all, it's an even-handed take on yoga, particularly from a guy who's using the playbill to promote "an affordable winter get-away for all levels of surfer and yoga practitioner" in Playa Grande, Costa Rica.  I love a showman.

I can't end this post without noting the cast.  Stephen was joined on stage by Daniel Beecher and Tracie Merrill both of whom were excellent.  I particularly enjoyed the charm and humor of Mr. Beecher. 

As always, SBDance performances are fleeting.  But you still have two more chances to catch this show.  It's playing at the Sugar Space on September 10 and 11.

Oh, and one more thing; while Stephen is a good writer, I still like him best as a choreographer.  So Stephen, consider this my vote to bring back the dance in SBDance.

If only I had a reason to go to New York City.

I'm always looking for a good excuse to go to New York.  And what better reason than to see Utah's very own Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company perform as part of the Alwin Nikolais Centennial.  The performance at the Joyce Theater was well worth the trip.  I've seen everything on this program before but these are works that I'm happy to see again and again.  And maybe it's just because I was in NEW YORK CITY and at the JOYCE THEATER, but I don't think I've ever seen the Ririe-Woodbury dancers perform any better. It was obvious that they were well prepared for these performances. I'm not sure the State of Utah has ever been better represented than it was by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and this performance.

The evening opened with a short video package that was used during the Kennedy Center Honors.  This was a great reminder that Nikolais' work is less about using dance to express emotion and more about creating an environment where the motion itself becomes the star. 

Maybe that philosophy is why my least favorite work on the program is Tower (1965).  This work seems more about political statements than about pure dance theater.  Or maybe it's just because the dancers talk and anyone who regularly reads my blog knows how I feel about talking and dancing.

For a perfect example of Nikolais' brilliance, consider Tensile Involvement (1955) with it's stretchy bands, mid-century modernist music, and vibrant colors.  I still don't know how the dancers do this without creating a huge, tangled mess.  Please tell me the early rehearsals were a laughing disaster of knotted dancers.  During this performance the dancers' precision was nearly perfect, particularly as they surrounded themselves with rectangles of stretchy bands that tilted and swayed perfectly.

My favorite piece on the program was Crucible which is just good, old-fashioned modern dance fun.  These are the types of works that create modern dance fans.  I can almost guarantee that anyone who says they don't like modern dance, will like this.  I know this uses  a theatrical device that is little more than mirrors, but it sure makes for a big spectacle, with shapes and movements that at one moment mimic strange alien creatures and the next moment create lyrical wave-like shapes.  And how can you not love choreography that asks all ten dancers to moon the audience.

If you didn't make it to New York for the performances, there's no need to despair.  Because the Alwin Nikolais Centennial will be the last presentation on Ririe-Woodbury's 2010-11 season. So there are no excuses.  See this show.  Season tickets are on sale now.

When you're an Addams.

The critics haven't been terribly kind when it comes to The Addams Family Musical which recently opened on Broadway. And I can see why.  This show is far from perfect. Some characters come across as flat. Some of the dialogue is forced and awkward. And there are songs that are less than inspiring.  On the other hand, I can also see why audiences are in love with this show.  There's plenty to make this a fun night out.

Yes some of the characters don't work all that well.  Like Wednesday who's all grown up, distancing herself from the parents, and hoping to marry a nice normal boy.  Unfortunately that means she's a lot less interesting than the original, dark and moody version.  And while Uncle Fester has his moments (I loved the weird performance of The Moon and Me), overall his character just doesn't make sense; but maybe that's the point.

On the other hand, there are some impressive performances.  Jackie Hoffman as Grandma is awful; and I mean that in the best possible way.  She's mean. She's creepy. She's offensive.  And you love her all the more for it. Bebe Neuwirth is great as Morticia.  Her restrained performance just makes her sensuality scorch up the stage even more.  And Nathan Lane is fantastic.  Even when his songs and his dialogue leave something to be desired, he still stands out as the star of this show.

