When the Soviet Union fell on Christmas Day 1991, politicians and pundits in the West began insisting that Marxism was dead, that history had proved the theory was bankrupt and led inexorably to misery and oppression. From now on, they said, our world would be shaped by unfettered capitalism, and…
The King and I. Some of the problems with this production are inherent in the show itself. With its emphasis on strong women and abhorrence of anything resembling slavery, The King and I was progressive for its time, but no artist can entirely escape the myths and preconceptions of his…
The King and I. Some of the problems with this production are inherent in the show itself. With its emphasis on strong women and abhorrence of anything resembling slavery, The King and I was progressive for its time, but no artist can entirely escape the myths and preconceptions of his…
There are two things to be said about this production of Aida, a rock-pop version of the Verdi opera with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. The first is that it’s a shlocky, sentimental piece of theater, with sappy music and idiotic book and lyrics. Almost all…
A Christmas Carol. Written by Richard Hellesen with music by David de Berry, this Christmas Carol has its strengths. It’s respectful of the novel, using much of Dickens’s original dialogue and description to tell the tale of the miserly businessman, Scrooge, and his conversion to kindness by the ghosts of…
Everyone knows the story of Scrooge’s conversion from hard-eyed businessman to philanthropist in A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim’s incantation, “God bless us, every one,” has become a seasonal staple, right up there with twirling sugarplum fairies and twinkling-eyed Santas. But what if Dickens’s well-loved story ran off the rails? What…
The best scene in The Credeaux Canvas, the first offering of the new Identity Theatre Company, is an extended nude scene, in which a young woman poses for a painter. She is Amelia, a singer trying to make her way in New York; the painter is Winston, an art student,…
Bug. At the beginning, Bug seems hyper-realistic. We’re shown a drink- and drug-addled woman, Agnes, living in a motel room, which we learn is on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. We have been here before. It is — among other things — Sam Shepard country. A quiet young man, Peter,…
There’s a sad and bitter scene that occurred many years ago when my mother was dying of cancer that seems to illustrate precisely the conundrum at the heart of Edwin Sanchez’s Unmerciful Good Fortune. My mother was in the hospital, very close to the end, lying silent and shrunken in…
Even for good institutions, change is necessary. The Laird Williamson-Dennis Powers adaptation of A Christmas Carol has been staged by the Denver Center Theatre Company for the past fifteen years, and I’ve always enjoyed it. But the best shows can grow stale and tired over time, and it’s hard to…
Bug. At the beginning, Bug seems hyper-realistic. We’re shown a drink- and drug-addled woman, Agnes, living in a motel room, which we learn is on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. We have been here before. It is — among other things — Sam Shepard country. A quiet young man, Peter,…
Shadowlands, currently being produced by Bas Bleu, is a dignified, classy play, but for the most part, it’s oddly lifeless. Set in 1950s England, it begins as C. S. Lewis, the creator of Narnia and author of a series of deeply Christian books for adults, gives a lecture on the…
Bug. At the beginning, Bug seems hyper-realistic. We’re shown a drink- and drug-addled woman, Agnes, living in a motel room, which we learn is on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. We have been here before. It is — among other things — Sam Shepard country. A quiet young man, Peter,…
I don’t know how to assess John Orlock’s Indulgences in the Louisville Harem, currently playing at Germinal Stage Denver, because I don’t begin to understand it. Sometimes when you see a play that makes no literal sense, you still feel caught up in it, still find some recognizable emotional or…
Bug. At the beginning, Bug seems hyper-realistic. We’re shown a drink- and drug-addled woman, Agnes, living in a motel room, which we learn is on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. We have been here before. It is — among other things — Sam Shepard country. A quiet young man, Peter,…
Party of 1 offers a very pleasant way to spend an evening. It’s a good play to go to with a date, or to attend in hopes of finding one. The show is a sequence of cabaret songs dedicated to the joys and pains of singlehood, slightly reminiscent of I…
Theatre 13 is a new Boulder company that occupies the small upstairs theater space at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art — previously a venue for all kinds of multi-disciplinary and experimental work. Orphans, Theatre 13’s second production, is a peculiar mix of amateurish and highly professional elements. It’s an…
Bug. At the beginning, Bug seems hyper-realistic. We’re shown a drink- and drug-addled woman, Agnes, living in a motel room, which we learn is on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. We have been here before. It is — among other things — Sam Shepard country. A quiet young man, Peter,…
At the beginning, Bug seems hyper-realistic. We’re shown a drink- and drug-addled woman, Agnes, living in a motel room on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. The set, by Charles Dean Packard, features a shag carpet and rumpled bed, and it’s entirely convincing. We have been here before. It is, among…
Boulder’s Dinner Theatre frequently transcends expectations, offering shows far better than the usual dinner-theater fare. There’s a lot of talent in the resident company, and the sets and costumes tend to be appealing and the direction sharp. But The King and I feels like a bit of a throwback. Some…
The Fourth Wall. Playwright A.R. Gurney is a courteous, upper-crust kind of guy, so when he found himself enraged by national politics, he didn’t respond with agitprop or searing realism. Instead he imagined a comfortably middle-class housewife, Peggy, who — by way of protest — rearranges all the furniture in…
Buntport’s Horror: The Transformation is based on Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland, a novel published in 1798, and inspired by the true story of a farmer who killed his wife and children. It’s not done as a period piece, though the clothes and setting aren’t strictly modern, either: At one point,…
