STONEWALL

BENCHMARK THEATRE: June 9 – July 1

 

 “Stonewall,” is a “devised” work, written by Neil Truglio. 

      Mr. Truglio, who with Abner Genece and Candace Joice two seasons ago helmed the creation of another “devised work” titled ELEPHANT (Marlowe Award for Best New Play), is a force to be reckoned with.

     Truglio also directs and designs this production, delivering a powerful memory play honoring the individuals who took a stand against police, politicians and the mob in the Christopher Street riots. Their demand for freedom, dignity and PRIDE, began our nation’s journey to where the LGBTQ community is today with regard to equal rights. 

      Stonewall is a powerful play with a cast larger than any to have ever graced the stage of this intimate venue.

   Anchoring the piece are performances by two veteran actors portraying gay and lesbian characters who experienced the tumult leading up to the riots at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969, as well as one character who was involved with the police and politicians.

      Dan O’Neill (Martin Boyce), Barbara Porreca (Martha Shelley) and Verl Hite (Seymour Pine) break the fourth wall, speaking directly to us as audience as the historical drama unfolds behind them. 

   The police raid on the Stonewall Inn involving abusive treatment of customers and bartenders alike led to six days of violence and protests in the Village.

     The huge cast is comprised of many new faces that one hopes will appear soon again on stages across Denver.    

     Due to the time constraints of such a work, we are given only fleeting glimpses of all these courageous men and women. It would take an epic work to explore them in such a way as to truly give them their due.

     It is to be noted that due to content and language, no children under the age of 12 are admitted.

     The producers also caution parents in this regard that police brutality and harassment, as well as homophobic and transphobic slurs, hate crimes and murders are referenced as well.

     This is a true story that started the nationwide struggle for LGBTQ rights. It is perfect timing for Benchmark to produce this show during Pride Month.

    If you are a lover of serious docudrama, go see this powerful production!

 

For tickets go online at benchmarktheatre.com

 

 DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

PERFORMANCE NOW THEATRE COMPANY: JUNE 9-JUNE 24

          

L-R: Chris Boeckx and Tim Howard (Photo credit: RDG Photography)

Based upon the 1998 movie, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,”this musical has music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Jeffrey Lane.

     The show was nominated for ten Tony Awards in 2005, and Norbert Leo Butz won the prize for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.

     Set on the French Riviera, two “fraudsters” trying to upstage one another in the art of flimflam, are outdone by an heiress they try to scam.

    Director Bernie Cardell has cast this production to perfection and paced it at a breathtaking clip.

     Chris Boeckx (Lawrence Jameson) and Tim Howard(Freddie Benson) play the two scam artists. 

      Boeckx’ vocals are excellent! His version of “Give Them What They Want” is suave and debonair perfection.  His impersonation of Dr. Shuffhausen is a hoot!

    Tim Howard is hysterically bombastic in his singing of “Great Big Stuff!”  His side-splitting scene with Boeckx, “All About Ruprecht,” is priceless.

 

     Amy Geiger is the Find of the evening! Her portrayal of Christine Colgate, in which she sings “Here I Am” and “Nothing is Too Wonderful to be True” with Mr. Howard, is Amazing! 

 

      As Muriel, Melissa Fike delivers an ear-pleasing version of “What Was a Woman to Do?”

          In the role of Andre Thibault, Jim Hitzke is at his best singing “Chimp in a Suit,” while trying to upgrade Freddy from crass to class. “Like Zis, Like Zat,” his duet with Ms. Fike, charms.

     Jenny Weiss’s take on Jolene, the husband-hunting cowgirl from “Oklahoma,” is high octane fun indeed! Ms. Weiss is a whirlwind of comic musical theatre energy!!!

     Spicing up the high-kicking ensemble, Dallas Slankard and Andy Sievers, both Marlowe Award winners for past performances at this venue, make Will Treat’s choreography sparkle! 

        Andrew Bates dazzles us with his scenic design once again!

     Heather Iris Holt’s music direction is superb!

     This production will make you forget the trauma of the evening news and leave you soaring out into the June evening humming the joyous ear-worms of David Yazbek’s tuneful score.

   How does it get any better than that?

     Run to get tickets!