Some of the music in The Addams Family is completely forgettable.  But there are some songs that get stuck in your head long past the time you've left the theater.  When You're an Addams is a great way to start a show and I'm stilling humming its friendly melody. Full Disclosure isn't perfect but it's close enough to make it a bit of a show stopper.  And even some of the more sentimental songs worked for me.  I loved Nathan Lane's performance of Happy/Sad, about life's strange contradictions.  The beautifully crafted lyrics gave me the occasional goose bump, particularly the closing sentiment, "I'm happy, happy, happy; and just a little bit sad."

I can't leave this review without talking about the curtain.  The rich, red theater curtain with gold trim that greets the audience as you enter the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is practically a character in and of itself.  It morphs and transforms and reveals throughout the show, helping to guide the audience through the story line.  Add a magical gold tassel and I was in love.  It may not be as technologically impressive as crashing chandeliers or emerald cities, but this was one of the best theater effects I've seen. 

Even with the problems, I'd still give this show a thumbs up.  But a positive review from me may not mean much.  Last year in my Witches vs. Bitches Broadway Smackdown I chose Nine to Five over Wicked.  And we all know how that turned out.  Here's hoping The Addams Family fairs better.

Taptastic!

Holy cow, I just got back from Pioneer Theatre Company's production of 42nd Street and I loved it.  [Before I go any farther, I offer Felix's review, "I didn't hate it. I didn't gouge my eyes out. so take the rest of my review with this in mind.]

I know, this show is totally theater cliches.  But it's only a cliche now because shows like 42nd Street were telling this story a hundred years or so ago.  I know, the story line is weak; the character development is shallow, and the dialogue leaves a lot to be desired.  But that's not what this show is about.  This show is about great songs, great dancing, and more than anything else, it's about the chorus line.

So let's talk about the songs.  It's hard to beat songs like I Only Have Eyes for You, We're In the Money, and Lullaby of Broadway.  The lyrics by Al Dubin hold up surprisingly well in these economically troubled times.   And could those melodies be anymore intoxicating?  Thanks Harry Warren.

And how about that dancing?  I'm not sure I've ever seen Pioneer Theatre Company so tight. Maybe it's because it's so late in the run, but the tapping was practically perfect.  From the opening production number, to the Busby Berkeley inspired We're In the Money, to the finale, the dancers were brilliant.  I'm seriously thinking about returning to tap class.

That leads me to my last point; the chorus line.  I'm not sure there's a show that better showcases the chorus line than 42nd Street.  Oh sure, you can tell me that A Chorus Line does a better job at honoring the chorus line but I'd disagree.  This show only works if you have a brilliant chorus line.  It demands that the least respected members of the cast be perfect.  It's most brilliant not when the stars are on stage, but when the rank and file are dancing perfectly.  It's an absolute tribute to the chorus line.


42nd Street plays through May 8.  So you only have a few more days to see this brilliant, old-school show.  If I were you, I'd get my tickets fast. Of course, you could always add the Busby Berkeley version to your Netflix list.  It's even better than this brilliant production.

Wallace (Squared).

Plan B Theatre Company's production of Wallace is the story of two famous Utah Wallaces.  The play, written by Jenifer Nii and Debora Threedy tells the story of Wallace Stegner (Pulitzer Prize winning writer, environmentalist, and graduate of the University of Utah) and Wallace Thurman (American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance who was born in Salt Lake City).  While the two were born within ten years of each other, Thurman died at the young age of 32 while Stegner lived well into his 80s.

Strong performances by the actors (Carleton Bluford as Stegner and Richard Scharine as Thurman) couldn't save this play from tedium.  To be fair, that may be more because of my lack of knowledge than the actual performance.  Maybe I needed a greater knowledge of the central characters to truly understand the material.  And while I've often said that the only way to really enjoy opera is to study up before the performance, I'm not sure I think I should be expected to do homework before attending a play.

