Jennifer DeDominici as Maria Callas

                                                  (photo credit: Amanda Tipton)

MASTER CLASS

CENTRAL CITY OPERA:

JULY 18 – JULY 31

 

Nuanced and revelatory, Jennifer De Dominici’s performance in the role of Maria Callas is magnificent!

In a departure from the traditional contemporary experience at Central City Opera, this fifth oldest opera company in the country is presenting Terrence McNally’s play “Master Class.”  True, it’s a play about one of the great Divas of Grand Opera. Nevertheless… it’s been decades since there have been stage plays that are not operas or operettas presented as part of Central City Opera’s Summer Festival. 

     In the 1920s and 30s it was commonplace to see plays staged at Central City Opera. There was no air conditioning on the East Coast – or anywhere for that matter - and actors loved to leave the sweltering theatres back east and come to the cool mountains of Colorado to perform the dramatic hits of the day. 

      Lilian Gish, Helen Hays and Mae West were a few of the stars featured. Ms. Gish starred in “Camille” in 1932 for the opening of the newly refurbished opera house, initiating what is now the Central City Opera summer festival.

     Terrence McNally’s “Master Class” is a play that gives us Maria Callas after her career ends as she teaches a Master Class to young aspiring opera students.

   McNally’s play won the Tony for Best Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play in 1996.

     Playwright McNally peppers Callas’ teaching with intermittent memories that spring from a tortured, abusive childhood as well as a problematic relationship with Aristotle Onassis and the subsequent toppling from the height of her career when her voice fails.

     All this colors her interaction with the students in her “master class.”

     The subtext of the scars of emotional trauma and romantic heartbreak inform her insistent controlling passion in the sculpting of future stars of the operatic stage.

     Arthur Bosarge plays Emmanuel “Manny” Weinstock, tinkling the keys masterfully as the accompanist for Callas’ students.

     Isaiah Feken plays the Stagehand with a nonchalant attitude that draws laughter from the audience as he brings the demanding Callas a stool, a cushion and a glass of water.

     Denique Isaac plays and sings Sharon Graham with breathtaking skill. Her evolution into a magnificent rendition of Lady MacBetto’s “the letter” is superb.

 

    Sabina Balsamo plays Sophie De Palma with just the right blend of immaturity and naivete.

    Levi Adkins plays Anthony “Tony” Candolino with a mighty tenor that fills the house with Cavaradossi’s first aria garnering huge applause from this opening night audience.

     Ken Cazan, the master magician who brought you the CCO productions of West Side Story and Oklahoma as well as directing Jake Hegge’s Dead Man Walking and Benjamin Britten’s ‘Billy Budd,’ co-directs with Dennis Robinson, Jr.

     Illuminated by Abigail Hoke-Brady’s lighting design, the scenic design by Lawrence E. Moten III stuns!

     Costume Designer Elena Flores dresses La Divina beautifully. Her costumes for her students are divinely appropriate.

      You can’t go wrong taking a trip up the hill to see Jennifer DeDominici’s triumph as Maria Callas in “Master Class.”

 

For tickets call 303:292-2700 or go online at centralcityopera.org

 

 

 THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE

CENTRAL CITY OPERA:

JULY 4 – AUGUST 1

 

Weston Hurt and ensemble (photo credit: Amanda Tipton)

“The Ballad of Baby Doe” is an opera composed by Douglas Moore with libretto by John Latouche. Commissioned by Central City Opera, it premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on February 8, 1956.       

     It’s based on the true story of the relationship of Horace Tabor and Elizabeth “Baby” Doe Tabor in and around Leadville, Colorado in the late 1800s.  Renee Fleming has performed the role, and the play endures as one of the greatest examples of the American Opera. Although Jake Hegge’s operas such as “Dead Man Walking” and Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize winning opera, “The Crucible” are also fine examples of the American Opera, only “The Ballad of Baby Doe” and “Gabriel’s Daughter” are set in Colorado. John Moriarty, the late beloved Artistic Director of the Company was hoping to find someone to pen another opera set in Gilpin County and was unable to find the right composer before he passed. Maestro Moriarty made us aware of many American operas including Carlisle Floyd’s powerful opera, “Susannah,” and we miss him greatly! 

But I digress.

