Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theater Picks - Salt Lake City

Blair Howell's Picks:

1. THE BOOK OF MORMON at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, July 28 to August 9, www.broadwayinutah.com

Elder Price will be singing "I Believe" in the capitol city of Mormondom when Broadway Across America stages THE BOOK OF MORMON musical, winner of nine Tony Awards. Local audiences will say "Hello!" and can then decide for themselves if "the book is always better."

2. Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, June 25 to October 31, www.bard.org

Savvy Utah theatergoers cherish each visit to the annual summertime festival, and this year we will be bidding a bittersweet adieu! adieu! to the Wooden O, formally known as the Adams Theatre, which is being demolished before the new Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre is christened next year. This year's offerings include AMADEUS, SOUTH PACIFIC, and CHARLEY'S AUNT, along with shows by the Bard: KING LEAR, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, and, continuing its Festival History Cycle, HENRY IV PART TWO.

1. Broadway in the Desert at Tuacahn in Ivins, May 29 to October 17, www.tuacahn.org

Tuacahn's 2015 season features a one-two punch of regional premieres. First will be the magical WHEN YOU WISH revue, featuring favorite Disney songs and characters. Then the joyful disco-gospel Broadway musical SISTER ACT will make its long-awaited Utah debut. Also performed will be Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST--a title that is currently seeing a resurgence of local productions.

2. Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID at Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, June 5 to August 1, www.halecentretheatre.org

If this production, featuring a sparkling, woefully underappreciated new score, is anything like Hale Centre Theatre's wondrous TARZAN, the audience is in for a real treat.

3. ORDINARY DAYS produced by Utah Repertory Theater at Sugar Space in Sugarhouse, July 10 to 25, www.utahrep.org.

This intimate off-Broadway musical about four ordinary New Yorkers will make it's Utah premiere with a talented cast of local actors, sure to prove that bigger doesn't always equal better.

Photo Credit: Utah Shakespeare Festival; Utah Repertory Theater