Othello 2024

The John Hand Theater: June 29 - July 28

Shakespeare’s Othello is adapted by Greg Sherman and Gregory Wolfe

 

     Othello was the first Shakespearean play I got to see. 

      It was 1965, and I was a sophomore in high school. If the nuns said it was important, our parents would send us as a class to see a movie for the group fee of just one dollar each. This version gave us Laurence Olivier in blackface as the Moor of Venice. Maggie Smith was Desdemona, and Frank Finlay was Iago. I was clueless about all that Elizabethan speech and was glad as hell to be at the World Theatre in Billings, instead of sweating out problems in Mr. Roberts’ algebra class.

       Subsequently I’ve seen Shakespeare’s tragedy many times.

     Timeless in its message, this adaptation is “timelier” than most in that “OTHELLO 2024” focuses not only on the deceitfulness of Shakespeare’s most heinously two-faced villain, but also upon the deception that is inflicted upon us as citizens by the media with all of its slanted political mudslinging and lying broadcasters. 

     This production is also updated in the sense that communication is done, not only by the spoken word, but also by texting, emails and even zooms.

      It may take you a minute to get into the flow of this production, but the director makes quick work of that by adding projections and ‘news videos’ that clarify.

      Insidious and ubiquitous, the villainous, Iago, is played with gleeful malevolence by Denver favorite, Kelly Uhlenhopp. Marlowe Award Winner for her performance as Maggie, the cat, in Vintage Theatre’s magnificent production of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” it’s hard not to have the words, “Mendacity, mendacity, mendacity,” ringing in his ears as she works her venomous plans.

     Director Andrew Uhlenhopp has cast the show well and paced it in such a way that the energy of his very fine cast never flags. (Fresh off his brilliant performance as Mark Rothko in Town Hall Arts’ excellent production of “RED,” one hopes to see Uhlenhopp onstage again soon as well as in the director’s chair again soon.)

     TJ Jackson is well cast as the honorable and credulous Othello. Handsome and charismatic, this actor speaks Shakespeare’s words eloquently, and gives a damned good stab at the madness required for the final scenes. 

    Emily Ebertz is an enchanting Desdemona. Her reading of the part is excellent, and her acting in the final scenes of this tragedy enhances our catharsis.

     Kate Poling’s Emilia is also a stand-out!

      Greg Sherman’s and Gregory Wolfe’s adaptation is a cautionary tale regarding the importance of source-checking   what we hear on the news and see on the internet.

     Not every adaptation of the canon works. This one will grab you by the throat and leave you breathless.

     Run to get a ticket. 

 

Photo credit: RDG PHOTOGRAPHY

 

The Firehouse Theatre Company is currently presenting Othello 2024, a contemporizing of Shakespeare’s play about The Moor of Venice.

For tickets call 303-562-3232 or go online at firehousetheatercompany.com

 LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST

(THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST)

CENTRAL CITY OPERA: July 7,10,12,14,19,21,23,27,31; August 3.

(playing in repertoire with Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” and Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene.)

 

CENTRAL CITY OPERA’S PRODUCTION OF PUCCINI’S “GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST” ENTHRALLS!

 

     Composed by Giacomo Puccini with libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, this opera is based upon a 1905 play by David Belasco. Puccini had based “Madama Butterfly” on another of Belasco’s plays. 

     Influenced by the work of Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss, Puccini infused this opera with folk music and a cinematic pulse to give it the flavor of the American West.

     Admired for its melodic orchestral score, Puccini believed his “American opera” to be “the greatest composition of his career.”

     “La Fanciulla del West” was the first world premier staged at the Met. It was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. 

     Puccini’s only “American” opera, it was a departure from the composer’s usual fare in that it had no stand-alone arias, and (spoiler alert) has a happy ending. 

     Director Fenlon Lamb’s casting is superb. This artist’s pacing of Puccini’s opera keeps the audience enthralled throughout!

     Kara Shay Thomson plays Minnie, the owner of the Polka Saloon. This character is a strong woman, who is a conniver and survivor. Shay has a soaring soprano that expresses the power of a pistol-packing frontier woman, who knows what she wants and how to get it. Minnie’s fierce fortitude differs from the women in Verdi’s previous operas, who were mostly victims.    