 

For tickets call 303-987-7845 or go online at performancenow.org

 

 

 

 

 DRIVING MISS DAISY

VINTAGE THEATRE: June 2 – July 9

 

   Deborah Persoff and Cris Davenport

              (photo credit: RDG PHOTOGRAPHY)

Deborah Persoff is a National Treasure!

 

The first play in Alfred Uhry’s ‘Atlanta Trilogy,’ “Driving Miss Daisy,” won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It’s about Daisy Werthan, an elderly Jewish lady and her relationship with Hoke Coleburn, a black chauffeur, who drove for her in Atlanta  from 1948 to 1973.

     The show has been done both on and off Broadway as well as on London’s West End. Adapting the play for the 1989 film, Uhry won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. The film also received an Oscar for Best Picture as well as Best Actress for Jessica Tandy.

     By turns cantankerous and tender, Deborah Persoff’s exquisitely luminous performance will stay in your heart for a very long time.  Ms. Persoff is theatre royalty, and the Denver audience is fortunate to be able to experience her magnificent work.

     Ever since I first saw Cris Davenport in “Intimate Apparel” (Marlowe Award for Best Supporting Actor), I have searched for his name in every program. His work in “District Merchants” (Marlowe Award for Best Actor) was superb. 

     In the role of Hoke Colburn, Daisy Werthan’s chauffeur, Mr. Davenport’s humor and heartfelt emotion make this performance unforgettable.

     William B. Kahn is brilliant in the role of Boolie, Daisy’s son and Hoke’s employer. Mr. Kahn’s performance is the most amiable and multi-dimensional version of this character in memory.   

     Lorraine Scott’s direction of this play is top drawer. Her casting and pacing of the proceedings are supremely well done.

     Rick Reid’s sound design bridges the scenes with excellent musical choices.       

     Kevin Taylor’s lighting design enhances the mood with his usual professional skill.

     The scenic design by Urja Hurkute includes Daisy’s living room, Boolie’s office and a thoroughly well-executed version of Daisy’s car.

    The costumes by Susan Rahmsdorff-Terry are spot on.

    Megan O’Connor’s wig for Ms. Persoff is flawless.

     The characters in this play navigate the social changes going on in the South between 1948 and 1973.  Among them are the bombing of Atlanta’s Temple in 1958 and the 1965 salute to Martin Luther King Jr.

   Uhry is the first playwright to win the Tony, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Oscar.

     You simply must see this heart-opening humanistic production. 

      Run to get tickets!

 

Vintage Theatre Productions

"Driving Miss Daisy"

The heart-warming story of the unlikely friendship. 

June 2 – July 9

Fri/Sat @ 7:30 p.m.; Mon., June 12 @ 7:30 p.m.; Sun @ 2:30 p.m.

$20 - $34

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

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Memphis is a knock-out!

 

Wunderkind Mykai Eastman and veteran director Billie McBride co-direct this production of Memphis at Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton. Their stage direction of the piece together with their impeccable casting and steady pace make the show unmissable. Mr. Eastman, who assistant directed “The Color Purple” for the Denver Center Theatre Company, also designed the thrilling choreography for this show.

     Award-winning musical theatre actor Carter Edward Smith turns in a spectacular performance in the role of Huey Calhoun, the rebellious disc jockey who popularized songs by black artists in the racially divided Memphis of the 1950s.

      Krisangela Washington is a gorgeous triple threat knock-out as Felicia Farrell, the sexy black singer that Huey falls for at Delray’s black rock n’ roll bar on Beale Street. 

     This incredibly talented artist needs to be cast as a leading lady much more often! It was a delight to see - and hear - her onstage in this role.

     The excellent casting includes Denver favorites: John Ashton (Mr. Simmons), co-author of “Murder Most Fowl,” one of Denver’s longest running comedies, Rick Long (Marlowe Award for his portrayal of Big Daddy in Vintage Theatre’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,”) and Abby Apple Boes, who has just completed an astonishing performance starring in David Nehls’ “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at Miners Alley Playhouse. 

      As Huey’s mother, Gladys, Abby Apple Boes astonishes in the acting and the vocals. 

  New to this reviewer, the other stand-outs in the cast are Jozeph Michaels as Felicia’s brother, Delray,  Joseph Sanford IV as Bobby and Preston “P-Jay” Adams as Gator.

     It’s wonderful to see John Mackey back at Town Hall in numerous supporting roles as well.

