By Elise C. Hanson
It’s back! For the second year running, playwright George Plautz delivers a send-up of all things Utah theater to the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival stage at the Box at Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City, and to just as much success with Forbidden Utah: Unmasked. The play follows the format of the popular parody revue Forbidden Broadway, the cabaret act that lovingly lampoons the Broadway scene and what was popular that year in the Great White Way. In Unmasked, his latest edition of Forbidden Utah, Plautz and his compatriots poke fun at dating with and without masks, dwindling theater audiences, and what’s to blame (Netflix, couches, harrowing parking lots), and the tricky business of catering to censors.
Plautz is joined in creating these song parodies by his cast members Sallie Cooper, Melody Baugh, Jim Martin, and Daniel Torrance. Each cast member had a chance to collaborate on a song or two, as shown in Baugh and Plautz’s parody of “Have I Got a Girl For You” from Company, which was changed to sing of the myriad excuses people have for not attending the theater. “But my couch…”
The cast was delightful and the material cracklingly funny, particularly for those of us who have suffered through trying to produce live theater in the last year without the means of large venues such as the Eccles Theater to create big-ticket events to lure people away from their sofas. As a playwright who has produced a lot of her own work this year to audiences as small as a singular person, I found myself wondering, “Am I laughing or crying?” (The answer is admittedly a bit of both.)
Forbidden Utah: Unmasked is playing through August 7, so leave your sofa behind and come to a night of relatable comedy. It’s a great introduction to the playwright and will inspire you to check out the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival’s other offerings.
Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival and Wasatch Theatre present Forbidden Utah: Unmasked, By George Plautz.
The Box at Gateway Mall, 124 400 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Jul 30-Aug 7, see the site for individual performance times.
Tickets $15
Contact: (323) 215-6350
www.wasatchtheatre.org
Fringe Festival Facebook Page
Wasatch Theatre Company Facebook Page
Forbidden Utah Event Page
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