     Minnie is pursued throughout by sheriff Jack Rance (Grant Youngblood) and later becomes enamored of newcomer Dick Johnson, who is sung with great passion by tenor Jonathan Burton. 

    Grant Youngblood has given flawless performances at Central City Opera as John Proctor in “The Crucible,” “Germont in “La Traviata, Sharpless in “Madama Butterfly” and Horace Tabor in “The Ballad of Baby Doe.” 

     Here his acting as Jack Rance is darkly menacing, and his baritone commanding!

     In Act Two we learn that Johnson is the bandit Ramerrez, in disguise. A posse shoots him, and Minnie hides him upstairs at the saloon. When Rance discovers where he’s at, Minnie challenges him (Rance) to a game of poker. If she wins, he must let Johnson go free. If she loses, she must marry Rance. Minnie wins by cheating. In Act three, Rance tries to hang Johnson with the help of a posse, and Minnie convinces the miners to let him go.   

      Under the baton of conductor Andrew Bisantz, the Central City Opera orchestra gives a rousing performance of Verdi’s score.

      Choral Director, Brandon Eldredge makes the sound of Verdi’s male chorus ring through the opera house with ear-pleasing gusto.

     The set design by Papermoon Opera Productions is mostly excellent…except for the two blossoms? of one knows not what on either side of the lip of the stage.

     Originally set in an 1849 California mining camp during a gold rush, this production is set in Central City during the gold rush in an opera theatre built during the gold rush.   

      Not to be missed! Rush to get tickets!

 

303-292-6700 or boxoffice@centralcityopera.org

 THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

 or

 The Slave of Duty  

CENTRAL CITY OPERA: 6/29,7//3,7/5,7/7,7/13,7/16,7/20,

7/24,7/27,8/2,8/4 

(PLAYING IN REPERTOIRE WITH PUCCINI’S “GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST” and KURT WEILL’S “STREET SCENE”)

Jennifer DeDominici as Ruth in PIRATES OF PENZANCE

 

Central City Opera’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance” is a TRIUMPH!!! 

 

Exuberant, exhilarating, tuneful, and deliciously tongue in cheek, Central City Opera’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” is outrageously fun entertainment! 

     The combination of Arthur Sullivan’s glorious musical composition and W.S. Gilbert’s delightfully crafted lyrics are ingredients for a scrumptious operatic confection.

       Central City Opera’s production is OUTSTANDING!

    Set on the coast of Cornwall during the reign of Queen Victoria, this farcical comedy gives us a young man named Frederic (Chris Mosz) who has accidentally been apprenticed by his nurse, Ruth (Jennifer DeDominici), to “pirates” instead of “pilots.” 

     Shortly thereafter Frederic falls in love with a beautiful young woman named Mabel played by Jasmine Habersham.

     Surfing the waves of Sir William S. Gilbert’s whimsical book, the twists and turns our hero must navigate involve sentimental pirates, pompous naval officers, and that super-annoying  problem of being born in leap year.

       Perhaps the most famous of the musical numbers in this operetta is “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General.” 

     Adelmo Guidarelli delivers Major General Stanley’s “patter song” with tongue-twisting dexterity, and deliriously funny -laugh out loud - comic acting. 

     Conducted by Brandon Eldredge, the scrumptious Central City Opera orchestra has never sounded better!

     Director Kyle Lang has cast the show impeccably and paced it at a gallop. Lang also did the ginormously entertaining choreography as well as the spot-on costume design.

     The choral work, overseen by Michael Poll, is breathtaking!

     The only thing missing from the beloved sound of the original D’Oyly Carte recordings is the static created by playing that old vinyl on the phonograph.

     Much better than the Broadway version I saw in 1981 starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Estelle Parsons and Rex Smith, the original Danny Zuko in “Grease,” I’m hoping to get a second seat for this very funny CCO production! 

     To find an operetta approaching this level of unbridled joy, one must go back in memory to Central City Opera’s 2010 production of Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld.”

     Alex DeSocio’s performance in the role of the Pirate King is splendid both in the singing and the acting.

     Jasmine Habersham is utterly delicious as Frederic’s love interest, Mabel. Habersham’s powerful and finely-tuned soprano made this reviewer hope to hear her again soon in such roles as Cunegonde in Bernstein’s “Candide.”Her rendition of “Poor Wandring One” is magnificent!

