Thanks to one and all in the theatre community who have made the 2013 Theatre Season in Colorado such a great success. It is with great appreciation and sincere humility that this reviewer lists some of the great talents who have made this season truly memorable.

The 2013 Marlowe Awards

Outstanding Actor in a one- person play:

 James O’Hagan Murphy, RFK, Vintage Theatre Productions

Outstanding Actress in a one- person play:

Maria Cheng, Spirit and Sworded Treks, Theatre Esprit Asia (TEA)

                                                       

 Outstanding Actor in a Play, Drama:

                            
John Ashton, Seminar, Boulder 
Ensemble Theatre Company

Scott Bellot, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Edge Theatre Company

                              
Brian Landis Folkins, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Edge Theatre Company

Paul Page, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Edge Theatre Company

Outstanding Actress in a Play, Drama

Erica Sarzin-Borrillo, “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” Germinal Stage Denver

Missy Moore, The House of Blue Leaves, The Edge Theatre Company

Maggy Stacy, Cat on a Hot tin Roof, The Edge Theatre Company

Billie McBride, Collected Stories, Miners Alley Playhouse 

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama 
         
        
Emma Messenger, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Edge Theatre Company

          

         

Kathleen McCall, Romeo and Juliet, Denver Center Theatre Company

                                         

Erica Fox, Closer, Vintage Theatre Productions

                                     

Jeanne Paulsen, Romeo and Juliet, Denver Center Theatre Company

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama

                               
Zachary Andrews, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Germinal Stage Denver

                      

Brock Benson, Newark Violenta, The Edge Theatre Company
                           

Steef Sealy, The Seafarer, Ashton Entertainment

                                   

Joe Von Bokern, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Edge Theatre Company 

Best Production of a Play, Comedy

                     

The 39 Steps, Town Hall Arts

Blithe Spirit, Arvada Center for the Arts

The Foreigner, PHAMALY Theatre Company

Mrs. Mannerly, Miners Alley Playhouse

Outstanding Actor Comedy
                       

Chris Bleau, Mrs. Mannerly, Miners Alley Playhouse
                         
                                    

Lawrence Hecht, Vigil, Cherry Creek Theatre Company

 

Steven Cole Hughes, Blithe Spirit, Arvada Center for the Arts

                         

Jeremy Palmer, The Foreigner,  PHAMALY Theatre Company

Outstanding Actress Comedy
                                  

Deborah Curtis, Mrs. Mannerly, 
Miners Alley Playhouse
                          

Patty Mintz-Figel, Vigil, Cherry Creek Theatre Company
                           

C. Kelly Leo, Rancho Mirage, Curious Theatre Company

                               

Karen Slack, God of Carnage, Curious Theatre Company

Outstanding Supporting Actor Comedy

                                                
Sean Scrutchins, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Colorado Shakespeare Festival

                                              
Mark Lively, Next Fall, Theatre Out Denver

                               

Eric Mather, The 39 Steps, Town Hall Arts
                                 

 Seth Maisel, The 39 Steps, Town Hall Arts

Outstanding Supporting Actress Comedy

Heather Lacy, Blithe Spirit, Arvada Center for the Arts

Judy Phelan-Hill, Next Fall, Theatre Out Denver
                                       

Erica Lee Johnson, Mrs. Mannerly, Miners Alley Playhouse

                                     
Sharon Kaye White, Dividing the Estate, Arvada Center for the Arts

Outstanding Director Comedy

Bob Wells, 39 Steps, Town Hall Arts

Bernie Cardell, Sordid Lives, Illumination Theatre Company

                     
Edith Weiss, The Foreigner, PHAMALY Theatre Company

Richard H. Pegg, Mrs. Mannerly, Miners Alley Playhouse

Best Costumes

Chris Campbell, Blithe Spirit, Arvada Center for the Arts

ESosa, Sense and Sensibility, Denver Center Theatre Company

Linda Morken, The Wizard of Oz, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre

Christina Poddubiuk, Romeo and Juliet, Denver Center Theatre Company

Best Choreography

Nick Sugar, Hair, Town Hall Arts

Matt LaFontaine, In the Heights, Vintage Theatre Productions

Kelly Kates, Annie, Town Hall Arts

Alicia Dunfee, The Wizard of Oz, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical
                                 

