Musicals, mysteries top theater lineup

Mysteries and musicals are big this week in new theatrical openings.

• "HOLES," Utah State Theatre's regional premiere of a stage version of the popular Newbery Award-winning book and recent Disney film, is Monday-Saturday in Utah State University's Morgan Theatre, Logan.

Co-directing the piece are Colin Johnson, head of USU's Theatre Arts Department, and Robbin Black, a faculty member. The cast includes Dallyn Steenerson as Yeats.

The script was selected due to its broad family appeal. The plot revolves around young Stanley Yeats, wrongly accused of stealing a famous baseball player's sneakers and consigned to Camp Green Lake — a juvenile detention facility that is not green and has no lake, where the boys dig holes in the hot Texas desert.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, with one matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $6 for youths and non-USU students, $7 for senior citizens and USU faculty/staff and $9 for adults. All USU students are admitted free with a current activity card. Discounts are available for families, children and groups (435-797-0305 or www.usu.edu/theatre).

• "SWEENEY TODD" has its fifth annual Utah Valley "concert-version" presentation from Friday through Oct. 30 at the Castle Amphitheater in Provo. Produced by J. Scott Montgomery, the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler play about a vengeful, 19th century London barber and his macabre business, has become a Utah Valley Halloween tradition.

The cast includes Dave Hanson in the title role and Marcie Jacobsen as his partner in crime (her famous meat pies are loaded with unsavory ingredients). Also in the cast are Montgomery, Matt Cloward, Brianna Jensen, Miriam Latour, Eric Manning, Brad Montgomery, Regan Whimpey and an ensemble of more than 30 singers.

Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Oct. 25-29, and 8 and 11 p.m. on Oct. 30 at the Castle Amphitheater, 1300 E. Center. Tickets, available only at the gate, are $5 for children, $8 for senior citizens and students and $10 for adults (cash and credit cards only). Patrons are cautioned to dress for the chilly, evening weather.

• "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF," directed by Syd Riggs, is being staged Friday through Nov. 29 in Hale Center Theater Orem. Merrill Dodge is single-cast as Tevye, with Diane Dabczynski and Kaye Woodworth sharing the role of his wife, Golde, and Karen Baird and Linda Garay as Yente, the village matchmaker.