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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah arts organizations often compete for the same audiences, but they also recognize each others' successes.
Pioneer Theatre Company and the Utah Shakespeare Festival are sharing talents in a current production.
Quick, clever, physical comedy that first launched on London's West End and then on Broadway has now burst onto the Pioneer Theatre Company stage.
"So, when it came time for Pioneer Theatre Company to choose a director for 'One Man, Two Guvnors,' they looked to the Utah Shakespeare Festival and David Ivers, for a number of reasons," said Pioneer Theatre Company's artistic director Karen Azenberg. "This kind of show takes a very specific sensibility. Somebody who can really grasp it and run with it. I knew David could do it and he's the coolest guy to hang around with on top of it!"
In person and on stage, Ivers' performance in the festival's "The Servant of Two Masters" in 2003 left audiences rolling in the aisles. "One Man, Two Guvnors" is the modern version.
"It's a very exacting and rigorous thing to put together, both as an actor and as a director. But that work is fulfilling in a way that few things are," Ivers said.
Ivers believes the right music enhances the performance. He added instruments and vocals to his "Twelfth Night" at the festival this summer, which played through the fall season to great reviews.
Ivers brought a musical director he had worked with at the festival, who, in turn, hired four Utah musicians as the Skiffle band. Skiffle bands use hand-made instruments like washboards to create a distinct sound.
"For our purposes, they call themselves 'The Craze' and they play here nightly at Pioneer Theatre Company," said musical director, Gregg Coffin.
"This is a really special thing that's happened, that Karen's done in terms of aligning two organizations in the same state," Ivers said.
It is, of course, many heads, two theater companies and one evening of very big laughs.
"One Man, Two Guvnors" runs through November 15 at Pioneer Memorial Theatre at the University of Utah.
