Utah Crowd-Funding: 'Deep Love' to Oregon

This week's Utah Crowd-Funding project is putting the show on the road.

The show in question is "Deep Love," billed as "a ghostly folk opera" written by Ryan Hayes and Garrett Sherwood, who were college buddies at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. The two pitched their project to another Rexburg pal, Jon Peter Lewis, who jumped on board immediately.

Lewis, now based in Salt Lake City, and Hayes comprise the folk-rock duo Midas Whale, which performed on "The Voice." Lewis also competed in season 3 of "American Idol," where he came in eighth behind Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and eventual winner Fantasia Barrino.

"Deep Love" is a rock opera that tells of love beyond the grave, as Constance still loves her deceased husband, known as Old Bones. A grieving Constance meets Friedrich and they fall in love — even though she's still haunted by Old Bones' memory, and Friedrich is tormented by memories of his ex-love, Florence.

(The rock opera is scheduled to be performed, with Lewis starring as Old Bones, on Oct. 17 at the Jeanne Wagner Theatre, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Tickets are $15, available at ArtTix.)

Hayes, Sherwood and Lewis aim to take "Deep Love" to the next level of development, which means accepting an invitation to Arts Northwest, an arts showcase in Eugene, Ore., in October.

To do it, though, they need money — and they are trying to raise $5,000 via a Kickstarter campaign.

So far, The campaign is more than 40 percent toward its goal, having raised $2,072. The deadline is Aug. 31.

Backers can receive incentives for their money, ranging from membership in a private Facebook group of fans, known as "Deep Love Slaves" (for $5), to having a production of the show mounted on demand (for $10,000).

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If you have a crowd-funding project you'd like mentioned on The Cricket blog, email it to: spmeans@sltrib.com. Be sure to put "crowd funding" in the subject line.