Additionaly, I waited the entire performance for the two stories to come together in some meaningful way.  For me, it never happened.  Possibly a conversation with the playwrites would have helped to shed some light on the intention.  Although I suspect that just because two guys with Utah ties, born in a similar time period, and who share the name may not have as much in common as you might hope.

I don't want to sound like a total negatron, so I'll once again commend both actors for strong performances.  And the staging was also commendable, which is no small feat in the tiny studio theater at the Rose Wagner.  I've seen a lot of performances in that space that faulter.  Plan B always uses the space brilliantly even when the production is minimalistic like this one.

The show runs through March 14.  But tickets may be hard to come buy.  Even when I purchased mine last week the run was nearly sold out, a testament to Jerry Rapier's dedication and smart marketing.

A related note: Trent Call's paintings collectively called Uconoclasts are currently on display in the main lobby of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. A departure from the style I associate with Call's painting style, these small portraits somehow feel historical and contemporary at the same time.

Welcome to Wonderland.

This last summer, I wrote a post about the SBDance performance, Drosselmeyer, Inc. After that review, SBDance founder Stephen Brown contacted me to ask if he could give my contact information to Jerry Rapier, the producing director for Plan B Theatre. I agreed and soon received an e-mail from Mr. Rapier saying he’d read my post and wanted to know if he could add me to his press list. Since almost no one takes my blog seriously (in fact is any body even reading this), I was flattered by the request. That means I intend to attend as many Plan B performances as possible and to write about every single one.

That said, I have to admit that Plan B has visited the pages of Viva Variety before. About a year ago, I wrote about Radio Hour Frankenstein. So it’s fitting that a year later, I’ve returned to the Rose Wagner for this year’s Radio Hour, Alice—an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. This was a lot of story to cram into 60 minutes. Because of that, some moments in the show were confusing and hard to follow. But I’m not sure what I would have cut. It’s hard to present a version of Alice in Wonderland without all those classic characters like the White Rabbit, the March Hare, the Chesire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the Caterpillar. That’s a lot of character to develop in 60 minutes.

On the flip side there was a lot of good. The story really got going with the arrival of the Queen of Cups. You forget how truly scary this story is. And the Queen of Cups brings on the horror. I loved the way the story built to demands for beheading just about everyone. And Mathew Ivan Bennett’s adaptation ended big, with chilling effect.

All the performers are to be commended but I’ll call out two in particular. David Evanoff’s music is fantastic. If you were to listen to this show on the radio, you’d swear there was a whole band of musicians performing the soundtrack. Sure Evanoff is using a lot of computers, but he’s still working hard. And it’s fun to see him perform live.

Even more fun than Evanoff’s performance is that of Foley artist Daisy Blake. The sound effects make the story more exciting, but watching how it’s done is well worth the price of admission. And sound engineers Mark and Eric Robinette get big kudos for the brilliant audio.

I’ve heard a rumor that this may be the last Radio Hour from Plan B. If it is, that will make me sad. All the more reason to see this show live. It runs through October 31. At the very least, you can hear it broadcast live on KUER (90.1) on October 30 at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Kiss today goodbye.

Wow. Who knew a regional production of an American musical could overwhelm me with so many memories and emotions. But Pioneer Theater Company’s production of A Chorus Line did just that.

On the way to the theater I remembered how much I wanted the original cast recording when I was in high school. That was 1976 and I lived in Worland, Wyoming. Not only could you not download the album on iTunes. You couldn’t even find the LP anywhere near my home town. But that’s what I wanted for Christmas and my mom is all about delivering on what one wants for Christmas. So she called my aunt in Denver and asked her to buy the album. My aunt bought the album and sent it to my mother with a warning that A Chorus Line was immoral and featured all kinds of objectionable material. To my mom’s credit, she still gave me the album.

