“Songs For a New World”

Miners Alley Playhouse: 11/14 – 12/21

     It’s ‘a New World’ at Miners Alley Playhouse in Golden. 

The addition of new projectors has allowed for spectacular visuals of everything from celestial vistas to urban landscapes.

      Jonathan Scott-McKean is the genius wielding the technical wizardry requisite for this breathtaking step into the future. McKean also designed the cookie cutter set design that allows Mitch Samu and his glorious band to be installed onstage.

     Karalyn “Star” Pytel provides the very fine lighting design.

     The four person cast is superb.

     Jacquie Jo Billings soars through the solos of Woman 1 with soulful tenderness and heart felt passion.

          L-R: Kristen Samu and Jacquie Jo Billings

Kristen Samu gets both of the humorous entries as Woman 2. The dark humor in  “Just One Step” involves a woman kvetching about her husband as she contemplates jumping off a skyscraper. The tempo of the patter may remind you of “Another Hundred People” from Sondheim’s “Company.” In her hilarious “Surabaya Santa” a disenchanted Mrs. Claus, leaves the Jolly Old Elf because she is always left alone at Christmas.

     Rory Pierce delivers strong vocals as Man 2. His passionate rendition of “The World was Dancing” showcases this artist’s talent and brings back memories of his sensational work as El Gallo in “The Fantasticks.”

     In his Miners Alley debut, Matt Kok (Man 1) unleashes a distinctive voice that sometimes puts one in mind of that of Mandy Patinkin. It is to be hoped that this artist will be seen again soon upon the Colorado stage.

     The songs and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (“The Last Five Years” and “Parade”) run the gamut from tender to passionate to downright hilarious. They give us musical glimpses of what people do when Life starts to feel like you just hit the wall.

     Brenda Billings directs the proceedings with a transparent, sensitive touch.Marlowe's Musings

Miners Alley Playhouse presents

“Songs For A New World”

Nov. 14* - Dec. 21

(*Note date change from Nov. 7)

Fri./ Sat. @ 7:30.p.m.; Thurs., Dec 4, 11 &18 at 7:30 p.m.;

Sun., Nov. 16 & Dec 7 @ 6 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 30, Dec. 14 & 21@ 2:00 p.m.

$26

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

Hamlet

The Betsy Stage: Through November 22

                              Gina Walker (Gertrude) and Patti Murtha(Hamlet)

     

Since I had been to see one of the shows at The Betsy Stage earlier this year I had a semi sorta kinda maybe notion of what they were up to. The powers that be at this venue, whose productions are free to the public, like to use Shakespeare as a blueprint and then press their own matrix over it.

     In this case “Hamlet” is subsumed by the culture of the gypsies. The genders are often reversed in these productions such that Hamlet becomes a woman and Ophelio a man. And… one is mystified at seeing that Orsino’s words from the opening of Twelfth Night and those of that bloody Dude in the Scottish play rear their heads from time to time as well! However … there are enough creative strokes and flourishes that one is entertained and amused. And although I did not greatly appreciate their “adaptation” of “King Lear,” last spring, this one’s bizarre “Ham”-miness was ‘pork for the general’ as concerns this transmogrification of the Bard’s masterpiece.

 L-R: Gypsy Campfire (left to right) - Jaycee Sanchez (Marcellus); Dave Coumo (Francisco); Adwin Gallo (Taloche); Tim McGrath (Horatio); Shelby Latrop (Chavi); Christopher Wells (Osrick)

     The acting is all over the map. 

       

    It is, however, developed around a colorful stage design depicting a gypsy camp behind a circus tent. 

     Belly dancing women tossing scarves in the air - and then catching them - bridge the scenes.

     The overall effect of this show is that someone has been told the story of Hamlet and the story of the gypsies on the same day and got the two mixed up. Imagine a mash-up of these two produced by a group of aspiring thespians with a string of Christmas lights, some scarves and without the requisite funding for a show.

     There are several threads of silliness that run throughout the reinvented text allowing such moments as the actress playing Gertrude to sputter such lines as: “My husband killed my husband?”

     Among the other amusing oddities – and they are legion! –is one melodramatic moment in which Hamlet sends her mother to “a nunnery.”

     There are a few more things you may be surprised to discover about the Bard’s characters in this version of the story of the Great Dane! You’ll need to discover these for yourselves.      