Daymond Schweer, Young Frankenstein, StageDoor Theatre, Conifer

                                  
Daniel Langhoff, Annie, Town Hall Arts
                       

                                   

Wayne Kennedy, Spamalot, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre
                                                   

 Seth Maisel, Young Frankenstein, Vintage Theatre Productions

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical
                                                 

SuCh, The Color Purple, Aurora Fox Arts

Megan Van De Hey, Curtains, Arvada Center for the Arts

                                             
Sydney Fairbairn, Annie, Town Hall Arts
                                                           

Jennifer DeDominici, Man of La Mancha, Arvada Center for the Arts

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical

LuAnn Buckstein, Annie, Town Hall Arts

                 

Bren Eyestone.Burron, Church Basement Ladies, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre 

Lisa Finnerty, 9 to 5, Town Hall Arts

Alicia Dunfee, Spamalot, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical

           
Colin Alexander, Curtains, Arvada Center for the Arts

                                 
Seth Caikowski, The Wizard of Oz, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre

                                   
Tim Howard, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Town Hall Arts
                                     

Mark Shonsey, Young Frankenstein, Vintage Theatre Productions

                                   

Outstanding Director of a Musical

Rod Lansberry/David Nehls, 
Man of La Mancha, Arvada Center for the Arts           

Pamela Clifton/Trent Hines, 
Young Frankenstein, StageDoor Theatre, Conifer

Nick Sugar/ Donna Kolpan Debreceni, Hair, Town Hall Arts

Piper Arpan/Neal Dunfee,
Spamalot, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre

Best New Play

                                          

Newark, Violenta, Jonson Kuhn, The Edge Theatre Company

Wake, Buntport Theater Company

Best Play Drama

RFK, Vintage Theatre Productions

Long Day’s Journey into Night,

Germinal Stage Denver

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Edge Theatre Company

 Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Edge Theatre Company

               Best Ensemble

                             
Spoon River Anthology, Germinal Stage Denver

                  

The Memory of Water, Miners Alley Playhouse

   Closer, Vintage Theatre Productions

                                   

                                       
Minimum Wage, The Avenue Theatre

Best Production of a Musical

                        
Man of La Mancha, Arvada Center for the Arts

                              
             Hair, Town Hall Arts

                              
           Annie, Town Hall Arts

       
                               
Spamalot, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre

Best Lighting

Frank Haas, Shadowlands,Vintage Theatre Productions

Shannon McKinney, Metamorphoses, Aurora Fox Arts

Jonathan Scott-McKean, Hair, Town Hall Arts

Seth Alison, Annie, Town Hall Arts

Best Scenic Design

Brian Mallgrave, Man of La Mancha, Arvada Center for the Arts

Charles Packard, Metamorphoses, Aurora Fox Arts

Tobias Harding, Shadowlands, Vintage Theatre Productions

Wake, Buntport Theater Company

Best Sound Design

David Thomas, Man of La Mancha, The Arvada Center for the Arts

Luke Allen Terry, Veronica’s Room, Vintage Theatre Productions

John Rivera, The 39 Steps, Town Hall Arts

Adam Stone, Wake, Buntport Theater Company

Best Director Play, Drama

Geoff Kent, Metamorphoses, Aurora Fox Arts

Terry Dodd, RFK, Vintage Theatre Productions 

Ed Baierlein, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Germinal Stage Denver

Angela Astle, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Edge Theatre Company

Best Touring Company

The Book of Mormon, Denver Center Attractions

Outstanding New Theatre Company

Theatre Esprit Asia (TEA)

Best Opera Production
Our Town, Central City Opera

Outstanding Female Opera Singers:
           

Anna Christy, Our Town, Central City Opera

Jennifer Rivera, The Barber of Seville, Central City Opera

Julia Burrows, Showboat, Central City Opera
Ellen Kaye, Showboat, Central City Opera

Outstanding Male Opera Singers

 Troy Cook, Showboat, Central City Opera
                                  

Soloman Howard, Showboat, Central City Opera

Vale Rideout, Our Town, Central City Opera
                                 

Daniel Belcher, The Barber of Seville, Central City OperaMarlowe's Musings

The Travesty of Lear

The Betsy Stage: through January 25

                      The cast of "The Travesty of Lear"

     Ribald and raucous, “The Travesty of Lear” is an evening of silly fun that amuses.