     By turns heart-opening and heart-breaking, MEMPHIS won four Tony awards in 2010.

     The show includes incredible rock n roll, wailin’ blues, and exhilarating gospel. 

     The costume design by Nicole M. Harrison is eye-popping indeed!

     Trent Hines’ music direction of this Tony Award winning score is excellent! 

     El Armstrong’s projection design keeps us up to date regarding place and time, as well as providing visuals of relevant news clippings.

    With lighting design by Kate Bashore, set by M. Curtis Grittner and sound design by Curt Behm, the technical end of things is primo.

     The music for MEMPHIS was composed by David Bryan with lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro. The book for the musical was written by DiPietro.

     This musical won four Tony awards in 2010 including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book for a Musical and Best Orchestrations.

          Do Not Miss This Show!!!

 

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

 THE HEADLINERS

CHERRY CREEK THEATRE: 5/5 – 5/21

 

L-R: Norrell Moore and Jeremy Rill

     The World Premiere of Jeffrey Neuman’s “The Headliners” brings us the story of the struggle of two very real Vaudeville stars who are trying to be their true authentic selves in the hostile social milieu of 1908 NYC.

     Neuman’s play was a finalist in the 2021 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

 

     Norrell Moore is a whirlwind of fiery energy as Eva Tanguay. Belting out the stunning musical numbers in her delicious naughty, bawdy fashion, this diva has the audience eating out of her hand! As Eva, she has the dominant personality of a survivor and a conniver and will even go as far as fisticuffs with a heckling patron.

    Her final song “I Don’t Care” will take your breath away.

   Jeremy Rill is outstanding in his portrayal of Julian Eltinge, the best female impersonator of his time.

The scene near final curtain in which he sings in a black evening gown with elbow-length black gloves and white plumed fan, courtesy of costume designer Linda Morken, is stunning! Julian talks about his fear of getting beat up just walking to the theatre. His relationship with Eva is a "match made in headlines."

      Paul Jaquith as Walter provides intermittent comic moments performing his job of stage manager.

     Blurring the lines between the world of the stage and the unaccepting offstage world of bigotry towards anyone who does not conform, these characters “beard an unheard-of act of defiance.” (No spoilers!)  The struggle of these pioneers to come to terms with the inequalities of the day was ground-breaking in terms of drag performances today.

     Having cast the play impeccably, Director Nick Sugar paces it in such a way that the evening flies by.

     Tina Anderson’s scenic design gives us a vaudeville stage complete with crimson curtains and art deco lighting sconces.

     The music direction by David Nehls is remarkable. All the songs are SO good, you’ll wish there were a CD to purchase in the lobby.

      Emily A. Maddox’s lighting design shifts and enhances the moods dramatically.

   From Ms. Moore’s first frock made of dollar bills to the shimmering gold and ivory gown with ermine stole near show’s end, Linda Morken’s costume design dazzles the eye. 

     Max Silverman’s sound design rocks!

 

A tip of the hat to Susie Snodgrass and the board of Cherry Creek Theatre for fostering such great Art. It’s a gift. In this case, both artistically and socially! 

Get in line for tickets now. Soon this show may be SRO for the run!

 

For tickets call:   303-800-6578                or go online at cherrycreektheatre.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 THE SOUND OF MUSIC

BDT STAGE: 4/29 -8/19

BDT Stage’s production of the perennial favorite THE SOUND OF MUSIC is the Hottest Ticket in Town for Denver families this summer! It was the most requested musical by the patrons of this beloved theatre, and BDT Stage has given those patrons an experience to remember! This musical is so universally loved, and the emotions run so high during this production, it will, I am certain, prove to be an unforgettable evening of familial bonding. 

     Under the astute directorial eye of Alicia K. Meyers (she also plays Elsa,) BDT Stage has taken this musical from an out-to-pasture old war-horse to a coltish, fresh-feeling and healing experience. It’s one we all need after Covid and the political travesties of the last several years. 

     McKayla Marso McDonough is a Maria for the ages! This beautiful actor has a soprano to die for and blesses us with a Maria that is not only innocent, but the embodiment of real ‘goodness.’  Her singing of the title song, “My Favorite Things,” and “Confidence,” stun!

     Scott Severtson gives us one of the most endearing performances of Georg ever! “Something Good,” his duet with Ms. McDonough, enchants.

