THE ESSENTIAL A&E PICKS FOR JUN 12 - JUN 18 

• Knopf Books

AJ Irving: The Bi Book
In 2023, when Salt Lake City-based author AJ Irving had just released her queer-themed picture book The Wishing Flower, she shared with City Weekly her sense for why she felt books of this kind were important for young readers: "I remember struggling to fall asleep at night because I loved girls. ... Absolutely, I wish books like The Wishing Flower had existed when I was growing up." Clearly that mission still drives Irving, as her latest work, The Bi Book, in collaboration with illustrator Cynthia Alonso, again looks to introduce ideas about the range of human love by removing stigmas.

Nominally, The Bi Book is a primer on the concept of bisexuality, but in a way that centers language. It deals with two children on a beach trip who are exploring a lot of different words where the prefix "bi-" means "two": bicycle, biped, biennial, bilingual, biracial and more. And yes, it also addresses the idea of "bisexuality," though in a way that de-emphasizes the "sexuality" part of the word, allowing for the beginning of conversations about the way people can love "in a rainbow of ways." Filled with charming images emphasizing the colors of the "bi flag," it's yet another generous gift from Irving and her younger self to kids of all potential sexual orientations.

AJ Irving visits The King's English Bookshop (1511 S. 1500 East) to read from and sign The Bi Book on Saturday, June 14 at 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at Eventbrite; visit kingsenglish.com for more information. (Scott Renshaw)

• Matthew Murphy

Broadway at the Eccles: & Juliet
The concept of the "jukebox musical" is nothing new on Broadway, with songwriters as varied as ABBA's Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus (Mamma Mia!), Billy Joel (Movin' Out) and Neil Diamond (Beautiful Noise) finding their work gathered and set to a plot. Still, there are combinations of elements that might certainly feel bizarre when you hear them described—like, for example, taking William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and asking the question, "What if we used that as a jumping-off point for a bunch of pop hits by Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Katy Perry?"

Nevertheless, that exact notion formed the genesis of & Juliet, the 2019 musical written by Emmy Award-winning Schitt's Creek writer David West Read and set to the hits written and co-written by Swedish-born songwriter/producer Max Martin. It's a speculative tale that wonders what might have happened if the Bard had gotten a few notes from his wife, Anne, during the tryouts for the tragic romance that would become shorthand for star-cross'd lovers: Perhaps, Anne suggests, Juliet might not die at the end, and instead set off on an adventure of self-discovery. The resulting tale features a package of Millennial musical memories including "Oops! ... I Did It Again," "I Want It That Way," "Teenage Dream" and many more.

Broadway at the Eccles presents the touring production of & Juliet at the Eccles Theater (131 S. Main St.) June 17 – 22 for eight performances. Tickets are $99.52 - $257.07; visit saltlakecountyarts.org for tickets and additional event information. (SR)

• Courtesy photo

SAW: The Musical – The Unauthorized Parody of Saw
Okay, I can hear you thinking: "Saw? The horror movie with all the complicated torture apparatus? Somehow, someone turned that into a musical, and a hella gay one at that?" Yes, it is indeed based on the original hit Saw that came out of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival—and yes, it is as unapologetically queer and Pride Month-appropriate as it is unapologetically gory.

Producer Cooper Jordan and his sister Zoe Ann Jordan (who wrote the script) looked at the premise—involving a killer psychotically determined to make people appreciate their lives—and turned it into a campy off-Broadway allegory about the relationship between these two men trapped together in a bathroom. In an April 2024 interview with Assignment X, Zoe Ann Jordan said, "[Horror is] maybe the genre where queer people have felt more represented than anywhere else, because of the Hays Code, and because of how queers were treated in the early days of cinema, when they were only able to be depicted as villains and as monsters. That sort of transformed itself into the representation now that they feel drawn to, because that has been the representation that they've had for so many years, and it's a way that they've reclaimed it, is that there are all these queer subtexts and themes in horror films."

The touring production of SAW: The Musical – The Unauthorized Parody of Saw runs June 18 – 22 at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, Studio 5400 (2525 Taylorsville Blvd., Taylorsville), with tickets ranging from $36.50 - $137.50. Visit saltlakecountyarts.org for tickets and additional event information. (SR)