THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL

MINERS ALLEY PLAYHOUSE:

 JAN. 27 – MAR.5

 

 

L-R back are: Nick Rigg, Norrell Moore, Rory Pierce and Abby Apple Boes

 L-R front row: Jenna Moll Reyes, Julia Tobey and Preston Adams

The Great American Trailer Park Musical is a Ton of Fun! …and it’s all done with a Great Big, Wide-Open Heart!!!

     With music and lyrics by David Nehls and Book by Betsy Kelso, the proceedings are directed and choreographed by Denver Favorite and triple threat musical theatre artist Piper Lindsay Arpan!

Director Arpan has cast this show to a fare thee well and everyone can sing (Boy can they sing!!!) and Dance!!! 

     Abby Apple Boes plays Jeannie, the agoraphobic lady of the manor in Armadillo Acres Trailer Park. This actor has a set of pipes that are FAN -tastic!!! She’s married to Norbert (Rory Pierce),  a philanderin’ husband who can’t resist the allure of new resident Pippi (Norell Moore), who’s a pole-dancin’ stripper, with a gorgeous body -and voice- to die for. Pippi’s hiding out from her redneck boyfriend, Duke, played by Nick Rigg.

     Norrell Moore’s presence onstage is always an eye and ear pleasing event for this reviewer. We need LOTS more of this actor being cast in local musical theatre.

     The chorus is played by Julia Tobey as Betty, Preston “P-J” Adams as Linoleum and Jenna Moll Reyes (Pickles.)

     New to this reviewer is Julia Tobey as Betty. This actor is a powerhouse performer that will have you searching for her name in every program.

     Preston Adams is a force of nature onstage as anyone knows who saw the recent production of HAIR at Miners Alley. Adams belts to high heaven and believe me, they’ve got the moves!

     Jenna Moll Reyes is another of our premier actors. Cast against type, she’s goofiness personified in this show. It’s this reviewer’s interesting point of view that Ms. Reyes should also be pitching for the Colorado Rockies. She can hit a critic sitting in the middle of the back row with a piece of roadkill with a true pitcher’s eye!

     Colorado favorite Jonathan Scott McKean’s set design for the trailer park is tacky perfection! Vance McKenzie does a superb job illuminating the drama onstage with his lighting design. Jonathan Scott McKean’s and John Hauser’s sound design are the professional work Colorado audiences have come to expect of them. The costumes by Steffani Day are spot on!

    When I saw this piece at the Denver Civic fifteen years ago it was a work in progress. Now composer/lyricist/music director Nehls has honed and polished it to a superb evening of musical theatre that enthralls! Leave the kids home though …and Run to get a Ticket!

 

For tickets call 303-395-3044 or go online at MINERSALLEY.COM

 The Death of Napoleon

 in Less Than Three Acts

Buntport Theater: Jan 27 – Feb 18

              

    Brian Colonna with a Baguette

     What would it be like to be exiled to a tiny island after being Emperor of France and much of Europe?

     This is the question that the intrepid comics at Buntport Theatre pose in their 51^st original play.

     Surely, he would be bored and depressed with his energy 'flagging.'  He might even start imagining things.

     Possibly a buzzing bee might become his intimate if annoying friend.

     Could he imagine a French baguette growing out of a loaf of Focaccia?

      Might he reminisce about a chef who toadied to him while he was l’empereur?

      Would he feel as though the world, which he had once controlled, laughed at him, and sang happily of his Waterloo?

     What would it be like being transformed from a potent leader of armies to an exiled prisoner who only had the acquaintance of the children of his provisioning officer… like Lucy Balcombe?

    With this brilliant absurd comedy at Buntport Theatre we get a chance to see what it must be like to be an arrogant tyrant encountering karma, teetering and tottering on the fringes of reality, and rehearsing la mort!!!

 

Brian Colonna portrays Napoleon (Bony) Bonaparte.

Erik Edborg is his high-stepping chef.

Erin Rollman is his little buddy, the annoying child, Betsy Balcombe.

Hannah Duggan is the Bee.

