MICHELANGELO OF THE UTAH THEATRE: ITALIAN MASTER PAINTER LENDS A HAND TO BUILDING’S RENOVATION
By Lis Stewart,
The Herald Journal
Published: Saturday, September 26, 2015
You could call him the Michelangelo of the Utah Theatre.
Italian master painter Nino de Robertis has been working on the interior of the Art Deco theater for several weeks now, nearly finished on his part of the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre’s (UFOMT) renovation of the historic icon in downtown Logan.
He doesn’t speak much English, but he happily greeted The Herald Journal with a smile and, “Pleased to meet you,” Friday morning in the theater, located at 18 W. Center St.
Michael Ballam, the opera company’s founder and de Robertis’ translator, said he met de Robertis nearly 20 years ago in Italy, and they became fast friends. When de Robertis came to Utah this August to see shows put on by UFOMT, Ballam convinced him to stay a little longer and lend his talents to the Utah Theatre renovation.