         This is the third time this reviewer has been lucky enough to see “The Ballad of Baby Doe.” The previous two productions were “very good.”  This one is Divine! 

         Virginia Mims is the quintessential Baby Doe! Besides being extremely easy on the eyes, her voice is transcendent!  In the early scenes her arias bloom with gentle melodic nuance. As the show progresses her luminous performance spins out increasingly powerful arias that amaze us with their expert modulation and power. Among many other triumphs, Ms. Mims has appeared as Musetta in “La Boheme” for Aspen Opera/Vocal ARTS and Musetta in “La Boheme” for Sarasota Opera.

   Emily Pulley gives a stunning performance as Augusta Tabor, the rejected wife of silver magnate Horace Tabor.   Her mezzo has all the steely power of the proverbial ‘woman scorned.’  Ms. Pulley has appeared as the title character in “Carmen” (2017) for Central City Opera, as well as Susannah Polk in “Susannah,” (2008) and Julia LaVerne in “Show Boat” (2013).

     Weston Hurt fills the opera house with his powerful baritone and blesses us with his dynamic acting in the role of Horace Tabor.  In this reviewer’s interesting opinion, Mr. Hurt is the most memorable vocalist to have sung this role! This magnificent opera singer recently played Germont in Utah Opera’s “La Traviata,” and the title role in English National Opera’s “Rigoletto.”

     As Illuminated by Abigail Hoke-Brady’s excellent lighting design, the realistic scenic design done by Lawrence E. Moten is something to applaud. Lynly A. Sanders’ costume design is eye-popping indeed. Among the many eye-pleasing costumes, the shimmering red gowns worn by Baby Doe and Mama McCourt at the Governor’s Ball give us the haute couture of the day in spades! 

     Conductor Aaron Breid’s baton invigorates the Central City Orchestra in the pit in such a way as to evoke and underscore a rousing vitality in the historical events unfolding onstage. 

The musicians in the pit make Douglas Moore’s composition, which is spiked with American folk tunes, sound better than ever! 

Director Cynthia Lawrence has cast the show magnificently, kept the story rolling at an engaging pitch, and makes use of the entire auditorium to announce the winners and losers of elections as well as presenting the stumping for votes by such politicians as William Jennings Bryan.

This is really the sparkling jewel in the crown of Central City Opera.

Miss it at your peril. 

 

For tickets call   303-292-2700    or go online at centralcityopera.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

CENTRAL CITY OPERA: 

JUNE 27 -AUGUST 2

(In repertory with THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE and MASTER CLASS)

  Maureen McKay and Andrew Wilkowski (photo credit: Amanda Tipton)

CENTRAL CITY OPERA’S PRODUCTION OF MOZART’S “THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO” IS A DELICIOUS MUSICAL CONFECTION NOT TO BE MISSED!!!

With music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, “The Marriage of Figaro” (subtitled “A Day of Follies,”) is a comic opera based upon Beaumarchais’ novel, “The Mad Day or The Marriage of Figaro.” 

     The play on which this opera is based was considered unfit to be performed because of the “class conflict” between servants and their aristocratic masters. Nevertheless…Mozart persuaded the emperor to approve the performance of the opera based upon it by changing the rant about the aristocracy to one about the inconstancy of women. (Mozart clearly adored these representatives of the Divine Feminine. One can only wonder what the libretto would have become had he been able to express his true feelings about the cruel feudal treatment of the lower class by its patriarchal masters.)  

     Continuing the story of “The Barber of Seville,” two servants, Figaro and Susannah, somehow manage to get married despite the lascivious efforts of Susannah’s skirt-chasing employer, Count Almaviva. The count is trying to get to exercise his “droit de seigneur”- the right of a lord to bed a servant girl on the night of her marriage before her husband can. An elaborate farcical plot of the romantic variety ensues that’s chock-full of Mozart’s glorious arias.    

     Maureen McKay’s portrayal of Susanna sends us aloft with a soaring soprano that’s a glorious melodic ribbon of silk. In the role of Countess Almaviva, Erica Petrocelli is luminous! Her stunning vocals are by turns exhilarating and tender. The vocals of both women can best be described as auditory champagne.      