     This amazing quartet of actors delivers a brilliant, wacky look at the inside of an imprisoned dictator’s head as he rehearses for his not so grand finale.

     Go check this one out! It's avant garde theatre unlike anything you'll encounter anywhere else!  

 

For tickets call  720-946-1388 or go online at buntport.com

 A Moon for the Misbegotten

Cherry Creek Theatre: 2/3 – 2/26

                 

                                                  CHRIS KENDALL 

                    (photo credit: Brian Miller)

Let me begin by saying that we owe a debt of gratitude to Producer Susie Snodgrass and the folks over at Cherry Creek Theatre for choosing O’Neill’s play for their season. (Since Ed Baierlein and Sallie Diamond closed Germinal Stage Denver, nobody has attempted to produce the great artists of American and World Theatre.) 

     That said, they (Cherry Creek Theatre) have also been wise enough to choose a talented director to oversee the proceedings.

      Tara Falk astutely delivers O’Neill’s tragic realism while brilliantly mining the salty humor which arises organically from the compost of these characters’ gritty reality. 

     Falk’s clear-eyed direction has blessed the show with a powerhouse cast.  

     Featuring three of our premiere actors, Falk introduces a new actor who fits in with ease and chutzpah.

     There are few actors in town who could portray Josie Hogan with the great heart and diamond-bright talent of Emily-Paton Davies. Commanding the stage from curtain to curtain, hers is a compelling and finally, endearing performance you simply can’t miss.

L-R: Cajardo Lindsey and Emily Paton Davies (photo credit: Brian Miller)

     Cajardo Lindsey’s riveting performance in the role of Jim Tyrone is Powerful! Embodying the playwright’s memories of his older brother’s final attempt to find love, this actor’s portrayal is exemplary and unforgettable.

     Chris Kendall’s dynamic performance in the role of Josie’s father, Phil Hogan, is extraordinary! Doing his best to hold a family together, to raise pigs, and eek out a living from the land, Kendall gives us a grizzled, gravel-voiced farmer, who can stave off any challenge with guts and vulgar humor.

     New to this reviewer, Christopher Robin Donaldson gives superb readings of Hogan’s son, Mike, as he runs away to find his fortune at the top of the play. As the trouble-makin’ neighbor, T. Stedman Harder, Donaldson does a great job of intentionally providing comic fodder for the Hogans’ derisive laughter.

      Director Falk has also assembled an incredible group of artists for the technical end of things. 

      Upon entering the Pluss Theatre we are regaled with Tina Anderson’s superb fragmentary scenic design, which is constructed in such a way that we as audience get to observe the action going on inside the shanty as well as outside.

     Nicole M. Harrison’s costume design for each of the characters is spot on.

     Emily A. Maddox is constantly shifting the mood with her eye-pleasing lighting design.

     The excellent sound design by Max Silverman makes one wonder whether the Pluss theatre has got a new sound system. His choices of folk fiddles and the like to bridge the scenes work incredibly well.

     Eugene O’Neill won four Pulitzer Prizes for literature. They were for “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” “Beyond the Horizon,” “Anna Christie,” and “Strange Interlude.” Influenced by Chekhov, Ibsen and Strindberg, O’Neill’s tragic realism is ranked right up there with Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams in American literature. In fact, O’Neill’s plays were, for a long time, the most produced in America after Shakespeare and Shaw.

     “A Moon for the Misbegotten” is O’Neill’s last completed play. It’s often thought to be a sort of sequel to his autobiographical “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” 

 

For tickets call: 303-800-6578 or go online at cherrycreektheatre.org

 

 

 SOPHISTICATED LADIES

VINTAGE THEATRE:  JANUARY 27 – MARCH 5

 

                                                     Mykai Eastman

                       photo credit: RDG Photography

Dazzling!Dizzying!Delicious!