     Frederic’s nurse,Ruth is acted and sung with joyous abandon by Jennifer DeDominici (Mezzo-Soprano). This diva received the Marlowe Award for Best Opera Singer for her performance as Mother in “Amahl and the Night Visitors” last season.

     Chris Mosz delivers the role of Frederic with a splendid tenor.

     Andrew Harris’s performance as Edward, Sergeant of Police, enhances the proceedings with his superb baritone. 

     Also, it is to be noted that there are now screens on the walls flanking the stage on which the quick-moving lyrics are projected. 

         

                        RUN TO GET TICKETS!!!

 

 

    It was an honor to be present on the evening that the late beloved artistic director emeritus John Moriarty was inducted into the Colorado Musical Hall of Fame along with Central City Opera itself. Moriarty was a superb conductor, vocal coach and educator. He was also a good friend and is greatly missed.

    

 

For tickets call the Box Office at 303-292-6700 or go online at centralcityopera.org

 

 

 

 

 THE HEARTBEAT OF THE SUN

CHERRY CREEK THEATRE: MAY 3 -19

 

THE HEARTBEAT OF THE SUN DISAPPOINTS. 

 

Melissa McCarl’s new play about the lifelong friendship of two women of the theatre is one this reviewer had looked forward to for a long time. However...

     McCarl has been one of the most successful of local playwrights over the last two decades. Her play about Frida Kahlo, PAINTED BREAD, is a personal favorite. McCarl’s 2016 production of LOST CREATURES about a late in life meeting of critic Kenneth Tynan and silent screen star Louise Brooks, stunned!  McCarl’s play about Gertrude Stein, POIGNANT IRRITATIONS, succeeded brilliantly.

      In this play as Bea and Althea look back down memory lane from the home for the aged, one of them is exhibiting signs of oncoming dementia. The symptoms, presented as 'personified' inanimate objects, seemed an unusual choice.

   This play features Anne Oberbroeckling as Bea, Billie McBride as Althea and Maggy Stacy as Young Althea. All three women are award-winning Denver favorites. Daevon Robinson (Javier) is especially strong in a brief performance near final curtain. There is some nice work done in the lighting and sound designs by Emily B. Maddox and Michael Castro respectively.

     Unfortunately, this production never catches fire.

 

    See it if you must.

For tickets call 303-316-6300 or go online at cherrycreektheatre.org

 

 

 RED

TOWN HALL ARTS CENTER: 4/25 - 5/5

        L-R: Andrew Uhlenhopp and Josue Miranda

     Nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2010, John Logan's "RED" won six, including Best Play and Best Supporting Actor in a Play (Eddy Redmayne.) Alfred Molina, who portrayed Mark Rothko was also nominated for Best Actor in a Play that year.

     Director Matthew Kepler has cast this production impeccably and paced it in such a way that the evening flies by.     

      Andrew Uhlenhopp's pulse-pounding portrayal of abstract artist Mark Rothko is brilliantly raw, intense and revelatory!  One of Denver's Premier actors, it's thrilling to see him being cast in roles of this stature. 

      Josue Miranda delivers a nuanced performance as Rothko's assistant,Ken. This actor's journey from the suit and tie, guy on the street at the top of the show, to his self confident persona at final curtain is remarkable. Miranda, who you will remember from the excellent production of "My Name is Asher Lev" at The Cherry Creek Theatre, has matured into an actor whose name should be sought out in every program. 

     The Tony Award-winning script is rich in its exploration of the ever-evolving nature of the artist and his relationship to his Art. 

     A tip of the hat to Robert Michael Sanders, who heads up the operations at Town Hall Arts Center, for punctuating the excellent season of musicals with such an exhilarating piece of serious drama. 

    It's only here for one more weekend. Run to get tickets.

For tickets call: 303-794-2787 or go online at TownHallArtsCenter.org

 A Jukebox for the Algonquin

Miners Alley Playhouse: March 1 – April 7

 

Unpretentious and unassuming, Miners Alley Performance Arts Center’s production of Paul Strolli’s play charms.

     The playwright focuses on a longterm residence for the aged much like The Argyle in North Denver.

     The scenic design by Jonathan Scott McKean appoints the space with furnishings which are the exact replicas of what one finds in such places. They’re not antiques, but they’re old. 

     Vance McKenzie’s work as lighting designer pairs excellently once again with John Hauser’s sound design in telling the story of these aging individuals.

