John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves, first produced in 1971, is satiric, poignant, farcical, highly metaphorical and filled with poetic flights of language, strange juxtapositions and dream descriptions; it’s smart but falls apart in the second act; and it’s theatrical-realistic and original, but very much in line with the…
Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death. We misconstrue the nature of even…
Last week Kanye West dropped a promotional video for his Yeezus album in the form of a (comedic?) tribute to the film American Psycho. The clip is a near mirror image of the unforgettable scene in which Christian Bale axes Jared Leto after torturing him with a pedantic speech about…
So a bear walks into a bar… This is no joke. On July 18, a full-grown black bear stopped in Lonigans Saloon in Estes Park. Owner Dave Callahan had just finished cleaning up the kitchen at 9 p.m., then took out the trash and headed home — missing the bear…
In a comparatively short period of time, Troy Walker one of Denver most sought-after comedians, a designation he’d likely dismiss with a modest scoff despite its accuracy. A regular at Comedy Works, Walker has opened for some of the most prominent comedians in the country on their way through our humble cow town and also served as a fine ambassador for our scene during recent trips to Portland’s Bridgetown Comedy Festival and in Los Angeles where he performed at UCB’s Put Your Hands Together. This week, Westword asked Troy about his favorites books, his influences and his time in law school.
While the UMS weekend was packed with sexy locals flaunting their primal lust for aesthetics and scenester flirting on and off the stage, on Saturday afternoon I was part of a significantly geekier and less arousing event: the UMS Funny Face Off, a panel of comedians debating comedy journalists at…
Jim Hunt is one of the most respected, well-reviewed and best-loved actors in the Denver area. He has given memorable performances as a wheedling tramp in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker; a foppish musician in Bach at Leipzig; the loving, baffled father of Eurydice, who has passed into the land of…
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). The Colorado Shakespeare Festival staged a pretty good version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)five years ago, so we’re not sure why the CSF decided to bring it back this season. The show, written in 1987 by Adam Long, Daniel Singer…
There’s no real hero in Richard II. In fact, everyone in the play is pretty wicked. Watching the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production, I remembered a historian’s comment after a corpse assumed to be Richard III was found under a parking lot in Leicester. Richard’s indefatigable defenders had hoped this corpse…
Closer. Dan is an obituary writer at a newspaper, and he encounters Alice, a part-time stripper, when she steps in front of a cab and gets knocked down. He escorts her to the hospital. There Larry, a dermatologist, looks her over briefly. Some time later, Dan — now happily married…
The plight of Edward Snowden — still holed up at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Monday — illustrates the Kafkaesque nature of national borders. He is in a transit area, which represents neutral territory. He’s not in Russia, so Vladimir Putin has no obligation either to consider granting him asylum or…
Near the beginning of Curtains, Jessica Cranshaw, the untalented and unpleasant star of Robbin’ Hood — a musical within the musical — collapses during a rehearsal, clearly the victim of foul play. A young cop is called in to solve the murder, and the mystery unfolds in a manner familiar…
Zombies have built their cultural cachet on the inherent dread of moldering, hungry death that stands up and comes after you. Still, the grisly cannibal corpses have always had a lighter side as well, and some of the very best zombie films, from Return of the Living Dead to Shaun…
The ultimate aim of good satire is to parody an unintentionally funny event as accurately as possible, while spicing it up with a little exaggeration and sarcasm. But sometimes the comedy gods throw you something so ridiculous, so shockingly unreal, that all you have to do is xerox it and…
Dozens of drag stars, burlesque dancers, comedians and musicians from all over Denver and the nation came out for a good cause on Friday: The fourth annual Apocalyptic Ball, themed “The Awakening” this year, raised funds for local AIDS organizations. For more photos from the evening, check out our full…
He’s gay, he’s Republican, and he’s one of Denver’s greatest standup comedians. Talk to anyone who’s been in the scene for more than a few years, and they’ll tell you: Chuck Roy has been instrumental in creating what is now known as Denver comedy. After years spent warming up crowds…
Denver’s Dave Shirley has taken his multi-faceted act of magic, juggling, comedy and music from busking on the Sixteenth Street Mall to performing for NBC’s America’s Got Talent. After years of street performances and depressing corporate gigs, Shirley built his own sketch comedy club, The Rattlebrain Theater, in what has…
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). The Colorado Shakespeare Festival staged a pretty good version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)five years ago, so we’re not sure why the CSF decided to bring it back this season. The show, written in 1987 by Adam Long, Daniel Singer…
Dan works at a newspaper — he’s an obituary writer — and encounters Alice, a part-time stripper, when she steps in front of a cab and gets knocked down. He escorts her to the hospital. There Larry, a dermatologist, looks her over briefly. Some time later, Dan — now happily…
Heritage Square Music Hall will close down at the end of the year, after more than two decades of hilarity in its eccentric Golden home. The building is an Old West opera house, authentic except for the fact that it’s two-thirds the normal size of one and was built in…
It’s wonderful to discuss Shakespeare with someone as intelligent, insightful and, above all, passionate as Tina Packer, who brings her Women of Will: The Overview to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival this weekend. Packer, who led Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts for three decades, talks about Shakespeare with reverence, but also…
There’s really no reason for Christopher Titus not to be as famous as Louis C.K. or Marc Maron. After his brilliant sitcom, Titus, was cancelled in 2002 following a dispute with the network president, the bleached-blond comic has released five brilliant comedy specials, addressing his profoundly dark childhood with a…