During Pioneer Theater Company’s performance, I was also reminded how much I love the songs, maybe because as a member of the Polyphonics (Worland High School’s answer to Glee), one of my favorite Polyphonic performances was a medley from the show.

Thank god PTC delivered. This was a great cast. With spectacular dancing, great singing, and some powerfully emotional performances, this was a production that hit me hard. Probably because A Chorus Line presented so many great gay characters at a time when being a gay teenager was just plain impossible.

“The sweetness and the sorrow.” I couldn’t agree more.

My original cast recording (on vinyl no less) of A Chorus Line.

He’s back. And he’s just crazy enough to take on The Nutcracker.

That’s right. It’s the return of Stephen Brown and SBDance. And this year for his annual dance/theater/performance event, he’s taking on The Nutcracker in Drosselmeyer Inc.: The Untold Story Behind the Nutcracker Ballet. Stephen delivers a show that’s unexpected, inventive, irreverent, and laugh-out-loud funny.

Here’s the idea as explained by Stephen: “So last Fall I was driving to Wendover to teach yoga at a chicken ranch when I ran out of gas and had to hike across the Salt Flats for more fuel. Some would say it was destiny; others would say chance; a few would say a dirty lie. But in any case, I stumbled across a major archaeological find—the Prequel to the Nutcracker Ballet. Long story short, it's now June, a perfect time for a Christmas show, and my translation is complete.”

That translation results in a story that is light on dancing but has plenty of humor and story. As a big dance fan, I miss the dance spectacles of SBDances past. But it turns out that Stephen is almost as a good a writer as he is a choreographer. Almost.

There are only four performers in this year’s show but the clever addition of sock puppets (yes, I said sock puppets) makes the cast feel bigger. And don’t get hung up on the sock puppet idea. If you’d told me about this part of the show before hand, I would have rolled my eyes and suggested that SBDance had jumped the shark. But the sock puppets are charming in a creepy sort of way and they give the show a fun, bed-timey vibe.

The abbreviated plot: A group of Drosselmeyer’s dolls work through personal issues leading up to the annual Clara competition, where the winning doll gets to spend the night with Clara in what one is led to believe is The Nutcracker Ballet. Ham (brilliantly short for Hamlet) is the suspiciously gay, naughty thespian who shares the spotlight with the other “special” doll Frenchie, who regularly breaks into song. Tex is the cowboy who gets no respect. And even Mikhail Baryshnikov makes an appearance.

The cast includes Stephen as sexy Tex, a cowboy doll complete with chaps and hat. (Stephen is also writer, director, and choreographer.) Paul Mulder handily plays Hamlet and one of the sock puppets. Kim Cote is perfect as Frenchie and the other sock puppet. And Ballet West’s Kate Crews gives the best hip-hop ballet performance I’ve ever seen. More hip-hop ballet please.

As a dance geek, my favorite moment of the show is the inventive, dimly-lit pas de duex danced by Tex and T-Rot. It all happens in the shadows while Frenchie steals the spotlight serenading the audience. This is classic Stephen Brown, where he forces you to see something by obscuring that very thing.

I also loved the first time we see T-Rot. It’s a fleeting moment but completely iconic—something I expect from every SBDance performance.

Two other people deserve a shout out: Chris Larson’s costumes are stunning and Stephanie Slade’s lighting is nearly perfect, helping to make the sock puppets brilliant when they could have been stupid.

Sure Drosselmeyer, Inc. has some rough edges. But I think that’s because Stephen, as usual, is exploring boundaries. This is a perfect evening out. But hurry. Of all the art in Salt Lake City, nothing is more ephemeral than the works of Stephen Brown. While you’ll likely never forget the performances (remember those amazing newspaper piles in Scampdance?), you’ll get very few chances to see this show again.

Drosselmeyer, Inc. is a bargain at $15 a ticket and can be seen for only three more performances on June 19, 20, and 21.