THURS, 1/8 The Denver Center Theatre Company is heating things up this winter with a new production of Tennessee Williams’s sizzling drama A Streetcar Named Desire. In a twist on the award-winning classic, the DCTC show will feature an all-African-American cast. “To do Streetcar with an all-black cast was a…
This year’s British assault on the Yank funnybone is a spirited, hard-trying farce called Calendar Girls, plucked straight from 1999 headlines and dolled up with all the heartwarming charm we’ve come to expect from recent films made by our former rulers. Essentially a chick flick for middle-aged women — nothing…
King Vidor’s great silent classic The Crowd (1928) holds up astonishingly well 75 years after it first played in theaters, and knowledgeable film lovers leap at any opportunity to see it — especially if that opportunity comes complete with live piano accompaniment, as in days of yore. The Crowd will…
Capitol Hill Books will celebrate more than just the arrival of a new year on January 1. The independent used-book store will be marking its 24th year in business by serving up ten delicious homemade soups and breads at its annual New Year’s Day Open House. “The day is not…
Thursday, January 1 Got the post-holiday blues? Don’t despair: The folks at the Denver Botanic Gardens have come up with a solution. Their annual Blossoms of Light display, a twinkling, flora-draped wonderland, has been extended through January 25. In contrast to the animated bells and whistles you see each year…
“I predict that a large city in Colorado will be the victim of a strange and terrible pressure from outer space, which will cause all solids to turn into a jelly-like mass. I predict that this pressure will not affect any other part of the world but will be pinpointed…
FRI, 1/2 Steve McQueen loved motorcycles, Nicolas Cage covets comic books, and Bob Barker has a fetish for military men. No, not in that way. We’re talking about collecting, of course, that uncontrollable passion to possess. A multitude of memorabilia will be herded into the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th…
FRI, 1/2 Reports of the Native American sport lacrosse date as far back as the 1630s, when Jesuit missionaries documented the indigenous peoples of this continent engaging in competition using curved sticks with webbed pockets and a small deerskin ball. The game was rooted in legend and surrounded by ceremony;…
SAT, 1/3 When Spirit, the first of two new NASA Mars Exploration Rovers, hits the Red Planet’s atmosphere and hurtles toward the surface, local scientists and citizens will be able to witness the historic moment. Beginning tonight at 8:30 p.m., the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard,…
MON, 1/5 We’ve all heard the term “the fabric of life,” but Santa Fe fiber artist Lauren Camp puts a new twist on the old metaphor by giving life to fabric. A jazz aficionado who’s found a unique way to express her love for music and musicians, Camp debuts The…
TUES, 1/6 Theater-goers, rejoice! The Producers, one of the country’s hottest musicals, will finally take the stage in Denver, beginning with an 8 p.m. preview performance tonight at the Buell Theatre. “I think that because the show has generated such a buzz and has garnered such great reviews, people here…
The Colorado History Museum rarely presents exhibits that concern the fine and decorative arts. The museum’s philosophy is more attuned to promoting what’s called “material culture” — a broad field that includes things like pickaxes and ski lifts. This is all well and good, but for those of us interested…
Right now there’s a major retrospective that examines the work of Mark Zamantakis, one of the state’s most significant ceramic artists. The exhibit, Zamantakis: From the Earth, is ensconced in the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery (2121 East Asbury Avenue, 303-871-2846) at the University of Denver. It was put together by…
Anthony Minghella’s magnificent film version of the Civil War epic Cold Mountain has much more going for it than Hollywood grandeur. Beyond its striking sets and gruesome battle scenes populated with thousands of extras, in addition to its movie-star glamour — Jude Law and Nicole Kidman are like lovely pieces…
For those who pay no mind to Oprah, the dispute at the heart of House of Sand and Fog concerns the occupancy of a run-down little bungalow just inland from the Northern California coast. It’s not much of a place, really. And to get a glimpse of the Pacific, you’d…
At first glance, it seems odd that French surrealist filmmaker Georges Franju began as a documentarian. But his non-fiction visit to a slaughterhouse (Le Sang des Betes, 1949) and his grim look at World War I relics (Hotel des Invalides, 1951) set the stage, in their way, for his later…
Let’s face facts: We all get presents that we hate. Leather coats three sizes too large? Got it. A honey-baked ham? Why, it’s the perfect gift for a decade-long vegetarian. Every year, I wonder how supposed loved ones can have such bad taste and minimal knowledge of each other’s personality…
Thursday, December 25 More than 200 volunteers are expected to show up today to help the Salvation Army serve up a piping-hot holiday dinner to hundreds of metro Denver’s homeless people and families in need. The meal will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Exhibit Hall B…
Now that Santa is finished trudging through chimneys and dropping off toys for good girls and boys, he’s settling in for a long-overdue evening of separating winter whites from his rosy reds. “You caught me doing my laundry,” the right jolly old elf says with a chuckle. Santa suits are…
FRI, 12/26 For many holiday revelers, December 26 marks the first uneventful day after a long string of yuletide festivities. For those who celebrate Kwanzaa, however, it’s the beginning of a week-long celebration of family, community and culture. Started in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, chairman of the University of California…
SAT, 12/27 Wondering how to fill the weekend lull between Christmas and New Year’s Eve? Pack your bags and head to Winter Park’s Jingle Rails! Jail Ram, a snowboard rail competition featuring 44 amateur and professional athletes from across the state. “This is one of our busiest weekends up here,…
TUES, 12/30 In Chris Mosdell’s world of poetry, all roads lead to Nowhere, and there are suitcases with wings, galactic fried eggs and chewing-gum mud. The author, who goes by “Mozz,” is a modern-day Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein, creating worlds that are often nonsensical but always whimsical. And at…
