That unfunny dramatic theorist Aristotle probably would have loathed the idea that the high point of the Central City Opera’s production of Dialogues of the Carmelites occurs in Act One, long before a proper “rising action” develops. Even so, audiences will undoubtedly appreciate the fact that mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle marvelously…
On the eve of an infamous assassination, several concerned Romans gather in their leader’s home to plan the next day’s doings. Like any cadre of revolutionaries, Brutus and his gang of nobles spend a great deal of time reassuring each other that the only way to preserve the body politic…
Smartly directed, honestly acted and imaginatively written, HorseChart Theatre Company’s production of O.T. takes on prickly issues with the kind of spunky tenacity that one expects from a group of theatrical renegades. Clay Nichols’s drama, which is being presented at the Denver Civic Theatre as part of HorseChart’s participation in…
Had Leonard Bernstein been regarded as a musical-theater genius a year or two before he wrote On the Town, the 1944 work might not have been cut to ribbons when it was made into a movie starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Apparently unimpressed with all of the material in…
Aesthetics collide, myths explode and philosophies swirl about with dizzying delight in Candide. Just when the title character seems on the verge of articulating truths about the human condition, an unlikely catastrophe or comic accident spirits him to one of many far-off locales, where he contemplates life’s mysteries all over…
A corporate sponsor’s flattering comments and a University of Colorado official’s town-and-gown speechifying delayed the start of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s opening show by nearly 25 minutes. Shortly after the Boulder bureaucrats finished droning, however, audience members who had paid upwards of $40 apiece to see a professional-caliber production of…
More worldly wise than yesteryear’s bar-hoppers, yet every bit as desperate for companionship, the characters in I Love You, You¹re Perfect, Now Change long to secure intimacy without subjecting themselves to courtship’s absurdities. As these legions of swingers, loners and dreamers discover, though, there are reasons (including one or two…
Like any nation governed by an imperious busybody, the grassroots environs of Insectavia regularly buzz about with gossip and intrigue. The tiny duchy’s ant queen — who justifies her absolute authority by claiming to be the kingdom’s wisest inhabitant — has offered one-half of the treasury to any segmented, six-legged…
The dynamic that develops between student and teacher can either strengthen the intellect or destroy it, depending on either party’s ability to distinguish pedagogy from thought control. Sound confusing? Wait until you enter the landscape of the mind peopled by three “educators” in Fakulty Frolix. The loosely related trio of…
Two years ago, Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam so enthralled local audiences that most people waited until they were well outside the blue-and-yellow big top before asking of the bizarre storyline, “What did it all mean?” This time around, the Montreal troupe’s high-flying virtuosity proves just as impressive in Dralion, a…
Engaging performances, strong production values and some admiring nods to Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 film mark Hunger Artists Ensemble Theatre’s pleasant production of Much Ado About Nothing. William Shakespeare’s dark-edged comedy, which Branagh adapted, directed and starred in to deserved acclaim (along with his then-wife Emma Thompson), centers around two pairs…
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…
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…
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…
lthough critics and audiences have been devout in their praise of upstart playwrights like Martin McDonagh, the recent Irish invasion of New York hasn’t left everyone breathless with excitement. In fact, more than a few theater practitioners claim that the sound of broguish prose is drowning out America’s distinct, native…
A program note indicates that the Denver Center Theatre Company’s production of The Miser, which was written in 1668, is set in “a French Townhouse in the late 1830s.” The post-French Revolution setting would seem appropriate for Jean Baptiste Molière’s play, which explores the relationship between wealth and social position:…
Most families have a hard enough time taking care of their own problems, let alone those of distant, ailing relatives. But when a primary caregiver discovers that she has leukemia and can’t properly attend to her bedridden father and sick aunt, the proverbial ties that bind the characters in Marvins…
What determines a Shakespearean actor’s greatness? Is it the will to uphold established practice while embracing the avant-garde? Does it depend on how ingeniously a performer wrests humanity from every role, whether central or subordinate? And when the dangers of rote and creative stagnation creep into an actor’s great room,…
The great German director Max Reinhardt may have been able to mount some 24 different versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including a 1935 film that starred James Cagney as Bottom and Mickey Rooney as Puck. Most mere mortals, however, learn that presenting even one fully staged production of Shakespeare’s…
Scholars perennially debate whether it’s an opera or a musical, pundits slather politically correct whitewash over its antiquated portrait of black life and critics alternately champion and decry its eclectic score of ballads, jazzed-up spirituals and show-tune fragments. Audiences, meanwhile, never seem to get enough of the unforgettable melodies and…
