Best of Utah Theater in 2022: Salt Lake City BWW Reviewer's Favorite Shows

1. MOULIN ROUGE! at the Eccles Theater, www.broadway-at-the-eccles.com

This national tour had dazzling design in a luscious extravaganza of visuals and music that had to be seen to be believed. Lying just under the surface was a pulsating heart of humanity, filled with love and pain and aspiration, driving the experience to euphoric heights.

2. SHUCKED at Pioneer Theatre Company, www.pioneertheatre.org

The world premiere of this Broadway-bound musical comedy was hilariously corny with story and song as sweet and juicy as fresh, buttered corn on the cob. It's an unexpected show that grows on you as it goes along, and like kernels stuck in your teeth, it stays with you long after.

3. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA at Hale Centre Theatre, www.hct.org

This production was ravishing as it swept the audience away to another culture, place, and time. The exquisite beauty of the scenes, caused by coordinated color palettes and thoughtful artistry, invoked involuntary sighs of euphoria in too many blissful moments to count.

4. BRIGHT STAR at Hale Center Theater Orem, www.haletheater.org

Director Mark Fossen invoked from the thrilling, gripping actors and evoked in the audience the gamut of human emotion from bliss-filled elation to tear-filled pathos, digging deep into the scene work and tapping into rather than ignoring the power of the music.

5. IN THE HEIGHTS at West Valley Arts, www.wvcarts.org

This community show was a rapturous celebration of heritage and a real blast to experience. It was a labor of love from a production team and cast that has lived this story in their own lives, masterfully telling it with explosive energy and emotional resonance.

Honorable Mentions:

ANASTASIA at the Eccles Theater, www.broadway-at-the-eccles.com (satisfying with visual grandeur and resonating deeply with soul-sustaining emotion)

TREASURE ISLAND at Hale Centre Theatre, www.hct.org (at once cinematic and theatrical in all the best ways)

Photo Credit: Moulin Rouge! cast. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

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