Buntport Theater solved a sizzling crime caper yesterday when a sheepish kid returned the stolen laptop on which the company kept its mailing list and other vital files. The theft happened while Buntport was conducting one of its regular Third Tuesday Great Debate. Since this one coincided with the second…
You probably know him best from his weekly appearances on E!’s Chelsea Lately, where host Chelsea Handler frequently questions his sexual orientation and capitalizes on stereotypes related to his Asian-American heritage. But Jo Koy isn’t just a basic-cable punching bag. He’s been climbing his way up the comedic echelon for…
As the voice of wise-cracking robot Tom Servo and one of the original brains behind the cult sensation Mystery Science Theater 3000 — known affectionately to fans as MTS3K — Kevin Murphy helped elevate the act of jeering at shitty movies to an art form, leaving an indelible mark on…
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The story of our seventh president set to propulsive emo-rock, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson could be the bastard child of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Spring Awakening, complete with torn-from-the-gut songs, black humor and lots of violence, suffering and blood. History is presented farcically —…
Artists tend to be praised and valued far more after their deaths than during their lifetimes, and clearly this paradox was not lost on Mark Twain, who wrote a play about Jean-Francois Millet — a real, famous and very brilliant painter of his time — called Is He Dead? In…
At the center of Memphis, an energetic, Tony-winning musical dealing with race and music in the 1950s, is a white man, Huey Calhoun, who’s fascinated by black music. Stumbling into an underground rock-and-roll club, he’s greeted at first with suspicion, but wins grudging acceptance after declaring in song that this…
Denver native T.J. Miller is one busy comic. But even on the same day that his new comedy series, Mash Up, premiered on Comedy Central, Miller took the time to give us a call and chat about Hollywood success and why he still misses Denver. During our conversation, Miller was…
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. The opening moments are pulse-poundingly exciting — music, live wrestling, flashing lights, tons of adrenaline from an already hyped-up audience. But the actual scripted beginning of the play is quiet, as a Puerto Rican kid called Mace describes his lifelong fascination with pro wrestling…
There are messengers all over Shakespeare. They fetch and carry, run on and off with news — but no one gives them much thought, despite the dangers of their profession. There are exceptions, of course: Someone occasionally flings a messenger a coin; at other times messengers are hit or killed…
Ben Dicke, a local actor and director, was inspired, astounded, knocked out, when he saw Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson in New York last year, and he decided it was a show that Denver audiences had to experience. The musical tells the story of our seventh president, set to propulsive emo-rock…
Comic T.J. Miller will be premiering his new series, Mash Up, on Comedy Central tonight. Known for his white-boy ode to Denver, being stabbed in Get Him to the Greek, and feuding with Dane Cook, Miller has become one of the most recognizable comedians to come out of this city…
Kevin James, best known for his leading role in the decade-long TV series The King of Queens, stopped through Denver on Thursday to promote his new film Here Comes the Boom. He was accompanied by former UFC champion, longtime friend and costar of the film, Bas Rutten. See aslo: -…
In this week’s Westword cover story, “It’s a Mall World After All,” we recognize the 30th anniversary of the 16th Street Mall by visiting some of the most important sites and looking back on its history in the heart of downtown Denver. As part of this effort, we took a…
Well before it was a Disney cartoon, the story of a beautiful princess cursed by an evil witch to sleep for a hundred years, then awakened by the kiss of a handsome prince, was told through dance: The Sleeping Beauty was first performed as a ballet in 1890. And dancers…
The sixth play in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, Fences revolves around a deeply flawed protagonist, Troy Maxson. The year is 1957, and Maxson is a garbage collector; fairly early in the play, he becomes the company’s first black driver, only to complain later about the isolation of that position. Maxson…
Elijah: An Adventure starts with an arresting visual image: a group of people posed on a dock in attitudes of farewell while a great liner prepares to head out to sea. On the deck stands Elijah, a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, seventeen years old and about to embark on a…
Mixing steampunk with the surreal and combining opera, theater, dance and circus arts, Luminous Thread Productions wants to give Denver a kind of show that the city has never seen before. That’s what Mary Lin and Ben Sargent had in mind when they began dreaming up their unique production company…
It’s going to be a Gorey October at Bovine Metropolis Theater. Edward Gorey, that is. Every Wednesday this month, the theater company will be performing an improv show based on a peculiar play titled The Helpless Doorknob by the macabre author and illustrator. But unlike a standard theater production with…
Peter Davison is a juggler with a difference. He is co-artistic director of the Boulder Ballet Company, where he has danced roles ranging from Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet to Herr Drosselmeyer in the annual Nutcracker, and has won the National Juggling Championship both as an individual and with his…
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. The opening moments are pulse-poundingly exciting — music, live wrestling, flashing lights, tons of adrenaline from an already hyped-up audience. But the actual scripted beginning of the play is quiet, as a Puerto Rican kid called Mace describes his lifelong fascination with pro wrestling…
“Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed. — William Shakespeare, Othello As The Value of Names…
Ben Dicke, director and producer of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Aurora Fox, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “blood, sweat and toil” — he’s invested all three in bringing this historical emo-rock opera to the Denver stage. Bloody Bloody was all set to open two weeks…
