THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG

THE BUELL THEATRE: March 5 -17

L-R: Ned Noyes and Jamie Ann Romero (Photo credit: Jeremy Daniel)

Having received the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in London, THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG got the 2017 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design.  When you see Nigel Hook's ingenious set - actually the antagonist of the piece - you will understand why!

      A fictitious theatre company known as The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society has received a sizeable donation and decided to do a production of an equally fictitious 1920s murder mystery entitled “The Murder at Haversham Manor.”

   It’s opening night for their show, and the play is plagued with non-stop, all night disaster.

    Missed entrances, forgotten lines and technical mishaps are just a few of the countless occurrences that make up this merry and manic mayhem.

     Jamie Ann Romero, star of countless Colorado productions, dazzles us with her comedic brilliance as Sandra Wilkinson, who plays Florence Colleymoore in the play within the play. 

      The show is so funny that one can hardly recover from one episode of gasping for breath before he/she’s doubled over with laughter again.

    Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the show is an Absolute Riot! It  would be unfair to give any spoilers.

     Just go and be dazzled by Jamie Ann Romero, Brandon J. Ellis, Evan Alexander Smith, Yaegel T. Welch, Peyton Crim, Scott Cote, Ned Noyes and Angela Grovey. 

      Each and all proved capable of turning a sold out opening night audience at The Buell Theatre into a pack of laughing hyenas.

     Not to be missed.Marlowe's Musings

FOR TICKETS CALL 303-893-4100  

or go ONLINE at DENVERCENTER.ORG

A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO 

       LOVE AND MURDER

VINTAGE THEATRE PRODUCTIONS: 2/1 – 3/24

L-R: Brandon Bill and Andy Seracuse

With music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak, and book and lyrics by Robert Freedman, Vintage Theatre’s production of A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER is a Denver premiere to die for.

    This show got four Tony Awards in 2014, including Best Musical.

     Based upon the novel, “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal,” it was later adapted into a British film called “Kind Hearts and Coronets.”  It’s the tale of a young man’s rise from rags to riches in a murderously funny fashion.

     The deft direction by Bernie Cardell in combination with Music Direction by Lee Ann Scherlong assures the theatre patron of a rollicking evening of visual and auditory delight. 

     Cardell has taken clear aim at the theatre patron’s funny bone with his stage direction, and strikes the bull’s eye more often than not.

      Ms. Scherlong sees to it that not only solos and duets shine. Her music direction gives us choral work that’s exceptional and a backstage orchestra that’s superb.

     The combination of Cardell’s stage direction and Scherlong’s music direction proved to be musical theatre Magic on the snowiest day of the year! 

     In a masterful coup de theatre Brandon Bill takes on the daunting challenge of playing a number of the members of the D’Ysquith family of various age and gender with style, panache and over the top comic skill.

         Director Cardell here introduces us to several new faces in his cast. 

    Andy Seracuse plays the central character, Monty Navarro. Mr. Seracuse is an excellent musical theatre actor. His sterling vocals, hilarious facial expressions and charming stage presence make us hope to see him again soon upon the Colorado stage.

     Anna Jennes plays Sibella Holland. As she giggles her way into your heart you will notice that this beautiful young woman has a voice that’s a ribbon of pure gold.

     Kate Jackson is the third in this constellation of new stars. In the role of Phoebe D’Ysquith the fetching Ms. Jackson proves to have a gorgeous voice and wonderful stage presence.

     The   exuberant ensemble includes the likes of Kerri Emswiller, Todd Black (Both past Marlowe Award winners) and the always watchable Michelle Jeffres. Kristine Kahane is hilarious as Miss Shingle.

   Set designer Ryan Walkoviak has transformed the stage in the Jeffrey Nickelson Auditorium into three stages, each one adorned with an eye-catching cherry red waterfall curtain, made luminous by Kevin Taylor’s excellent lighting design. 

     Susan Rahmsdorff-Terry’s costume design is scrumptious.

    Stephanie Hesse has done some wondrous choreography which makes the tongue-in- cheek nature of the show’s propensity to poke fun at British propriety and manners, really pop! GO!GO!GO!GO!Marlowe's Musings

Vintage Theatre presents“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” 

In order for Monty to become Earl, people have to die.

Feb. 8 – Mar. 24 

Fri., Sat. and Monday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m. 

Tickets are $19 - $38 

www.vintagetheatre.org or 303-856-7830. 

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010.

