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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE B2 `39 Steps' a festival highlight Shakespearean Festival produces adapted Hitchcock film August 2010 Sculptures are 'playable' at new mini golf course Keith Araneo-Yowell STAFF WRITER In an effort to involve everyone in the cultural enrichment of art, the Salt Lake Arts Center has put together a rare combination this summer—contemporary art and mini golf. The Contemporary Masters miniature golf course aims to meld artistic expression across a broad range of genres with the excitement of a putt-putt course. The exhibit features a series of 18 sculptures, where visitors are encouraged to grab one of the clubs provided and play through. Unlike most mini-golf courses, which have specific, if not hokey, themes in mind, the Contemporary Masters collection succeeds in getting viewers to take in all the elements of a sculpture. The exhibit's unifying theme is a hodgepodge of different styles, from John Bell's minimalist, "Pissing in the Wind," to Nathan Florence's contemporary post-impressionist, "Three Graces." The theme of the exhibit is best exemplified by Brian Butler and Christopher Wawrinofsky's "Take Out the Clowns," which combines black lights, See SCULPTURE Page B13 COURTESTY UTAH SHAKESPEAREAN FESTIVAL COURTESTY UTAH SHAKESPEAREAN FESTIVAL Left, Kymberly Mellen plays Lady Macbeth in this year's presentation of the classic play at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Carol Linnea Johnson, left, and Brian Vaughn star in Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps."The story was originally from a spy novel. Alec Gehrke "The 39 Steps" into a comedic masterpiece. Four actors portray more than 15o characters throughout the play, in a hilarious rendition of the original spy story. "The 39 Steps" won two Tony Awards in 2008 and was nominated for four others, including Best Play. The summer season at the Utah Shakespearean Festival includes three STAFF WRITER The Utah Shakespearean Festival is nationally renowned for its productions of the Elizabethan playwright's work. However, the contemporary play, "The 39 Steps," is sure to steal some of the spotlight in Cedar City this summer. "The 39 Steps" is a story nearly roo years in the making. In 1915, John Buchan wrote a spy novel that was later adapted into the spythriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was adapted for stage by playwrights Simon Corbel and Noddy Dimon. Then in 2004, Patrick Barlow emboldened the cornedy that is fluid throughout the story and converted School of Music names new interim director Jamie Rankin and other areas of the fine arts. "We can get too connected to the art we do and forget that it's the Robert Baldwin is looking forward arts—plural," Baldwin said. to this upcoming school year as the The upcoming concert season will newly appointed interim director of promote the "sharing (of) talents" in the School of Music. many ways. For instance, one of the The previous School of Music difeature events of the fall, the Alexander rector, Robert Walzel, left July r after Nevsky Choral Cantata (Nov. 19 and accepting the position of dean at the Nov. 2o) will feature musicians from School of Music at the University of both the choirs and the orchestra. Kansas. Baldwin also wants to help improve As interim director, Baldwin plans student awareness of events so that to continue the school's "positive trathe school is no longer the "best kept jectory" and create a smooth transisecret on campus." tion between Walzel and himself. He hopes students from both inside In addition to his new responsibiliand outside of the College of Fine ties, he plans to maintain leadership Arts will see that the School of Music by continuing as the director of the offers not only outstanding perforaward-winning Utah Philharmonia mances from many students, but also and conduct most of its season. promotes community groups such as As for his previous obligations, the Salt Lake Symphony and the Salt graduate Jong-hun Bae will now Lake Choral Artists, and brings in the direct the Campus Symphony, piano highest level of professionals through faculty member Jeffrey Price will events such as the Virtuoso Series. To receive more information on conduct the season's opera from the harpsichord, and David Cho, associupcoming events, you can e-mail ate director of the Utah Symphony, events@music.utah.edu , become a will be teaching graduate classes in friend of the School of Music on the orchestral conducting curriculum. Facebook, check out the scrolling calBaldwin's focus is creating a endar on the school's website, www. high-quality learning experience for music.utah.edu, or pick up a printed students, and this year he expects to season calendar from the main office do this by promoting greater collabo- in 204 David Gardner Hall. ration between the School of Music j.rankin@chronicle.utah.edu STAFF WRITER Shakespearean plays that have all received critical praise. "Macbeth," "Much Ado About Nothing" and "The Merchant of Venice" will run until September, after which the fall season will begin. For information on show times and tickets, visit www.bard.org. a.gehrke@ chronicle.utah.edu