Experience Love Outside the Binary in Triumph of Love

This February, love isn't just in the air; it's also on stage at the Wheat Ridge Theatre Company. Triumph of Love mixes romance with a healthy dose of humor under the skilled direction of Alex Romberg. If you thought love was complicated, wait until you see this farcical twist on the trials and tribulations of the heart.

"This show is a lot about what masks we wear," Romberg says. "The premise is that the princess falls in love with this man who lives in a boys-only garden, so there is inherent sexism in this world. It’s like, ‘I want to meet this guy, but I can't because I'm a woman, even if I am the princess of this entire region.’ The reason behind it is that the characters believe emotions are bad; emotions lead to men acting violently, illogically and taking advantage of women, so it's best if we just get women out of here. … There's a lot of universal, unfortunately, human themes of war and the patriarchy hurting society and individuals."

The farcical chamber musical pirouettes onto the stage from Friday, February 2, through February 18.  In Triumph of Love, Princess Leonide (Kryssi Miller) is head over heels for Agis (Bruce Robinson), the man destined to assassinate her for the throne, so she conjures a storm of deception. Disguises and a sprinkle of philosophy also shape the tale, which is as twisty as it is entertaining.
This musical, an adaptation of nineteenth-century French playwright Pierre de Marivaux's comedy of the same name, closed after just 85 performances on Broadway, despite being a critical darling. It is famed for its playful take on love and gender. "Marivaux did a lot of exploration of gender in his plays that are still so fascinating — his plays explore the nature of human sexuality, love, and how it doesn't have to live on a binary. And I love musicals, so the fact that it’s tied to this rad classical playwright that not a lot of people know about intrigued me," Romberg says.

Wheat Ridge's selection of Triumph of Love was as deliberate as it was daring. As Dr. Maru Garcia, the company's executive producer, explains, "We are striving not to produce plays or musicals that have been seen in Colorado. One of our boardmembers proposed Triumph of Love, and we just loved it. Many of our boardmembers, audience members and our actors are transgender or have different sexual orientations; we are striving to be as inclusive as we can, so this musical was perfect for us."

 "I'd never heard of Triumph of Love before I was introduced to it through Wheat Ridge," adds Romberg. "I consider myself a Broadway nerd, and then suddenly it's like, ‘Oh, what is this hidden gem?’ It has all these stars in the original cast [like F. Murray Abraham, Kevin Chamberlin, Susan Egan, Roger Bart and Betty Buckley]. It seems to have done very well critically, and after I read through the script, I realized how much fun it was."

The theater, which used to be an upholstery store before Wheat Ridge Theatre Company moved into the space in 2022, is a small thrust stage with audiences on three sides. "One of the great things about this musical is that it doesn't have grandiose set changes," Romberg says. "It all takes place on one set, so we are finding cute ways that we can be creative in a black box in a thrust configuration. It's fun to take this unexpected area that used to be a store and now we're transporting people into whatever world of whatever play we're doing."
Romberg shouts out the cast and crew for making the production process flow seamlessly. They have been in rehearsal for the past three months in order to get the musical ready for audiences.

"Our lighting designer [Steven Hartman] was also the lighting designer for Zorro [the Musical] at Wheat Ridge; lighting in the space is a challenge, so knowing that he had pulled off this other more complicated musical was amazing because I knew I could trust him," Romberg says. "Our costume designer [Kati Oltyan] has also done a lot of really amazing period work with Wheat Ridge on Sherlock Holmes and Cyrano de Bergerac, and seeing it all come together, I’m so impressed because it's such a cohesive storytelling endeavor. I'm designing the set, Maru is on props...and our music team [music director Mireya Rinna and choreographer Lauren Russell] are incredible."

In a nutshell, the musical is a celebration of love in all its forms and a testament to creative resilience. If you're craving feel-good moments and genuine inclusivity, Triumph of Love promises to be a beacon of light and laughter where love triumphs.

"The goal of the show is to have fun," Romberg concludes. "It's going to be February, and there's just so much darkness. On the intellectual side, I want you to leave thinking about gender, while on the emotional side, I just want you to feel good. ... Hopefully, it comes off as a genderqueer Fantasia of silliness." 

Triumph of Love opens on Friday, February 2, and runs through Sunday, February 18, at Wheat Ridge Theatre Company, 5455 West 38th Avenue, Unit J, Wheat Ridge. Get tickets at wheatridgetheatre.com.