The plot might be hokey and the performances uneven, but on the strength of an eclectic score, fine orchestral playing and some poignant episodes, the Denver Opera Company’s production of Patience and Sarah is more than a high-minded conversation piece about sex and sexuality. The 1998 work, which is receiving…
There exists deep within any man who once read comic books and collected them–protected them, actually, with plastic sleeves and cardboard backs and boxes that fought off the yellowing of time–the mythical being known as The Fanboy. A long time ago, The Fanboy pored over every issue of Worlds Finest…
The title of the 1971 Gordon Parks detective movie Shaft worked as a double entendre; when it presented Richard Roundtree’s “black private dick,” John Shaft, as a superstud at whom women of every race threw themselves, it wasn’t hard to believe. The joke changes when the name is given to…
Kikujiro, the latest release from Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano, will likely come as a surprise to his American fans — possibly even a disappointment — if they walk in unprepared. But in fact, the movie is altogether worthwhile, so just get yourselves prepared. Kitano initially attracted attention when his first…
It’s the year 3028, and man…is an endangered species! (Haven’t we heard that before — like, just last month?) This time around, though, the threat is a little more intimidating than those effeminate, Xenu-worshiping Conehead psychologists in platform boots. The villains in Fox’s new animated spectacular Titan A.E. are the…
Watching people in a bathroom might not sound like art, but for Denver artist Cinthea Fiss and her Los-Angeles-based partner Kelly Hashimoto, it’s the perfect way to explore the line between the public and private spheres. Fiss and Hashimoto’s video installation “Buck Stop: Pro-Vanities in the Bathroom,” along with the…
Now in its 24th season, the Colorado Renaissance Festival gallops into gear this weekend, bringing a castleful of activities harking back to the Middle Ages. And while there’s plenty of family-style olde-world entertainment (petting farms, medieval arts and crafts, food and toys), adults can revel in the bawdy humor of…
Among the pleasures of Golden’s Foothills Art Center — other than the wonderful old church and parish house it occupies — are several shows that are a part of its regular schedule. One of these, the North American Sculpture Exhibition, or NASE, can be counted on to be one of…
Its no understatement to say that without Phil Bender there would be no Pirate co-op. One of the founders of the group in 1980, Benders the only one to stick around. And stick is a good word to use, since hes the glue that held the place together during difficult…
Kenneth Hoyle might be a ’60s idealist who began his career in the Peace Corps, but during the last couple of decades, he’s become well versed in the cloak-and-dagger office wars that define most every adult’s working life. Spurred on by the lure of regular promotions and raises as well…
Prodded to share his emotions with the woman he’s just slept with, a no-nonsense cab driver utters the immortal line, “Feel is a big word.” Like most of the ten urban dwellers in David Hare’s The Blue Room, the cabbie and his one-night partner are relative strangers who seem more…
His name appears in almost every book written about Groucho Marx, so much so, he has been given the appropriate appellation by members of the Marx family: Wesso. But Paul Wesolowski is of no relation to the famous clan. Hes a man in his 40s who lives outside Philadelphia and,…
Literary critics often call Hamlet “the first modern man” because he’s preoccupied with the nature of self and the consequences of action. But in a spellbinding new take on Shakespeare’s great tragedy by independent filmmaker Michael Almereyda, the melancholy prince also takes on the trappings and attitudes of postmodern man…
How does a film critic — or any film viewer — come to terms with Matthew Barney’s Cremaster films? The thirty-something Yale graduate has apparently been a major figure in the New York art scene for nearly a decade. I say “apparently,” because my aversion to the New York art…
Apart from mass cultural annihilation, Beatniks, Hee Haw, some dumbass sports and the freak shows of Boulder, most pop-culture trends are not homegrown, but imported to America after prolonged cultivation overseas. Take that novelty food tofu, for instance, dubbed le curd du soy by uncredited Belgian sailors exploring China centuries…
Never mind trying to decipher the plot: If you really want to understand the Cirque du Soleil, open your eyes and shut off your mind. Forget your expectations and just be amazed, because, at its best, the Cirque is the stuff of dreams — a highbrow sports event delivered in…
The erudite and upstanding host of National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, Scott Simon, has seen it all, firsthand, from El Salvador to Sarajevo. Yet in spite of his vast professional portfolio, when the quintessential news correspondent wrote a memoir, it was, loosely, about being a sports fan. But names can…
There’s a lot of gossip in the local art world. Some of the rumors don’t make sense, which usually means they’re not true. But I’m privy to one group of gabbers who wind up being correct most of the time. It’s hard to pinpoint the source of this collective commentary…
Mark Lunning is better known as an artisan — a master printer — than he is as an artist. But at the same time that hes been working with some of the best artists around at Open Press, his fine printing shop in Broadway Terrace, hes also been making his…
The artfully negotiated tug-of-war that takes place between mortals and spirits in The Secret Garden reaches its apotheosis when an anguished widower and his departed wife finally resolve to set each other free. Summoning a lyrical eloquence that occasionally surfaces elsewhere in the Town Hall Arts Center’s enjoyable production, two…
The only thing that prevents Accomplice from careening into farcical overdrive is the playwright’s penchant for backtracking over every plot twist and turn. A satirical hybrid that mixes the backstage comedy of Noises Off with the thriller instincts of Deathtrap, Rupert Holmes’s offbeat spoof is the final production of the…
For a moment or two, David Lowery — front man for the band Cracker, and before that, beloved college-radio revolutionary sweethearts Camper Van Beethoven — found himself enjoying the book. He laughed in the right places, winced in the appropriate spots and thought, for a moment, the book wasnt half…
