What we anticipate with high expectations, along with our disappointments

Is it wrong to hope that all queer films can thrill us like 'Call Me by Your Name'?

BY BLAIR HOWELL

BIG SCREEN In Femme, “a savagely sexy queer erotic thriller’” set in London’s drag scene, Jules is targeted in a horrific homophobic attack that destroyed his life and career. He encounters an attacker in a sauna. And he wants revenge. Might just be spring’s sleeper LGBT hit.

 Limited theater release, March 22

Directed and co-written by Ethan Coen, the comedy caper Drive-Away Dolls follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another girlfriend breakup. With her demure friend Marian, she embarks on an impromptu road trip. Things then quickly go awry when they cross paths with inept criminals.

 Theaters, Feb. 23

CONCERT Broadway leading man Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, The Last Five Years, Bonnie & Clyde) brings Kara Lindsay (Newsies, Wicked) and Jessica Vosk (Wicked, Fiddler on the Roof) to Salt Lake for Encore: A Musical Review. We’ll enjoy hits from Wicked, Les Misérables, Newsies, and other classics, while stories are shared from their careers.

 The Eccles, March 9, arttix.org

THEATER As one of the state’s most frequently performed musicals, The Scarlet Pimpernel is embraced by Utah audiences. Less well-known is Frank Wildhorn’s Bonnie & Clyde, but the recent West End revival ignited its popularity. While I loathe Jekyll & Hyde (on the DVD adaptation, David Hasselhoff is goddamned godawful), I’m anxious to see Bonnie & Clyde again, after its Utah Rep regional premiere. The score is “an appealing patchwork of Americana: blues, gospel and fiddle-filled rockabilly” — New York Daily News  Pioneer Theatre Company, Feb. 23 – March 9, tickets.pioneertheatre.org

A FIRST At age 31, Giselle Byrd is executive director of the Theater Offensive, one of the nation’s oldest and most decorated queer hubs of performing arts. She becomes the first Black trans woman to lead a major American theater company. The Boston troupe will be placing a greater emphasis on “presenting art created for and by queer and trans folks of color,” as Byrd maintains.  thetheateroffensive.org

I PROTEST Maestro begins when Leonard Bernstein meets wife-to-be Felicia Montealegre and ends at her death. Explain how can the film be called a Bernstein biopic, please. We see Lenny’s homosexuality in Netflix’s awards season pony, but it’s not nearly fully explored, or is her partial acceptance of his duality — as if Maestro was helmed by a man struggling to define himself. Noted that Bradley Cooper red carpets with his mother.

 In theaters and on Netflix

Saltburn is labeled a gay thriller. And director Emerald Fennell says it’s “undeniably about same-sex desire.” But is Barry Keoghan’s Oliver gay? You must agree it’s not nearly clear. Though we love his (spoiler alert) nude joyful celebratory dance through the castle at the film’s conclusion.

 In theaters and on Prime

Fellow Travelers was touted as an American historical romance political thriller. The romance was steamy — in a soap opera/telenovela sort of way.

 On Hulu

GROWING A fun social group for LGBT persons and straight allies interested in gardening is the Alternative Garden Club. The range of topics at its mostly summer meetings have ranged from new tomato varieties, to historic landscaping, to chickens and beekeeping.

 utahagc.org/clubs/altgardenclub and on Facebook