     As the Mother Abbess, Colorado favorite    Tracy Warren’s singing of “Climb Every Mountain,” will lift you out of your seat!  A shining musical moment indeed!

     Bob Hoppe plays an exceptionally animated Matt Dettweiler. He’s at his best leading the Von Trapp children singing “The Lonely Goatherd.”

       In their delightful duet “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” Claire Leon is an adorable Liesl, and Chris Warren, a strong Rolf.      

     All the young actors who act and sing the parts of the Von Trapp children are excellent. Their “So Long, Farewell” and “Edelweiss,” most memorable.

     Under the baton of Music director Neal Dunfee, the scrumptions BDT Stage orchestra sounds better than ever.

     The morphing of Amy Campion’s scenic design from the Abbey to the Von Trapp family’s mansion is sheer magic.

    The traditional choreography of this piece by Tracey Dennig, is spot on.

    Wayne Kennedy’s sound design is outstanding. 

     The lighting design by Brett Maughan is the professional work we have all come to expect from him.

     The projection design by Tom Quinn gives us glorious views of the stained glass rose window in the Abbey as well as views of the soaring mountainous landscape at the top of the show.

     

     As devastated as we all are to have heard that this much loved 45-year-old dinner theatre is closing due to some people from another state buying her, there is, I am told, some hope. There are rumors flying everywhere! It is to be hoped that there will at least be an extension of time. If so, the theatre’s creator, Ross Haley is surely blessing us once more. This time from Heaven.

    

     And “Wonder of wonders, Miracle of miracles,” It’s just come across the internet! BDT gets one more production. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with WAYNE KENNEDY reprising his outstanding portrayal of Tevye  from September 9 to January 13, 2024. The show will be directed by Colorado favorite, Kenny Moten. 

 

                           GRATEFUL!

 

For tickets call 303-449-6000 or go online at bdtstage.com

 ELIZABETH REX

11 MINUTES THEATRE COMPANY: APRIL 27 – MAY 15

 

                Margaret Casart and Verl Hite

Written by Paul Thompson and Timothy Findley, and directed by Tiya Trent and Janine Ann Kehlenbach,” Elizabeth Rex” is currently playing at the People’s Building on East Colfax.

    What a treat to get to see Margaret  Casart as Elizabeth the First. Frequently seen in the classics presented by Ed Baierlein and Sallie Diamond over at Germinal Stage Denver, one is overjoyed to see her treading the boards once again.   Ms. Casart is a truly great actor, and costumed in gold and ivory, she commands the stage beautifully as Queen Elizabeth I. 

     Matthew Schultz turns in a passionate performance as Ned Lowenscraft, a male actor who performs the female roles in Shakespeare’s plays. This time, it’s Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing.” 

     Visiting the Bard and cast after the performance, Elizabeth is distraught. It’s the evening before her one-time lover, The Earl of Essex’s execution.

     The Queen has required herself to take on a ‘manly’ disposition as regent to protect her England. Ned has been required by custom-and sexuality-to conform with the tradition of taking on a womanly disposition playing the Bard’s female characters.

    The catch-line for the play, which is spoken by the queen is, “If you will teach me how to be a woman, I will teach you how to be a man." 

     This compelling puzzle that Elizabeth creates as a distraction from the inevitable, is muddied by some of the other characters' lack of understanding of protocols required in the presence of a monarch. The treatment of this sovereign by the characters in this play is on several occasions less than deferential.

     One must lay this at the feet of the playwright(s). 

     One would not argue, dispute her opinion, or raise one’s voice to her. The punishment for this would have been immediate “towering” and execution.

     That said, there is much good to be said  about the performances. 

     Joseph Graves Jr. is an amiable and articulate Shakespeare.     

     Shashauna Staton, is a very funny Mistress Kate Tardwell.

     Alison Talvacchio is appropriately proper and sober as Lord Cecil.

           Verl Hite is outrageously hilarious as Percy, a fool who’s remembered by the queen for his “exquisite falling down.”

     Julie Williamson delivers a Lady Anne Henslowe who is appropriately sour and barely ambulatory.

     First produced in 2000 at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, it won the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award.

Go and support the 11 Minutes Theatre Company at The People’s Building located at 9995 E. Colfax

 

For tickets call: 720-333-3499