2016-2018 Theatre Review Archive
2018, 2017, 2016 Theatre Reviews Archive
2018 Theatre Reviews
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REVIEW: 'The Learned Ladies,' through Dec. 23, The Upstart Crow at the Dairy Arts Center, Boulder
Classic French playwright Molière's comedies are performed far too seldom. A contemporary of Shakespeare, the 17th century producer-author-actor's plays can be fast and funny, offer delightful parodies of pretentious characters, and no matter how satirical they get, the audience is left feeling charmed and entertained. Last year's masterpiece Tartuffe, performed by the Arvada Center's Black Box ensemble was a theatrical triumph.
Now we have The Upstart Crow's production of the lesser-known The Learned Ladies, and it doesn't disappoint. Under the nimble direction of French scholar Amy Sonnanstine, this adaptation of Curtis Hidden Page's non-rhyming 1908 translation is silly, witty, and bouncing with literary and comic buffoonery.
The production performs at the Dairy Arts Center's intimate black-box Carsen Theatre through Dec. 23. The show is a prime contender for quick-witted, culturally-minded theatre-goers who aren't especially looking for holiday entertainment.
There's a lot more wit than plot in The Learned Ladies, with scenes and events set up primarily to enable clever repartee and exchanges of ideas worthy of George Bernard Shaw. Even so, there are several entertaining complications and reversals in this variation on the "arranged marriage" formula.
The uncomplicated daughter (Hannah Richards) of a pompous ninny (Alex Markovich) and an overbearing snob (Genevieve Price) has fallen in love with a forthright nobleman (Jeremy Barnes), who had previously been discarded as a suitor by her supercilious sister (Alissa Berdahl). But alas, the course of true love hits a speed bump when the domineering mother decides her youngest daughter should instead marry a poseur poet (Lea Bock) who writes hilariously bad sonnets.
The older women of the household, including a daffy aunt (Katherine Dubois Reed), have taken to enlightening their minds with philosophy, science, and literature. Far from true Renaissance women, the trio's pursuit of fashionable facts is driven by vanity, ego, and conceit. Furthermore, they are neglecting their household responsibilities, along with disrupting the natural courses of true love, marriage, family, and other stabilizing social institutions.
There are several standout scenes and a couple of truly remarkable performances. Two rival poets (Bock and Tom Mann) first flatter, then excoriate each other. The eldest daughter, who has eschewed "carnality" for higher pursuits, realizes she's condemned herself to becoming an old maid with no comfort beyond her books. The cowardly father flounders about trying to get a spine in time to save his daughter's happiness. Any number of preposterously lofty ideas get holes poked in them, and they sputter around, leaking hot air like punctured balloons.
Reed is especially funny as the goofy maiden aunt who thinks everyone is in love with her, and Markovich delights as the squirming, squishy father who means well but is surrounded by strong-willed and opinionated women.
Also starring in this production are the absolutely gorgeous (and character appropriate) costumes and wigs by Erica Illingworth, along with several pieces of splendid furniture that comprise the set.
This laugh-out-loud comedy is by no means anti-intellectual. But like the Bard's Love's Labours' Lost, those who try to set themselves apart from the world for the rarified realms of the intellect inevitably trip over their own clay feet once love enters the equation.
Tickets for The Learned Ladies start at $25. Seniors and Students (with ID) $21. Performance times, through Dec. 23: Thursday – Saturday 7:30 pm; Sunday 2 pm. Thursdays are Name-Your-Price Night: No set price or suggested donation. Audiences are asked to judge what they feel is an appropriate amount and leave it in an unmarked envelope at the end of the evening (No reservations accepted; first come, first served). To purchase tickets for any performance, visit The Dairy Box Office or call 303-444-7328.
Purchase and read a copy of the script for The Learned Ladies HERE.
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'Scrooge,' through Dec. 31, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, Johnstown
Elliot Clough (Ghost of Christmas Present) and Brian Burron (Scrooge.)
Photo Credit: Garland Photography
There are so many stage adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol playing in the Denver area, how is a person supposed to choose which one to see? This year, I selected Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's production of Scrooge! The Musical, based on the 1970 film with book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse.
Personally, I couldn't have made a better choice.
Unlike the admittedly popular and cost-efficient minimalist "radio" show or cleverly staged small ensemble versions, Candlelight's Scrooge! is a full-scale, large cast Broadway-style musical with enormous emotional impact and a hauntingly memorable musical score. Under the inspired direction of Robert Michael Sanders, Scrooge! is far more than a standard, traditional, and predictable holiday retelling of the classic story of a curmudgeonly miser's redemption.
It's a ghost story, first and foremost. Like the Dickens original. It's a story of spiritual warfare, in which the spectral forces of darkness and death contend with spirits of light over a deeply wounded man's immortal soul.
With a lot of singing and dancing.
In this production, Heaven and Hell are real, and the world we tread upon is merely a stage-shaped illusion. Ebenezer Scrooge (in a star-caliber virtuoso performance by Brian Burron) is visited by four spirits on Christmas Eve. They force Scrooge to examine his life and his conscience, subjecting him to painful memories and eliciting palpable remorse for his sins against humanity and his own heart. To bring the stakes of this supernatural intervention home, Sanders has "invisible" skeletal wraiths observing and assisting, ready to haul Scrooge off to perdition at any moment, should he fail this test.
If anything, Candlelight's Scrooge! has most in common with medieval morality plays. It has a theme that is a lot bigger than Kermit or Mickey Mouse Cratchit can handle. In fact, though this is a family-friendly show, the sensibilities are geared much more toward adults than children, and some of it is meant to be scary.
The book, lyrics and music are by Leslie Bricusse, who explored similar themes of reviewing a misspent life in Stop the World I Want to Get Off, and is also responsible for Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Doctor Doolittle, and The Roar of the Greasepaint--The Smell of the Crowd. His book is not exclusively Dickens. Bricusse interprets and rephrases when necessary, to get to the heart of each scene, but the sequence of events is consistent with most versions. He wisely excises Dickens' social justice diatribes. Scrooge! is about personal redemption and transformation, not social engineering.
In addition to the phantoms, Sanders has done some very imaginative work with casting. Eric Heine ably plays both young Ebenezer and his nephew, emphasizing a family resemblance and the consequences of two different paths taken. Lisa Kay Carter is splendid as not just the ghost of Christmas Past, but a ghost of Ebenezer's Past. Brilliant choice. Elliot Clough is wonderful as the blustery Ghost of Christmas Present, with Annie Dwyer and Scott Hurst, Jr. as the effervescent Fezziwigs. Kent Sugg is truly terrifying in his "jaw dropping" performance as the ghost of Jacob Marley.
With such weighty emotional and spiritual stakes, the music is more than up to the task of carrying us along. Sure, there are the "celebration" numbers, like "Thank You Very Much," "December the 25th," and "The Minister's Cat," but there are many more introspective, thoughtful, achingly lovely tunes, like "Christmas Children," "Happiness," "The Beautiful Day," and "I'll Begin Again." In a stroke of utter genius, Ebenezer has a duet with "himself," in "You--You." Unforgettable.
I own the DVD of the original film and bring it out every year or two, but I intend to get the soundtrack and listen to it over and over again. It's that good. And even better than my recollection of the film's soundtrack.
Sure, some of the costumes look a little anachronistic, and several of the British accents are all over the place (surprising since Candlelight just closed Mary Poppins. Seriously, get some dialect tapes!) But Bricusse's deep themes and rich score, combined with Burron's truly exceptional performance and Sanders' masterful direction brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.
Ultimately, this is a show about repentance and making restitution, but also learning to love again, to forgive others and oneself, and to embrace mankind as family. It's about choosing life instead of death, light instead of darkness.
Scrooge! The Musical is as close to the true Christmas spirit as any secular show is going to get.
SHOWTIMES: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday Evenings: Dinner Seating at 6:00 PM, Show at 7:30 PM; Saturday Matinee: Dinner Seating at 12 noon, Show at 1:30 PM; Sunday Matinee: Dinner Seating at 12:30 PM, Show at 2:00 PM. Weekly schedules vary during holidays. For the complete list of performances, visit our website.
TICKETS: Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $55.95 - $64.95 (based on day of the week); Child (5-12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.95 (any performance); Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.95 (any performance); Adult Show-Only Tickets: $33.95 (any performance, seating restrictions)
WHERE: Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534
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REVIEW: 'Elf, The Musical,' through Dec. 23, Arvada Center
Mark Devine and Josh Houghton - Matt Gale Photography
ELF—The Musical, based on the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell, is like a holiday plate loaded with Christmas fudge—it’s sweet, sticky, chock full of nuts, and lacking any lasting value, nutritional or otherwise. The musical offers all the sensational delight of a massive sugar rush, complete with the inevitable after effects of fatigue and vague dissatisfaction.
The Arvada Center’s giddy and gorgeous production of the musical about a 30-year-old man child who has outgrown his home at the North Pole and journeys to New York to learn about family and the real world, runs through Dec. 23. ELF—The Musical, based mostly but not slavishly on David Berenbaum’s screenplay, features songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, with book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin.
Josh Houghton and Colin Alexander
Buddy (Josh Houghton) is a former orphan stowaway raised by Santa (Colin Alexander) and his Christmas elves. He’s a misfit in every sense at the North Pole, and his hyperactive immaturity resounds even louder in the Big Apple, where he harasses a depressed Macy’s employee (Leslie Hiatt) into liking him, stalks and torments his unethical biological father (Mark Devine), and sabotages his dad's career. Buddy maniacally disrupts the status quo wherever he goes, yet in the end everything seems to work out, because Christmas.
Fans of the film will be surprised by how many beloved gags, scenes, character developing, and relationship building moments are NOT in this two and a half hour musical. Corners and characters are cut, the plot is simplified, and solutions to conflicts come far too easily.
The second act opener boasts the only truly original scene, a departure from the film version, and features a chorus of disenchanted Santas who just aren’t feeling the Christmas spirit anymore. The number’s a riot, and mostly because it represents the polar (pun intended) opposite of Buddy’s ridiculously optimistic worldview.
While it’s going on, the show is tons of fun. It’s aimed low for the kids, and there’s no shortage of energy, with bright and shiny things abounding. Gavin Mayer stages the musical comedy with an eye to keeping everything fast and light. Laura K. Love’s colorful and animated watercolor picture-book set design is marvelous to behold.
Naturally, the centerpiece of this confection is Buddy himself, and Houghton is a force of nature, with something reminiscent of Danny Kaye’s manic energy. At approximately six and a half feet tall and skinny as a rail, he towers over the rest of the cast. Houghton works his face and voice and body like a symphony of lanky, gangly comic buffoonery, though I’m not sure I caught a single genuine emotion. It’s almost like his unique talent puts him in the stratosphere, unable to relate to or connect with the rest of the cast, yet shining so brightly you can’t take your eyes off him.
Leslie Hiatt and Josh Houghton
Devine does yeoman’s work as the beleaguered children’s book publisher and sudden father of an odd duck indeed. Alexander also shines both as Santa and a curmudgeonly publisher. Hiatt is given very little to do (but does it well) as the unlikely love interest, and Sharon Kay White has several shining moments as an irrepressibly bubbly secretary.
The audience clearly loved ELF—The Musical. For me, it felt silly and superficial compared to some of the other holiday classics. It’s a lightweight musical comedy with enjoyable songs and a Christmas theme that is suitable for the whole family.
Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm, with matinées on Wednesdays at 1:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm, through December 23. Audience engagement events, including a weekly theatre salon, insider talkbacks, and happy hours with the cast, are held throughout the run of the production. To purchase tickets, and for additional details, go to https://arvadacenter.org/elf-the-musical or call 720-898-7200.
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REVIEW: 'A Christmas Story, the Musical,' through Jan. 5, BDT Stage, Boulder
The comic-nostalgic holiday film A Christmas Story has been adapted into a stage musical. If you liked the movie, you will love BDT Stage’s heart-warming show about a young boy making that excruciating transition from little boy to tween in 1940s Indiana.
A Christmas Story, the Musical, plays at BDT stage through Jan. 5, 2019. The show is like a secular Advent calendar, where every few moments another window is opened to reveal a tender, mortifying, hilarious, exasperating scene, mostly involving Ralphie (Ned Swartz/Miles Shaw alternating performances), his kid brother Randy (Markus Hollekim/Hayden McDonald), and their parents (Joanie Brosseau-Rubald and Scott Beyette), as narrated by folksy radio personality Jean Shepherd (Wayne Kennedy), who may or may not have lived these adventures once upon a time.
All the favorite scenes from the movie are here, including Ralphie’s ongoing quest to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, the tongue on the frozen flagpole disaster, the garish leg lamp sweepstakes prize, pink bunny pajamas, and a deranged department store Santa. Naturally, there’s a song for nearly every episode, written by the creative team that brought us La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen, and The Greatest Showman.
If you like “dream ballet” sequences in musicals, this show has plenty, as Ralphie imagines various scenarios that would lead to the acquisition and use of the coveted BB gun. Interestingly, one of his first fantasies is being an armed first responder against a homicidal school intruder. Yes, there used to be a time when such an idea seemed innocent and harmless because it was so preposterous.
There’s a recurring theme here, that I especially appreciated. Ralphie’s BB gun is a metaphor for his desire to grow up from toys to something more than a toy, to be a hero, respected, competent, and that theme is revealed in nearly all his scenes, in various circumstances. His father’s quest to win crossword sweepstakes and be declared the “genius of Cleveland Street” reveals a parallel longing for significance and affirmation. The value of the family, with both mother and father, flawed but committed, is a welcome shoutout to traditional values and the stability they provide.
Beyette and Brosseau-Rubald really shine as the entirely sympathetic, fully human yet somehow idealized parents. While Mom is both canny and nurturing, The Old Man is irascible yet fun. Far more than just a narrator, Kennedy’s Jean Shepherd is the consummate storyteller, holding nothing back yet embracing it all, reliving the vagaries of childhood, yet having grown wiser from the experience.
Alicia K. Meyers has several great numbers as the prim teacher Miss Shields, who proves to be far brassier than she at first lets on. There’s an adult ensemble that fills in the spaces. That might have been Bob Hoppe in the Santa suit. Whoever it was, brought the house down.
But really, this show belongs to the kids, and not just Ralphie and Randy. The children are all absolutely terrific, performing several show-stopping numbers and otherwise just being kids. I saw Ned Swartz on opening night, and he easily carried the show. What a trouper!
The songs are fun, the dancing is great, and Beyette’s direction is extraordinary, along with McKayla Marso’s choreography. Beyette in particular has brought tremendous sensitivity to a “traditional” family’s most vulnerable moments, and elicited outstanding performances all around, especially from Kennedy.
With all the bits and pieces that comprise this musical pastiche, everything holds together remarkably well.
A Christmas Story, the Musical is a funny, heartwarming holiday classic suitable for the entire family. BDT Stage’s excellent production, along with the delicious dinner, is the perfect opportunity to make your own cherished Christmas season memories.
BDT Stage’s production of A Christmas Story, the Musical run through Jan. 5, 2019. Tickets start at $45 and include both the performance and dinner served by the stars of the show. Call 303-449-6000 or visit www.bdtstage.com for information and reservations.
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REVIEW: 'Atomic: The New Rock Musical,' through Dec. 1, Equinox Theatre at The Bug Theatre
Equinox Theatre Company has scored a direct hit with the politically and ethically charged regional premiere of Atomic: The New Rock Musical, about the conception, development, deployment, and emotional fallout of the atomic bomb.
Tuneful, thoughtful and emotionally complex, Atomic plays at The Bug Theatre through Dec. 1, with book and lyrics by Danny Ginges, music and lyrics by Philip Foxman, and directed by Patrick Brownson.