     The cast is made up of some of Colorado’s brightest and best!  

     Len Matheo’s direction is straight forward and allows each of the cast members to have their moment in the spotlight. 

     Having spent a lot of time with a friend living in such places over the last couple of years, I have come to be acquainted with the issues of people there as well as the falling, the loneliness, and the anguish.

      Although it’s got its moments, “A Jukebox for The Algonquin” is a prettified version of plays that look death in the eye, such as Arthur Miller’s “All Over.”

     The performances are balanced and very well delivered.

     Abby Apple Boes, Edith Weiss, Arlene Hicks, John Hauser and Paul Strolli provide us with amiable representations of residents and employees of such establishments.

     At the heart of the show is the relationship of Chris Kendall (Dennis) a wheelchair bound gay man and Dwayne Carrington (Johnny), a straight black man.

    Both men deliver stellar performances, leaving one with a tear in the eye and a heart full of memories.

   The show has some good comic moments and avoids getting too maudlin.

    If you have a free evening next weekend, take a drive up to Golden and check it out.

 

For tickets call 303-935-3044 or go online at minersalley.com

 

                          RAISIN

TOWN HALL ARTS CENTER: MARCH 22 – APRIL 14

                  MARY LOUISE LEE (photo credit RDG Photography)

MAGNIFICENT AND ELECTRIFYING!!! 

            RUN TO GET TICKETS!!!

 

With music by Judd Woldin, Lyrics by Robert Brittan and book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzbert, “Raisin” is based on the play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry.

      “Raisin in the Sun” received the Tony for Best Play in 1960. “Raisin,” the musical, got the Tony for Best Musical in 1974.

       “Raisin” describes the struggle of black Americans seeking a better life in 1951 Chicago.  Three generations of Walter Younger’s family are living in a single cramped apartment. After the death of a patriarch, an insurance payout allows for hope for buying a new home to arise. Familial conflict, errors in judgment and ultimate redemption and forgiveness ensue.

     Any musical directed and choreographed by trail-blazing Christopher Page-Sanders makes the viewer feel as though he is being transported to a dreamscape, in which the dream is one of flying. Transcendent and exhilarating beyond words!  Anyone who saw Page-Sanders’ production of “Sophisticated Ladies” last season at the Vintage Theatre knows what I mean.

     As director, Page-Sanders has cast the show with actors who are triple threats and brought in technical staff of the highest and best.

     The cast is led by Denver favorite Mary Louise Lee. One of our premier actors, Ms. Lee commands the stage as Lena “Mama” Younger. Her powerful acting and singing of “A Whole Lotta Sunlight” and “Measure of the Valleys” will make you feel like you’re at a show on Broadway.

     Micha J. Lawrence portrays Walter Lee Younger, the role that got Sidney Poitier nominated for a Tony.

     New to this reviewer, this actor’s performance singing “Sweet Time” and “You Done Right” will make you search out his name in every program.

     Asha Romeo plays Ruth, Walter Lee’s wife, with an endearing stage presence and a lovely soprano. Her solo, “Whose Little Angry Man,” is a delight.

     Blake Channing Taylor is a complete delight singing “Sidewalk Tree” as Travis Younger.

     Heidi Carann Snider is Walter Lee’s sister, Beneatha Younger. Her duet,"Alaiyo,” with Isaac Rosen as Nigerian boyfriend, Joseph Asagai, enchants.

     Bernie Cardell is Karl Lindner, the man you love to hate. He’s the one who’s trying to buy out the Lee family’s new lease in an all white neighborhood in the name of neighborhood gentrification and housing discrimination.

     Donna Debreceni created the wondrous, instrumentally diverse, and ear-pleasing musical tracks. 

     Music Director Trent Hines’ work on the choral numbers such as “He Come Down This Morning” and “Runnin’ to Meet the Man” is exceptional.

     Kurt Behm’s sound design is top-notch!

     The ever-shifting tapestry of lighting by Vance McKenzie is sensational!

     Mike Haas’ fragmentary set design for the Lees’ home works extremely well . 

     The costume design by Hannah Tripp is eye-popping indeed! 

     Aside from a refrigerator door that refused to stay shut, the show came off without a hitch!

 

For tickets call the box office: 303-794-2787  ext. 5 or go online at townhallartscenter.org