     

     The speeches of Michael Vasicek’s gravel-throated Lear reverberate throughout the space with a crisp clarity. His grizzled old saloonkeeper is one of the best things about the show.

     

     One must advise you, dear reader, that more often than not Shakespeare’s plot gets lost in its journey to Last Chance Gulch. Playwrights Samantha McDermott, Jerian Franco and Kimberly Franco have had a great deal of fun transmogrifying the tragedy of Lear into a comic “Travesty.”  What they do best is recreating the play using stereotypical characters from the western movie genre. Lear’s daughters have been translated into prostitutes in Lear’s post gold rush saloon, The Silver Slipper. Everyone else is a cowboy.

     

     The language is a mash-up of Elizabethan poetry and cowboy colloquialisms in which the cowboys come out winners every time. The direction provides moments of Monty Pythonesque hilarity such as the one in which various flora, fauna and miscellaneous stuff from the prop room fly over the saloon in the storm scene.  There’s also some nice thunder and lightning from the techies and some fun simulated slow mo action scenes done in the vein of silent western flickers.

     

     Unfortunately we have to wait until final curtain for a rollicking musical number that makes one wish there had been others of its ilk to move the story along. The show’s production values, which are a bit on the ragged side, are shored up with grins and giggles generated by the exaggerated contrast of having the Bard’s characters perform slapstick antics like country bumpkins and speak the queen’s English with a rustic twang.The show is free to the public in the hopes that one will leave a donation at the door. The price is right, the cast enthusiastic and one wishes this fledgling company great good luck as we look forward to seeing “BETH,” its send-up of the Scottish play.

The Betsy Stage presents"The Travesty of Lear"

Shakespeare’s timeless tale and set it in the Old West.

Now -  Jan. 25

Fri./ Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m.

Cost:  FREE (donations accepted)

Reservations required by calling 720-328-5294

The Betsy Stage, 1133 S. Huron St. Denver, CO 80223 Marlowe's Musings

Young Frankenstein

Vintage Theatre: 12/20 – 2/2

     As a character in his own film, “History of the World Part I” Mel Brooks says: ”It’s Good to be the king.” Brooks truly is the king…of Comedy. His 1974 film “Young Frankenstein” is now a cult favorite. Many fans know every line right down to the accent the actors used. 

     In 2007 “Young Frankenstein, the Musical” was nominated for three Tony Awards and also received The Outer Critics Circle’s award for Best Musical.

     In Director Deb Flomberg’s production of “Young Frankenstein” there are laughs galore!  One of the nice directorial touches was Ms. Flomberg’s having the villagers running with cardboard cut-outs of the trees to give the illusion that the horse cart is moving in the number “Roll, Roll, Roll in Za Hay.”

Seth Maisel

     Seth Maisel does a fine job of portraying Frederick Frankenstein. Maisel’s  performance is full of the hysteria and panic one remembers from Gene Wilder’s portrayal of this character in the movie.

    Mark Shonsey is a hoot as Frankenstein’s coweled and hump-shifting assistant Igor.

Mark Shonsey

     Hunter Hall’s music direction gives us a very full sound from the offstage live orchestra. From time to time one might wish however, for a bit of volume modulation in the sound design so that none of the deliciously funny dialogue is missed.

    Mike Kienker’s portrayal of the monster is so funny it’s scary. Jamie Horban’s choreography is at its best in the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” number in which Mr. Kienker and Mr. Maisel take center stage. 

    Patrick Brownson’s Inspector Kemp contributes nicely.

     Douglas Clark has provided a very clever set complete with all things dungeon-like. Christopher Waller’s lighting design s filled with electrical zaps and bolts of lightning, which are magnified by Curt Behm’s thunderous sound design.

     Kristi Siedow-Thompson is a voluptuous and fetching Inga. 

     Shahara Ray’s Elizabeth is most memorable. When she gets to unleash her acting and singing prowess in her ode to her own vanity: “It’s me, it’s Me, It’s me” she is especially good! 

     The opening night crowd embraced the show with great laughter and huge applause.

Dec. 15 - Feb 2
Fri/Sat at 7:30 p.m.; Sun at 2:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 31@ 6:30 p.m.

$31($26 advance)
303-856-7830 or online at www.vintagetheatre.com

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010Marlowe's Musings