Hungarian Jewish physicist Leo Szilard (Brad Wagner) hopes to harness nuclear power for the betterment of mankind, but the rise of Hitler ignites an arms race that quickly redirects Leo and his colleagues, including a by-the-rules Italian scientist (Colin Roybal as Enrico Fermi), a power-crazed zealot (Jack Mariotti as J. Robert Oppenheimer) and more to direct their energies toward military applications. Particularly chilling is the American pilot (Kade Fritzler as Paul Tibbets) who looks forward to flying the Enola Gay and dropping an A-bomb on civilians, for God and country.
Meanwhile, Leo's long-suffering lover (Holly Dalton as Trude Weiss) is an obstetrician who has devoted her career to bringing new life into the world, while following the complicated and conflicted Leo from Berlin, to Austria, to London, and New York.
Over the course of the musical, Leo evolves from political naïveté, to hawkish determination, to anti-bomb protestor, facing resistance, challenges and obstacles along the way. Should they build the bomb simply because they can? To stop Hitler? But once Hitler is defeated, the arms race that had been forged in the furnace of the Holocaust turns into a practical necessity and psychological inevitability. After all, what's the point of building a bomb that isn't used? Finally, devastating Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ostensibly to ultimately save lives, leads to a global sense of panic, helplessness, and the dread of imminent annihilation.
Leo, who wanted to improve life on earth, tragically and inexorably helped create the means of destroying it, and must live with the consequences.
Thematically, the show is reminiscent of the political musicals of Bertolt Brecht, while the songs, arranged for keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, violin and cello, sound remotely similar to the likewise political works of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Even so, the creators have their own voice, with moments of sublime pathos and irony.
Colin Roybal's abstract "exploded periodic table" set easily accommodates multiple locations over a span of years.
As thoughtful as Atomic may be, the emotional stakes are high throughout. Wagner gives a compelling performance as the endlessly frustrated Leo, a science nerd who isn't comfortable playing God, but can't seem to help himself. Dalton brings the heart to this heady business as Trude, grounding Leo but trying not to hold him back. Most of the other characters are alternately antagonistic or sympathetic, depending on the story's needs.
I can see Atomic: The New Rock Musical finding notable success at small regional and experimental theatres, and especially in college theatre departments. It's important for younger generations to grapple with and grasp the difficulties that were faced in the 1930s and 1940s, and how the fallout from those decisions and events frame and inform the global problems we face today.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, also 7:30 pm Nov. 29. Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 at the door/$17 for groups of six or more in advance only. The Bug Theatre is located at 3654 Navajo St, Denver. Tickets and information: www.EquinoxTheatreDenver.com.
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REVIEW: 'Cannibal! The Musical,' through Oct. 27, Bug Theatre
Before South Park, before Team America, before The Book of Mormon, back when they were students at CU Boulder, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (uncredited) wrote and produced a musical comedy film based on the events leading up to the trial and conviction of Alferd Packer for cannibalism during the Colorado Gold Rush. Cannibal! The Musical became a cult classic, and was later adapted for the stage.
The Bug Theatre is presenting this stage version through Oct. 27 at the quaint and period-perfect Bug Theatre, located in north Denver/LoDo.
Despite any dark and gory expectations, Cannibal! is a witty, tongue-in-cheek musical comedy. It almost feels like children's theatre for adults, with R-rated language and a few mature references. Under the capable comic direction of Deb Flomberg and Alex Weimer's whimsical, Minecraft-inspired set design, Cannibal! is a surprisingly life affirming, feel-good show.
There isn't a mean-spirited bone in Alferd's (Mike Moran) body, and he is far from the bloodthirsty maniac of lore. Sure, he survived by consuming the flesh of his traveling companions, but hey, they were already dead and he was really, really hungry.
Anna Sturtz and Mike Moran
Alferd is roped into leading a group of goofball and doofus miners (Wade P. Wood, Matthew Davis, Jeremy Atkins, Koby Adams and Cam Leonard) from Utah to Breckenridge, and from the outset, everything that could possibly go wrong does. Survival instincts are absurdly lacking, while their hapless guide bounces between woefully incompetent to dangerously distracted by the loss of his beloved (perhaps TOO beloved) horse Liane (Larissa Flemming).
The hungry band's wanderings bring them to an encounter with three mocking trappers (James Crapes, Joseph Graves, Jack Mariotti), a trio of "Klingazonian" warriors (Caroline Fink, Larissa Flemming, Alysha Rowzee), and a cyclops with a disgusting weeping eye (Linn Davidson).
But really, they are their own worst enemies, and weeks of isolation, starvation and desperation bring out the best in some and homicidal tendencies in others.
Packer tries to explain all this to Polly (Anna Sturtz), an intrepid reporter from Denver.
Several of the songs are deliciously tuneful and memorable, including the hilariously optimistic "Shpadoinkle Day," the character-revealing "That's All I'm Asking For," the inappropriately affectionate equine love song "Ode to Liane," and my personal favorite, the gloriously giddy "Let's Build a Snowman."
Wade P. Wood, Koby Adams and Matthew Davis
The cast is really strong, but what stands out most for me is Flomberg's direction, and how she takes material that may be construed to be dark or ironic and plays it straight, just as it should be for maximum comic effect. There are some brilliant sight and prop gags, and the timing of the gags is spot on. This show is a real crowd pleaser, and it reveals the seeds of genius that we have come to recognize in America's most courageously subversive and consistently funny conservatives. Between and amongst the nearly non-stop laughs, Cannibal! The Musical gives us plenty of wry and witty observations on human behavior, in easily digestible chunks.
Performances of Cannibal! The Musical are Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 PM. There will also be a $10 industry night on Thursday, October, 25. Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 at the door/$17 for groups of 6 or more in advance only. All performances will be at The Bug Theatre at 3654 Navajo Street in Denver. Tickets and more information available online at www.bugtheatre.info.
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REVIEW: Funny Girl, Evergreen
The Broadway musical season of 1963-64 had two major contenders for the Tony Awards, and both featured breakout roles for quirky, domineering leading ladies. Hello, Dolly with Carol Channing beat out Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand in every category. But both are terrific musicals with a hit parade of memorable tunes, and deserve to be part of the regular musical theatre repertoire.
Plus, only one of them is based on a remarkably mostly-true story.
Trevor Warren and Colleen Lee
Ovation West Musical Theatre (formerly Evergreen Chorale) brings the glamorous days of the Ziegfeld Follies back to life at the Center Stage Theatre in Evergreen, through Oct. 7. The show is thoughtfully and creatively directed, features a multigenerational cast, nearly 500 costume pieces, and a stellar performance by Colleen Lee as the original, inimitable Fanny Brice.
In this somewhat biographical musical, Fanny, daughter of Jewish immigrants, has trouble breaking into show biz because she doesn't fit the early 1920s idea of a "classic beauty." (Her bosom is likened to a couple of lentils.) Through determination, grit, luck, and a little influence from a roguish Ken Doll-type professional speculator named Nicky Arnstein (Trevor Warren), the homely songstress leaps from burlesque variety acts to the big time with the Ziegfeld Follies, using goofy comedy bits and an oddball personality to offset her unremarkable appearance.
When she isn't working, all she can think about is being onstage. But when she's onstage, all she desires is a real, family life. Fanny wants it all, but learns, to her own heartbreak and Nicky's, that for celebrities, it's just not possible to truly be both on-the-road and at-home.
Ian Kisluk and Colleen Lee
The musical also includes the talented Dave Cameron as Eddie, whose unrequited love for Fanny never gets in the way of helping her every step of the way. His is a touching, tragic role. Like he could never just find another good Jewish girl and settle down. Instead, he gives it all to see that she gets ahead.
Christine Kahane plays Fanny's tough but warm mother, who knows when to comfort and when to challenge her daughter.
Ian Kisluk is a hoot as the much put-upon producer who gives in to the persuasive Fanny's will at every turn, and develops an ulcer to go with his box office gold. Barb Porreca makes the most of a plum role as the feisty neighbor Mrs. Strakosh, who dispenses wisdom and sass in equal measures.
The real Fanny Brice
I think it's tremendously ironic that Lee, who is absolutely gorgeous, should be cast as Fanny. Here's the thing. Despite her acting and singing talent, Fanny had trouble getting cast in both chorus and leading roles because of her meeskite face. Lee, because of her superior acting and singing talent, has been cast DESPITE her good looks. She absolutely shines as Brice throughout a detailed and vast character arc and a bunch of show-stopping solos. The only way I could reconcile seeing that lovely face on a character who is treated by everyone as an ugly duckling is to acknowledge that Lee is excellent in the role, sings and acts the dickens out of it, and so her flawless mug is simply a reflection of Brice's inner beauty. I know, that's reaching. But what else can you do?
Special mention goes to director Timothy Kennedy, who creates and maintains an insightful and unifying "back stage" concept for the multi-scened, multi-set musical that extends from the pre-show announcements ("Don't sing along with the songs!"), through a fully staged overture, throughout the set changes, and into the curtain call. This is not a case of just barely getting the show up on the boards and hoping for the best. He has tight control over every scene, every moment. His choices are outstanding and revelatory.
Speaking of songs, there are some terrific standalone hits, including "I'm the Greatest Star," "People," "Don't Rain On My Parade," and more. There's no real effort for the songs to sound true to the period style. It's too bad Brice's biggest hit "My Man," or her other chart buster "Second Hand Rose" didn't make it into the score, even though she introduced both during the Ziegfeld Follies. Fortunately, both are available on YouTube.
The book for Funny Girl is by Isobel Lennart, with music and lyrics by Julie Styne and Bob Merrill. Musical direction for this production is by Christine Gaudreau, with choreography by Rachael McWilliams Lessard. Davis Sibley gets credit for the spectacular costume design.
If you, as I did, can overlook the star's unfortunate appearance, you'll fall head over tap shoes for Ovation West Musical Theatre's Funny Girl.
Ovation West Musical Theatre (formerly Evergreen Chorale) presents Funny Girl through October 7 at Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, CO, 80439. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $30 Adults; $26 seniors (62+), $20 Youth (18 and under), $25 groups of 10 or more and available by phone 303-674-4002 or online at www.ovationwest.org.
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REVIEW: Disney's The Little Mermaid, through Sept. 8, BDT Stage
Cole LaFonte, Alicia K. Meyers, and Lillian Buonocore start in
BDT Stage's enchanting production of Disney's The Little Mermaid
BDT Stage has pulled out all the stops with its summer production of Disney's The Little Mermaid. The show is bursting with creativity and talent, the design elements are phenomenal, the casting is outstanding, and the direction is endlessly innovative.
Most of all, the production is absolutely magical. Especially for kids...but not only for kids.
All of the Disney Broadway musicals are packed with theatrical magic, but this one adds the extraordinary added dimension of taking place primarily UNDERWATER. The design team dove in head first and created otherworldly undersea sets, props, costumes, wire rigging, and lighting. It's like gazing into a gigantic aquarium.
Except there's also a story.
Winsome Ariel (Lillian Buonocore) is a mermaid who is fascinated by the strange and exotic land above the ocean. Her interest takes a quantum leap when she notices the dashing, seafaring Prince Eric (Cole LaFonte), and curiosity turns to mad love after she saves him from drowning. She'll do anything, sacrifice even her lovely voice for a chance to join Eric on dry land.
Both Ariel and Eric have disapproving parental figures. Ariel's tender yet grave father King Triton (Scott Severtson) is overprotective to the point of paranoia because he believes people with legs killed his wife. Eric's fussy and punctilious advisor Grimsby (Brian Burron) niggles Eric to settle down and rule the land.
Ariel has several allies, including the lovesick Flounder (Chas Lederer), whose character arc takes a very dark turn, cautious Caribbean crab Sebastian (Anthony P. McGlaun), and goofy gull Scuttle (Bob Hoppe).
Purloining a page from Greek mythology, Triton's estranged and tentacled sister Ursula (Alicia K. Meyers), lurking in the dark and dangerous depths with her hench-eels (Brian Jackson, Matthew D. Peters), hatches a nefarious plan to use Ariel as the unwitting instrument to bring about the Sea King's destruction and claim his throne.
Scott Beyette has an uproariously funny cameo as a French chef with an eager cleaver.
The hit songs from the acclaimed animated film are all there, including "Part of Your World," "Under the Sea," "Poor Unfortunate Souls," and "Kiss the Girl," along with many other songs written for the stage version that aren't nearly as memorable, but aren't bad.
The show hit only a couple of snags for me, and they are mostly inconsequential. Since the actors playing the various animals were in full makeup and costume, the use of puppets seemed redundant and even distracting at times. Also, Ursula's tentacles just hung limp, blending in with her dress. A few feet of fishing line and a couple of bracelets could help bring them to life and add to the character's roiling menace.
Other design elements bordered on genius, including the use of wires/flying, projections, light up jelly fish, and soaring sea turtles and stingrays. The gigantic clam shells, Ariel's stash of dubious treasures, and the lateral-sailing ship were marvelous.
Here's a list of some of the designers and artists who contributed to this fully unified vision: director/choreographer Matthew D. Peters, scenic design Amy Campion, costume design Linda Morken, hair and wig design Debbie Spaur, lighting design Brett Maughan, puppet design Karel Hermanson, projections Anna-Marie Monzon, flying design Troy Trinkle, and music director/conductor Neal Dunfee, along with many other artists and technicians. And special thanks also to producer Michael J. Duran who green-lit the ambitious and expensive-looking production.
The show is loads of fun, but a heads up to parents: with a seating time of 6:15 pm, curtain at 7:45, and a running time of more than two and a half hours, it's a very late night for the little ones. The Little Mermaid really is worth staying awake all the way through. And, you can have your picture taken with the stars afterwards. I took a pre-emptive nap and was glad I did.
BDT Stage's gorgeous and giddy production of Disney's The Little Mermaid definitely has legs, and deserves to play to full houses all summer.
Tickets for Disney’s The Little Mermaid start at just $43 and include both the performance and dinner served by the stars of the show. Group rate tickets and season subscriptions are available for all performances throughout the year. Call (303) 449-6000 or visit www.bdtstage.com for reservations.
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REVIEW: Dear Brutus, through June 3, Upstart Crow at the Dairy Arts Center
Joanne Niederhoff as Joanna Trout, Jeremy Barns as Mr. Purdie and
Victoria 'Tory' Green as Mabel Purdie in The Upstart Crow's production of
Dear Brutus by J.M. Barrie. Photo by Paul Campbell.
The Upstart Crow's production of Dear Brutus is a winsome and romantic period piece, with a touch of melancholy and a measure of mischief.
Eight guests of the mysterious and childlike dreamer Lob (Mark Lewis) gather for a sociable evening that has a current of resentment, regret, jealousy, and disappointment seething just under the faltering facade of good breeding. But all rises to the surface in a topsy turvy night of role reversals, awakenings, and enlightenments when they venture into an enchanted wood on Midsummer's Eve.
Mark Lewis as Lob
Their host, it seems, is in actuality Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and he does a number on these middle aged couples not unlike what he does to the young lovers in that other fantastic comedy.
But this is post World War I England, not the age of Elizabeth, so isn't so much about couplings, but reevaluating the courses of lives that are well into their middle years. And rather than having all made well at the end, the characters are given the opportunity to actually change--though most realize that they probably won't.
A shameless philanderer (Jeremy Barnes) discovers that it doesn't matter whether he's faithful to his wife (Victoria "Tory" Green) or his mistress (Joanne Niederhoff), he's still a rotter. A pilfering butler (Tom Mann) realizes that whether a servant or a financial tycoon, he'll always be a crook. A husband of thirty years (John W. Roberts) recognizes that though he'll never amount to much, he's found true love with his wife (Cherry Ramsdell-Speich). In the saddest vignette of all, a dissolute artist (Alex Markovich) meets the precocious and quizzical daughter (Lauren White) he might have had except for his loveless marriage to a grasping former model (Kristy E. Pike).
With self-knowledge comes the possibility of change. Barrie isn't particularly optimistic about the outcomes for these characters, but there's always hope.
