New Year’s resolutions are typically useless; they’re often way too ambitious and usually forgotten by February. But there’s value in the ritual of taking stock of the past year and making goals for the year to come. When I was asked about my resolutions, I said couldn’t think of a…
As it is for most musicians, a New Year’s Eve gig is nightlife-prime-real estate for a comic. Big money, big crowds and an audience that’s ready to let its PC guard down and get loose. Consequentially, you never turn down a NYE standup gig — if you can get one…
No question, 2012 was the year of the comedian in Denver. A lifelong fan of standup, I’ve had the pleasure of reporting on some amazing shows this year — and I’m sharing some of the high points here. Still, I’m sure there’s a vast ocean of talent that slipped past…
This past year has been tough for many people, and we’re eager to kiss 2012 goodbye. In hopes that 2013 will turn out to be much luckier for many, we invited some of the town’s cultural tastemakers — entrepreneurs and entertainers we’re lucky to have in Denver — to answer…
End of the world, or end of the year? Or just a great way to end an evening? To find out, you’ll have to catch tonight’s Hell Toupee Cabaret 2012 topper at Denver’s Dangerous Theatre. Join host Infernal Phil at 7:30 p.m. for the last 2012 installment of the monthly…
Think there’s no fun to be had until New Year’s Eve? Think again. Sam Tallent, Nathan Lund, Chris Charpentier and Bobby Crane of the Fine Gentleman’s Club are working through the holidays, and their weekly Too Much Fun comedy show at the Deer Pile will roll like clockwork tonight at…
This past year has been tough for many people, and we’re eager to kiss 2012 goodbye. In hopes that 2013 will turn out to be much luckier for many, we invited some of the town’s cultural tastemakers — entrepreneurs and entertainers we’re lucky to have in Denver — to answer…
42nd Street. A big, glitzy show filled with great songs and requiring dozens of tapping feet, 42nd Streetis one of those musicals that spoofs the genre while at the same time providing all its shmaltzy pleasures. Peggy is a star-struck youngster who arrives in New York to audition for a…
David Sedaris introduced Crumpet the Elf to the world on NPR in 1992 in an essay called The SantaLand Diaries, which described his experiences working at Macy’s over Christmas. The piece was adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello in 1996, and the play — rueful, cynical, smart and hilarious,…
Like Lenny Bruce in the ’60s, George Carlin in the ’70s or Bill Hicks in the ’90s, Louie C.K. could go down as the premier comic of this decade. His standup specials have not only changed the course of comedy material, but have changed the business of stand-up comedy. C.K…
Dixie’s Tupperware Party. Dixie is a booze- and sex-addicted, trash-talking, child-neglecting ex-con from Alabama who holds Tupperware parties in her trailer, and she’s invited you to this one. Dixie’s Tupperware Partyat the Galleria really isa Tupperware party — you get a name tag and raffle number when you come in,…
42nd Street is a big, glitzy show filled with great songs and requiring dozens of tapping feet. So I settled in for the Boulder’s Dinner Theatre production with some trepidation. The playing area here isn’t huge, nor is the pool of singers and dancers infinite. The theater does tend to…
Ballet Nouveau Colorado was started twenty years ago to fill what the founders perceived as a need for quality ballet training and educational dance programs in Denver’s north metro community. But you have to be on your toes to keep up with what Ballet Nouveau is doing these days, and…
Nimrods are everywhere. You can find them at the gym mesmerized by their own reflection, in bars chirping obnoxiously about the complexities of their trivial existence, even on their crusty couches at home, where they seem to be perpetually married to the thrilling phenomenon known as “television.” But that’s just…
Local comics Andrew Orvedahl and Adam Cayton-Holland are as well-known in the Denver standup scene as you can be without moving to L.A. and starring in a children’s movie. After working their way up through the local ranks, Orvedahl and Cayton-Holland (the latter a former Westword scribe) launched Los Comicos…
Dixie’s Tupperware Party. Dixie is a booze- and sex-addicted, trash-talking, child-neglecting ex-con from Alabama who holds Tupperware parties in her trailer, and she’s invited you to this one. Dixie’s Tupperware Partyat the Galleria really isa Tupperware party — you get a name tag and raffle number when you come in,…
Written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart in 1939, The Man Who Came to Dinner is about an insufferable guest. The genesis of the play was a conversation about a visit to Hart by Alexander Woollcott, a famed critic and writer of the time, who was endlessly demanding during…
Meredith Willson wrote Here’s Love, since renamed Miracle on 34th Street, The Musical, in 1963, following the huge success of his shows The Music Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. It’s based on the 1947 movie that made a star of little Natalie Wood and is as endlessly rewatchable (though…
Like her sketch-comedy counterparts in Denver troupe LadyFace, Timmi Lasley is a versatile performer. The sketch comedian has been doing stand-up for the last three years, after paying her dues as a stage actor and getting a degree in theater. The acting expertise came in especially handy this year, when…
Friday night saw the combination of two worlds and four big names at Tracks as drag queens Nina Flowers and Ongina channeled the art of Louis Recchia and Zoa Ace through live performances. The results were fierce, to say the least, and we’re still reeling from our favorite scenes. Continue…
The classic Nutcracker ballet has been turned inside out and stretched backwards and forwards and every which way in an attempt to loosen up the Sugar Plum Fairy and her entourage. In Boulder, aerial dance queen Nancy Smith and her high-flying Frequent Flyers began by replacing the plum princess with…
Confused about what and how and even why you should gift your loved ones this holiday season? Clear up that confusion by buying local, giving gifts from the heart or gifting experiences instead of gadgets. Or do all three at once, with the Colorado Theatre Guild’s annual Theatre Night Out…
