It’s a good sign when you hear people laughing in the parking lot after a comedy and describing their favorite moments to each other, complete with crazy gestures. In its second week of a now-extended run, The Foreigner was still filling the comfortably worn auditorium of the John Hand Theater…
The plot of The Spitfire Grill, a small-scale musical now at the Vintage Theatre, is in the tradition of those ubiquitous American dramas in which a stranger comes into a small town that’s stuck in time — tradition-bound or dying — and shakes everything up. It’s a story we’ve seen…
July is known for balmy days when the sun lingers in the sky like a drunken barbecue guest. Luckily, comedy fans can retreat to air-conditioned comfort in our city’s fine clubs, bars and theaters while merrily chortling at the rogue’s gallery of stand-ups visiting Denver. The whole month is packed…
This is the second time in two years I’ve watched actor Geoffrey Kent walk away with a production in which he’s not actually the lead. Last year his Hotspur stole every scene of Henry IV, Part One that he entered. Now Kent is playing Iago in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s…
Podcasts are in tune with the democratized spirit of Internet media; anyone with a microphone and a computer can offer their listeners unlimited hours of recordings, usually for free. Limited only by their imaginations, podcasters have a freedom of expression unrestricted by commerce, censorship or geography. Several great podcasts have…
The year is 1517, the place Wittenberg, Germany, site of a famous university. The world is in turmoil in David Davalos’s play, Wittenberg, with new ideas swirling and old certainties dissolving. Martin Luther, priest and professor of theology, is composing his 95 theses, which challenge Johann Tetzel, a friar who…
It was a hot evening when I saw Pinter Early & Late at Germinal Stage, and the tiny theater was sometimes uncomfortably warm. The sound in the space is efficient — you can hear every word — but without the clarity and crispness ideal for Pinter. And yet the production…
Local stages haven’t taken a summer vacation: This weekend you can go heavy with one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces (and casting to match), relax with a feisty musical or guffaw your way through a laugh-out-loud comedy. Othello Colorado Shakespeare Festival Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre, CU-Boulder campus Selected dates, June 26 through…
Geoffrey Kent is a busy guy. He’s playing Don Pedro in this summer’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Much Ado About Nothing, and he’s doing a couple of roles in Henry V. And Talbot in Henry VI, Part One. He’s also the fight director for all these shows, making sure…
Margaret Cho is a multi-talented entertainer whose massive skill set includes singing, burlesque, acting, writing and standup comedy. From her early days as a teenager at the zenith of San Francisco’s comedy scene, Cho has brought a fearless honesty to her many endeavors. While Cho is a performer first and…
Uncalled Four is a homegrown comedy success story. From its unsteady origins in dive bars (with the prototype name “Comics Against Civility” standing in until a punnier title emerged) to its current status as a full-fledged brand, Uncalled Four has maintained its gleefully irreverent comic voice while continually branching out…
It’s hard to go wrong when you begin a production with a bunch of guys in an Irish pub drunkenly singing the Clancy Brothers’ “Isn’t it grand, boys, to be bloody well dead? Let’s not have a snivel, let’s have a bloody good cry. And always remember, the longer you…
This week, a festival about TV takes a sidetrip onstage for a trio of free readings of comedy scripts by finalists in a high-stakes contest, while a couple of local dance troupes strut their best stuff. Here’s where to get a piece of the action. SeriesFest, Storytellers Initiative Script Competition…
Jordan Wieleba runs a monthly standup-and-burlesque showcase, designs many of Denver comedy’s most eye-catching posters, and illustrates books and advocates for LGBTQ causes in between her own stage-crushing sets. While Wieleba has been performing standup since 2006, her life and career really took shape after 2011, when the Denver native…
Young Frankenstein is close to wrapping up its monstrously successful run at the Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, so grab tickets now. Meanwhile, Detroit continues to roll at Curious Theatre Company and Mary Poppins has landed at BTD Stage in Boulder. Keep reading for capsule reviews of these productions. Detroit. Detroit…
Ben Kronberg is among the most successful of Denver comedy expatriates, having amassed an impressive list of credits and accomplishments since moving to New York. With his high-profile appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers, John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show and the Comedy Central Half Hour, it’s a surprise…
Join the Colorado Shakespeare Festival for more fun with the Bard, travel the world through the eyes of one woman with a suitcase or bid on the chance of a lifetime — to step on stage in a Broadway musical. Have some fun this week! Wittenberg University Theatre, CU-Boulder Campus…
After two days of raging thunderstorms that would have provided an appropriate backdrop for King Lear, the weather was bright and mild on the opening night of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival — perfect for Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare’s loveliest and best-constructed comedies. But this production mixes so…
Nearly four decades after he first made his name as a political satirist, comedian Will Durst is taking on a new topic — getting old — in BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG. “The last of the Boomer generation turned first last year,” says Durst over the phone as he strolls through his…
Denver-based actor Rachel Fowler, who lived in France for several years as a child, is a fluent speaker of French and avidly seeks out any opportunity to perform in the language of love. To that end, the current member of Boulder’s woman-run Local Theater Company is also an artistic associate…
With the arrival of green grass and pleasant evenings, some Front Range theater groups are moving outdoors, sending out invitations to bring the family and get cultured out under the stars. Here’s where to take in some theater this weekend, indoors or out. Theatre on the Green Series, Chicago Founder’s…
For Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers created a legendary children’s book about a nanny who descends on the stuffy, upper-class Victorian household of the Banks family and proceeds to tame two unruly children and enlighten their parents with discipline, kindness and magic. The book had a lasting effect on me when…