WAKEY, WAKEY

BENCHMARK THEATRE: 1/18 – 2/16

               L-R: Augustus Truhn and Arlene Rapal

As Guy, the dying man in Benchmark Theatre’s production of Will Eno’s “WAKEY,WAKEY,” Augustus Truhn delivers one of the most authentic performances to have been seen by this reviewer. Very few actors know the craft well enough to devastate an audience so well.

     He’s all alone in a room that has a wheelchair stashed in the corner and a number of boxes packed and stacked along one wall.

      Guy knows we’re present and decides to engage us. His low-key recollections and remembrances are interrupted by momentary lapses of awareness.

      A remote-control device allows him to show slides, games and mesmerizing spirals on the back wall. Even as the character's life force wanes, he instructs us in a technique for gratitude for Life.

       Enter Arlene Rapal in the role of a care-giver named Lisa, who cools his forehead and performs a kind of Reiki on the dying man.

        Thanks to the deft direction of Rachel Rogers a number of surprising moments occur, which momentarily create sensorial disorientation to relieve the emotional tension. 

     Will Eno’s “WAKEY,WAKEY” is a heartfelt and profoundly heart-opening evening of theatre.

      Don’t miss it!Marlowe's Musings

For tickets call 303-519-9059 or go online at benchmarktheatre.com

LOST IN YONKERS

MINERS ALLEY PLAYHOUSE: 1/25 – 3/3

Neil Simon’s play, LOST IN YONKERS, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as the 1991 Tony Award for Best Play.

 The cast of LOST IN YONKERS

     Set in Yonkers in 1942, Eddie (Rory Pierce) is forced to go on the road due to bills incurred during his late wife’s battle with cancer. Consequently his two teenage boys, Jay (Dee Jimenez) and Arty (Ben Feldman), have to go live with their Grandma Kurnitz and Bella, their mentally challenged aunt.  (One hopes to see both Mr. Jimenez and Mr. Feldman again soon upon the Colorado stage.)

     Directed by Warren Sherrill, this show is cast to perfection!  

     Haley Johnson’s portrayal of the boys’ developmentally disabled Aunt Bella is indelible genius. Characterized by a continuous state of agitation that fluctuates between joy and anxiety, this is yet another brilliant performance by this multi-talented actor.

     Grandma Kurnitz is portrayed by Deborah Persoff with a set jaw and a demeanor that's hard as steel. It’s a compelling performance that feels as though it were  forged out of submerged anger and pain. As the play unfolds we learn that the reason this character walks with a cane and this deliberate, stiff, angular gait, is because of physical injuries she incurred as a child in Nazi Germany.

   Damon Guerrasio is especially strong as Uncle Louie, who’s temporarily using the Kurnitz household as a hideout from the mob.

    Although the wheezing Aunt Gert is a small role, it got big laughs due to MacKenzie Beyer’s sterling performance. 

    Peggy Stenmark’s realistic scenic design, enhanced by Elizabeth Scott-McKean’s ‘scenic dressing’ easily places us in 1942 Yonkers. Susan Rahmsdorff-Terry’s spot-on costumes enhance the proceedings.Marlowe's Musings

Miners Alley Playhouse

"Broadway Bound"

Arty and his brother Jay learn lessons about love, responsibility and the importance of family.

Jan. 25 – Mar. 3

Thurs./Fri. /Sat. at 7:30 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m.

$17 - $32 

Miners Alley Playhouse, 1224 Washington Avenue, Golden, CO 80401
303-935-3044 or online at minersalley.com.

BETRAYAL

VINTAGE THEATRE: 1/11 – 2/17

    L-R: Kelly Uhlenhopp and David L. Wygant

BETRAYAL is a fascinating look at romantic relationhips through the lens of playwright, Harold Pinter. The play begins as Emma’s marriage to Robert ends, spinning backwards in time to the moment when her love relationship with their friend, Jerry, began.
     Kelly Uhlenhopp, who dazzled Denver audiences in Vintage Theatre’s A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY and BOSTON MARRIAGE, delivers a luminous and nuanced portrayal as Emma.

     Perry Lewis (THE KENTUCKY CYCLE, IT’S ONLY A PLAY and A TIME TO KILL) turns in a superb performance in the role of Emma’s husband, Robert. 

     New to this reviewer, David Wygant is a credible Jerry.

     Director Craig Bond elicits performances from  his actors in such a way as to honor playwright Harold Pinter’s use of pauses, reticence and understatement to convey a character’s thought process, which is many times only hinted at, or altogether unspoken.

     Julie Lemieux, whose eye-pleasing set design suggests numerous locales, uses every inch of the intimate playing space.

     Emily Maddox’s lighting design shifts the moods superbly.

