Playbill: Three New Shows in Denver and Colorado for May 28-June 3

Summer is here, at least unofficially, bringing popular fare back to Colorado stages. This weekend you can go back in time with musical Victoriana, get started on a season of repertory theater in the high country or take a risk on the cheap seats at the return engagement of a blockbuster Broadway show.

Creede Repertory Theatre Fiftieth Anniversary Season
Mainstage Theatre, 124 Main Street, Creede
Ruth Humphreys Brown Theatre, 120 South Main Street
Through September 19
$11 to $40 for regular performances
The Creede Repertory Theatre is celebrating fifty years of staging plays high in the San Juans, near the headwaters of the Rio Grande, in the storied mining town of Creede, once a den of gamblers and nineteenth-century Wild West celebrities. That was all over after the silver panic of 1893; since then, Creede has become a tourist town and ranching center, anchored by a quality summer theater season from CRT. This weekend, the troupe rolls out the world premiere of George Brant’s modern Pygmalion tale Good on Paper, which will run in repertory with Boom Town, Pants on Fire, Ghost Light, Our Town, August: Osage County and Guys and Dolls over the course of the summer.
Empire Lyric Players, The Mikado
Elaine Wolf Theatre, Mizel Arts and Culture Center
May 30 through June 7
7:30 p.m. Saturdays
2 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4
Tickets: $22 to $25 
Even longer-lived is Denver’s Empire Lyric Players, a pro-am, all-volunteer ensemble dedicated since 1958 to annual stagings of the beloved operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. This year it’s The Mikado, one of the best of the G&S canon, chockful of comedy, witty repartee, memorable songs, epic Victorian-age costumery and a fair share of silliness, taking the stage for five performances at the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center’s Wolf Theater.

Wicked
Buell Theatre
June 3 through July 5
7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays
2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
2 p.m. Thursday, June 4
1 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 5
Tickets start at $35 
303-893-4100
Denver’s so in love with Wicked that the touring Tony Award-winning Broadway show breaks box-office records every time it swings through town. That means you should line up for your tickets ASAP when Denver Center Attractions brings the grownup Wizard of Oz spinoff back for another month-long run at the Buell Theatre. Or take your chances in a ticket lottery: Throw your name in drum two-a-half hours prior to any performance and cross your fingers. Half an hour later, tickets will be drawn for a limited number of cash-only, $25 orchestra seats.

Find a stage near you: Check out Westword's online listings for more theater events for this week. 

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