 

Christopher Page-Sanders is a force of nature! His choreography is beyond breathtaking! It’s astounding to the Max! If this sounds a little or a lot hyperbolic, please know that it’s not! Page-Sanders’ work is in a realm of artistry one seldom sees in a lifetime of theatre going. (This from a reviewer who has seen thousands of plays.) A melding of jazz, ballet, tap and modern dance techniques, his work is also peppered with a modicum of acrobatic athleticism. Please do not miss this or any show this genius directs and/or choreographs. We are so blessed to have his work on display here in Colorado at this time. Last season’s spectacular choreography for Performance Now Theatre Company’s “Nice Work if You Can Get It” (Marlowe Award for Best Choreography) was exceptional. With his work on “Sophisticated Ladies,” the artist has risen to new heights.  There really are no words to describe the elation of a theatregoer lucky enough to attend this show. 

    Beyond the exhilaration of the dancers and their spellbinding work, there is more!

    The cast of singers, led by the incomparable Mary Louise Lee, is remarkable. Cha’Rel Wright and Heidi Carann Snider are two exceptional singing talents this reviewer is just getting acquainted with. Also worthy of mention are the talents of Isaac Rosen and David E. Sweet.

      The mostly onstage band is led on keys by the incredible virtuosic mastery of Music Director Jodel Charles. 

       The Sophisticated Rug Cutters, whose dance moves will thrill you non-stop, all evening long are: Rita Marie Aires, Mykai Eastmen, EDEN, Andy Nikhomvan-Morgan, Jasmyne Pierce, Lauren Slaughter and Dallas Slankard (Marlowe Award for Best Actress In a Musical for last season’s “Nice Work If You Can Get it”) Dance Captain. Jalen Gregory’s slender, sinuous, serpentine moves are so hypnotically eye-popping one wonders if his bones are elastic!

    The costumes by Alicia “Lisa” Young are simply Gorgeous!!! The gowns for the ladies dazzle the eye.

     Some of the tunes to which you will be treated when you go are: “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, I Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good, as well as “Hit Me With a Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce,” and many more.

     Sophisticated Ladies is a musical revue of the Life and Legacy of Duke Ellington. It received eight Tony nominations and won two in 1983.

      There was a glitch in the lighting tech on opening night, but nothing could keep one and all who were present from feeling they had just taken a trip to Harlem’s renowned Cotton Club with all the rapturous singing, dancing and playing of the Duke Ellington songbook.

 

For tickets call 303-856-7830 or go online at www.vintagetheatre.org

 Harper Lee’s 

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Buell Theatre: Jan 24-Feb 5

               Racism kills.

                                          Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch

                        (photo credit: Julieta Cervantes)

 Aaron Sorkin’s well-crafted adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel from page to stage, is powerfully directed by Bartlett Sher. 

     It’s a soul-shattering production that should be seen by one and all!

     Sher has cast the show impeccably.

Richard Thomas is outstanding as Atticus Finch. Unlike some stage actors who have imitated the performance of Gregory Peck in the film adaptation, Thomas carves out a portrayal that is all his own. In similar fashion, Melanie Moore gives us her own take on the memories of Atticus’ daughter, Scout “as narrator, as well as in the narrative.”

      Mary Badham, who won the Oscar for Best  Actress in a Supporting Role, portraying Scout in the 1962 film, plays the obnoxious Mrs. Henry DuBose in this production.  Badham delivers the goods with Power!

     Heart-wrenching is the work of Yaegal T. Welch as Tom Robinson. His performance in court is stunning.

     Jacqueline Williams shines as Calpurnia, the Finch family’s housekeeper!

     Joey Collins is a vicious Bob Ewell. 

     Arianna Gayle Stucki is disturbingly credible as Ewell’s abused daughter, Mayella.

     As Scout’s and Jem’s friend Dill, Steve Lee Johnson is at his best in a poignant scene in which Atticus gets him to drop the mask and admit that he’s never known his father. 

     Miriam Buethem’s scenic design is masterful in its ability to self-transform from the courtroom to the Finch home and other locales with fluid ease. 

 

     This is an unmissable production. Run to get tickets!