    Robust, full-bodied vocals of the divine masculine variety are delivered by Andrew Wilkowski as Figaro (Baritone) and by Luke Sutliff (Baritone) as Count Almaviva. Wilkowski is a lovable rake who gives everything a sly comic wink that mesmerizes. Sutliff’s demeanor is appropriately one of a stuffed shirt in search of a comeuppance.

In fine voice in the trouser role of Cherubino, Kira Dills–Desurra is superbly and intentionally bratty in the acting. 

      Under the baton of conductor Marcello Cormio, the scrumptious Central City Opera orchestra in the pit has never sounded better!  Following Cormio’s lead it is always perfectly in sync with the actors’ singing onstage.   

     Stage Director David Radames Toro uses every opportunity to illuminate the sweet and funny twists, turns and surprises of this work. Radames’ gift for storytelling is in evidence even within the overture. The introduction of all the major characters is done brilliantly without a word spoken/ sung. Radames’ casting and quick- trot pacing are par excellence!!!

Glenn Avery Breed’s eye-popping costumes stun!

     To your health and that of this phenomenal home of auditory excellence in the paradisal bliss of the Colorado mountains.  

For tickets go online at centalcityopera.com or call the box office at 303-292-6700

 

 DISASTER

STAGE DOOR THEATRE (in Conifer):

June 5 - 28

                                  The cast of DISASTER

Written by Jack Plotnick and Seth Rudetsky, "DISASTER" is escapist entertainment of the knee-slapping, over-the-top variety. Run to get tickets!

Director (and music director)Tanner Kelly does a superb job of milking this hilarious comedy for every fun and funny joke. Adding his unique take on the script with inventive stagecraft and hysterical special effects,  the evening flies by. 

The floating cruise casino called The Barracuda, and the doomed destiny thereof is the subject of this musical comedy that's a parody of every disaster movie of the 1970s. However ... "DISASTER" not only spoofs "Earthquake,"" Airport," "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno." It also gives us as audience, non-stop remembrance (and nostalgia?) about the disco tunes and cheesy, tear-jerky romantic songs of the era.  Among these are: "I am Woman," "Feelings," "Three Times a Lady,""Don't Cry Out Loud" and many, many, many more. 

     The cast is enormous!!!  A few of the stand-outs are: Andy Ray (Ted Scheider), Brian Trampler (Maury Winters), Jennifer Burnett (Shirley Winters) Thurzday ( Levora Verona), Isabella Duran (Sister Mary Downey), Brekken Baker (Marianne Wilson), Gavin Juckette(Chad Rubik) and Cooper Kaminsky as Tony Delvecchio.

The vocals of all these artists are outstanding!

 Heather Westenskow's choreography enhances the production with manic dancing that fills the stage.

Biz Schaugaard and Dean Arniotes get credit for the very fun set design.

Lighting designer Jon Weeks and Sound designer Russ Kirby work in tandem to illustrate the explosive events onstage.

For tickets call the box office at 303-838-0809 or go online at stagedoortheatre.org

 

SOMEWHERE

Denver Center Theatre Company:

 May 1- May 31

                                           ANGEL LOZADA as ALEJANDRO

The Denver Center Theatre Company’s production of Matthew Lopez’s “Somewhere” is not to be missed!

     Lopez is the playwright who gave us “The Legend of Georgia McBride” and “The Inheritance,” the Tony Award-winner for Best Play in 2020.

      “Somewhere” is a memory play that’s reflective of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” in many ways.

    At its core, Lopez’s script presents the Candelaria family, Puerto Rican immigrants living in Manhattan in 1959. It’s a tight knit family whose absent father’s virtues are constantly extolled and his return anticipated. “West Side Story” is a big hit on Broadway and Jerome Robbins is conducting auditions for the film. Every one of the Candelarias has a big dream of dancing on Broadway and acting in the movies. The family speaks Spanish, English and most passionately, the language of dance.  When a neighborhood wide eviction is posted, their home and dreams are threatened.

     Inez is the matriarch of the family, who fosters all things artistic in her children. She is a woman who lives in fantasies of both past and future and is in denial of certain obvious realities.   Alejandro, the elder son, does the best he can to keep the family grounded in common sense. His is the voice of reason.   Francisco, the younger of the two brothers, is taking acting classes, and dreams of being the next Marlon Brando.  Their sister, Rebecca, is taking dancing lessons and dreaming of getting an audition with Jerome Robbins for the film of West Side Story. Jamie is a young Caucasian man that Inez brought up with the other children and who, a long time absent from their home, is now Jerome Robbins’ dance captain.     