     Rachel Herring’s costumes for Ms. Uhlenhopp dazzle.Marlowe's Musings

Vintage Theatre presents

“Betrayal” 

A sharp look into the nature of romantic relationships.

Jan. 11 – Feb. 17

Fri/Sat at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

$16 - $32 

www.vintagetheatre.org or 303-856-7830. 

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

CHERRY CREEK THEATRE COMPANY: 1/24 – 2/17

(In the Mizel Arts and Culture Center’s PLUSS THEATRE)

L-R: Megan Van De Hey and Rachel Turner

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Hugh Wheeler, this Tony Award winner for Best Musical – it won seven! - is based upon Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film, “Smiles of a Summer’s Night.”

     Directed by Kelly Van Oosbree, and with music direction by Traci Kern, this production is a complete delight.  

     Ms. Van Oosbree has cast the show impeccably and paced it at the lovely waltz tempo intended by Mr. Sondheim.

     Director Von Oosbree has brought in Tina Anderson for the ingenious scenic design, Kelly Gregson for the eye-popping costumes and Karalyn Star Pytel for the lighting design.

      Ms. Kern has guided the actors’ glorious voices into a trance-inducing perfection all throughout Sondheim’s daunting score. 

     Susie Roelofsz acts and sings the role of Desiree Armfeldt, the role played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1977 film, with true luminosity. Her singing of “SEND IN THE CLOWNS” is heart-opening.

     Brian Merz-Hutchinson is in very fine voice as Desiree’s old flame, Fredrik Egerman.

     Rachel Turner gives an endearing portrayal of Ann Egerman, Fredrik’s giggly, naïve young wife.

     Susan Long is magnificent as Mme. Armfeldt. This actor's singing of “LIAISONS,” a recollection of elegant romance in bygone times, is sublime.

     Jeremy Rill’s stentorian singing in the role of Desiree’s paramour, Count Carl Magnus, is breathtaking. Rill’s singing of “IN PRAISE OF WOMEN” as well as “IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL,” the  duet with Mr. Hutchinson, are smashing.

     Megan Van de Hey’s nuanced portrayal of Carl Magnus’ wife, Countess Charlotte Malcolm, is outrageously well acted and sung. Her duet with Ms. Turner, “EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH,” stuns!

     Sophia Dotson is enchanting as Fredrika.

    My one criticism of the show is that there are too few seats in the theatre for everyone in Denver to see it. And they should!

For tickets go online at Cherrycreektheatre.org  or 

Call  303-800-6578Marlowe's Musings

THE PINTER PLAYS

(EARLY CLASSIC ONE-ACTS BY NOBEL LAUREATE HAROLD PINTER)

GERMINAL STAGE DENVER: at The John Hand Theatre: 1/4 - 2/2

Marc K. Moran in THE ROOM

     Ed Baierlein’s and Sallie Diamond’s Germinal Stage Denver is a national treasure. This reviewer has had the pleasure of following them through numerous venues since the late seventies. 

      I’m thrilled to report that finally, after several temporary locations, Germinal has found a great new home on Lowry in the John Hand Theatre.

      These artists carved out a niche that is unique. They’ve created a home for the great playwrights from Ibsen to Pinter, Chekhov to Albee, and from Tennessee Williams to Arthur Miller. Their productions reflect the artistic sensibilities of those playwrights as well as any company, and better than most.

      In this production of THE PINTER PLAYS we get a taste of two of Pinter’s early works: THE COLLECTION and THE ROOM.

    In the former, a wife tells her husband of her infidelity on a business trip. You get to decide if she’s telling the truth.

      In the latter, a domestic situation becomes disturbing as two contrasting characters struggle to communicate.  It’s all there in the subtext, between the lines, in the unspoken moments and in the pauses.  Everything remains in question until a mysterious guest arrives.

     Marc Moran, Michelle Moore, Clint Heyn and Stephen R. Kramer deliver superb portrayals. Mr. Moran is at the top of his game here! 

     Mr. Kramer’s direction shines in THE ROOM as does Ed Baierlein’s in THE COLLECTION.

     Go see what Pinter’s early plays are like.

     You’ll be glad you did.

Germinal Stage

Harold Pinter’s “The Collection” and “The Room” 

Classic one-acts by the Nobel Laureate!

Jan.  4 – Feb. 2

Fri./Sat. at 7:30 p.m. ; Sun. at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets $17 - $25

303-455-7108 or email germinalstage@gmail.com

@ John Hand Theater is located at 7653 East 1st Place, Denver, Colorado 80230

www.germinalstage.com