A Bigger Stage

Andrew Lloyd Webber may be famous for the elaborate, but Rod Lansberry, director of the Arvada Center’s regional premiere of Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, thinks he can do the play one better. “Webber productions tend to be spectacles,” he says, acknowledging that, as a regional theater, the Center doesn’t exactly have...

By Jef Otte

September 23, 2010

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Andrew Lloyd Webber may be famous for the elaborate, but Rod Lansberry, director of the Arvada Center’s regional premiere of Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, thinks he can do the play one better. “Webber productions tend to be spectacles,” he says, acknowledging that, as a regional theater, the Center doesn’t exactly have the budget of the Webber Broadway show. “We have some of that, but we don’t rely on the spectacle. I think it’ll be a cleaner and more concise production.” Lansberry says his rationale is that, to justify the expense of the production, the Webber show has to fill a lot of seats. At the Arvada Center, whose capacity is 500, even the nosebleeds are going to be better than you’d be likely to get on Broadway. “The intimacy of it gives you the opportunity to really connect with the audience.”

That connection gets under way tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Arvada Center, 6910 Wadsworth Boulevard in Arvada, and continues through October 10. Tickets run $49 to $63, depending on seats and showtimes. For information, call 720-898-7200 or go to www.arvadacenter.org.
Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1 & 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Sept. 14. Continues through Oct. 10, 2010

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