The Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre will offer a 30th birthday street-party on July 11 from 9 to 11 p.m. on Center Street in downtown Logan.
LOGAN – The 2022 season of the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre will be much too big to be confined by the proscenium arch of the stage at the Ellen Eccles Theatre.
In addition to its mainstage productions, the festival has scheduled a series of events that will bring its performers into the streets of Logan, to rub shoulders with local residents.
They will be sans make-up and costumes, according to UFOMT marketer Kendal Bates, but with talents intact.
“The Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre is throwing a free 30th birthday bash street-party on July 11 from 9 to 11 p.m.,” Bates reports, inviting the entire community to attend. “The festivities will, of course, take place on Center Street in downtown Logan.”
The party gets started earlier in the day, Bates explains, with chalk artists at work, a children’s art faire and food trucks all day long.
There will also be a free performance by the Opera by Children singers from 2 to 4 p.m. and live music from 2 to 8 p.m.
The UFOMT’s performers will begin strolling Center Street as soon as that evening’s performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is over at the nearby Ellen Eccles Theatre.
A free concert will follow, with the company’s professional singers performing highlights from 30 years of UFOMT shows.
“It wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without fireworks,” Bates adds. “The Center Street Celebration will close with a God Bless America tribute and a fireworks show.”
For night owls, Bates said that the UFOMT will offer another opportunity see the Festival Opera’s stars without make-up by stopping at Café Sabor for a late-night variety show.
That show will be performed on July 14, 21 and 28 at 11 p.m.
Food and beverages will be available for purchase.
Café Sabor is located at 600 West Center Street.
Finally, the UFOMT will also explore new ground with an outdoor production of composer Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land.
Set to be performed outdoors against the backdrop of the Gary Griffin farm in Millville, The Tender Land is a quintessential American romance.
The play will be performed July 21 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.
The Festival Opera’s five mainstage productions include Mozart’s masterpiece The Magic Flute; Utah’s favorite Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Bizet’s tragic opera Carmen; the charming musical She Loves Me; and The Man of La Mancha, staring UFOMT founding director Michael Ballam.
The UFOMT’s 30th anniversary season will run from July 6 to Aug. 6 at the Ellen Eccles and Utah theaters in downtown Logan.