ABBEY A STRONG The Salt Lake Arts Center's combination of modern art pieces and mini golf makes for an intriguing course. Sound Semantics blends genres Alec Gehrke STAFF WRITER The Oregon-based band Sound Semantics demonstrates the bloom of brilliance in its second album, at the drop of a hat. The album was released June 5 and is the second collaboration between Eran Schweitzer and Allie Silverberg. The band blends various styles of instrumentation and vocalization, giving Sound Semantics a style that rings of blue grass, folk and indie rock. On Sound Semantics' biography from www.wordpress.com , the band said, "If a singer/songwriter, folk troupe, indie pop idol and rock band collided...and put on two really nice hats...you'd be left with something like Sound Semantics." Their influences range from The Beatles, Radiohead, Regina Spektor and Elliott Smith. However, the duets between Schweitzer and Silverberg echo of the brilliant harmonization found in The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens and Damien Rice's collaboration with Lisa Hannigan. The album starts out rather slow. The lyrics are forgettable and the guitar, though fantastically played, seems to be search- ing for the right tune. The first half of the album goes well in a coffee shop with a cappuccino. On track seven, the hat actually drops, and Sound Semantics kicks it up a notch with the song "Burden." Although paced at a slow tempo, the lyrics bloom with the story-telling quality they display in "Burden." The last four songs on the album distinguish Sound Semantics as a band worth seeing live. The band dabbles in soul with See SEMANTICS Page B13 3-D films experience a rebirth, but receive similar criticism s I sank deep into the depths of dreaming one night, I was haunted by the ghastly image of Jack Black. I could feel the breathing passages of my being slowly closing off as I was suffocated beneath the might of his tenacious girth, drowing me in a sea of frantic mannerisms and bug-eyed expressions. Thankfully, a shrill morning alarm snapped me back into reality. As I awoke, I swore to never again watch the trailer for Black's next film, a 3-D versiond of "Gulliver's Travels," before I lay myself to sleep. Yes, 3-D is all the rage in cinema nowadays, and with good reason— it's profitable. James Cameron's scifi epic "Avatar" might have been a mind-bogglingly expensive venture, but it raked in more than $2.7 billion in theaters worldwide, in large part A SANDY SCHAEFER Senior, Film and Media Arts because of its showing in the the extra dimension. Big-budgeted fare such as the "Clash of the Titans" remake and "The Last Airbender" were hurriedly converted to 3-D a couple of months before their theatrical release in the hopes of cashing in on the craze. Future franchises such as the two-part "Harry Potter" finale and the next chapter in "The Chronicles of Narnia" will be unveiled in both 2-D and 3-D for the same reason. Even the major animated films released in the first seven months of this year—"How to Train Your Dragon," "Shrek Forever After," "Toy Story 3" and "Despicable Me"—all inarguably benefited frm the higher ticket price of 3-D shows. This all begs the question: Why is 3-D technology so popular? Some moviegoers like to argue that it more deeply immerses the viewer in the film; some liken it to being the next step in the evolving form of filmmaking, like "talkies" were to silent pics. Others admit they just think it's cool when it looks like objects in a movie are literally flying out from the screen. Anyone familiar with the history of the film industry since the mid-loth centure knows that this is not the first time 3-D has reared its multidimensional haed. Back in the 195os and early '6os, B-movies such as the original, Vincent Prise-starring "House of Wax" were screened in the format to mild success. Studios began putting pressure on filmmakers to shot their work with the extra dimension in mind—even Alfred Hitchcock's suspensefuldrama "Dial M for Murder" ended up being shown in 3-D. Eventually, the general interest of the moviegoing public waned, and 3-D fell of the rador of pop culture for a while. It resurfaced in the 198os, especially in the form of cheap horror flicks. Sequels to "Jaws," "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" attempted to woo audiences bycreating the illlusion that they too could be stabbed, slashed or eated like the characters in themovies themselves. Enough voices in the general public called out 3-D for being cheap, potentiallyheadachenducing gimmick, and it faded into obscurity once again. That's not to say 3-D died. For a long time, it only appeared at amusement parks such as Disney's theme parks, in the form of attractions such as the Michael Jacksonstarring "Captain EO," Jim Hensen's "Muppet* Vision 3-D," "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience," and the more modern "PhilharMagic" animated show. Throughout the 199os and until a few years ago, 3-D became known as being best for just that— the kind of thing you see at an amusement park, not at your local multiplex. During the past two years, 3-D has come back into vogue. Flicks such as "Coraline" got the craze going See 3-D Page B11 |