Opera, musical comedy and a cat talent show might sound like strange bedfellows, but they're all good summer entertainment — whether you dress to the nines for a drive up to the Central City Opera House or celebrate the nine lives of the Amazing Acro-cats in action. Here's where to find a show near you.
Central City Opera presents Tosca
Central City Opera House
8 p.m. July 22
2:30 p.m.: July 20, 24, 26 and 30; August 3, 5 and 7
Tickets: $31 to $108
303-292-6700
While Central City Opera’s 2016 production of The Ballad of Baby Doe might be stealing all the buzz this summer, Puccini’s Tosca, which runs in repertory with Baby Doe and similarly features the modern technology of scene projections, is no slouch, in any year or season. “Puccini's works are the culmination of Italian opera,” says John Baril, music director for Central City Opera and conductor for Tosca. “Tosca was premiered between La Bohème and Madama Butterfly and remains an audience favorite due to its plentiful tunes and three-dimensional characters. It’s also perhaps the most difficult of the Puccini canon to conduct. Every moment counts for something; there's not a wasted note in the piece. It's extremely condensed drama, almost TV-like in its intensity.” Did someone say TV? Great opera lives on in the twenty-first century.
The Big Bang
Vintage Theatre
July 22 through August 14
7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
2:30 p.m. Sundays
Industry Night: 7:30 p.m. Monday, August 1, $12
Tickets: $24 to $30
303-856-7830
Spotlight Theatre and Vintage Theatre team up for a replay of Spotlight’s production of The Big Bang, a hilarious and silly musical within a musical about two broke actors building a show about no less than the history of world — from sets to characterizations — entirely from scratch, in a borrowed apartment. Will their prospective backer be impressed by the results? Grab a ticket and find out.
The Amazing Acro-cats
Bug Theatre
7 p.m. July 22
3 and 7 p.m. July 23
1 and 5 p.m. July 24
7 p.m. July 26, 28 and 29
3 and 7 p.m. July 30
Tickets: $21 to $31
Cat-whisperer Samantha Martin has single-handedly proven that you can herd cats, even rescued cats looking for homes. Her Amazing Acro-cats troupe of ordinary house cats rolls into the Bug Theatre this week for cat shenanigans of all kinds, including the grand finale: Tuna and the Rock Cats, a feline band that gives new meaning to the phrase “more cowbell.” Though cats will be cats and sometimes lose concentration onstage, the Amazing Acro-cats must be seen to be believed, and some good will also come of it: A portion of every ticket benefits Denver’s own MaxFund no-kill shelter. Meow!
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