Big Wheel Keep On Turnin’

For the past few years, Central City Opera has been expanding its reach beyond its mountain town to find a new audience base in Denver — and the experiment has been a rousing success. This year’s Central City Opera foray into the city is Show Boat, and spokes-woman Valerie Hamlin...

By Amber Taufen

August 1, 2013

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For the past few years, Central City Opera has been expanding its reach beyond its mountain town to find a new audience base in Denver — and the experiment has been a rousing success. This year’s Central City Opera foray into the city is Show Boat, and spokes-woman Valerie Hamlin notes that it’s a performance that brings together internationally renowned and locally loved actors, singers, directors and stagehands to create a truly unique program.

“This is a brand-new production,” she explains. “Oftentimes what you see at the Buell is a touring show coming through town, and this is a show we’ve built from scratch, with some of the best performers from literally all over the world. We’ve put together a production that you cannot see anywhere else. It’s something people really won’t have the opportunity to see ever again.”

And that’s meant building a set suited for the expansive Buell stage while the actors practice in the historic Central City properties, utilizing all of the resources available to put together an unforgettable show about workers on a Mississippi show boat.

Show Boat opens tonight at the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex and runs through Sunday, August 11; tickets are $22 to $121. Visit centralcityopera.org/showboat for information.
Aug. 6-10, 7:30 p.m.; Aug. 10-11, 2 p.m., 2013

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Amber Taufen has been writing about people, places and things in Denver since 2005. She works as an editor, writer, and production and process guru out of her home office in the foothills.

Contact: Amber Taufen

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