Alexander Markovich as Mr. Dearth
and Lauren White as Margaret
The play is insightful and intriguing, but also structurally flawed. The father/daughter scene dominates the second act far out of proportion, and Lob remains a cypher, a device to justify the fantasy rather than a true agent of change. It's possible that all of this could actually be HIS dream.
Dana Padgett's direction excels in both the staging and character development. Richard Bell's set design is perfectly attractive, and his method of bringing an enchanted wood onstage is ingenious. Joan Kuder Bell's costumes are lovely.
Like many early 20th century plays, Dear Brutus (the title is taken from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and refers to how our character determines our fate) is seldom produced. But it's not like other drawing-room comedies from the period. Barrie is experimenting with something more ethereal and sublime. He explores the nature of free will and the possibility of true happiness, but isn't able to escape a vague feeling of missed opportunities tinged with regret.
Performances of Dear Brutus are 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, through June 3. Tickets start at $25. Seniors and Students (with ID) $21. Thursdays are Name-Your-Price Night: No set price or suggested donation. Audiences are asked to leave an amount of their choice (No reservations accepted; first come, first served). To purchase tickets for any performance, visit The Dairy Box Office or call 303.444.7328. For more info email info@theupstartcrow.org or visit www.theupstartcrow.org. The Dairy Center for the Arts is located at 2590 Walnut St. in Boulder.
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REVIEW: Ain't Misbehavin, through June 17, Town Hall Arts Center
The Littleton Town Hall Arts Center's stylish production of the Fats Waller musical revue Ain't Misbehavin' is snazzy, saucy, and very, very safe.
As safe as a cruise ship dinner show, and pretty much performed for the same upper middle class, white-haired and white-skinned audience you'd expect to find on a prestigious ocean liner.
Ninety years ago we'd have taken a cab uptown from Manhattan wearing tuxedos and ball gowns and gone "slumming" to listen to these songs in gin joints and the Cotton Club.
Not much seems to have changed other than the dress code.
But I couldn't help wondering how the cast felt performing for a sea of exclusively white faces. I wondered what they enjoyed singing when it wasn't for "The Man."
These singers are tremendously talented. Each seems to effortlessly move from solo artist to blending harmoniously in group numbers.
The cast includes Randy Chalmers, Krisangela Washington, Leonard Barrett Jr., Mary Louise Lee, and Rajdulari Music.
I especially enjoyed Chalmers' dance moves, and Barrett is and always has been the "coolest cat" in Denver. Washington, Lee, and Rajdulari each have their solo specialties, and all five have been assigned the most appropriate songs for their style, which number nearly thirty separate and distinct pieces.
Special mention goes to scenic designer Michael R. Duran for the cabaret club set, Terri Fong for the sparkly, suave and sexy costumes, and music director Donna Kolpan Debreceni who also plays piano and leads the six-piece live band. Director Bob Wells has inserted a lot of comical "shtick" and energetic moments to remind us that this is all in fun, and everyone's here to forget our problems for awhile and have a good time.
And we do.
All the music for Ain't Misbehavin' is by Thomas “Fats” Waller, working with various lyricists. The revue was conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr. & Murray Horwitz. Some of the songs are still very familiar: "Honeysuckle Rose," "The Joint is Jumpin'," "Spreadin' Rhythm Around," "Your Feet's Too Big," "Fat and Greasy," "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Others deserve to be better known.
All the songs, even the "sad" ones are somehow upbeat and lovely. Only once is the audience asked to go a little deeper into potentially uncomfortable territory, as the cast sits motionless on stools and sings about what it's like to wake up "Black and Blue." Wow. It gave me goosebumps, and I had to wonder where else Waller's music could have taken us if he had enjoyed true artistic freedom instead of banging out eight bars of pop music for $50 a song.
As the cast repeatedly asks, "One never knows, do one?"
Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs through Sunday, June 17, 2018. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (and 2 p.m. on 6/2 and Sundays at 2 p.m. (and 6:30 p.m. on 6/10).
Reserved seat tickets are currently on sale, priced $24.00-$44.00 at the Town Hall Arts Center box office, 303-794-2787 ext. 5 (Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1 Hour prior to Shows) or on-line at townhallartscenter.org/misbehavin. In a continuing effort to make plays at Town Hall Arts Center accessible to all, ten value seats at $10 each will be made available on a first-come-first-served basis one-hour prior to each published curtain time.
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REVIEW: District Merchants, through June 24, Miners Alley Playhouse, Golden
Playwright Aaron Posner has taken Shakespeare's problematic The Merchant of Venice, embraced the troubling themes of anti-Semitism and racism, and created a play that is almost entirely his own.
The thoughtful, searingly dramatic, and surprisingly funny regional premiere of District Merchants plays at the intimate Miners Alley Playhouse in Golden through June 24.
The play is set in Washington, DC during the 1870s. Slavery has been abolished, the Civil War is over, and Reconstruction is underway. It's a tumultuous time where America and its people are redefining their identity and place in the world. Immigrants struggle with assimilation and acceptance, and those who were oppressed attempt upward mobility in a society that is not exactly encouraging or welcoming.
Successful yet pessimistic immigrant Jewish businessman Shylock (Chris Kendall) tries to shield his impetuous daughter Jessica (Amy Elizabeth Gray) from the wily world. But she quickly falls prey to the smooth-talking charms of Finneus (Sean Michael Cummings), a predatory vegetable-seller fresh off a boat from Ireland. The Irish Catholic surprises himself by actually falling in love with the girl. But he wants her father's treasure, too.
Born a free black man, Antoine (Cris Davenport) has become prosperous and influential through war-profiteering and re-investing his gains in his own community. He's embraced the American way, but unfortunately that also includes allowing decisions based on emotion to lead him into crushing debt.
The product of the union between a slave and her master, Bassanio (Sinjin Jones) finds that though he identifies as black, he can pass as white, giving him access to an entirely different world of opportunities, including the entitled heiress Portia (Candace Joice). Portia, when not shuffling through her list of suitors, pretends to be a man so she can attend classes at Harvard Law School.
Finally, two black servants (Isaiah Kelley and Kristina Lorice Fountaine) find ways to work within the limitations of their social status to influence others, affirm their own dignity, and even find love.
The primary action of the play, like Shakespeare's version, is built around Antoine's indebtedness to Shylock, and Shylock's insistence on exacting a horrific penalty for Antoine defaulting on the loan.
But Posner is in no hurry to tell the story. He's much more interested in fleshing out every single character so we are sure to understand the complexity of the situation and the motivations behind their choices and behavior. The action is repeatedly paused so all eight characters can explain to the audience where they came from, how they feel about what's going on, and why they feel that way, along with giving regular updates when things change. There are countless instances of these extended expositional inner monologues, and after awhile they become tedious.
I've got to give credit to Posner for thoroughly leaning in to the painful themes of Shakespeare's play, and discovering a palpable nearly-modern equivalent for an American audience. His understanding of Shylock is particularly discerning and sympathetic. The fullness of each character's development is both the strength and the weakness of the script, which feels rough and inconsistent, with too many anachronisms in the dialogue, and gimmicky theatrical interruptions.
The entire Portia/Bassanio conflict is too drawn out, overwritten and overacted. This is basically just a romantic interracial subplot, but the characters writhe in overwrought anguish as Portia tries to overcome incapacitating White Guilt, while Bassanio never stops complaining about how there's some kind of conspiracy unfairly rigging things so black people can never succeed. The character stakes are simply too small for this kind of protracted soapbox rhetoric. Meanwhile Shylock and Antoine are fighting for their very humanity and survival, respectively.
Still, District Merchants is tremendously insightful and thought-provoking. Director Len Matheo has done a tremendous job staging a play that has uncommon depth and emotional complexity. I daresay that District Merchantsis more successful in searching the human condition and facing difficult truths than the more melodramatic Merchant of Venice.
I've made no secret about criticizing "woke" theatre companies (like Colorado Shakespeare Festival and others) that gleefully bend the genders in casting or torture Shakespeare's text to make a political statement and promote their own social justice agenda. My response is usually, "Just write your own damn play." Well, Aaron Posner has, and I applaud his formidable achievement.
Miners Alley Playhouse presents the regional premiere of District Merchantsthrough June 24 in Golden. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30p.m; Sundays at 2:00p.m. Tickets are $15 - $38 and available by calling 303-935-3044 or online at www.minersalley.com. Miners Alley Playhouse is located at 1224 Washington Avenue. Golden, CO 80401.
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Review: 'Sunday in the Park With George,' through May 6, Arvada Center
Before I tear Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park With George to shreds and stomp all over the pieces, I want to say, most emphatically, that the Arvada Center's current production is a musical marvel of direction and design. It's both precise and gorgeous to look at, rivaling the painting for which the show is titled.
If you enjoy Sondheim's distinctive musical style, this is a must-see, a rare and lovely production of a seldom-staged show.
But, from a musical and especially a storytelling perspective, it's no masterpiece.
The performances are excellent, most particularly Emily Van Fleet as the emotionally starved professional mistress Dot, Cole Burden as the obsessive and narcissistic painter George Seurat, Jeffrey Roark as an envious rival and more successful artist, and Robert Michael Sanders as the Boatman, a crusty, profane, and seething voice of realism.
Most of the other characters, while distinctly rendered and given their own brief numbers, are flat suggestions, caricatures of the Parisian bourgeoisie. There's also an anonymous ensemble whose only purpose is to fill in the blank spaces. But as Seurat, consumed with the idea of applying scientific principles of light and color to his work says, "I'm not painting faces."
The first act concerns Seurat's crusade to develop a new, scientific style of pointillism, the creation of his large-canvas painting of a park scene in Paris, and the people who make up the blurry, hand-pixelated figures thereon. His current model and on-again off-again lover Dot is actually the bittersweet protagonist of the show, as she struggles to break through Seurat's obsessive self-involvement and cruel neglect to try and build an actual, real-life human relationship.
But the vigorously anti-social Seurat demonstrates repeatedly that he is incapable of connecting to humanity. The character is entirely unlikeable and unsympathetic, unless you cling to the trite romantic notion of the visionary artist/martyr. Seurat and his vision make him less of a holy victim to his muse, and more akin to Dr. Frankenstein performing suspicious experiments in his basement laboratory, totally regardless of the pain he causes those who care for him.
The second act, which no one ever asked for or wanted, sticks out like a third ear. It begins with a shameless rip-off of the second act "it's hot" opening number from The Fantasticks. Then everyone runs backstage to quickly change hair, makeup, and costumes for what is essentially an entirely different show. Or three.
Set 100 years later, Act II concerns Seurat's grandson (also Burden), whose super-technological work as a creator of loud and obnoxious laser-light sculptures has stagnated. His quest for novelty leads him back to the basics of form and design. The act morphs from a biographical info dump about Seurat's life and career to an urbane art world satire, then a ghostly fantasy. It breaks all its own rules of continuity and left me scratching my head. This is arguably the WORST way to resolve the perfectly fulfilling yet somewhat sad ending of the 90-minute first act.
Sondheim's music is like liver and onions. You either love it or hate it, but there's not much in-between. Perhaps in an attempt to stay true to the pointillist point of view, much of the score is staccato or repetitious, with phrases beginning or ending with the same word ad nauseam. I lost track of how many times the name "George" or "Mama" was used as meaningless punctuation. And the grocery list rhyme scheme of the lyrics felt lazy and hackneyed, like thirty-three-year-old proto-rap.
I've never been a fan of Sondheim's music. To me it sounds like the singer hit the wrong note, and then I realize that it was intended to sound like that. The melodies and harmonies aren't attractive or beautiful. You have to work at listening to them, and just like Seurat's paintings, it's possible to appreciate the complexity without feeling emotionally engaged. For me, the score became tedious, especially once I realized that the plot and characters were going to lockstep through all the cliched "struggling painter and yearning sullied girlfriend" tropes.
Still, I want to give credit to director Rod A. Lansberry. Translating the two-dimensional arrangement and perspective of Seurat's painting to a three dimensional space must have required very precise and detailed measurements along with meticulous staging. And he deserves special thanks for allowing Van Fleet to thoroughly explore and express all the quirks and heart-breaking complexities of Dot, providing us with a stellar and memorable performance.
The design team is also to be highly commended. Brian Mallgrave (scenic design), Shannon McKinney (lighting), Diana Ben-Kiki (wigs and makeup), and Clare Henkel (costumes) have done an outstanding job.
In my opinion, the look of the Arvada Center's version of Sunday in the Park With George is the best reason to see the show.
Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm, with matinees on Wednesdays at 1:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm, through May 6. Audience engagement events, including a weekly theatre salon (registration required), insider’s talkbacks, and happy hours with the cast, are held through the run of the production. To purchase tickets go to http://arvadacenter.org/sunday-in-the-park-with-george or call 720-898-7200. The Arvada Center is located at 6901 Wadsworth Blvd. and provides free parking for its patrons.
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Review: 'Kiss Me Kate,' through Apr. 15, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, Johnstown
Kiss Me Kate, with book by Samuel and Bella Spewack and music and lyrics by the legendary Cole Porter won the very first Tony Award for Best Musical in 1949. On the surface, it's an old-fashioned, lightweight "backstage" musical comedy about squabbling theatre people putting on a tune-filled version of William Shakespeare's raucous comedy Taming of the Shrew.
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's energetic, laugh-filled production of Kiss Me Kate gives the audience everything they could possibly hope for: outstanding performances by the leads and numerous supporting players, lovely costumes, fun choreography, colorful sets, and live musical accompaniment. Also, the food was good.
But under the extraordinary direction of Robert Michael Sanders, there's so much more for the discerning theatergoer to discover.
Like the play it's based on, Kiss Me Kate depicts mature relationships in a way that may make some people squirm. There are no love-at-first-sight romances here. The two couples are struggling to repair damage and move forward through seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Leading actor and auteur Fred Graham (Scott Hurst Jr.) hires his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi (Heather McClain) to play Kate to his Petruchio in a musical version of Shrew. He's still in love with her, even though he'd been unfaithful--most recently with the peroxide blonde, gold-digging chippy Lois Lane (Lisa Kay Carter) who is two (or three or four or five) timing him with the second leading man, hoofer and compulsive gambler Bill Calhoun (Bob Hoppe).
The rough and tumble reconciliation between Fred and Lilli parallels the vigorous wooing of Petruchio and Kate from Shrew. And in an intriguing additional parallel, Lilli's current relationship with an overbearing general (David L. Wygant) also mirrors the Petruchio/Kate dynamic.
Meanwhile, the fiscally irresponsible Bill must decide whether or not to stay with the faithless and philandering Lois, knowing that she will sleep with anyone and everyone who can further her stage career, shower her with gifts, or show her a good time. True love may triumph for one of the couples, but there will be no cozy suburban home with a white picket fence. These are worldly and urbane show people who must continually fight to maintain a balance between their conflicting egos and pride.
Large selections of Shakespeare's play make up a significant portion of the show. So much so, in fact, that I suspect the creators originally considered a musical Shakespeare production before coming to their senses and turning it into a backstage musical. The Shakespearean portions are performed in a declamatory, gesticulating style that could wear thin if that's all there was to the show. Two characters, in particular, Hattie (Sarah Grover) and Paul (Leo Battle) are given big numbers "backstage," even though their participation in the "onstage" musical is marginal. There's also a spectacularly funny subplot involving two comical gangsters (Brian Murray, Eli Stewart).
Nearly all of Cole Porter's songs are lovely and lyrical, though several have way too many verses. But who's going to tell the great Cole Porter to stop coming up with clever lyrics? Not me. Some of the hit songs, which may be better known than the musical itself include "Another Openin' Another Show," "Why Can't You Behave?" "Wunderbar," "So In Love," "I Hate Men," "Too Darn Hot," "Always True To You In My Fashion," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," and more.
I have a special fondness for Taming of the Shrew, having performed in a college production of the comedy way back when. The tempestuous courtship between Petruchio and Katherine has never been politically correct, and it's always interesting to see how a director interprets and depicts an ultimately happy and mutually respectful relationship that has been forged in exchanges of verbal and physical abuse.
