Fringe Benefits

Are you still not sure about opera? Sure, it’s long. It’s melodramatic. It’s loud, sometimes ear-shatteringly so. And it’s seriously old-school, dude. It’s like a blue-hair fantasy camp.

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More About

• Kurt Weill
• Valerie Hamlin
• Opera
• Classical Music

Think again. The Central City Opera, which will present the classic Carmen, Handel’s sword and sorcery epic Amadigi di Gaula and a repertory of one-acts including Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins this season, is going to bend over backwards this summer to get the under-forty set up to Gilpin County, all under the aegis of this come-on: “You won’t know until you go.” To that end, the Central City Opera Fringe Festival will offer distractions to the main acts, beginning with a generally more festive air punctuated by food trucks, street buskers, mountain biking and other non-operatic fun. On a larger scale, such events as SinFest, a smart, contemporary opera-attached evening of slam poetry, swing dancing and more (for $50 on July 16 or 24), and jazz brunches at the Teller House are also available.

"We decided to expand the whole festival concept by adding extra events in addition to the operas,” says CCO marketing director Valerie Hamlin. “Even the operas this year were chosen with that in mind: The three one-acts are part of the innovation concept. It’s only an hour long, the tickets start at $10, and it’s perfect for opera virgins who are not sure it’s something they want to do. We’ll give you a taste of the opera and just hope you’ll come back for more.”

The opera opened with Carmen on June 25 and continues through August 7; go to www.centralcityopera.org or call 303-292-6700 for details and tickets.
June 29-Aug. 7, 2011