Rarely done musical set

A rarely produced 1968 Broadway musical leads off this week's new stage productions, and there is a new venue in Springdale for Branson-style shows.

"ZORBA! THE MUSICAL," adapted by John Kander and Fred Ebb (of "Chicago" fame), is being staged from Thursday through May 20 by Wasatch Theatre Company in the Studio Theatre of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 South). The musical is based on the 1964 film "Zorba the Greek."

Director Scott Allen Curry's cast includes Kit Anderton in the title role, Cory Huff as Niko, a young man he befriends; Sallie Cooper as Hortense, Keri Wright as the Widow, Sean Pickell as the suicidal Pavli and Natalie Maymi as the Leader. Some of the production's choreography features the local Dionysus Dancers.

Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., with additional Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 (www.arttix.org or 355-2787).

"TWIST THE NIGHT AWAY," a revue showcasing the music of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, the Chordettes, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Big Bopper, among others, is being revived this summer in Springdale in an entirely new setting.

Staged last year in the Bumbleberry Theatre, the show is moving into the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre, 145 Zion Park Blvd., where it will be presented at 8 p.m. nightly except Wednesdays and Sundays.

The venue will continue to show Imax films during the day, but for the evening shows, a portable stage, complete with lighting, lasers and multiple levels, will be set up in front of the six-story high screen, transforming the space into a live theater.

Rhett Thomas, whose production company staged the show last year, is producing and directing it this year. Rhett and his brother, Ross, are performing in their own show, "The Best of Broadway and More," at the nearby Bumbleberry Theatre, part of an ongoing effort to bring the style of entertainment that has made Branson, Mo., a popular tourist attraction to the gateway to Zion National Park.

Tickets for "Twist the Night Away" are $12.50-$25 (435-772-2400 or 888-256-3456).

"PROSE & POETRY POTLUCK," featuring impromptu readings of short poems or bits of prose, will be the theme for the 2005-06 season finale for the Babcock Performing Readers on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the LNCO auditorium of the University of Utah's Language and Communications Building, just east of Orson Spencer Hall.