Comedian Paula Poundstone on politics and her best friend, the audience

Over the past three decades, Paula Poundstone has worked as a standup comedian, political correspondent, television-show creator, cartoon-voice actor and columnist. And during that time, Poundstone has decided that the best place to be is the stage — alone with a microphone and no one else on the bill. The…

One-man, one-day production of The Things They Carried here Friday

Young Americans have lots of experience with war, right? I mean, we’ve lived (very remotely) through wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’ve got hard-hitting blockbusters like Battleship and Red Tails to learn from. We can even step into a soldier’s shoes with video games like Call of Duty,…

Katt Williams melts down on stage, threatens and spits on a fan

I can’t imagine that I was the only one who felt trapped by the mania of Katt Williams as I sat inside the less-than-half-full Wells Fargo Theatre last night.The first of two Denver shows on his Ghetto National Convention Tour, this was a car wreck from the start. From the…

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The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. The opening moments are pulse-poundingly exciting — music, live wrestling, flashing lights, tons of adrenaline from an already hyped-up audience. But the actual scripted beginning of the play is quiet, as a Puerto Rican kid called Mace describes his lifelong fascination with pro wrestling…

Buntport’s dazzling Sweet Tooth hits the spot

The opening scene of Sweet Tooth is mesmerizing: a bare stage, a woman in a fur coat standing in front of a white sheet and singing “It’s cold.” A hand appears from behind the sheet offering a glass, sprinkling water on the woman, and then the sheet is removed to…

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Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The story of our seventh president set to propulsive emo-rock, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson could be the bastard child of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Spring Awakening, complete with torn-from-the-gut songs, black humor and lots of violence, suffering and blood. History is presented farcically —…

Buntport solves a sizzling, real-life crime caper

Buntport Theater solved a sizzling crime caper yesterday when a sheepish kid returned the stolen laptop on which the company kept its mailing list and other vital files. The theft happened while Buntport was conducting one of its regular Third Tuesday Great Debate. Since this one coincided with the second…

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Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The story of our seventh president set to propulsive emo-rock, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson could be the bastard child of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Spring Awakening, complete with torn-from-the-gut songs, black humor and lots of violence, suffering and blood. History is presented farcically —…

In Memphis’s story of race and music, no happy ending is necessary

At the center of Memphis, an energetic, Tony-winning musical dealing with race and music in the 1950s, is a white man, Huey Calhoun, who’s fascinated by black music. Stumbling into an underground rock-and-roll club, he’s greeted at first with suspicion, but wins grudging acceptance after declaring in song that this…

Now Playing

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. The opening moments are pulse-poundingly exciting — music, live wrestling, flashing lights, tons of adrenaline from an already hyped-up audience. But the actual scripted beginning of the play is quiet, as a Puerto Rican kid called Mace describes his lifelong fascination with pro wrestling…

Class issues loom large in Messenger #1‘s potent visual images

There are messengers all over Shakespeare. They fetch and carry, run on and off with news — but no one gives them much thought, despite the dangers of their profession. There are exceptions, of course: Someone occasionally flings a messenger a coin; at other times messengers are hit or killed…

Despite the buzz, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is a letdown

Ben Dicke, a local actor and director, was inspired, astounded, knocked out, when he saw Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson in New York last year, and he decided it was a show that Denver audiences had to experience. The musical tells the story of our seventh president, set to propulsive emo-rock…