Sam Gregory, one of the most interesting and talented actors around, began his professional life working for the California Shakespeare Theater soon after graduating from college. “I made $50 a week,” he says. “Maybe $43.37 after taxes.” This summer, Gregory returns for his third season with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival,…
Superlatives are handed out way too often in the arts, but you can’t avoid them when describing the Vail International Dance Festival, which every year stages two weeks of dance ranging from classical ballet to contemporary to performances by artists from such shows as Dancing With the Stars. Director Damian…
There aren’t many outlets for local playwrights in Denver, but Rick Yaconis, artistic director of Edge Theater Company, is determined to change that. This is the second year for the company’s On the Edge: A Festival of New Plays. “We wanted to diversify our programming and make a commitment to…
I Hate Hamlet. I Hate Hamlet is a bit like the curate’s egg: hilariously funny in parts, and in others so idiotic that you’re embarrassed for the actors. Why is the radiant Jamie Ann Romero wasting her talents wafting about as Deirdre, a stagestruck 29-year-old virgin who’ll have sex with…
King Henry IV gained the throne by deposing his predecessor, Richard II, and having him murdered, and in Henry IV, Part 1, the crown lies uneasily on his head. He’s beset with political problems: Men who aided his insurgency have turned against him; there’s rebellion brewing throughout the kingdom; and,…
For some in a Phamaly Theatre Company production, just getting out of bed, dressing and arriving at rehearsal is a grueling ordeal. The group — once known as the Physically Handicapped Actors and Music Arts League — comprises performers with all kinds of physical problems, some more visible than others…
In the ballet world, Damian Woetzel is a rock star. A one-time New York City Ballet principal, he retired in 2008, his last performance marked by a burst of critical praise, a shower of blooms and an ovation that lasted ten minutes. Since then, he’s been busy. It’s impossible to…
The Colorado Theatre Guild’s Henry Awards, which were presented last night, have been growing in stature, professionalism and efficiency in some ways for quite a while — but this has come at a cost. The awards used to be judged by around a dozen professional theater critics, and because those…
The Henry Awards, named for longtime and much-loved theater impresario Henry Lowenstein, are organized by the Colorado Theatre Guild and given annually for excellence in theater. Colorado’s version of the Tonys, the Henrys are presented at a gala that also serves as a fundraiser for the guild and is attended…
I Hate Hamlet. I Hate Hamlet is a bit like the curate’s egg: hilariously funny in parts, and in others so idiotic that you’re embarrassed for the actors. Why is the radiant Jamie Ann Romero wasting her talents wafting about as Deirdre, a stagestruck 29-year-old virgin who’ll have sex with…
Jamie Wollrab works in Los Angeles as a director, actor and acting coach, but he grew up in Boulder and loves Colorado. “My family lives here,” he says, “and they don’t often get to see my work.” That’s why he and a couple of professional colleagues decided to bring Rajiv…
I Hate Hamlet. I Hate Hamlet is a bit like the curate’s egg: hilariously funny in parts, and in others so idiotic that you’re embarrassed for the actors. Why is the radiant Jamie Ann Romero wasting her talents wafting about as Deirdre, a stagestruck 29-year-old virgin who’ll have sex with…
In the third act of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at Central City Opera, sopranos Sinead Mulhern and Anna Christy sing “Che Soave Zefiretto,” the duet in which the Countess (Mulhern) composes a letter for her maid Susanna (Christy) to take down; the two women are playing a comic trick…
I Hate Hamlet. I Hate Hamlet is a bit like the curate’s egg: hilariously funny in parts, and in others so idiotic that you’re embarrassed for the actors. Why is the radiant Jamie Ann Romero wasting her talents wafting about as Deirdre, a stagestruck 29-year-old virgin who’ll have sex with…
The Merry Wives of Windsor isn’t one of Shakespeare’s best plays. I read somewhere that it was written in response to the desire of Queen Elizabeth I to see the fat knight in love, and the plot is slight. This Sir John Falstaff isn’t the one we know from the…
When I go to the Boulder Farmers’ Market — as I did Saturday — a kind of madness possesses me. I purchase a handful of market bucks with my credit card (a useful feature; these bucks can be exchanged for anything at any vendor’s stall, and you’ll get your change…
I Hate Hamlet. I Hate Hamlet is a bit like the curate’s egg: hilariously funny in parts, and in others so idiotic that you’re embarrassed for the actors. Why is the radiant Jamie Ann Romero wasting her talents wafting about as Deirdre, a stagestruck 29-year-old virgin who’ll have sex with…
I Hate Hamlet is a bit like the curate’s egg: hilariously funny in parts and in others so idiotic that you’re embarrassed for the actors. Why is the radiant Jamie Ann Romero wasting her talents wafting about as Deirdre, a stagestruck 29-year-old virgin who’ll have sex with boyfriend Andrew only…
The Boulder Farmers’ Market sees the first Colorado cherries on Saturday. The strawberries are gone for now, though we’ll eventually get a second flush (and I discover some later that day at the new market in Louisville just down the road); we’re unlikely to have any Colorado apricots this year;…
The finalists for this year’s Henry Awards in theater have been announced. Given by the Colorado Theatre Guild, which covers the entire state, the Henrys are decided by dozens of judges, six of whom must attend every eligible production. As always, the list of finalists comprises both expected choices and…
The Graduate. The more you think about it, the more you realize what a weak play The Graduate really is. Adapted for the stage by Terry Johnson from a 1960s novel by Charles Webb — which in turn became an iconic film starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft — it…
Prospero in The Tempest, now receiving a checkered production at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, rules over a magical island — magical in a way that only the Elizabethan imagination, which saw dragons and sea serpents inhabiting all unknown territories, could summon up. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, but…
