It seems no matter where you look, someone is claiming that the arts are dying. This phrase — scary to some and pleasing to others — seems to be increasingly popularity in dominant discourse. The ‘death of the arts’ is treated as inevitable and something we must learn to accept. Thankfully, in Salt Lake City the arts are far from dead. They are in fact growing at such a fast rate that current performance venues have grown too small to fit the demand.
For decades, Capitol Theater located at 50 West 200 South has served as the center for many art events, housing Ballet West’s stunning ballets, auditions for “So You Think You Can Dance” and even touring Broadway shows. The space is regularly used and well-loved, but isn’t able to fit everything that the performance-hungry Salt Lake Valley desires.
Cue the lavish new Eccles Theater, scheduled to open for its first season this coming fall. On March 3, a half hour prior to KSL News’ featured story on the new theater’s upcoming season, a launch party was held at Abravanel Hall (123 South Main Street) to celebrate the grand new building. Hors d’oeuvres and beverages were offered for free and attendees — including SLC Mayor Jackie Biskupski — enjoyed them as they mingled before watching KSL News’ story, with members of the KSL News Crew located inside the hall as well.
Prior to and just following the featured story, Bruce Granath, director of marketing and John Ballard, Co-CEO of MagicSpace Entertainment, the organization that will be producing and presenting shows at the new theater, spoke about the many benefits of having a new theater in addition to Capitol Theater to allow for the most and best performances year-round.
The best part of the launch party, after the 2016-2017 season reveal, was the opportunity attendees had to get a glimpse at the musical “Matilda,” coming to the Eccles Theater in February of next year through two performances, one a solo by Gabrielle Gutierrez performing as Matilda in the song “Naughty” and the other a combined effort of Gutierrez and the Riverton Drama Club Choir presenting the song “When You Grow Up.” Bryce Ryness who plays Miss Trunchbull, the evil villain in “Matilda,” was also present to speak on his experience with the show, joking about times when audience members could not tell if the actor behind the awful character was a man or a woman. The night was fun, the aura was festive and it was proved once and for all that the arts are alive and kicking in our little corner of the world.
The 2016-2017 Season lineup is as follows:
Beautiful, the Carole King Musical (Nov. 15-20, 2016)
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Dec. 6-11, 2016)
Kinky Boots (Jan. 17-22, 2017)
Matilda the Musical (Feb. 21-26, 2017)
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA (May 30-June 4, 2017)
Dirty Dancing (June 20-25, 2017)
Six additional shows will also be playing at the theater:
A Kurt Buster Christmas (Dec. 15-17, 2016)
Cirque Dreams Holidaze (Dec. 29-31, 2016)
Mamma Mia! (Feb. 2-5, 2017)
The Lion King (Mar. 23-April 16, 2017)
The Book of Mormon (Aug. 1-20, 2017)