     By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Adriana Sevan is luminous as Inez. Angel Lozada is a strong presence as Alejandro. His performance is Powerful! Danny Gomez is a charmer as Francisco. Bela Serrano (Rebecca) and Keaton Miller (Jamie) are fine actors and breathtaking dancers. You will fall in love with each and everyone in this show.

     Director Laurie Woolery has paced the show at a gallop making the evening fly by. Mayte Natallo’s choreography and the dancing thereof is fiery and exhilarating. Kevin Copenhaver’s costume design is the professional work the Denver audience has come to expect of him.  Whether descriptive of a fantasia of joyful celebration or the trauma of explosive disaster, Pablo Santiago’s Lighting Design and Paul James Prendergast’s Sound Design work together magnificently. Mr. Prendergast’s incidental music is ear-pleasing! 
   The scenic design by Efren Delgadillo, Jr., which features a gleaming silver, multi-tiered fire escape, is magnificent!

This is a heart-opening production that demands to be seen!!!   Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

 

For tickets call the box office at 303-893-4100 or go online at denvercenter.org

 ANGELS IN AMERICA

VINTAGE THEATRE: MARCH 27 – MAY 10

FLY TO THE BOX OFFICE FOR TICKETS FOR THIS ASTONISHING AND BREATHTAKING PRODUCTION!

Kelly Uhlenhopp and Casey Board (photo credit: RDG Photography)

ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES and PART TWO: PERESTROIKA comprise Tony Kushner’s 1990s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning ‘Gay Fantasia on National Themes.’ Magnificent and massive in its socio-political scope, it is also an intimate work that is perhaps the most important serious dramatic opus of the late twentieth century. 

   If you are a theatergoer whose taste runs to excellence in dark serious drama, this nearly seven-hour production is not to be missed.

    The play, which is currently exploding across Vintage Theatre’s intimate Bond-Trimble stage is set in New York City in the 80’s and features a gay couple, Prior and Louis, and a straight couple, Joe and Harper, struggling with the AIDS crisis, sexuality, religion, society and the abdication of the Reagan administration, which turned a blind eye to the death and devastation of the epidemic. A richly textured work, playwright Kushner has peppered this mostly realistic play  with the surreal and the supernatural. Apparitions from one character’s ancestral line as well as historical personages such as Ethel Rosenberg appear at key moments. Sometimes one character’s dream intersects with another’s drug-induced hallucination. Brendan T. Cochran’s minimalist set design is remarkably efficient and makes the performances really pop! Emily Maddox’s lighting design - especially in the final scenes of Part Two - makes us feel as though this production is encoded with light frequencies hitherto unseen in other productions. The sound design by Luke Rahmsdorff-Terry and Patrice Mondragon evokes an otherworldly aspect. Jasper Day’s costume design enhances the show. Whether everyday street clothes, angel wings reflective of our national flag, or jewel-toned cowls and robes for the council of Angels, Day’s costumes dazzle.

Directors Bernie Cardell and Troy Lakey have ignited Part One and Part Two respectively with a fire that is lacking in some productions . Their casting is impeccably correct, and their pacing makes the seven-hour opus ( I saw both parts on the same day!) fly by.

Upon entering the theatre one is regaled with an austere set design done in cemetery grey that is draped, or better, shrouded, in white fabric.

The ensemble’s performances are astounding!

    Casey Board, who portrays Prior Walter, conveys an open-hearted vulnerability in his arc from victimization in the initial phase of his prognosis at the top of the play,  to the strength of independent self awareness as he seeks “more life” at final curtain.

    Dakota C. Hill is mesmerizing and brilliant as Prior’s boyfriend Louis. His performance is richly textured, and one remembers his brilliance from his portrayal of Eric Glass in the 2023 production of “The Inheritance.” 

     Andrew Uhlenhopp plays Roy Cohn, the heinous lawyer who was the chief counsel for Joseph McCarthy and the prosecutor of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg prior to their execution.  Uhlenhopp’s portrayal of this lying, unethical lawyer is loud, abrasive and… riveting!  