     The onstage band made up of organ, guitar and some instruments not usually heard in the repertoire allow for a thoroughly enlivening acoustic experience.

     So as Desdemona says to Caliban…"

if music be the food of love, play on.” 

     

     Or was that Orsino????

     “All the rest is silence.”

The Betsy Stage presents

"Hamlet"

A gypsy camp, with its family of performers and musicians, is the perfect place to tell our Hamlet.

Oct. 3 - Nov. 22

Fri./ Sat. @ 8p.m.

*No Performance Oct 31

Cost:  FREE (donations accepted)

Seating is limited and this show has been selling out.

Reservations required by email Hamlet@BetsyStage.com or 720-328-5294

The Betsy Stage, 1133 S. Huron St. Denver, CO 80223 

http://www.betsystage.com/ Marlowe's Musings

 

The Buell Theatre: 10/29 – 11/9

     The message of loving acceptance is not a new one. It is, however, one that still needs a lot of polishing on this spinning planet.

     “Kinky Boots” tells the story of two young men who come together in an odd set of circumstances in which one of them saves the other’s life.

      

     The saved one is a straight guy attempting to rescue his father’s floundering shoe factory. The savior is a drag queen with a backdrop in the boxing ring.

     

     With a penchant for fashion, Lola insists that Charlie should be making fabulous sexy red  “kinky boots” for a special “niche market.”

      

     “Kinky Boots” was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won 6…including Best Musical.

     

     Local Diva, Annaleigh Ashford received a Tony nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her stellar performance.

     

     There’s Cyndi Lauper’s Tony award winning score, Jerry Mitchell’s Tony Award winning choreography and the Tony Award winning book by four-time Tony Award winning Harvey Fierstein.

          

     It sounds like just another piece of flash and fluff but underneath it all there’s substance, baby.

      The show gives us a character whose unconditional love can let a macho bully win out of sheer compassion while she throws the game modestly masquerading as ignorant weakness. All that so the bully doesn't have to feel humiliated in the way that she has been all her life.

     Based upon the heartfelt movie script with the same title, this is a touring show that comes with high recommendations.

     

      Kyle Tyler Parker (Lola) and Steven Booth (Charlie) are both stellar.

     

     Go see it!

for tickets go online to denvercenter.org or call  800-641-1222Marlowe's Musings

    

Good Television

Ashton and Abster Productions: 10/10 – 11/1

    L-R: Ben Cowhick, Christine Sharpe and Miriam Tobin

     Rob McLachlan’s “Good Television,” now on view in the Studio Theatre at Aurora Fox Arts, is a provocative evening of theatre that asks lots of questions about Reality TV and manages to keep from presenting any facile solutions.

     At the top of the play a crew of ratings-hungry television folk creates a show that would allow the viewing audience to follow a meth head through his daily life in exchange for his family’s participation in the project.  They promise the family an all expense paid trip for the addict-unbeknownst to him- to the rehab clinic.

     The dysfunctional family that’s chosen is forced to weigh questions of the exploitation of the addict’s personal rights with the possibility of his freedom from meth hell.

     Ben Cowhick’s performance in the role of Clemmy, the meth addict, is so studied and powerfully executed it nearly dwarfs the material. When Mr. Cowhick is onstage you can’t take your eyes off him. When he’s not onstage one prays for his return. The visceral edge given the piece by his nuanced physiological behaviors, facial expressions and verbal anomalies is nothing short of phenomenal.

     Abby Apple Boes is great as Bernice, a hard as nails, take no prisoners television producer.  

     Miriam Tobin (Tara) does a fine job being the new kid on the block who fears the nepotism that got her the job will not be enough to create the success she desires.

     Sam Gilstrap provides a strong performance as Ethan Turner, the guy who steps in when Bernice finds a more lucrative job at another studio.

     Jack Wefso explodes in a visceral performance as Mackson, a previously absent and neglectful brother, who arrives just as the filming begins.

     Steef Sealy is amusing as a prodigal alcoholic father who has found the Lord at the 12-step meeting.  

     Lauren Bahlman is fine as a production assistant whose values come up against the almighty television rating and who winds up getting some heartfelt advice over the phone from Clemmy’s sister, Brittany, played by Christine Sharpe.

     John Ashton’s clear-eyed direction is at its best in the confrontational scene between the family and the film crew.

For tickets go online to aurorafox.org 

or call 303-739-1970Marlowe's Musings