Sanders brings maturity and insight to a production that while not exactly advocating how love wins out, at least presents it honestly and without judgment.
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's charming, sumptuous, and insightful production of Kiss Me Kate has something for everyone to enjoy, at even the deepest levels.
SHOWTIMES: Thursday, Friday & Saturday Evenings -- Dinner seating at 6:00 PM; Show at 7:30 PM; Saturday Matinees – Dinner seating at 12 noon, show at 1:30 PM; Sunday Matinees -‐ Dinner seating at 12:30 PM; Show at 2:00 PM
TICKETS: Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $52.95 ‐ $62.95 (based on day of week); Child (5‐12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.95 (any performance); Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.95 (any performance); Adult Show-Only Tickets: $29.95 (any performance; seating restrictions)
WHERE: Candlelight Dinner Playhouse (4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534) I‐25 at Exit 254.
For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.ColoradoCandlelight.com, or call the Box Office at 970-744‐3747.
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REVIEW: 'Something's Afoot,' through March 25, Littleton Town Hall Arts Center
Town Hall Arts Center's Something's Afoot is an amusing, attractive musical murder mystery spoof with the body count of a Tarantino film. It's witty, charming, and totally tongue-in-cheek. The cast is so good I was actually sorry to see them go, one at a time, as they were knocked off in succession by ingenious booby traps.
A hit parade of Agatha Christie character types arrives at a secluded mansion, only to discover that their host is quite, quite dead, and all the telephone wires have been cut. A sudden flood prevents their leaving but doesn't stop a handsome and mysterious stranger (Carter Edward Smith) from showing up on the doorstep. Furthermore, each person in the house shares odd connections with the rest.
Coincidence? I think not!
Neither does Tweed (LuAnn Buckstein), who is an aficionado of cozy parlor mysteries and starts gathering clues, motives, opportunities, and alibis.
Matt LaFontaine gives a stellar performance as the dissolute Nigel who sulks, skulks, and swills liquor until locating a missing will. Then he prances, dances, leaps, and spins in song-filled exultation. His charisma is astonishing.
Ben Hilzer is a hoot as Flint, the randy caretaker who's handy when it comes to fixing generators, but can't keep those crafty fingers to himself. Jane Simonds is the lovely but not-terribly-bright maid who is the frequent object of Flint's fixations.
Lynzee Lee Jones plays the ingenue with doe-eyed innocence and blossoming love for the handsome and earnest uninvited guest. But is she too good to be true?
Tim Fishbaugh is particularly funny as the military man with a ginger mustache on his stiff-upper-lip who once had a vaguely-memorable dalliance with a haughty yet obliging noblewoman (Eryn Carman).
Tim O'Connell plays the physician Grayburne, whose primary function is to pronounce a victim's death, right up until he joins the ranks of the expanding room temperature crowd. Eric Fry has an extended cameo as the butler, who most certainly "didn't do it."
Members of the ill-fated weekend getaway drop at an alarming rate. The corpses are dragged off and stacked up in the library. Sure, you're not supposed to tamper with a crime scene, but the survivors need space to be able to stand somewhere, not to mention sing and dance, while they figure out "who's doin' it".
The plot thickens like congealing gravy until a series of "big reveals" that honestly, don't make a whole lot of sense. It doesn't matter, though, because everyone is having so much fun. The onstage murders were so brilliantly staged and performed, I wanted to cry out "Die again! Die again!"
This kind of sly, slightly satirical but still sweet comedy is ideally suited for the talents of longtime Denver comedy director Bob Wells. Susan Ramsdorff-Terry's costumes are period-perfect. Special congratulations to scenic designer Michael R. Duran and props designers Rob Costigan and Bob Bauer for creating an elegant playground filled with mischievous surprises.
With only eleven Music Hall type songs, most of which were there to set up a "muhduh," it was easy to forget Something's Afoot is actually a musical. But the pre-recorded music sounded "canned" anyway, so I suppose that's for the best.
Something's Afoot is much lighter and fluffier than the aggressively comedic Clue: The Musical and not nearly so manic as some other mystery spoofs like The 39 Steps. It demands little from the audience but pays off generously with countless delightful, if ultimately vapid moments, interspersed with vivid and memorably comic death scenes.
Something’s Afoot runs through Sunday, March 25, 2018. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (and 2 p.m. on 3/10) and Sundays at 2 p.m. (and 6:30 p.m. on 3/18). Reserved seat tickets are priced $24.00-$44.00 at the Town Hall Arts Center box office, 303-794-2787 ext. 5 (Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1 Hour prior to Shows) or online at townhallartscenter.org/somethings-afoot.
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Review: 'Sleuth,' through March 11, Vintage Theatre
Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth is one of those thrillers where the less said about the plot, the better. Vintage Theatre and Lowry's Spotlight Theater's whimsical, maniacal production is so good, I don't want to spoil a thing. Suffice to say, that even with a lesser script, this exceptional cast and brilliant director could wring out a must-see show.
Wealthy and successful mystery writer Andrew Wyke (Mark Rubald) invites his wife’s lover Milo Tindle (Brandon Palmer) to his country estate, where their battle of wits quickly turns sinister. The two play an often hilarious, abruptly menacing, and ultimately deadly game of cat-and-mouse, as they seek to turn the tables on one another and walk away with an ephemeral prize.
The dialogue is loaded with irony and double entendres. It's disconcerting to hear jokes originating from anger, jealousy, and contempt, and laughing anyway.
Oneupsmanship is the order of the day, and yet Rubald and Palmer have such a rapport and are so generous in their performances, it's almost as if the actors are working against their own characters to boost the others' mastery of the game. Wyke begins with the home-court advantage, but Tindle rises to the challenge. Rubald gives a tour de force performance as the seasoned game-player, with malice aforethought. Palmer bides his time and ends up giving as good as he gets.
It's all deliciously wicked fun, with inevitably lethal consequences.
The show has so many twists and turns, the term "Sleuth virgin" has been coined as a way of distinguishing those "in the know" from those who have yet to experience the myriad surprises. This is my third time seeing Sleuth, and it's easily my favorite, beating out even the Laurence Olivier/Michael Caine 1972 film version.
Kudos to director Bernie Cardell for bringing out such layered performances and pacing the show like a fencing match. Alex Polzin's set design in the Vintage Theatre's intimate space is exceptional, and I want to give special mention to whoever arranged the Hollywood-caliber special effects involving gunplay.
Sleuth is about much more than two men butting heads over a patently unworthy trophy woman. It raises questions about racism, class bias, and even the worthiness of mystery fiction. The facts, Tindle warns Wyke, are never as tidy as the fiction. In Sleuth, no one is truly innocent, and the reality of revenge isn't nearly so much fun as the seeking.
Vintage Theatre and Spotlight Theatre present Sleuth through March 11. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays and Monday, February 19 and Thursdays, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010. Tickets are $16 - $32 and available online at www.vintagetheatre.org or by calling 303-856-7830.
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Review: 'Sense and Sensibility,' through May 6, Arvada Center
Kate Hamill's innovative adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is more fun than it ought to be.
Under the ingenious direction of Lynne Collins, the ensemble plays not only the sprawling cast of upwardly and downwardly mobile and painfully eligible middle-class bachelors and bachelorettes, but also dogs, cats, and barnyard animals.
They also wheel the scenery around at a dizzying whirlwind pace.
Austen's tale is the rags to riches story of two single sisters (Regina Fernandez, Jessica Robblee) who are exiled from the upscale social scene of London to the quaint provincial country life after their father dies. Their only hope for restoration to urban bliss is to marry well, and if possible for love. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim amongst the less than idealized romantic heroes (Zachary Andrews, Geoffrey Kent, Lance Rasmussen).
Collins brings a frenetic pace and staging conventions most often associated with children's theatre to the play, which double and triple casts the actors in so many roles that it becomes tricky for all but the most ardent Austen fans to follow who's who at any given moment. Adding to the chaos is how the same actors don neutral top hats and bonnets to change the set, and often sit in the audience, watching and commenting on the action.
It's as much fun as a roller coaster or a Tilt-A-Whirl until we realize that poor Marianne and Elinor really are miserable, and powerless to do anything about it except to either suppress the pain or stand in the rain, catch a fever, and hope a dashing gentleman rides by to save them (which happens twice).
The needs of the story eventually put the brakes on the carnival atmosphere. But since we've never truly cared about the characters as actual flesh-and-blood people with real problems, their emotional outcries seem forced. Why worry about things like marital bliss or wretched spinsterhood when an actor could just lope on stage, wag his tail, roll over, loll his tongue out and let you scratch his belly (which happens several times)?
Personally, I like this presentational-style theatrical trend, which includes The 39 Steps, Peter and the Starcatcher, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I'm a huge fan of children's theatre too, and it's good for adult audiences to get caught up in that same kind of exuberance.
But it comes at a cost, and in the Arvada Center's version of Sense and Sensibility, it means sacrificing character depth and audience empathy for the thrill of surprise and discovery.
Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with matinées on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., through May 6. Post-performance audience talkbacks will be offered on Friday, February, 16 and Wednesday, March, 14. Chats with the Cast are offered before and after every performance. These are informal discussions held in the Black Box Lobby, give patrons the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the play. To purchase tickets go to https://arvadacenter.org/sense-and-sensibility or call 720-898-7200.
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Review: 'Rumors,' Spotlight Theater, through Feb. 3
Neil Simon's 1988 comedy Rumors is funny. Really, really funny. But Lowry's Spotlight Theater's current production, under the spectacularly gifted direction of Luke Rahmsdorff-Terry and featuring a dream team cast of some of Denver's most talented comedic and dramatic actors, is even funnier than the script would suggest.
The first act, in particular, is rib-achingly hilarious, as eight rich, well-educated New York professionals stumble through various impediments and awkward situations in an increasingly complicated effort to deflect embarrassment, gossip, rumor, or scandal. Naturally, their efforts have the reverse effect and intensify all four outcomes.
Four couples are invited to a tenth-anniversary dinner party for their friends Charlie and Myra (who are never seen). Myra is inexplicably absent, and Charlie is upstairs in the spacious upscale apartment, having shot himself through the earlobe in an inept suicide attempt.
Chris and Ken (Abby Apple Boes, Mark Collins) are first on the scene but are quickly followed by Claire and Lenny (Haley Johnson, Bernie Cardell). Cookie and Ernie (Katie Mangett, Claude Diener) follow a bit later, while Glenn and Cassie (Andy Anderson, Molly Turner) bring up the rear.
It's so much fun to watch these neurotic socialites agonize over what to do and what not to do. Simon does a superb job of introducing the cast one couple at a time and creating ingenious ways to clear the stage so everyone has a memorable moment to display their quirky and dysfunctional coping mechanisms.
The homogeneity of these middle-aged, upper-middle-class white couples is painfully, hysterically obvious. They all share the same doctor, drive the same type of car, belong to the same clubs, and feel that they are rightfully entitled to their comforts, having actually worked for them. Even their names share odd similarities. Sure, some of the attitudes toward marriage and social status are a bit cynical, (Simon was going through his third divorce at the time of writing) but they really do care about Charlie's health and reputation. These are basically good, albeit incompetent people.
Which makes it all the more hilarious when their elaborate lies become ever more ridiculous and complicated as the evening wears on. And since nearly all are suffering some kind of physical impairment at one time or another, there are plenty of opportunities for laugh-out-loud slapstick humor. My personal favorites were watching Cardell maneuvering with whiplash, Mangett's quirky chirpy back spasms, and Collins' temporary deafness, and there are some funny tipsy real housewives moments, too. Cardell performs a show-stopping monologue that proves that when it comes to comedy, he is Denver's own Nathan Lane. Meanwhile, there are one-liners galore.
The second act sags just a bit, all the way down to the level you would expect from a typical hit comedy. When two police officers (Dan Connell, Kelly Alayne Dwyer) arrive investigating a stolen car and the sound of gunshots, the clueless and confused guests try to work together. It's more fun when they are at odds with each other, but their antics are still highly entertaining.
I know it's way too soon to declare Rumors "The Best Comedy of 2018," but Lowry's Spotlight Theater sure sets the bar, and the laugh quotient high.
Rumors are that the show is selling out quickly. Don't delay. Get your tickets right away. Rumors is the perfect "couple comedy" for people in their "professional" years.
Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2 pm, with additional performances on Jan. 15 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. (No performance Feb. 2). Tickets $12-$25 and available at www.thisisspotlight.com or by calling 720-530-4596. The John Hand Theater is located at 7653 E 1st Pl, Denver, 80230.
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Review: 'The King and I,' Buell Theatre, through Jan. 14
At its deepest level, Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, like South Pacific, is about a white western woman who finds herself in an exotic locale, fails to understand or respect cultural differences, tries to impose her own morality on others, and unwittingly causes irreparable harm to a soon-to-be-conquered indigenous people.
But there are also adorable children, a love story, memorable songs, spectacular choreography, and large helpings of humor to make the tragedy more palatable.
The King and I, playing through Jan. 14 at the Buell Theatre, is based on the updated 2015 Lincoln Center Theater revival of the classic musical. It doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of the story and is thoroughly entertaining without dipping too deeply into the reservoir of cuteness, schmaltz, or sentiment. The cast of mostly Asian performers adds an element of authenticity to the production but also highlights some of the weaknesses of the material.
Anna, a British widow in the age of Queen Victoria (Madeline Trumble) agrees to work for the King of Siam (Jose Llana), serving as the tutor for a handful of the monarch's wives and children. Lord only knows what has happened to the multiple wives and nearly six dozen children who displeased the king. Let's just say Amnesty International would have a field day reporting all the human rights abuses committed by this surprisingly likable dictator.
The King has the power of life and death over his subjects and wields it capriciously. He expects to be treated like a god. But he's also curious about the "scientific" approach to understanding the natural world and western style of leadership. The clash of ancient tradition and European modernity proves his undoing, and he dies, leaving a weak, immature Crown Prince (Anthony Chan) to face the onslaught of the French and British Empires, who are quickly divvying up the Far East for their own profit and exploitation.
Meanwhile, a slave/concubine (Q Lim) arrives as a gift to the King from Burma, but she loves another (Kavin Panmeechao). Their ill-fated affair proves to be the King's tipping point, immediately following an extraordinarily staged and palpably political balletic interpretation of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Much of the show is devoted to Anna and the King butting heads and eventually working out a truce based on mutual respect. She's a fighter and won't back down on her Christian British principles, even though they simply don't apply in Buddhist Siam (Thailand), where all men are not created equal, and where polygamy and slavery are the norms.
Anna, with her hoop skirts and progressive attitudes, is an outsider, almost an interloper amongst the mostly-Asian company dressed in traditional Siamese clothing. The casting of this production emphasizes the "otherness" of Anna among the Siamese. So it's startling when the doomed Burmese couple sing songs that would fit right in with a Nelson Eddy/Jeanette Macdonald film set in the Yukon.
That's the flip side of ethnic-appropriate casting. Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical depiction of the Siamese is uncomfortably akin to Gilbert and Sullivan's treatment of the Japanese in The Mikado. The King of Siam is essentially a cultural descendant of Genghis Khan. He is a tyrant who is to be feared, even worshipped, but never truly loved.
Optimistic sentiments about "whistling a happy tune" and "getting to know you" aren't going to cut it.
I found this production of The King and I to be tremendously thought-provoking, visually stunning, and beautifully performed. Recommended for all ages.
Tickets start at $30. Visit www.denvercenter.org for information and to purchase tickets.
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2017 Theatre Reviews
Review: 'Waitress,' Buell Theatre, Dec. 19-31
WAITRESS
The promoters of Waitress, the musical based on Adrienne Shelly's film (2007) currently playing at the Buell Theatre, would like you to believe that their Broadway musical production isn't just a theatrical equivalent of a "chick flick," and that it crosses the gender divide with its universal themes.
Don't believe it, guys.
