Beyond Therapy. It's hard to find love. And if you find anything remotely resembling it, you should hang on for dear life -- or at least take a long, steady look. This is the theme underlying Christopher Durang's brilliantly crazed Beyond Therapy, which begins when Bruce and Prudence meet on a blind date at a restaurant where the waiters never seem to appear. He's living with his lover, Bob, but wants Prudence to have his babies. She pops her foot up on the table to prove that her toenail polish matches her fingernails. The date is a disaster, and Prudence and Bruce repair to their respective therapists to figure out what went wrong. The climax occurs around the table where the couple first met, with Bob and both therapists entering the action, shots going off, and water flying through the air as the protagonists vent their frustration. Kevin Hart resists the urge to ham things up as Bruce, remaining earnest and solid even as the nuttiest words imaginable come out of his mouth. Amie Mackenzie plays Prudence as low-key but quietly vibrating with tension. This production is well-acted and very funny. Presented by the Avenue Theatre through August 5, 417 East 17th Avenue, 303-321-5925, www.avenuetheater.com. Reviewed July 6.
Impulse Theater. Basements and comedy go together like beer and nuts or toddlers and sandboxes. The basement of the Wynkoop Brewing Co., where Impulse Theater performs, is crowded, loud and energetic. Impulse does no prepared skits, nothing but pure improv -- which means that what you see changes every night, and so does the team of actors. These actors set up and follow certain rules and frameworks; they rely on audience suggestions to get these scenes going or to vary the action. Your level of enjoyment depends a lot on whether or not you like the players. Charm is a factor, and so is the ability to take risks. Fortunately, the performers are clever and fast on their feet, willing to throw themselves into the action but never betraying tension or anxiety, perfectly content to shrug off a piece that isn't coming together. The show is funny when the actors hit a groove, but equally funny when they get stymied. So in a way, the improvisers -- and the audience -- can't lose. Presented by Impulse Theater in an open-ended run, Wynkoop Brewing Co., 1634 18th Street, 303-297-2111 or www.impulsetheater.com.
The Music Man. Artistic director Michael J. Duran has pulled out all the stops -- no pun intended -- for this production. In a program note, he explains that he was performing in The Music Man on Broadway in September 2001, and all the theaters closed for two nights after 9/11. When the musical reopened that Thursday, it was to an audience of fifty -- but those people needed what the show had to offer, Duran says. The Music Man follows Harold Hill, a huckster who comes into a small Iowa town and sells the townspeople on the idea of a boys' marching band, complete with music, instruments and uniforms. Before he can pull his usual disappearing act, Hill has fallen in love with Marian, the librarian, and -- despite his inability to read a note of music -- won over the town. In the lead, Brian Norber brings huge jolts of energy to the show, and he's abetted by a large, lively cast, a gaggle of charming children and a cheery seven-piece orchestra. The music is sharp, funny and sometimes meltingly lyrical, and you can feel the performers' electric enjoyment in what they're doing. Presented by Boulder's Dinner Theatre through August 19, 5501 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder, 303-449-6000, www.theatreinboulder.com. Reviewed May 11.
The Yiddish Are Coming. There are many, many ways for a production to be awful, and this one hits on just about all of them. It's a cheap little venture -- small cast, easy set and costumes, empty-headed concept -- put together for the sole purpose of making money. Just as Menopause the Musical was calculated to appeal to a specific market, Yiddish is intended to attract Denver's sizable Jewish population for an evening of drinks, shmoozing and easy laughs at $34.50 a ticket. The premise: Temple Ben Shtiller wants to win this year's Golden Tchotchke Award for the best performance by a synagogue, wresting the prize away from brash, conceited, nine-year winner Mitzi Katz. So the members decide to hire an out-of-work director named Christian Von Trapp, who whips everyone into shape. The tunes are lively and the performers are talented, but the production values are sleazy. Presented by the New Denver Civic Theatre through July 16, 721 Santa Fe Drive, 303-309-3773, www.denvercivic.com. Reviewed June 29.