     Kelly Uhlenhopp is jaw-dropping formidable as the Angel! Astonishing!   Her portrayal of a crazed homeless person in another scene with Haley Johnson as Mother Pitt is disturbing, and powerfully well delivered as well.

     As Joe Pitt’s mother Hannah, Haley Johnson conveys a mostly internalized horror at a phone call from her drunk son. As the specter of Ethel Rosenberg, Johnson’s mostly silent karmic visitations of the dying Cohn are so well-acted that you simply can’t take your eyes off her.    

     As Prior’s nurse and drag queen friend Belize, Jonathan Underwood delivers a lot of hilariously witty lines spiced up by the voice of reason. In Belize’s interactions with Louis and later with Roy, Underwood injects a biting sarcastic tone. Belize is warmly compassionate in his caring for Prior. He even manages to realistically stuff his emotions and stifle animosity caring for  the abusive, bigoted and self destructive Roy Cohn. As Mr. Lies, Underwood accompanies Nicole Kaiser’s Harper Pitt as a sort of tour guide on her valium-induced adventures in consciousness. Superb work!

Chad Hewitt turns in a superb performance as Joe Pitt, the closeted Mormon whose lonely and abandoned wife,Harper, has turned to drugs. Seduced by the machiavellian manipulations of Roy Cohn, Joe falls right in line with the unethical and deadly political machine.

Nicole Kaiser  is luminous and haunting as Joe’s wife, Harper. The slight and beautiful actor delivers Harper’s valium-addicted and sexually deprived young wife with an intentionally foggy consciousness. As Martin Heller, Cohn’s toadying political acolyte, Kaiser is brilliant.

It is also to be noted that Andrew Uhlenhopp and Chad Hewitt spice up what up until now had been this reviewer’s least favorite scene. Their appearance in Prior Walter’s dreams as Prior I and Prior 2, the ancestors of this Prior Walter, was invigorating and thrilling!

Advisory: there is simulated sex, strong language and the referencing of drug usage in the production(s.) Leave the kids home.

(Before you go… please know that general admission tickets are only $36.00 for this Great Work. You will be in the intimacy of the Bond-Trimble theatre so you will be only a few feet away from this outrageously talented ensemble. If you’re weighing this ticket against the ones at the larger theaters please remember those tickets range from the hundreds and upwards and place you well back from the stage. You will also have to shell out twenty bucks for parking at certain venues.  At Vintage parking is free.  How does it get any better? Just sayin.’)

For tickets call the Box Office at 303- 856-7830 or go online at info@vintagetheatre.org

  

                THE WIZ

TOWN HALL ARTS CENTER: MARCH 20 – APRIL 19

                     Cha'rel J'iCole as Evillene 

                  (photo credit: RDG Photography)

 

With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown, “The Wiz is a musical based upon the L. Frank Baum children’s book, “The Wizard of Oz."

In 1975 “The Wiz” received seven Tony Awards including Best Musical. 

When I saw the tour of the stage version of THE WIZ in the early 80s at The Auditorium Theatre, I was so enchanted I couldn’t wait to buy a ticket for the next evening. Unfortunately, the show was sold out for the duration.

     The dynamic and energizing direction and choreography of Christopher Page Sanders makes Town Hall Arts’ production outstanding! Sanders has cast actors who can sing and dance up a storm…so to speak. (The dancing of the tornado near the top of the show is exhilarating!)

The Tony award-winning music is a mixture of gospel, R&B, and Broadway that is uplifting and truly exhilarating! 

Dorothy is sung with great heart by Thurzday. Daevon Robinson is sensational as the lion. Angel Miguel Garcia is a wonderfully limber scarecrow. Simeon Wallace, a superbly well-sung Tin Man, gives us a superb rendition of “Slide Some Oil to Me.” 

     Cha’rel  Ji’Cole sends us right up through the rafters at the top of Act Two with her powerful singing of Evillene’s “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News!”

     Shakira D. Abney-Wisdom is hilarious in the role of Addaperle.

     Thanks to Alex Burse’s music direction, the company’s “Everybody Rejoice/Brand New Day” sends us into musical theatre heaven. Burse is also responsible for conducting the great just offstage orchestra!

 

For tickets call the box office at 303-794-2787, Ext 5 or go online at boxoffice@townhallartscenter.org