Unless you prefer baking pies to eating them.
And ladies, don't pretend that this is a feminist show about empowerment, either.
Unless that power comes from embracing your biological imperative to reproduce.
But if you can set aside these two extremes, Waitress is fun and entertaining, in the way 9 to 5 and Mamma Mia! are enjoyable. These are female-centric, mid-budget musicals about how women feel about themselves, with some romance and a couple of idiotic men thrown in for good measure.
Newly-pregnant Jenna (Desi Oakley) is stuck in a loveless, stifling marriage to a violent manchild (Nick Bailey). Luckily, she has the support of the other waitresses at Joe's Diner, including a big, bold black woman (Charity Angel Dawson) and a mousey nerd with glasses (Lenne Klingaman). The cook (Ryan G. Dunkin) is a growly teddy bear, and the pie shop/diner's owner (Larry Marshall) is a lovable curmudgeon.
In an appalling breach of medical ethics and common sense, Jenna's neurotic and quirky-cute married gynecologist (Bryan Fenkart) seduces the hormonally challenged waitress by complimenting her pie. But it's okay, because...well, I don't remember why, but the women in the audience cheered their sex scenes on the examination table.
An uber-geek (Jeremy Morse) woos the nerdy waitress with over-the-top goofiness.
The birth of Jenna's baby brings about an instantaneous change to her generally moping, sometimes wistful, occasionally ecstatic, but always erratic mood swings. Even so, Jenna's happy ending is literally handed to her from a completely unexpected, yet entirely predictable source.
Because, after all, she is the queen of goodness and sweetness.
All the major and supporting characters have their spotlight songs. Some of the tunes are really fun and mostly memorable. The most inspiring number actually has the power to induce labor.
A chorus of fashionably dressed and beautiful urbanites inexplicably keep showing up at the remote southern pie and coffee shop that literally screams out "sugar and gluten". Where are the rednecks and truck drivers?
The celebrated all-female creative team (hired by fifteen male and five female producers) is some kind of first. A greater achievement would be for no one to notice, and for there to be no need to make a big deal about it. Still, due credit goes to the book (Jessie Nelson), music and lyrics (Sara Bareilles), director (Diane Paulus), and choreographer (Lorin Latarro).
Waitress is billed as "an uplifting musical celebrating friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a well-made pie".
And like a delicious pie, it's probably better to just enjoy it and not think about what's really inside along with all those tantalizing ingredients.
Don't believe it, guys.
Unless you prefer baking pies to eating them.
And ladies, don't pretend that this is a feminist show about empowerment, either.
Unless that power comes from embracing your biological imperative to reproduce.
Newly-pregnant Jenna (Desi Oakley) is stuck in a loveless, stifling marriage to a violent manchild (Nick Bailey). Luckily, she has the support of the other waitresses at Joe's Diner, including a big, bold black woman (Charity Angel Dawson) and a mousey nerd with glasses (Lenne Klingaman). The cook (Ryan G. Dunkin) is a growly teddy bear, and the pie shop/diner's owner (Larry Marshall) is a lovable curmudgeon.
An uber-geek (Jeremy Morse) woos the nerdy waitress with over-the-top goofiness.
The birth of Jenna's baby brings about an instantaneous change to her generally moping, sometimes wistful, occasionally ecstatic, but always erratic mood swings. Even so, Jenna's happy ending is literally handed to her from a completely unexpected, yet entirely predictable source.
Because, after all, she is the queen of goodness and sweetness.
A chorus of fashionably dressed and beautiful urbanites inexplicably keep showing up at the remote southern pie and coffee shop that literally screams out "sugar and gluten". Where are the rednecks and truck drivers?
The celebrated all-female creative team (hired by fifteen male and five female producers) is some kind of first. A greater achievement would be for no one to notice, and for there to be no need to make a big deal about it. Still, due credit goes to the book (Jessie Nelson), music and lyrics (Sara Bareilles), director (Diane Paulus), and choreographer (Lorin Latarro).
Waitress is billed as "an uplifting musical celebrating friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a well-made pie".
And like a delicious pie, it's probably better to just enjoy it and not think about what's really inside along with all those tantalizing ingredients.
Run Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes including intermission
Ticket Price: Starting at $25. Prices vary by date and availability.
Age Recommendation: 13+ Contains mature themes
Advisory: No strobe-lights are utilized in this production
BOX OFFICE: 800-641-1222
Hours: Mon-Sat 10 am-8 pm
Sun 10 am-6 pm
Ticket Price: Starting at $25. Prices vary by date and availability.
Age Recommendation: 13+ Contains mature themes
Advisory: No strobe-lights are utilized in this production
BOX OFFICE: 800-641-1222
Hours: Mon-Sat 10 am-8 pm
Sun 10 am-6 pm
Select seats and purchase tickets online at https://www.denvercenter.org/shows/specific-series/Get?Id=cc5f04e9-392e-4040-a30d-49b2d65e0b35
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Review: 'Beauty and the Beast,' Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, through Feb. 14
I'm guessing that everyone who reads this review already knows the story of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the animated film that became a Broadway musical, then re-booted as a ghastly but insanely profitable CGI-based live action movie, and all of it inspired by a French fairy tale about a woman who ends a curse through unconditional and sacrificial love.
So what's so special about Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's production, playing in Johnstown through February 14?
Pretty much everything.
Let's start with Katie Jackson's Belle, the beautiful, book-loving oddball protagonist. Jackson's rich, mellifluous voice can melt butter. While other Disney princesses are busy being cute/chirpy (Little Mermaid), or belting out obnoxious, overwrought empowerment anthems (Frozen, Wicked), or sounding like a hastily trained little girl (Emma Watson), Jackson brings vocal range, warmth, and grace to the role. Her rendition of "Is This Home?" has haunted me for days.
Kalond Irlanda's Beast is an athletic, prowling, leonine presence. He effortlessly skulks and leaps around the castle battlements. The staircases must have been built for the rest of the cast because he has no need of them, and in his transformation scene, eschews gravity altogether. He absolutely nails the Beast's transformation from a brooding baby to a caring individual. It's not enough for him to fall in love. He must sincerely want what's best for Belle, even if it costs him everything, and Irlanda is more than up to the task of bringing the message home.
The superior casting of this production also includes the magnificent Joanie Brosseau-Rubald as Mrs. Potts, the only other character in the show besides Belle who isn't an emotional preschooler or psychopath. Her maturity and gentleness are as reassuring as a cup of warm chamomile tea. Even if the tea is brewed in her abdominal cavity and poured out her arm.
Eric Heine's Gaston is a burly bully, but also a pompous nitwit, which helps lessen the character's brutality. As his punching bag sidekick Lefou, Ethan Knowles adds a bit of Harpo Marx goofiness to the pratfalls and slapstick. Bob Hoppe plays the "flame buoyant" ladies man candlestick Lumiere with panache. He's not just smooth. The superb dancer adds precision and punctuation to his fluid movements, and he literally lights up the stage.
David L. Wygant is amusing as the tightly-wound and supercilious Cogsworth, Harmony Livingston is all fluff and feathers as Babette the frolicsome feather duster, and Samantha Jo Staggs makes a formidable opera-diva chest of drawers.
In addition to a great cast, albeit with an uncharacteristically small ensemble, there are nine live musicians in the orchestra pit. The wigs, costumes, and sets are, as usual, first-rate. Co-directors/choreographers Jessica Hindsley and Kate Vallee have reinterpreted a couple of the numbers, especially "Gaston" and "Be Our Guest," which was a welcome surprise. As an added plus, the theatre is wire-equipped for flying, which will also come in handy when they produce Mary Poppins in September.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast is family-friendly entertainment, and Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's production is truly outstanding. It's a welcome tonic for those of us who were disappointed with the recent film version.
Candlelight even sells light-up roses to anyone who wants to participate in the magical moment of the Beast's regeneration.
Would that we all could.
Dinner and show tickets can be purchased by calling Candlelight’s box office at 970-744-3747, or online at www.ColoradoCandlelight.com.
SHOWTIMES:
Thursday, Friday & Saturday Evenings -- Dinner seating at 6:00 PM; Show at 7:30 PM; Saturday Matinees – Dinner seating at 12 noon, show at 1:30 PM; Sunday Matinees -‐ Dinner seating at 12:30 PM; Show at 2:00 PM. Specially added show times in December include select Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday Evenings
TICKETS:
Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $52.95 ‐ $62.95 (based on day of week); Child (5‐12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.95 (any performance); Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.95 (any performance); Adult Show-Only Tickets: $29.95 (any performance; seating restrictions)
WHERE:
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse (4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534); I‐25 at Exit 254
TICKETS:
Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $52.95 ‐ $62.95 (based on day of week); Child (5‐12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.95 (any performance); Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.95 (any performance); Adult Show-Only Tickets: $29.95 (any performance; seating restrictions)
WHERE:
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse (4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534); I‐25 at Exit 254
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Theatre Review: 'Disaster!', Equinox Theatre at The Bug Theatre, through Dec. 2
It's loads more fun than Geostorm, The 5th Wave, and San Andreas combined, and all the special effects are practical. Cheap and ridiculous, but practical. And that's the key to Disaster!'s irresistible appeal.
In Disaster!, a hodgepodge of colorful, two-dimensional characters winds up on the Barracuda, a hastily constructed casino/disco cruise ship moored precariously to a New York pier. A waiter (Rob Riney) and an investigative reporter (Holly Dalton) try to find their way back together after a bad breakup.
A nun (Jessica Sotwick) with a gambling addiction and a drag queen (Preston Adams) with a purse dog discover they have much in common, especially while playing the slots. A devoted middle-aged couple (Eddie Schumacher and Brooke McNamara) try to enjoy their twilight years as their world is literally turned inside out and upside down.
A single mom lounge singer (Chelsea O'Grady) wants to find a husband for herself and father for her two squabbling kids (Katelyn Kendrick), but unwisely casts her eye on the lying, cheating, corner-cutting casino developer (Patrick Brownson).
A prophet of doom scientist (Brian Trampler) strives to warn of impending catastrophe.
But where would be the fun if everyone heeded his advice and evacuated in an orderly manner?
Everything that could go wrong goes horribly, hilariously south in a hurry. It begins with a disco-dancing induced earthquake, but there's fire, flood, and any number of deadly creatures to contend with--not to mention the inevitable personal relationship issues. There are chaos and carnage around every corner, and the multiple deaths and near-misses are laugh-out-loud funny in their wig-flipping ingenuity.
The pop songs also bring in big laughs, as they are shoe-horned into scenes with clever lead-ins. Their familiarity adds to the participatory party spirit. Sometimes it's just a chorus for reference, but who doesn't want to hear "I Will Survive" as the piranha-infested waters rise and chandeliers come crashing down around us? And there are more than three dozen of these songs! Good grief, they even found a way to fit "Muskrat Love" in there.
With a budget taken from the petty cash drawer, directors Deb Flomberg and Colin Roybal have achieved a triumph of goofy vision and surprise-filled creativity. Some said it couldn't be done. Some said it shouldn't be done. But Equinox Theatre did it anyway, and it's far from being a Disaster!
Or, that's exactly what it is, but in a good way.
Disaster! is by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, concept created by Seth Rudetsky and Drew Geraci, additional material by Drew Geraci.
The Bug Theatre is located at 3654 Navajo Street, Denver. For more information, visit http://www.equinoxtheatredenver.com/. Tickets are available at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2706371
Theatre Review: 'The Foreigner,' Arvada Center, through Nov. 18
What's not to like?
Just wait until you see what can happen when this show is performed by consummate professionals! The Arvada Center's Black Box production of The Foreigner is like a master class in how to get everything exactly right.
Naturally, the locals do the exact opposite. The depressed and discouraged lodge owner (Edith Weiss) lights up at the challenge of welcoming a guest who has trouble communicating, becoming a persistent and irresistible force to draw Charlie out, and forcing him to respond in gobbledegook gibberish.
Current lodgers include a workaholic and charismatic pastor (Zachary Andrews), his faded debutante fiancee (Jessica Robblee), and her mentally challenged brother (Lance Rasmussen). Less accepting of the supposed sojourner is the redneck building inspector (Greg Ungar), who has nefarious plans to condemn the lodge.
Well-known and highly regarded local director Geoffrey Kent is the best possible person to helm this production. I've been watching his career for more than twenty years. His solid background in classical theatre, especially Shakespeare, has honed his skills in script analysis, enabling him to eke out every possible insight, interpretation and artistic choice available in the text. He's a certified fight choreographer, which gives him an instinct for staging safe but thrilling physical humor and gags. His direction of Waiting for Godot last season at the Arvada Center proved his talent for combining comedy and pathos. All this and more come together in his masterful staging of The Foreigner.
And of course, you need a clown of massive range for the title role. Sammie Joe Kinnett is the perfect Charlie Baker. He brings gentleness and vulnerability to the early scenes, manic desperation and panicked ingenuity in the middle, warmth and gratitude as his character matures, and even calculated cunning when confronting villainy. He wins the audience over immediately as the timid man who admits to being boring and lacking personality, has us laughing throughout, and by the end, we're cheering. The role has an unusually expansive character arc, and Kinnett doesn't miss a beat.
Scenic designer Brian Mallgrave had the unenviable task of converting a patently proscenium-style setting to a thrust stage configuration. The result is an oddball floor plan to maximize stage action and movement, dressed up with hyper-realistic props and bric a brac.
Larry Shue was a dinner theatre and regional theatre actor--along with being a playwright--and it shows, in the play's accessibility, popular appeal, and delightful roles. Sadly, he died in a plane crash at the age of thirty-nine, leaving us all to wonder what other scripts besides The Foreigner, and his other hit The Nerd, might have been.
The Arvada Center's Black Box Theatre production of The Foreigner is pure theatrical magic with a message. The show is selling very well. Two additional performances have been added, but don't delay in ordering your tickets.
Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with matinées on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., through November 18. Additional performances have been added on November 4 and 18 at 2:00 p.m. Audience talkbacks are held throughout the run of the production. To purchase tickets go to http://arvadacenter.org/the-foreigner or call 720-898-7200.
Theatre Review: 'Taking Tea With the Ripper,' Theatrix USA at Bovine Metropolis, through Oct. 31
Theatrix USA presents...
Taking Tea With the Ripper
through Oct. 31 at the Bovine Metropolis TheaterJack the Ripper is back, and this time he's out for more than just blood. Taking Tea With the Ripper, Mike Broemmel's deeply disturbing one-man-play, speculates on the the kind of twisted, sexually depraved, rage-filled, misogynistic, and xenophobic madness that might drive a man to brutally murder perhaps as many as eleven women and savagely mutilate their bodies amidst the squalor and desperation of the Whitechapel district in Victorian London.
It's hard to watch, but even more difficult to turn away, thanks to a harrowing and haunting performance by Paul Escobedo as Ripper, and the insightful, unflinching direction of Evgueni Mlodik.
The mono-drama, which has been significantly upgraded since the last production, plays through Halloween at the otherwise giggle-gushing downtown Bovine Metropolis Theater.
In fact, the first act has very little to do with the crimes themselves, as Ripper, currently in between atrocities, waxes horrific on the proper making and serving of tea (the water must be VIOLENTLY boiling), fantasizes being buggered by King Henry VIII, expresses his distaste for "that bloated cow" Queen Victoria and in fact all women, spews venom at the influx of foreigners, and praises sexual liaisons with boy prostitutes.
It's the second act that gets really, really messed up (by comparison), as a blood-smeared, knife-wielding Ripper, hands deep in gore, rants over the corpse of his latest kill.
The subject matter and visuals are hard R-rated. There's a lot of blood, gore, a gaping abdominal cavity and the removal of organs. After the performance, a frightening number of audience members took gleeful selfies with Kevon Ward's crime scene-accurate mannequin. Most of the pornographic language is from the Victorian era and therefore sounds somewhat quaint.
