Bible Belt

Kim Franco thinks big. Or, as it turns out, bigger than she thought: In the eight months that the former Cabaret Diosa songstress Franco and her Company Ink creative compadres spent shaping their new musical comedy, Ciao Eden!, the two-hour biblical-burlesque romp has taken on a life of its own. The show’s running the show, with formidable assistance from co-author and producer Franco — who plays Eve in the updated tale of original sin — as well as musical director Brain Schey, director Casey Collins and co-star Liza Oxnard, cast as Serena the Snake. And audiences will have a chance to pronounce “Thumbs up!” when Eden debuts this weekend during three performances at the Dairy Center for the Arts.

“I’d never written or produced a play before, and I didn’t know people don’t do that in only eight months,” Franco notes almost breathlessly, caught up in the show’s psychic dynamism, an inherent “magic” that’s left her cast feeling as if the red carpet’s already been rolled out. But even an elated Franco knows it’s a long path to Broadway: Her long-range plans include relentless fundraising, a tour and maybe more.

In theory, Eden‘s old-fashioned modernity — the production utilizes circusy, vaudevillian elements and a hot live band — is what makes it hip, and not unlike the Oz story in Wicked, the Adam and Eve yarn’s an already-good story that can certainly be improved upon. “It’s definitely not your King James version,” Franco says of her fresh take. “Come get the real story!”

See Ciao Eden! tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. or Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Dairy, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder; for tickets, $30, call 720-273-1476.
June 29-30, 8 p.m.; Sun., July 1, 2 p.m.