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 YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

VINTAGE THEATRE COMPANY: 9/17 – 10/31

 

              Jeff Betsch as The Monster

Vintage Theatre’s production of “Young Frankenstein” is ALIVE with all the hilarious hijinx and madcap mayhem of the classic 1974 movie. With music and lyrics by Mel Brooks and book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, “Young Frankenstein” is a Broadway musical that’ll have you rolling in the aisles.

     It’s the kind of screen to stage musical that has everyone in the audience lying in wait for those iconic lines spoken by their adored Mel Brooks characters … and then falling apart laughing at their hysterical vaudevillian delivery.

    Thanks to director Linda Suttle’s impeccable casting, those characters are Super Duper.

Cooper Kaminsky is Dr. Frankenstein(That’s Fronkensteen), Christine Carter Kahane is Frau Blucher(horse whinny), Colby Reisinger is Inga, and Jefffrey Betsch is the monster, tapping his way into our hearts all spruced up and Puttin’ on the Ritz. His performance is frighteningly well done. 

       Christine Kahane has the exact right sour disposition for Victor’s housekeeper, Frau Blucher. With a stink eye that can peel paint, and a knock-out comic timing, Kahane is magnificent!

     The masterful choreography by Adrianne Hampton is utter precision when needed and a delightfully ordered chaos when that’s required.

     The Music Direction by Brandon Bill is superb!!! Although all the musicians in the orchestra are excellent, special kudos go out to the evocative and haunting violin of Adelaide Pappas Naughton. 

    Ryan Walkoviak’s set design gives us a creepy dungeon/laboratory flanked by enormous cylindrical test tubes, housing copper spirals. 

     The flickering candles and lightning flashes of uneasy paranormal atmosphere are the very fine work of co-lighting designers Emily Maddox and Kevin Taylor. 

     With her Heidi-like blonde hair Colby Reisinger’s ultra-sexy lab assistant, Inga, is a hoot in the lab or in the hay! 

     Miranda Byers’ sweet seemingly pure vixen, of the diminutive stature and the lilting pure soprano, is at her best singing the ultra-self-absorbed, “Surprise! It’s Me.”  

     The shimmering, sparkling frocks of the two leading ladies are courtesy of costume designer, Deborah Faber.  

     As Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Cooper Kaminsky becomes more and more frenzied as he is sucked into the milieu and profession of his grandfather.

     From the moment he slumps onto the stage  Bryan Plummer’s zany Igor becomes the ideal super-animated counterpoint to Dr. Frankenstein in song and dance. 

    As Inspector Kemp, Scotty Shaffer keeps the proceedings rolling along with loud proclamations and semaphore style gestures.

Have a laugh-filled evening at the theatre!!!

 

Vintage Theatre presents 

“Young Frankenstein”

The hilarious musical based on the Mel Brooks classic film masterpiece. 

Sept 17 – Oct 31

$20 - $38

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

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010

Running time 2 hours 40 minutes with intermission.

Recommended for all ages.

 

 

 

 THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

Co-produced by The PERFORMANCE NOW THEATRE COMPANY and THE LAKEWOOD CULTURAL CENTER: 9/10-9/26

 

Bernie Cardell and Nancy Evans Begley 

(Photo credit: RDG Photography)

Bernie Cardell is a National Treasure!!!

 

“The Drowsy Chaperone” is a musical parody of the American musical comedy of the 1920s. With book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, it won five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards in 2006.

     The show brims over with excellent musical theater performances from its outstanding triple-threat cast.  

     The show opens with the musings of a musical theatre super fan - Man in Chair- who’s trying to lift his spirits and decides on playing the original Broadway cast recording of a show called The Drowsy Chaperone. As he describes the show and plays the record – “yes, record”- the show explodes across the stage of The Lakewood Cultural Center with eye-popping, ear-pleasing panache!

     Bernie Cardell portrays the Man in Chair, and his portrayal is one of those truly exceptional performances that are SO rare, it will be talked about in theatre circles for decades. Cardell’s incarnation of ‘man in chair’ is tenderly vulnerable and wondrously open as he informs the audience of all his interesting points of view about “The Drowsy Chaperone’s” characters as well as the actors who played them. Cardell’s character walks in and out of the scenes in such a way as to let us as audience realize he’s more at home in his musical theatre fantasies than he is in real life. Kelly Van Oosbree’s direction of Cardell in “An Accident Waiting to Happen,” will have you in stitches. (Sorry. No spoilers.)

In a nutshell, the plot has to do with whether Janet Van de Graaff and Robert Martin will get married or not. As the bride to be, Emma Rebecca Maxfield’s unforgettable performance of “Show Off” is breathtaking!! Andy Sievers’ performance of the groom’s “Cold Feets” is jaw-dropping!!! As Drowsy, Nancy Evans Begley’s “As We Stumble Along,” rattles the rafters.

     Everything is adorably over the top in this show, from Jeffery Parker’s Latin Lothario, Aldolpho, to the pair of gangsters posing as pastry chefs played by Timothy Campbell and Kris Graves, to Adrianne Hampton’s squeaky wannabe star, Kitty.

Directed and Choreographed by award-winning Kelly Van Oosbree, this exhilarating  show features music direction by Denver favorite, Eric Weinstein. Nicole M. Harrison’s costume design is to die for. So is Brett Maughan’s outstanding lighting design and the wonderful wrap around scenic design by Andrew S. Bates. 

The numbers are all, of the show-stopping variety, and you may find it hard to decide which one is your favorite.

For tickets call the box office at 303-987-7845,Lakewood Cultural Center(Just south of the Belmar Shopping Center at Alameda and Wadsworth)470 South Alison Parkway, Lakewood, CO,80226

 

 

 

 

 

  CHASING RADIANCE: MEMOIRS AND MUSINGS

           by ERICA SARZIN-BORRILLO

 

Erica Sarzin Borrillo’s new book, “Chasing Radiance: Memoirs and Musings,” is a beautifully written work that’s as poignant as it is intimate in illuminating the artist’s life. More than that, it’s an invitation to step inside the author’s heart and mind as she describes her mythic journey.

      The artist’s ancestral history unfolds through letters and an interview that provides a portal into the artist’s remembrances of past experiences from the exhilarating to the traumatic.

    Weaving the spiritual and the creative into a wondrous tapestry of memories and visions, Borrillo paints a picture of the author’s mystic awareness of the convergence of the creative life and the spiritual path.

Concluding with journal entries from the time of the pandemic as well as personal musings on the socio-political turmoil surrounding it, this is an insightful book that will endear itself to anyone seeking shamanic guidance in finding her/his way in the realms of creativity and spirituality.

It's available on Amazon.

David Marlowe

Marlowe’s Musings