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As the new year starts, and the obligations subside to perform holiday favorites — which are lucrative, but not always as artistically fulfilling — Salt Lake City’s major performing arts groups are gearing up for some big shows.
Here’s a thumbnail guide to what the area’s major performing arts groups — theater, dance, classical music and opera — are staging from now through April.
Ballet West • The troupe, one of America’s leading ballet companies, continues into 2024 with a ballet classic, “Swan Lake,” set to the music of Tchaikovsky, running Feb. 9-17. That’s followed with a program, “Love and War,” running April 12-20, that includes the Utah premiere of choreographer William Forsythe’s “Blake Works I,” set to the love songs of singer-songwriter James Blake. Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at BalletWest.org.
(Broadway at the Eccles) Gerianne Perez, center, plays Catherine of Aragon in the North American touring production of the Broadway musical "Six," a pop-concert telling of the stories of Henry VIII's six wives. It's scheduled to be performed at Salt Lake City's Eccles Theater, Jan. 9-21, 2024.
Broadway at the Eccles • The touring production of “Six,” a musical that imagines Henry VIII’s six wives as the ultimate girl group, is set to run Jan. 9-21. The touring production of “MJ: The Musical,” about the life and music of Michael Jackson, is scheduled to run Feb. 27-March 3. The touring version of “Pretty Woman,” a musical based on the Julia Roberts romance, is scheduled for April 2-7. And the crowd favorite “Come From Away,” about a Canadian town that opened its doors when many airlines were forced to land in Newfoundland after 9/11, returns for a brief engagement, April 26-28. Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Tickets available at saltlakecity.broadway.com.
Hale Centre Theatre • Utah’s durably popular community theater organization is programming year-round on its two stages. “Clue: On Stage,” a play based on the long-popular board game, is set to play Jan. 10-April 20 in the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Theatre. The classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof” will be mounted at the Young Living Centre Stage from Jan. 26 to March 30; that will be followed by the regional premiere of the country musical “May We All,” scheduled to run April 22-June 8. Mountain America Performing Arts Centre, 9900 S. Monroe St., Sandy. Tickets available at hct.org.
Pioneer Theatre Company • Utah’s biggest professional theater company starts 2024 with playwright Karen Zacarías’ comedy of manners “Native Gardens,” running Jan. 12-27. “Bonnie & Clyde,” a musical about the notorious Texas bank robbers with music by Frank Wildhorn (“Jekyll & Hyde”) and lyrics by Don Black (“Sunset Boulevard”), is set to run Feb. 23-March 9. That’s followed by “The Lehman Trilogy” — writer Stefano Massini’s Tony-winning epic that spans 163 years through the formation, rise and fall of the Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers — scheduled for March 29-April 13, the first PTC production in the new Meldrum Theatre in the Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse. Pioneer Memorial Theatre, University of Utah campus, 300 S. 1400 East, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at PioneerTheatre.org.
Plan-B Theatre • The avant-garde company presents the world premiere of playwright Debora Threedy’s play “Balthazar,” a re-imagining of the gender identity of the character Portia from Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” running Feb. 15-March 3. That’s followed by the (sort of) world premiere of Melissa Leilani Larson’s “Bitter Lemon,” which puts two characters from “Macbeth” — Macbeth himself and the woman he wronged, Lady Macduff — in a purgatorial waiting room; it’s scheduled to run April 11-28. Jeanne Wagner Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at PlanBTheatre.org.
(Ririe-Woodbury Dance Theatre) A scene from "Groundworks," one of the dance works in the program "Traverse," being performed by Ririe-Woodbury Dance Theatre, Feb. 1-3, 2024, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.
Repertory Dance Theatre • The dance troupe will bring back its “Regalia” choreography competition, with a twist, for its fundraiser event on March 2. That’s followed by a program called “Gamut,” running April 11-13, that includes a new commission by choreographer Yusha-Marie Sorzano, along with three returning works. Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at RDTUtah.org.
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company • The company is into its 60th anniversary season, which will feature two upcoming programs: “Traverse,” running Feb. 1-3, featuring original choreography by company dancers; and “Ascent,” April 18-20, with world premiere works by choreographers Charlotte Boye-Christensen (former R-W artistic director) and Daniel Charon (the company’s current artistic director), as well as the return of Stefanie Batten Bland’s 2018 work “Look Who’s Coming to Dinner.” Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at RirieWoodbury.com.
Salt Lake Acting Company • After a run Jan. 11-14 of Philip Ridley’s “Radiant Vermin” — developed through SLAC’s Making Space for Artists program — the company will present two regional premieres: Noah Diaz’s “You Will Get Sick,” running Feb. 7-March 3; and Vichet Chum’s “Bald Sisters,” set to run April 10-May 5. SLAC, 168 W. 500 North, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at SaltLakeActingCompany.org.
Utah Opera • The company brings back “The Little Prince,” an opera based on the classic French tale and composed by Rachel Portman and Nicholas Wright, for a run Jan. 20-28. Then, it’s Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” scheduled to run March 9-17. Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at UtahOpera.org.
Utah Presents • Eclectic shows at Kingsbury Hall: The dance production Step Afrika! on Jan. 15; the storytelling event “Healthcare Stories: Promise” on Feb. 1; the Banff Center Mountain Film Festival, featuring films about mountains and the people who explore them, on Feb. 21; and “Music From the Sole,” a blend of live music and tap dance that explores Afro-diasporic beats, on March 14. Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at UtahPresents.org.
Utah Symphony • Utah’s premier classical music organization has a full slate of programs scheduled from now through December, but there are some highlights: The premiere of a new work, written and performed by pianist Sir Stephen Hough, Jan. 12-13; Colin Currie performing Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto, March 22-23; and pianist Ingrid Fliter performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto, April 26-27. Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City. Tickets available at UtahSymphony.org.
