Best Actor in a Drama 2004 | William Hahn, Bent, Hunger Artists Ensemble Theatre | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Actor in a Drama

William Hahn, Bent, Hunger Artists Ensemble Theatre

Last spring, William Hahn played Max in Martin Sherman's Bent, a harrowing drama that revealed the plight of homosexuals in Hitler's extermination camps. At the play's opening, Max lived for booze, cocaine and easy sex. By the second act, his lover had been beaten to death in front of him, and he was in Dachau. He began a friendship with another prisoner and, despite their circumstances, the relationship deepened. The men joked and argued; they even found a way to make love without touching. The play could be seen as an affirmation of the power of love, but that's not really how Hahn played it. He gave evil its due with a characterization that was both caustic and soul-deep, and the result was shattering.

Best Actress in a Drama

Patty Mintz Figel, Three Tall Women, Germinal Stage Denver

In Three Tall Women, Patty Mintz Figel played a very old woman whose mind and body deteriorated in front of us. The woman was angry, paranoid, agitated, incontinent, ungrateful and hell to take care of. She rambled about the past. She was a racist, though she barely understood her own racist comments or the revulsion they aroused in others. Figel held nothing back as she portrayed this wretched soul sorting through her own ruined life. She whined and grumbled; she shook with palsy. Later, Figel played the same woman at a younger age, more poised but not a whit more likeable. It was a performance that took real courage.

Best Actress in Shakespeare

Sarah Fallon, The Taming of the Shrew, Colorado Shakespeare Festival

Sarah Fallon's Katharina was the high point of the 2003 festival. Fallon has a wonderful voice, and she knows how to speak Shakespeare's verse. Funny, lithe and capering in her black, 1950s capri outfit, she made Katharina an appropriately angry little spitfire. But Fallon was also touching as she revealed Kate's growing love for Petruchio.

Best Example of an Actress Transcending a Production

Kathleen M. Brady, Picnic, Denver Center Theatre Company

Picnic was a generally forgettable production, with disappointing performances from some of the leads. But playing a befuddled neighbor, Kathleen M. Brady showed just how powerful gentleness can be. Sure, her character was confused and sometimes downright dumb, but all of her instincts were true. She was kind to the young people and understanding with her bad-tempered, controlling neighbor, Flo. At one point, she told the play's young hero, Hal, that she'd made him a Lady Baltimore cake, and he gave her a grateful kiss. Her pleased, confused response was the sweetest moment of the evening.

Best Theater Production

The Three Sisters, Denver Center Theatre Company

Courtesy Buntport Theater Facebook page
Many of the literati quarreled with director Donovan Marley over his decision to set the production of Chekhov's classic, The Three Sisters, in the American South in 1862. But somehow James Warnick's translation added resonance and implication while leaving intact the plight of the characters and the sense of a world trembling on the verge of transformation. The cast -- which included Bill Christ, Jamie Horton, Annette Helde, Jacqueline Antaramian, Keith Hatten, Randy Moore and Richard Risso -- was absolutely stellar, and the substitution of black slaves for Chekhov's servants added a frisson of uneasiness, even guilt, to our experience of the production. The set, costumes and lighting were also impeccable.

Best Portrayal of Sisters

Annette Helde and Jacqueline Antaramian, The Three Sisters, Denver Center Theatre Company

One of the great joys of Donovan Marley's The Three Sisters was watching Annette Helde and Jacqueline Antaramian working together. Both of these women are extraordinary actresses, and both project entirely different personae. Helde brought a profound gentleness to the oldest of the sisters, Alma, along with a stifled tenderness that illuminated the entire evening. As the unhappily married Marsha Anne, Antaramian was funny, fierce, bitter, staccato and eccentric. But when she finally gave in to her doomed feelings for her beloved Covington, the flood of emotion threatened to drown us all.

Best Dinner Theater Production

Chicago, Boulder's Dinner Theatre

There's a lot to like about Chicago -- brilliant songs, a witty script and a grown-up worldview -- and Boulder's Dinner Theatre gave the dark musical a sexy, vivid, energetic production, full of show-stopping performances. Joanie Brosseau-Beyette played Roxie Hart, a hard-eyed, murderous little blond, without a second's sentimentality. Alicia Dunfee led a chorus of murderesses that included the delightful Shelly Cox-Robie, and Wayne Kennedy provided pathos as Hart's adoring, exploited husband. The evening was graced by a fine jazz sextet and a lot of strong voices. Slick, sophisticated and about as good as dinner theater gets.

Best Gender-Bending in a Musical

B. Hamlette, Chicago, Boulder's Dinner Theatre

Okay, his name is actually Brian Mallgrave, and he's an excellent and very intense young actor, but we'd never seen him like this before. It took several seconds after B. Hamlette's gliding, swooping entrance in Chicago before most of the audience realized he wasn't a she. As gossipy, credulous reporter Mary Sunshine, Mallgrave was simultaneously elegant and silly, stealing every scene that the character graced. And though it was hard to decide if it was a soprano or a countertenor, the voice was soaring and rich.

Best Singing in a Musical

Sweet Corner Symphony, Shadow Theatre Company

Sweet Corner Symphony was a doo-wop a cappella concert with amazing singing by Vincent Robinson, Ed Battle, Ken Parks, Dwayne Carrington and Hugo Jon Sayles. "Swanee" got the group's own satiric spin, and they also performed dozens of lesser-known songs. Ken Parks was mesmerizing as the ringleader: tall and heavyset in a gold-and-black dashiki, deploying his strong, mellow, expressive voice, shaking his head, gesturing, constantly on the move. Carrington provided powerful support with his bass baritone, and Hugo Sayles offered up a terrific falsetto. Vince Robinson radiated rhythmic good humor, and Ed Battle -- another knock-out performer -- had a couple of moving solos, including a version of the Lord's Prayer.

Best Dance Performance in a Musical

Savion Glover, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, Denver Center Attractions

Those Denverites who saw Savion Glover perform at the Buell will someday tell their children about it. He just may be the best tap dancer alive, certainly one of the best who ever lived. Glover, who began dancing at the age of eleven, makes music with his feet. Bring in Da Noise, which he also choreographed and for which he won a Tony, used tap, hip-hop, blues and percussion to tell the story of black people in America. This is not the tap we associate with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly -- although Shirley Temple puts in a dizzying appearance. This dancing was loud, rough-driving and exuberant, but also complex and sophisticated. Glover alone could carry an evening, but for this production he gathered an extraordinary group of dance talents and gave them generous stage time. Unforgettable. Mind-blowing. Dazzling. Glover's show was all this and more.

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