And yet, shocking and horrifying as Taking Tea With the Ripper is, there's artistry in Broemmel's script, with recurring leitmotifs, a strong sense of cohesion despite the raving lunatic character, and even oblique social commentary about what happens when a cultural "melting pot" boils over.
The Director's Notes in the program prove Mlodik to be an astute dramaturg as well as fearless director.
Escobedo's performance as the insane and quite possibly possessed Ripper is scary, unpredictable, yet does not go over the top. There's no ham in this sandwich, which makes it all the more unsettling.
This isn't going to be everyone's "cup of tea," but for those with strong stomachs and a willingness to go way, way down the rabbit hole into the mind of a perverted, rage-filled madman, be ready for this show to come back home with you.
Taking Tea with the Ripper runs through October 31st at the Bovine Metropolis Theater. Remaining performances are at 7:30 pm on October 29 and 31; and 10:15 pm on October 27, 28. Ticket prices are $22 online, seating is limited.
Get your tickets here:
https://www.bovinemetropolis.com/content/taking-tea-jack-ripper
https://www.bovinemetropolis.com/content/taking-tea-jack-ripper
Theatre Review: 'Hunchback of Notre Dame,' Evergreen Chorale, through Oct. 8
What a difference!
Evergreen Chorale, an amateur theatre company in a nearby mountain town, has gathered together an intergenerational cast of sixty singers, dancers, and actors to stage the musical's regional premiere, imbuing the production with a community-based spirit and sound that couldn't possibly be duplicated on a Broadway stage.
This is one of those rare musicals that eschews glorifying the individual in favor of celebrating an entire populace. Everyone is fully engaged and involved, and the tragic love story about a gypsy girl who is pursued by three wildly different men but rebuffs them all to her misfortune rises up in that context.
Parnell plays fast and loose with Hugo's text, but so have all the other writers who have tried to make the sprawling novel fit on a stage or the silver screen. (Including me.)
Esmeralda (Hannah Marie Harmon) attracts the unwanted attention of the pious but creepy and brooding archdeacon Frollo (Mike DeJonge). Also vying for her affection is the handsome, dashing soldier Phoebus (Brian DeBaets), who insists he's neither a good nor noble person and then goes on to prove it, despite frequently gazing heroically over the heads of the audience. And then there's Quasimodo (Adam Kinney), the tender-hearted, deformed and disabled bell ringer who mistakes Esmeralda's basic human kindness for affection.
I mean, what's a girl to do?
Guiding the audience and the Parisian masses through all this convoluted action is Clopin (Brian Trampler), who behaves like a jovial jester, but secretly protects the gypsies and beggars from persecution and pogroms.
That's a pretty sophisticated tale for what Disney originally presented as a show for kids.
But what really gives this musical its unique quality is the idea of presenting it as a pageant, like Jedermann on the steps of the cathedral in Salzburg, the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany, and the popular, amateur pageant plays of the middle ages.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is EVERYONE'S story, and it takes the whole town to tell it. Besides the cathedral backdrop, most of the action takes place in and around a versatile medieval pageant wagon, which becomes a stage within the stage, and stands in for multiple settings with the simple changing of a screen or by rotating the wagon. That was a genius move by set designer Biz Schaugaard, who must have taken theatre history once upon a time, and knew he needed to leave plenty of room for the enormous cast.
Sure, there may be a dozen credited speaking roles, but this show also boasts a chorus of gargoyles and statues, an ensemble of minstrels and storytellers, the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral (singing some glorious sacred music), and even a kids' ensemble.
The cantata-like choral numbers nearly swallow up the leads' occasional solos. And that's okay. They are individual voices arising from the tumult of a city on the verge of revolutionary change, and their passing, while noticed and marked, are mere ripples in the surging tide of Parisian humanity.
There's so much to like about this musical. I'm especially grateful it isn't irreligious. The show affirms being kind to others even if they are different from you and condemns using or exploiting people for selfish desires.
Director Timothy Kennedy and Artistic and Musical Director Christine Gaudreau deserve medals, ribbons, or maybe a parade for coordinating so many crowd scenes, so many singers, and so much music. I'm sure the gratitude of the cast itself will be overwhelming.
This really is an exceptional achievement for a local amateur company. Sure, there's a wide range of talent, experience, and ability, but that's kind of the point. There's room for everybody, and everyone's contribution is valued.
With all the friends and family of the actors, and with a relatively short run, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is likely to sell out. Make reservations for your family right away. This is one you won't want to miss.
The Evergreen Chorale presents the Regional Premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame through October 8 at Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, CO, 80439. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $28 Adults; $24 seniors (62+)/Students, $17 children (12&under), $22 groups of 10 or more and available by phone 303-674-4002 or online at www.evergreenchorale.org.
Theatre Review: 'A Chorus Line,' Arvada Center, through Oct. 1
A Chorus Line, Broadway's self-congratulatory tribute to the nameless, faceless dancers who back up the stars, is now forty-two years old. Significantly, the Arvada Center opens its 42nd season with a perfectly cast, faithful reproduction of a hit musical that, despite the brilliant music and thrilling choreography, now feels a bit dated.
Seventeen hoofers of varying age, experience, and ability audition for eight background roles in an upcoming musical. The sadistic and manipulative director/choreographer (Stephen Cerf) isn't content with merely evaluating their abilities and suitability for his production. Instead, he forces them to publicly disclose their darkest secrets, insecurities, hurts, and aspirations. These "kids," who aren't terribly bright, come from horrendously abusive or dysfunctional childhoods. Several are barely past the confusing and embarrassing pubescent years. They are so desperate for affirmation, validation, and a place to belong, they lay everything on the line, knowing in advance that half of them will be rejected and pushed to the curb with a curt, impersonal "thank you."
The more we learn about these athletic supplicants, the more pathetic they become. With nothing to offer but their physicality, they hurl themselves headlong into an exploitative industry that treats them like cannon fodder, disposable and easily replaced. They have a ten-year window of opportunity to succeed before they become too old to be attractive, or physically break down. By the time they turn thirty-five, they're obsolete. And there's a flood of fresh young blood lining up behind them.
All of these immature and self-centered revelations, which are based on actual interviews with chorus dancers conducted by creator/director Michael Bennett, are set to Marvin Hamlisch's truly outstanding and memorable music, with lyrics by Edward Kleban. From the pulse-pounding cattle call song "I Hope I Get It," to the show-offy "I Can Do That" and "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three," to the lyrically introspective "At the Ballet" and "What I Did For Love," every song is a winner. Even the montages and dance numbers are lovely.
But the more these emotionally damaged characters disclose about their lives, the more it becomes a case of "too much information". This is particularly true of the extended sequences devoted to Cassie and Paul. Cassie (Dayna Tietzen) rose from the chorus into featured roles, squandered two precious years of potential work by going to Los Angeles, and now tries to restart an anonymous career in the chorus at the sunset of her usefulness. In an over-long dance solo, she demonstrates that she clearly isn't any better than the others, and never should have let the director/ex-boyfriend for whom she's now auditioning convince her otherwise.
Unlike the other dancers who wear form-fitting leotards, tights, or skinny jeans, Paul (Jake Mendes) wears the worst possible clothing for a dance audition--a "don't look at me" baggy hoodie, over-sized cargo pants, and sneakers. He's also carrying horrendous psychological baggage and is instantly branded as the sacrificial lamb. Paul's devastating monologue, which is perhaps longer than the dialogue of all the other characters combined, wallows in shame and misery.
Other characters include a vulgar girl who crudely displays her surgical enhancements, a motor-mouthed preppie narcissist who just wants to be noticed, a tone-deaf dancer and her enabling husband, a pill-popping, sarcastic, nearly burned out chanteuse and more.
None has a viable exit plan or even an idea of what to do with their lives when they're in their mid-thirties and the Broadway dream dies.
Many theatre people love this show because they easily identify with one or more of the characters' background, professional insecurities, or desperate exhibitionism. But I found myself longing for less talk and more of the synchronous dancing and group numbers. As cold as this sounds, I wanted them to get over themselves and behave like a chorus.
Naturally, the dancing is outstanding. At times, breathtakingly beautiful. At other times, it's heart-breaking to watch individual dancers struggle to learn steps in styles they haven't mastered. The voices are all strong, except for the one who isn't supposed to be able to sing, though she never seems to mar the group numbers.
Four decades ago, I saw this show on Broadway. Even then, as an up and coming musical theatre actor, I wondered why anyone with a modicum of self-esteem would subject themselves to this kind of interrogation. Why didn't they just walk away? I figured it had to be a New Yorker/Broadway thing. Now, a generation later, this exact same lineup of broken hopefuls are the ages of my own children.
They still hope to "get it", which amounts to a moment to dance in the spotlight, wearing a golden top hat and tails. I guess this is Broadway's version of a "heavenly chorus".
My fondest hopes for these damaged kids lies elsewhere.
Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., matinees on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., through October 1. Audience engagement events, including insider’s talkbacks and happy hours with the cast, are held through the run of the production. Please note – A Chorus Line is performed without intermission. To purchase tickets go to http://arvadacenter.org/a-chorus-line or call 720-898-7200.
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Theatre Review: 'The Music Man,' Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, Johnstown, through Nov. 5, 2017
Meredith Willson's hugely popular con-man musical The Music Man is as delicious as Wonder Bread smeared with grape jelly. At Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, this unrepentantly old-fashioned war horse offers healthy helpings of songs, dances, corn pone humor, and characters lifted right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Wary of swindlers and wandering road warriors with samples in their valises, the gullible townspeople of River City nevertheless fall under the spell of the irresistibly charming Professor Harold Hill (Bob Hoppe). In classic salesman fashion, he creates a problem and then offers the solution. In this case, protect the young people from moral corruption by creating a marching band, complete with expensive instruments and uniforms.
Unfortunately, Hill provokes the ire of the mayor (TJ Mullin), and the skeptical eye of Marian the Librarian (Alisha Winter-Hayes), herself a victim of small-minded rumors and gossip. Though no one would actually call this motor-mouthed mountebank a savior, everyone Hill meets seems to become happier, more optimistic, and more willing to get along with others.
He may not be much of a band leader, but Harold Hill knows how to read people, appeal to their higher aspirations, and nudge them in the right direction. He simply won't take "no" for an answer, even to the point of stalking Marian. But if everyone wins in the end, what's the harm?
Hoppe's Harold Hill is slick as a greased skillet. His buoyant optimism may be mostly bluff and blather, but he's as irrepressible as a geyser. There's something almost unreal and doll-like about Winter-Hayes' Marian. But when she sings, spirits soar.
Mullin wins huge laughs as the sputtering, blustery mayor, and Annie Dwyer garners guffaws as his pretentiously posing wife. They may be fools, but Hill knows better than to underestimate them, so he keeps the power couple off balance with deflection, distraction, and dance.
Kalond Irlanda makes a strong impression as the eager juvenile delinquent from the other side of the tracks who falls for the porcelain but cutely cussing mayor's daughter (Sara Kowalski). There's a fantastic barbershop quartet, a gaggle of squawking townswomen, and a bunch of super-talented kids, especially Ryan Fisher as Winthrop and Sophia Hammon as Amaryllis. Samantha Jo Staggs' Mrs. Paroo is the most sensible person in town, but she mostly sits on her porch and spouts worldly wisdom with an Irish accent as thick as peat. Scotty Shaffer makes the most of his role as a reformed traveling salesman who revels in the show's most unnecessary, irrelevant, and strangely named song-and-dance number "Shipoopi".
Special mention goes to Michael Grittner's scenic design, boasting a veritable parade of wagons depicting Main Street USA at the turn of the 20th century.
The Music Man has earned the right to be as popular and often-produced as it is. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's production, including the most ambitious curtain call I've ever seen (except possibly Joseph/Dreamcoat), is the kind of wholesome entertainment that is the perfect way to extend a bucolic summer a few more months.
The score is loaded with musical jokes that become memorable hit show tunes. Traveling salesmen chatter like a moving train. Middle-aged biddies cluck like hens. On several occasions, piano exercises and even the scales morph into fully-realized songs. Two songs, strong in their own right, are woven together. Willson, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics, shows authentic mastery of the art by how effortlessly he manipulates composition, harmony, and counterpoint. Willson is the Harold Hill of Broadway composers.
Some of the songs are as irresistible and engaging as Harold Hill himself. "Ya Got Trouble" bowls over the townspeople like a runaway beer wagon. "Seventy-Six Trombones," and its seventy-six reprises, marches the audience right along with its enthusiasm. "Marian the Librarian" hits just the right balance between creepiness and social acceptability. "The Wells Fargo Wagon" is much more than product placement. It's the payoff for a full act's build up. "Gary Indiana" is cute but annoying, and "Till There Was You" is a heartfelt romantic duet. There's not a stinker or a clinker in the whole score, and Candlelight's pit full of musicians raises the roof with melodious sound.
Director/choreographer Ali K. Meyers keeps the pace sprightly. Some of the more emotional moments feel rushed, and both Winthrop overcoming shyness and Marian's decision to side with Hill felt skimmed over, but I suspect the relationships will blossom as the production settles in for the run.
Special mention goes to Michael Grittner's scenic design, boasting a veritable parade of wagons depicting Main Street USA at the turn of the 20th century.
The Music Man has earned the right to be as popular and often-produced as it is. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse's production, including the most ambitious curtain call I've ever seen (except possibly Joseph/Dreamcoat), is the kind of wholesome entertainment that is the perfect way to extend a bucolic summer a few more months.
Next up in November: Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
Dinner and show tickets can be purchased by calling Candlelight’s box office – 970-744-3747 or online at www.ColoradoCandlelight.com. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse is located at 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534 (I-25 at Exit 254).
Showtimes: Thursday, Friday & Saturday Evenings -- Dinner seating at 6:00 PM; Show at 7:30 PM; Saturday Matinees – Dinner seating at 12 noon, show at 1:30 PM; Sunday Matinees -‐ Dinner seating at 12:30 PM; Show at 2:00 PM
Tickets: Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $52.95 ‐ $62.95 (based on day of week); Child (5‐12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.95 (any performance); Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.95 (any performance); Adult Show-Only Tickets: $29.95 (any performance; seating restrictions)
Dinner and show tickets can be purchased by calling Candlelight’s box office – 970-744-3747 or online at www.ColoradoCandlelight.com. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse is located at 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534 (I-25 at Exit 254).
Showtimes: Thursday, Friday & Saturday Evenings -- Dinner seating at 6:00 PM; Show at 7:30 PM; Saturday Matinees – Dinner seating at 12 noon, show at 1:30 PM; Sunday Matinees -‐ Dinner seating at 12:30 PM; Show at 2:00 PM
Tickets: Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $52.95 ‐ $62.95 (based on day of week); Child (5‐12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.95 (any performance); Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.95 (any performance); Adult Show-Only Tickets: $29.95 (any performance; seating restrictions)
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Theatre Review: 'In the Heights,' Town Hall Arts Center Littleton, through Oct. 8
NOTE: I will update this post as soon as production photos become available.
In the Heights is a Broadway musical-style celebration of a passionate community's effort to fulfill their dreams, rebound from disappointment, and hold together through love and determination as a flagging economy drains away the very things that give their neighborhood its unique character.
The show started out as a college project created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is Broadway's current golden boy with his hit show Hamilton. His music and lyrics are a fascinating mash-up of freestyle rap, salsa, quirky character numbers and Broadway ballads.
In the formerly Irish but now largely Hispanic Washington Heights, three local businesses are failing, and there's not much anyone can do about it. The little bodega market is a target for taggers, the beauty shop employees have no one to beautify except themselves, and a family-run independent cab service is laying off drivers.
Many of the residents, mostly second or third generation immigrants from Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and various Caribbean locales, dream of escaping to a better life, fall into nostalgia for the way things used to be, or struggle with the despair that comes from knowing they're on a sinking ship without a lifeboat.
Even a winning Lotto ticket can't do much except offer a respite for a select few, but the spirit, the passion, the joy of life in the people can't be quashed. Everyone is literally dancing in the streets, day and night.
