Anything Goes Littleton Town Hall Arts Center Anything Goes premiered in 1934, after a hasty rewrite: The original plot concerned a shipwreck, and shortly before the play’s scheduled opening night, a fire broke out on a cruise liner and 137 passengers were killed. By then the writing team, which included…

Hamlet, a Gypsy Tale The Betsy Stage The ending of the Betsy Stage’s Hamlet, a Gypsy Tale is appealing: Having taken their bows with the aid of various eccentric moves and magic tricks, the performers circle the space to the fast, compelling rhythms of “L’Orient Est Rouge,” which the program…

Buried Child. Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979, still carries a creepy wallop. The story of a violently dysfunctional family — a drunken, abusive father who has destroyed his sons and is now being destroyed in return — it was hailed in its time as…

Lucky Me Curious Theatre Company 1080 Acoma Street 303-623-0524 Curious Theatre Company’s participation in the National New Play Network has been a boon for Denver audiences, in particular the company’s loyal cadre of regulars, who tend to be the kind of people who want to hear new voices and are…

Buried Child. Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979, still carries a creepy wallop. The story of a violently dysfunctional family — a drunken, abusive father who has destroyed his sons and is now being destroyed in return — it was hailed in its time as…

The musical Kinky Boots, which was inspired by a modest 2005 film, tells the story of an unlikely partnership. Charlie has just inherited his father’s shoe factory in Northampton in the English Midlands, a factory once known for producing some of the highest-quality shoes in the country. But the business…

Ambition Facing West. Anthony Clarvoe’s Ambition Facing West is ostensibly about immigration, since it deals with three generations of an immigrant family — their lives, identities and ambitions in the mythical trek west for safety, opportunity and freedom, however defined. But Clarvoe goes deeper than this. His play isn’t a…

Buried Child Edge Theatre Company Sam Shepard’s Buried Child which won a Pulitzer in 1979, still carries a creepy wallop. The story of a violently dysfunctional family — a drunken, abusive father who has destroyed his sons and is now being destroyed in return — it was hailed as a…

Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an anguished meditation on the nature of evil. Golding, who fought in the Royal Navy during World War II, was acutely aware of the horrors of which humankind was capable when he wrote this novel, which was first published…

For Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is pretty weak tea. While the play is relatively funny and does have some outrageously inventive moments, the black humor, zany surprise, sheer unfettered impudence and break-the-dishes iconoclasm of Durang’s other works is missing. Which may explain why this is…

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I like reality television — up to a point, at least. Wife Swap fascinated me with the rich stew of dissonance it routinely created: the prissy perfectionist wife trying to adjust to a home where teenagers spent all day playing video games and eating…

Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an anguished meditation on the nature of evil. Golding, who fought in the Royal Navy during World War II, was acutely aware of the horrors of which humankind was capable when he wrote this novel, which was first published…

My friend Geoffrey Stern, who taught international relations at the London School of Economics, used to try and tease out of his students a definition of the word “nation.” Was a nation simply its physical boundaries? A group of people living under a specific government, or with a common language…

The Unsinkable Molly Brown. The Unsinkable Molly Brown is one of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s most ambitious productions to date: The company has spared neither pains nor expense in having Meredith Willson’s 1960 musical, which was fairly insipid, reworked and remounted. This iteration began life as part of the…

The first thing you see is the Manhattan skyline — but it’s viewed from across the river, in Hoboken, New Jersey: a symbol, perhaps, of thwarted aspirations. An elderly man, Ralph Bellini, is sitting on a bench in a dog park. Carol Reynolds, an elderly woman, enters; she’s giving her…

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an anguished meditation on the nature of evil. Golding, who fought in the Royal Navy during World War II, was acutely aware of the horrors of which humankind was capable when he wrote this novel, first published in 1954 — a time when…

A Steady Rain. A Steady Raintells the striking story of a rogue cop. Denny is not above petty infractions; he has his scams; he’s on the take from prostitutes. Yet in his own sick way, he’s committed to logic and the motto to “protect and serve.” At the play’s beginning,…

The Unsinkable Molly Brown is one of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s most ambitious productions in its thirty-year history: The company has spared neither pains nor expense in having Meredith Willson’s 1960 musical reworked and remounted — and the results are impressive. See also: The Unsinkable Margaret Brown Was a…

A Steady Rain. A Steady Rain tells the striking story of a rogue cop. Denny is not above petty infractions; he has his scams; he’s on the take from prostitutes. Yet in his own sick way, he’s committed to logic and the motto to “protect and serve.” At the play’s…

When the members of Buntport Theater Company are at the top of their form, wonderful things happen. And with Naughty Bits, they’re at their peak both in terms of performance and — since this company creates all its plays collaboratively — in terms of the humor, flow and inventiveness of…