 

For tickets call the box office at 303-893-4000 or go online at denvercenter.org

 THE ROOMMATE

VINTAGE THEATRE: JAN 13 – FEB 19

L-R: Mari Geasair and Christine Kahane

 

Jen Silverman’s play, “The Roommate” may appear to be just another spin on the female version of the Odd Couple at first glance. But it’s not. Suffice it to say it’s a tale of transformation – a comic mystery replete with enough comic plot twists to keep us guessing all evening long. No spoilers here!

     Sharon, who is newly divorced, needs a roommate so she can keep the bills paid for her Iowa home. Robyn is looking for a place to hide and make a fresh start.

      As the plot unfolds Sharon begins to discover that Robyn has certain “secrets.”

      Thinking about the choices that Robyn has made, it doesn’t take much for Sharon to become enamored of possibilities to reinvent herself by spicing up her own rather empty life.

      Director Bernie Cardell has cast the show impeccably. 

     Ms. Geasair portrays Sharon as a meek, polite woman, who, having spent the entirety of her life taking care of her family, finds herself in a bland, colorless life that’s badly in need of an upgrade.

     As breezy free-spirited Robyn, Christine Kahane displays a quirky persona that, from Sharon’s conservative point of view, is a bit on the eccentric side.

     Together these actors display a chemistry that simmers and occasionally pops, throughout.

     Both Mari Geasair (Sharon) and Christine Kahane (Robyn) are superb talents who theatregoers will remember from their roles in previous shows. Ms. Kahane was the hilarious Frau Blucher in the Vintage production of “Young Frankenstein.”

     Ms. Geasair was a standout as the Nurse in last season’s “Shakespeare in Love,”which was also directed by Ms. Kahane.

     Having paced the show in such a way as to keep us wondering what the next plot twist will reveal, Director Cardell is also responsible for the realistic wrap-around scenic design which puts us as audience right in the middle of Sharon’s Iowa home.

     It’s a funny and intriguing play that has two well-written female roles played by two eminently watchable actors with luminous panache. 

     Go and see if you can unravel the mystery.

 

For tickets call 303-856-7830 or go online at www.vintagetheatre.org

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010

 

     

 

     

Central City Opera:This weekend only at Trinity United Methodist Church!

 Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" is the first opera ever to be commissioned specifically for television. It debuted on NBC on Christmas Eve of 1951. 

      This tale of a poor crippled shepherd boy and his mother who are visited by the Magi on their way to Bethlehem, is perhaps Menotti’s most popular work. Nevertheless, it brings up memories of the critically acclaimed production Central City Opera delivered several seasons back of Menotti’s “The Saint of Bleecker Street.”

     Jennifer DeDominici is luminous in the role of Mother. This Diva's singing is powerful and exhilarating! You will remember her from her fiery portrayal of Franca in CCO’s exquisite production of “The Light in the Piazza” this past summer.

     Brian Erickson’s performance as Amahl is enthusiastic and endearing!

     Paul Griggsby’s bass in the role of King Balthazar and Armondo Contreras’ baritone cover for King Melchior are both remarkable. Javier Abreu’s superb tenor as King Kaspar was enhanced by some brilliantly funny acting!

     Under the baton of conductor John Baril, the scrumptious Central City Opera orchestra delivers Gian Carlo Menotti’s gorgeous score with consummate artistry.

     The choral work for the shepherds, elicited by chorus master Steven Aguilo-Arbues, is thrilling!

      Stage Director Iliana Lucero Barron, cast the show impeccably, and paced it to perfection.

     The kings’ eye-popping costumes have been furnished by Malabar Ltd. and Sarasota Opera.

       Architect Robert Roeschlaub, who built the Central City Opera House in 1878, also built the Trinity United Methodist Church in Denver, where "Amahl and the Night Visitors" is being presented.

     Both buildings have magnificent acoustics.

     The fifth oldest opera company in the country, Central City Opera has been in operation since 1932.

     Sunday’s matinee is nearly sold out already. Your best shot now is Saturday evening.

     The Holiday Season will be a lot brighter if you follow the Christmas star to Trinity United Methodist Church for this spectacular evening of opera.

     You owe it to yourself to see … and most of all, hear it!!! Heaven on Earth!

 

 For tickets go online at centralcityopera.org