Sure, the characters are romanticized, and the poverty-stricken neighborhood is inexplicably crime- and drug-free, except when people get too worked up, party too much, and fall in love with exactly the wrong person. There's no problem that can't be overcome if people would just come together, claim their identity, affirm their solidarity, and talk it through.
The cast is terrific, and since this is mostly an ensemble show, everyone, even the guy pushing an ice cream cart, gets a solo. The characters are distinct and delightful, though it's sometimes hard to figure out familial relationships. But who cares? It's all about the village.
Nick Sugar's direction and choreography are outstanding. The action keeps moving, with musical and dance interludes covering transitions between scenes. It really does feel like non-stop song and dance numbers, and the hot-blooded passion of the cast is contagious.
It didn't bother me that several obvious Anglos in the cast were playing Latino characters, even though this is a show about preserving and celebrating cultural and familial identity. One character is forced to confront the dynamic between protecting ethnic purity and committing segregational racism.
It was great fun to watch a mostly white, middle-aged suburban audience, who I imagine residing in gated communities overlooking golf courses, get swept along in the unbridled passions of people who live in run-down apartments with no air conditioning, are chronically underemployed, and carry top-tier smartphones they only pull out to use as flashlights when the power grid collapses.
It didn't bother me that several obvious Anglos in the cast were playing Latino characters, even though this is a show about preserving and celebrating cultural and familial identity. One character is forced to confront the dynamic between protecting ethnic purity and committing segregational racism.
It was great fun to watch a mostly white, middle-aged suburban audience, who I imagine residing in gated communities overlooking golf courses, get swept along in the unbridled passions of people who live in run-down apartments with no air conditioning, are chronically underemployed, and carry top-tier smartphones they only pull out to use as flashlights when the power grid collapses.
It's a kind of culture shock. But the good kind.
In the Heights is pure fantasy, following the usual plot and character arcs, but the exotic varieties of music, the hot dancing, and the diverse cast offer a welcome appeal to breaking down barriers and finding our way together.
Town Hall’s production of In the Heights runs through Sunday, October 8, 2017. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (and 2 p.m. on 9/23) and Sundays at 2 p.m. (and 6:30 p.m. on 10/1). Reserved seat tickets are currently on sale, priced $24.00-$44.00 at the Town Hall Arts Center box office, 303-794-2787 ext. 5 (Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1 Hour prior to Shows) or online at townhallartscenter.org/in-the-heights. Group discounts available for purchasing ten or more tickets, please contact Corey Brown at cbrown@townhallartscenter.org or 303.794.2787 x 213. In a continuing effort to make plays at Town Hall Arts Center accessible to all, ten value seats at $10 each will be made available on a first-come-first-served basis one-hour prior to each published curtain time.
In the Heights is pure fantasy, following the usual plot and character arcs, but the exotic varieties of music, the hot dancing, and the diverse cast offer a welcome appeal to breaking down barriers and finding our way together.
Town Hall’s production of In the Heights runs through Sunday, October 8, 2017. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (and 2 p.m. on 9/23) and Sundays at 2 p.m. (and 6:30 p.m. on 10/1). Reserved seat tickets are currently on sale, priced $24.00-$44.00 at the Town Hall Arts Center box office, 303-794-2787 ext. 5 (Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1 Hour prior to Shows) or online at townhallartscenter.org/in-the-heights. Group discounts available for purchasing ten or more tickets, please contact Corey Brown at cbrown@townhallartscenter.org or 303.794.2787 x 213. In a continuing effort to make plays at Town Hall Arts Center accessible to all, ten value seats at $10 each will be made available on a first-come-first-served basis one-hour prior to each published curtain time.
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Theatre Review: "Dinner", The Edge Theater, through Sept. 17
Moira Buffini's ragout comedy Dinner is as unappetizing and unappealing as the playwright surely intended. The Edge Theater Company's production, under the direction of Scott Bellot, makes no attempt to render the plot, characters or theme more palatable.
In other words, this is a very successful production of a play designed to give audiences theatrical indigestion.
Smug, mean-spirited Paige (Carol Bloom) glibly admits she brings nothing to the table in terms of generosity, goodness or compassion. Mostly she goes shopping and thinks of ways to hurt the people she despises. That means everyone, but most especially her husband Lars (Verl Hite), who has just published a successful pop-psychology book expounding the virtues of narcissism.
Paige hosts a dinner to celebrate, inviting a clueless microbiologist (Jack Wefso) his bitter newscaster wife (Samara Bridwell), and an old flame of Lars' (Emily Tuckman) who creates giant paintings of genitalia and calls it erotica.
Except Paige's idea of "celebration" is to serve vile and inedible "food" along with large helpings of passive aggressive insults, topped by a disingenuous smile.
For the most part, everyone else sits there and takes it. Or turns on each other. Which is exactly what Paige intended.
The arrival of a mysterious stranger (Sean Michael Cummings), who is either a delivery man or a burglar, but definitely from the lower classes, sets the pot to boiling. Meanwhile, a nearly silent waiter (Ronan Viard) remains steadfastly at Paige's beck and call, doing whatever she asks.
Bellot tries to make the most of a show that is mostly about people sitting at a table taking turns harping on about each other. Two of the cast spend most of their time with their backs to the audience, and sometimes actors walk toward the audience, stare off into space and act like they're giving a soliloquy--except they're not. This is a good cast. They deserve better.
Yes, the characters are interesting, and many of the insults are real zingers. Dinner holds the audience's interest, with large helpings of devastating revelations and surprises.
But as a playwright, I feel like the script itself is a mess. Yes, it won the British equivalent of a Tony Award for Best Comedy, but I think it's because the bubbling stew of influences from better playwrights made this play seem like familiar comfort food. Just off the top of my head, I saw a lot of the upper middle-class domestic comedy of Alan Ayckbourn, the looming menace of Harold Pinter, Beckett's aggravating impatience for things that never come (in this case a pizza), a weak nod to the erudite psycho-babble of Tom Stoppard, failed attempts to achieve the witticisms of Noel Coward, the morbidity of an Anthony Shaffer thriller, and even Agatha Christie's "stranded by fog" and other mystery tropes--but with an inadequate body count.
Most audience members won't care. But the playwright in me suspects that Buffini is a "pantser," who threw a bunch of characters into a room to see what would develop and had a vague idea for a three-act structure based on the courses of a meal. I'm guessing she wrote a first draft that was at least twice as long as the current version, trimmed and cut and spliced the best bits into a manageable length, and used a tedious "We need drinks" running gag to camouflage several of the obviously unmotivated, abrupt changes in direction. Characters who are on stage are forgotten or ignored by the playwright for long stretches, waiting for their chance to change the subject. That's an amateur's mistake.
Structurally, this play is a collapsed soufflé. Thematically, it left a bad taste in my mouth.
I really struggled with this review, because I'm always looking for positive things to say about creative endeavors. Then, gradually, I came to believe that Buffini never intended for audiences to like her characters, or even to leave the theatre feeling satisfied. If that's the case, she delivered.
But I'm not leaving a tip.
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Theatre Review: Godspell, CenterStage Theatre Co. at Louisville Arts Center, through Aug. 6
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Theatre Review: Broadway Bound, Miners Alley Playhouse, through Aug. 20
Broadway Bound, the third in the "Eugene" trilogy, is currently playing at the intimate Miners Alley Playhouse. The production, insightfully and empathetically directed by Kate Gleason, zeroes in on the sadness and pain of a disintegrating family. Sure, there are some one-liners, but most of the laughs are poignant, rooted in the suffering of loved ones who mostly just don't "get it," on any level, and probably never will.
The setting is a New York borough, secular Jewish empty nest waiting to happen.
Fledgling comedy writer Eugene (Julian Vendura) is both blessed and cursed with an artist's perspective and a Chekhovian compassion for his dysfunctional family. His Trotskyite grandpa (Tim Fishbaugh) refuses to join his wife in Florida, ostensibly for political reasons, but mainly because he covets privacy. Eugene's mother Kate (Cindy Laudadio-Hill) once loved dancing, but now slaves away in the kitchen in a doomed effort to keep the home intact. She knows her unfaithful husband (Rory Pierce) is about to abandon her, and it's well past time for their two adult sons to move out. In one beautifully written and acted but superfluous scene, Kate's sister Blanche (Jacqueline Garcia) reveals her guilt for marrying a man who subsequently became wealthy, creating a gulf between her and the rest of the family.
Eugene and his brother Stan (James O'Hagan Murphy) make a manically mismatched sketch comedy-writing team. Stan's more inclined to being an agent and manager. Eugene can bang out the gags but finds writing to also be an outlet for his anger and frustration.
When art imitates life, there can be painful consequences.
Broadway Bound is a haunting play, in the bittersweet way introspective people recall, regret, and reshape foundational memories.
Miners Alley's multilayered and deeply moving production opens the treasure box of Eugene's memories, sorts through them, lays them out to view, then tucks them away again. This is a character-driven show, and Gleason has assembled an all-star cast that gently embraces all the right moments.
And then those moments are gone, leaving us to laugh or cry. Take your pick. Then, like Eugene, we sigh and move forward because there's nothing else a person can do.
Miners Alley Playhouse presents Broadway Bound through August 20 in Golden. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30p.m; Sundays at 1:00 p.m.; Sundays July 23 & 30 and Aug 6 & 13 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $16 - $27 and available by calling 303-935-3044 or online at www.minersalley.com. Miners Alley Playhouse is located at 1224 Washington Avenue, Golden, CO 80401.
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Theatre Review: 'The Producers,' Breckenridge Backstage Theatre, through Aug. 6
Corny jokes, off-color humor, witty repartee, crass one-liners, shock, and surprises abound in Mel Brooks' stage musical version of The Producers. The hit musical, winner of twelve Tony Awards, gets the full-scale, top-talent treatment at Breckenridge Backstage Theatre, with performances through Aug. 6.
Based on the film starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, the musical version is less hysterical (as in everybody doesn't shout all the time), and more tender in the depiction of the developing friendship of Max and Leo, Broadway's original odd couple. It also boasts a cavalcade of memorable hit tunes with immensely clever lyrics.
Any semblance of political correctness is thrown out the window when bold and ballsy Max Bialystock (Scott Rathbun) learns from his timid accountant Leo Bloom (Tim Howard) that he could make an ill-gotten fortune by over-financing a flop. Max goes on a quest to convince Leo to literally double book the enterprise, finds the worst possible script, director, and cast, bamboozles elderly but horny ladies to finance the fiasco, and does everything possible to jinx the production into closing on opening night.
With so much creative energy and ingenuity going into producing a flop, what could possibly go right?
In BBT's stellar, laugh-riot production, just about everything.
Rathbun is a dynamo as the egomaniacal Max, using sheer force of will, and an unexpectedly lyrical baritone voice to bend reality to his vision of ineptitude. Howard is perfect as the uber-nebbish Leo, who is prone to sweaty hyperventilation under stress, yet is attractive enough to rise to the attentions of the impossibly beautiful, forthright, and sexy Swedish secretary Ulla (Colby Dunn).
Also falling into orbit around Max are the goose-stepping, neo-Nazi, pigeon-preening playwright Franz Liebkind (Brian Jackson), the deliciously vain and ostentatiously gay director Roger De Bris (Christopher Willard) and his even gayer but more sultry assistant Carmen Ghia (Josh Rigo), along with a host of supporting characters, including a randy granny (Mary McGroary), a prodigiously padded choreographer (Barret Harper), and more.
Director Robert Michael Sanders is to be commended for focusing not just on the gags and jokes, but also on Max and Leo's friendship. They accept each others' weaknesses and forge the kind of shared respect and commitment that is truly inspiring.
Another plus is the genuine wholesome innocence of the sexed-up Ulla (perfectly played by Dunn), which suggests that shocking as the material might be, it's all in good fun, and never becomes ugly or nasty or exploitative.
Further, EVERY character, every scene, is imbued with genuine joy, a delight in performing and making the audience laugh. What could become a sarcastic, pessimistic or snarky show--or worse, lightweight and forgettable entertainment--is a life-giving, life-affirming experience. I'm awarding credit to Sanders and the entire cast for this achievement.
Willard appropriately and delightfully mugs up a storm as the easily manipulated, affirmation-craving De Bris. McGroary is outrageously funny as a libidinous granny with a wildly wicked imagination. Jackson's Franz is a big lovable lug who just happens to worship Adolf Hitler and goes psycho at the drop of a hat. Combine Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies and Joe Pesci from Goodfellas, put them in lederhosen, and you get the idea.
Sanders and Willard's set design makes ingenious use of projections (by Tom Quinn), minimalizing scene changes. Cole Mitchell's costume design is spectacular when it needs to be, especially during the 'Springtime for Hitler' showgirl sequence. The production suffers somewhat from having loud canned music, and a somewhat uneven mix of microphone levels, but it's by no means a deal-breaker.
I particularly want to mention one moment from the over-the-top ridiculous 'Springtime for Hitler' sequence, and give credit to choreographer Jessica Hindsley. With all the jokes and gags, the frivolity and foolishness, there's one moment where the brown-shirted, identically wigged Nazi chorus marches on from the wings. Suddenly, and just for a second, it wasn't funny anymore. It was genuinely frightening, an instant of realization that Brooks has gotten us to laugh at something truly horrifying. That moment achieved transcendence, and then silliness regained control of the number.
It's perhaps unusual to call something so tasteless, crude and tongue-in-cheek offensive a "great" musical, but I've seen The Producers half a dozen times at least, and it's great good fun every single time.
If you haven't been to Breckenridge for awhile, note that the city has monetized nearly all on-street parking with credit card-only meters. Plan to come up early and make an evening of it.
The Producers plays at the Breckenridge Backstage Theatre, 121 S Ridge St, Breckenridge, through Aug. 6. Performances are: Wednesday, July 5, 7:30 pm, Sunday, July 9, 6:30 pm, Friday, July 14, 7:30 pm, Saturday, July 15, 7:30 pm, Thursday July 20, 7:30 pm, Saturday, July 22, 7:30 pm, Sunday, July 23, 6:30 pm, Wednesday, July 26, 7:30 pm, Friday, July 28, 7:30 pm, Sunday, July 30, 6:30pm, Wednesday, August 2, 7:30 pm, Friday, August 4, 7:30 pm, Saturday, August 5, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, August 6, 6:30 pm. Tickets are $23-39. Visit www.backstagetheatre.org. For info, call (970) 453-0199. Box Office: (970) 547-3100.
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Theatre Review: 'The Witches,' Backstage Theatre (Breckenridge), through Aug. 5
It is so very refreshing to find a children's theatre production that isn't afraid to "go dark" in its subject matter. The Breckenridge Backstage Theatre's staging of The Witches is based on an original story by Roald Dahl and adapted for the stage by David Wood. It mixes high comedy, action-packed hi-jinks, and horror for a thoroughly thrilling, entertaining, laugh-out-loud, squirmy hour of fun for all ages.
Granny (Mary McGroary) explains to her grandson Boy (Brody Lineaweaver) that witches are indeed real, and they hate children. You can tell a witch by her wig (which covers her itchy, pustulous scalp), black gloves (to hide her claws), and a curious absence of toes. To witches, children smell like dog droppings, and their primary goal is to eradicate all kids from the face of the earth.
It doesn't take Boy very long to spot one of these foolishly fearsome hags, and soon he stumbles upon the chief witch's (Sheila Swanson McIntyre) conspiracy to use a local coven to transform all the little boys and girls in Britain into mice.
So far so good. We have the makings of a "boy who cries wolf" type adventure. But then the witches capture Boy, with shocking consequences. Sure, the witches are eventually defeated by the intrepid but now inaccurately named Boy, but wow. Just wow.
The youthful Lineaweaver is a marvel as Boy, carrying much of the show with aplomb. Swanson McIntyre is a howling hoot as the wickedest of all possible witches. McGroary is splendid as Granny. She's like the new Angela Lansbury, easily and engagingly playing characters decades older than herself (she also plays a feisty old lady in BBT's The Producers.)
The supporting ensemble, including Barret Harper, Connor Sullivan, Caitlin Conklin and Sydney Harper, also has numerous moments to shine, through a variety of silly and scary characters, and slapstick antics. Most of the cast have professional credits, especially in musical theatre, from Denver's most prestigious companies.
One frantically funny scene, set in a kitchen, is an absolute show stopper. There's a gluttonous bully boy (Sullivan) who is a crackup. The witch convention is a riot, terrific in every sense of the word.
The script is at its best when it's staging Dahl's story. A "traveling troupe of players" prologue and epilogue is tuneful and energetic, but unnecessary.
Award-winning director Christopher Willard has a remarkable gift for comedy, and moments after staging a scary scene has the audience roaring with laughter. There's some complicated staging, involving two dozen mouse puppets, chase scenes, and theatrical magic. It all goes off without a hitch.
The Breckenridge Backstage Theatre, currently celebrating its 43rd season, has been recently renovated and appeals to locals and tourists alike. The Witches is currently running in repertory with the grown-up Mel Brooks musical The Producers.
Breckenridge really isn't so very far from Denver, and both BBT's shows are well worth planning a getaway for the whole family. I stayed overnight at the pet-friendly Wayside Inn (simple, rustic, no-frills, but affordable and clean, with friendly owners). Even with the double theatrical bill, there was plenty of time for an afternoon hike.
Grand Lake and Silverthorne also have outstanding theatre companies, but my choice this year was Breckenridge and the BBT.
Performances of The Witches are Fridays at 10 am, Saturdays at 11 am through Aug. 5, also Wednesday, July 12 at 7 pm. Tickets $12. Visit online at https://www.backstagetheatre.org/the-witches. The Breckenridge Theater is located at 121 S. Ridge Street, Breckenridge CO 80424. For info, call (970) 453-0199. Box Office: (970) 547-3100.
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Theatre Review: The Slipper and the Rose, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, through Aug. 27
Comparisons are inevitable. The R&H version is more romantic and magical and boasts a more memorable score. This one is much funnier and also politically aware.
Originally conceived as a 1976 film starring Richard Chamberlain as the Prince and remounted for the stage in 1984, The Slipper and the Rose features music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, best known for Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and the maddening "It's a Small World (After All)." The book is by the Sherman brothers and Bryan Forbes.
The musical begins immediately after Cinderella's father's funeral. Without even having a chance to grieve, Cinderella receives a rude awakening when her mean Stepmother (Heather McClain) reduces her to instant poverty and servitude. Cinderella's two bickering stepsisters (Katie Jackson, Rebekah Ortiz) enjoy tormenting her.
Meanwhile, the perpetually peevish Prince argues with his adorably dim-witted father the King (Tom Mullin) about outdated but not obsolete traditions, like arranging marriages to prevent wars with neighboring kingdoms.
An overworked Fairy Godmother (Annie Dwyer) intercedes on Cinderella's behalf, giving her a makeover and new wardrobe (but no pumpkin carriage or mice footmen), and true love takes care of the rest.
Until it doesn't.
Every Cinderella story builds up to the lost slipper moment, but what do you do for a second act? Delay the inevitable reunion of the Prince and Cinderella. In this version, yet another tradition -- perhaps obsolete -- interferes. Commoners can't marry royalty.
On the eve of her wedding, Cinderella learns from a sympathetic Chamberlin (David L. Wygant) that the union is forbidden. She gives up, for the second time, without a fight. The frustrated prince begins arbitrarily overruling and countermanding established class systems that have kept the kingdom running in good order, even with a lovable but incompetent monarch, for generations.
It's going to take a miracle to get them back together and make things around the castle a little more progressive.
Cue the Fairy Godmother.
LaFontaine and Grover are excellent as the Prince and Cinderella, though they have few scenes together. Both are mainstays in the Colorado musical theatre scene.
Though Cinderella's plight (slipper) and the Prince's political rebellion (rose) stories are a bit on the grim side, there is no shortage of brilliant comic relief. Mullin is a marvel as the badminton birdie-bopping King. Annie Dwyer's supernatural social worker Fairy Godmother is a hoot as she kvetches about a heavy caseload and dwindling magic supply. Kent Sugg is disturbingly funny as the statuesque Dowager, mother of the king. Scotty Shaffer lights up the stage with giddy goofiness as the foppish Montague, a most unlikely hero who saves the day with insouciant panache.
The Slipper and the Rose is not so much about love conquering all, as promoting class equality. You may not go home humming the tunes, but you will chuckle as you recall the characters.
The Candlelight Dinner Playhouse experience is wholesome family fun, with a diverse menu of delicious entrees, and loads of extras.
Like Cinderella, put on some fancy clothes and have a ball.
Cinderella: The Slipper and the Rose AT CANDLELIGHT
Thursday, Friday & Saturday Evenings -- Dinner seating at 6:00 PM; Show at 7:30 PM
Saturday Matinees – Dinner seating at 12 noon, show at 1:30 PM
Sunday Matinees -‐ Dinner seating at 12:30 PM; Show at 2:00 PM
Adult Dinner & Show Tickets: $52.95 ‐ $62.95 (based on day of week)
Child (5‐12) Dinner & Show Tickets: $29.50 (any performance)
Student (13-18) Dinner & Show Tickets: $39.50 (any performance)
Adult Show-Only Tickets: $29.50 (any performance; seating restrictions)
Family 4-Pack: $120 (any Thursday or Friday evening performance)
Special Family Four Packs are available and start at just $120!
Dinner and show tickets can be purchased by calling Candlelight’s box office – 970-744-3747 or online at www.ColoradoCandlelight.com.
WHERE:
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown, CO 80534
I‐25 at Exit 254, just south of Historic Johnson's Corner
For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.ColoradoCandlelight.com,
or call the Box Office at 970-744‐3747.
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Theatre Review: 'Rock of Aging,' Firehouse Theater at John Hand Theater, through July 15
In the spirit of the brazen, cheeky Mad Magazine song parodies of yesteryear, Bill Paddock and Deborah Montgomery have set new lyrics to popular songs of the 1960s and 70s and created a high-energy, low-brow celebration of Boomer breakdown. The hilariously pointed and prophetic musical revue is Rock of Aging, produced by Firehouse Theater and performed at the John Hand Theater in Lowry through July 15.
While the show doesn't have a book per se, there is a sense that we are watching a rockumentary (with emcee/narrator Jim Landis) about three aging rock singers whose lack of a retirement plan forces them to reboot their careers by endorsing products geared toward their pre-geriatric generation and launching an A.A.R.P. comeback tour.
Graying hippie Willy Withers (Jay Louden), perky Rickie D. Bones (Deborah Montgomery) and vocal powerhouse Tina Tumor (Ghandia Johnson) cover many (but not all) of the ailments and annoyances of advancing middle age, usually by singing an "updated" verse and chorus (which is plenty) of Big Chill-era greatest hits.
They are joined by youthful singers Tracy Sanderson, Rachel Finley, and Steven Hartman, who grin and go along with it, alternately mocking, humoring, or commiserating with their elders' medical misfortunes.
The revue covers a hit parade of embarrassing topics, like prostrate exams (Your glove has lifted me higher), hemorrhoids (I sat down on a burning ring of fire), erectile dysfunction (Go ask Cialis), hearing loss (Say that to him one more time), and colonoscopies (Snake it up, baby).
You get the idea.
There are literally dozens of them.
The show, knowingly directed by Lorraine Scott, is funny, outrageous, and offers a welcome stress relief. It acknowledges that we're all in this together and it's probably going to get worse, so let's laugh now and enjoy life as much as we can, as long as we can.
By the end of the show, the Rolling Emotions, backed by their band consisting of Trent Hines (keyboards), Frank Baier (bass), Andy Whitehead (guitar) and Jay Graham (drums) had everyone up on their Dr. Scholl's arch-supported feet, clapping, dancing, and singing along.
There's nothing like a nostalgic collection of classic oldies but goodies to help keep us from going "gentle into that good night."Rock of Aging administers a healthy dose of humor and hit songs to go with all our other quality of life-enhancing medications, treatments, ointments and assistive devices.
While the show doesn't have a book per se, there is a sense that we are watching a rockumentary (with emcee/narrator Jim Landis) about three aging rock singers whose lack of a retirement plan forces them to reboot their careers by endorsing products geared toward their pre-geriatric generation and launching an A.A.R.P. comeback tour.
Graying hippie Willy Withers (Jay Louden), perky Rickie D. Bones (Deborah Montgomery) and vocal powerhouse Tina Tumor (Ghandia Johnson) cover many (but not all) of the ailments and annoyances of advancing middle age, usually by singing an "updated" verse and chorus (which is plenty) of Big Chill-era greatest hits.
They are joined by youthful singers Tracy Sanderson, Rachel Finley, and Steven Hartman, who grin and go along with it, alternately mocking, humoring, or commiserating with their elders' medical misfortunes.
The revue covers a hit parade of embarrassing topics, like prostrate exams (Your glove has lifted me higher), hemorrhoids (I sat down on a burning ring of fire), erectile dysfunction (Go ask Cialis), hearing loss (Say that to him one more time), and colonoscopies (Snake it up, baby).
You get the idea.
There are literally dozens of them.
The show, knowingly directed by Lorraine Scott, is funny, outrageous, and offers a welcome stress relief. It acknowledges that we're all in this together and it's probably going to get worse, so let's laugh now and enjoy life as much as we can, as long as we can.
By the end of the show, the Rolling Emotions, backed by their band consisting of Trent Hines (keyboards), Frank Baier (bass), Andy Whitehead (guitar) and Jay Graham (drums) had everyone up on their Dr. Scholl's arch-supported feet, clapping, dancing, and singing along.
There's nothing like a nostalgic collection of classic oldies but goodies to help keep us from going "gentle into that good night."Rock of Aging administers a healthy dose of humor and hit songs to go with all our other quality of life-enhancing medications, treatments, ointments and assistive devices.
Firehouse Theater presents Rock of Aging through July 15 at the John Hand Theater/Colorado Free University, 7653 East First Place in Lowry. Performances are Fridays, Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 Adult; $23 for Students/Seniors and are available by calling 303-562-3232 or online at www.firehousetheatercompany.com
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Theatre Review: 'It's Only a Play,' Vintage Theatre and Spotlight Theatre (at Vintage), through July 23
Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play isn't your typical backstage farce. There's no plot to speak of: a group oftheatre people await opening night reviews, get them, and react.
The charm of this laugh-out-loud, over-the-top comedy is in the characters themselves. Each of the idealistic, ambitious New Yorkers pile their hearts and souls on the back of a newly born theatrical racehorse, hoping its wobbly legs will strengthen and carry them all to glory.
Actually, there's an awful lot of "piling on" in this apoplectic comedy, from the heaps of hilarious coats stacked up on the bed by New York newcomer Gus (Seth Harris), to the emotional baggage brought on by everyone else.
James (Bernie Cardell) is the Broadway actor who took the easy path to Hollywood and wishes to return to the stage after nearly a decade, except that would require the cancellation of his cushy TV series meal ticket.
Virginia (Kelly Uhlenhopp) is the disgraced and drug addled Hollywood starlet who has fled to the stage (along with her court-appointed ankle monitor) as a form of career rehab.
The ridiculously rich dingaling producer (Anne Myers) hilariously misquotes famous lines and doesn't appreciate foul language (which flows in streams, rivers, and geysers of adults-only profanity).
The knighted and benighted, self-loathing British director (Leroy Leonard) pretentiously longs for a flop... until he gets one.
Even a caustic critic (Michael O'Shea) finds his way into the producer's bedroom, hoping to validate his life and move from the periphery of show business by pitching a (gawdawful) play of his own creation.
Finally, and centrally, is the playwright (Perry Lewis), an idealistic and insecure writer who feels the burden of the others' need for success almost as keenly as his own.
With such a volatile mix of characters, emotions run on overload, like those science fiction gauges where the needle bounces around in the red all the time.
Director Katie Mangett fully understands and appreciates how many theatre people like to think of themselves as special, and gives the talented cast full rein. It's almost as if she told them it is impossible to overact, that no slice of ham is too large, and the bigger the better.
She was right. Just when you think things can't get any crazier, another twist, another turn, another flip flop gets thrown into the mix and sets them all off again, whether at each other's throats or into each other's arms.
As a reviewer, I am appalled at the terribly mean-spirited things often written by New York (and also, I'm told West End) critics. I simply don't understand that kind of abuse of power, where lives, careers, and fortunes can be ruined on a whim, by the twist of a spitefully poisoned pen.
Better to laugh at the whole system, and It's Only a Play offers plenty of guffaws. Only one moment elicits true pathos. The playwright receives a call from his mom and dad, and he has to tell them that his brainchild,The Golden Egg, is rotten.
Otherwise, it's all about inflated personalities, overblown emotions, and impossible dreams. One character says, "You could stuff an elephant with the egos in this room."
And then some.
Vintage Theatre and Lowry’s Spotlight Theatre's It’s Only a Play runs through July 23. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays and Monday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at the Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010. Tickets are $24 - $30 and available online at www.vintagetheatre.com or by calling 303-856-7830.
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Theatre Review: 'The Wedding Singer,' Performance Now Theatre, through June 25
The Wedding Singer is a musical that celebrates the wild and crazy mid-80s pop culture scene. I lived through that era and until last night, never thought there was all that much about it worth celebrating. Performance Now Theatre Company's high-energy, goofy and glittery production completely won me over. It is lightweight and funny and packed to overflowing with upbeat song and dance numbers. It's a thoroughly enjoyable blast from the past, free from morning-after regrets.
And, as I did for much of the mid-80s, you can leave your brain at home. You won't be needing it.
The Wedding Singer takes place in the halcyon days of big hair and tight pants, press-on nails and leg warmers, mullets with terry cloth headbands, and Walkman cassette players. It's also a time of casual hookups and impulsive marriages, so wedding singer Robbie Hart (Caleb Reed) and his band buddies Sammy (Nick Johnson) and Boy George lookalike George (Kris Graves) are getting a lot of gigs.
Robbie is all charm and optimism until his scary-sexy fiancee Linda (Shelby Varra) dumps him, sending the sensitive songwriter into an emotional tailspin. His salvation arrives in wholesome girl-next-door Julia (Emma Maxfield), who literally sings him out of a Dumpster and into her heart. Trouble is, she's engaged to a Delorean driving, coke sniffing Wall Street junk bond dealer scumbag (Matt Wessel).
Robbie is supported by his feisty Jazzercising Grandma Rosie (Jane Phillips). Julia's best friend (or maybe sister) Holly (Lindsey Falduto) plays the field until she finds the right guy, who's been right there under her thumb all along.
Even though the period was a time of experimentation, the relationships are old-school traditional, and though they are all adults, the emotional maturity of the characters is strictly juvenile. As in middle-school, adolescent juvenile.
One of the greatest delights of this musical is the dance numbers. Acclaimed choreographer Kelly Van Oosbree has outdone herself with every conceivable variation of dance styles from the period, recalling Flashdance, Thriller, Dirty Dancing, and so many more iconic moves. The chorus gets a lot to do, and they also play a variety of very distinctive and comical minor characters.
The costumes and hair are excruciatingly period-perfect. The house band is outstanding, and director Seth Caikowski doesn't just get it, he nails it. This show lacks depth, but there's a lot going on, and he keeps things from becoming confusing.
Sure, the ghost of the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore film version looms over this show, but the nearly non-stop singing and dancing win out in the end.
Oh, and also love.
Performance Now presents The Wedding Singer through June 25 at the Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway in Lakewood. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 - $35 and are available or online at www.performancenow.org or by calling 303-987-7845.
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Spotlight Theatre’s low-budget, high-concept production of The Big Bang is, laugh for laugh, just about the funniest musical I’ve ever seen.
