The whole mountain world is a stage. From boo-the-villain melodramas, nonstop repertory performances and political spoofing cabaret to world-class opera, Colorado’s hills are filled with nuggets of talent.
And two of the state’s oldest towns, Cripple Creek and Durango, set the stage for one of the oldest forms of theater – melodrama.
The Cripple Creek Players perform in the Butte Opera House, which, in its 1896 heyday, was known as the Butte Concert and Beer Hall. The “Butte” this summer presents “The Star Crossing,” an 1890s mystery staged on the high seas. The melodrama plays June 18-Sept. 4, evenings Wednesday through Saturday and matinees on selected days. Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 seniors, $7 children. For reservations, call 800-500-2513, or go to cripplecreekplayers.com.
Since 1962, Durango’s Diamond Circle Theater, next to the historic Strater Hotel, has provided a warm Victorian atmosphere for summer performances. Two melodramas will be presented on selected nights (Sundays excepted) from June 4 to July 4, then alternate nights until Aug. 27. You can attend “Death at Devil’s Cave,” subtitled “She Had No Mother to Guide Her,” or “The Vagabond,” subtitled “The Shaughraun,” an Irish comedy. The play was written in the late 19th century by Dion Boucicault, a leading melodramatist in his time.
Tickets are $17 for adults, $16 seniors, $5 children. Make reservations at 970-247-3400, or go to diamondcirclemelodrama.com.
The Creede Repertory Theater presents a rotating schedule of eight plays during its summer season, a welcome schedule for those who come to the tiny mining town for a week. They can enjoy a different performance each evening.
Celebrating its 40th season, the Creede Repertory Theater has grown to be one of the country’s foremost troupes. It occupies a three-story historic theater and has carved a summer identity for this community on the Eastern Slope of the San Juan Mountains and the historic Silver Thread Byway.
Included in Creede’s summer season is Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound,” a biographical account of Simon and his brother writing for radio early in their careers. “Harbledown,” in honor of the theater’s 40th anniversary, is a musical fantasy about the coming of age of a girl in Victorian England.
Creede’s season runs through Sept. 24. You can make reservations by calling 866-658-2540, or go to creederep.com.
Breckenridge’s Backstage Theatre has been presenting its repertory summer performances since 1974.
On the Backstage’s docket this season are three plays. “Talking Things Over With Chekhov” is a loopy comedy about the artistic temperament of a playwright who gets inspiration from “talking” with Anton Chekhov. Shakespeare’s classic, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” a hilarious account of a teenager’s premature aging, round out the summer selections playing until Sept. 4. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children. For reservations, call 970-453-0199, or go to backstagetheatre.org.
For 49 years, Aspen’s vintage Victorian Crystal Palace Theatre Restaurant has presented its dinner and satirical cabaret revue spoofing current and political events. Under the direction of Mead Metcalf, songs, dances and skits have kept abreast with the times, keeping audiences entertained regardless of whether people are red- or blue-staters.
The dinner and show at the Crystal Palace are $65. Reservations are a must; call 970-925-
1455, or go to cpalace.net.
The Central City Opera is the nation’s fifth-oldest opera company. Here is a world-class outfit where you might not expect to find it – in a historic mining town with gambling as its main draw. The 1878 opera house is filled each summer for a trio of performances.
This year, “Madama Butterfly,” Giacomo Puccini’s story of love and betrayal, again graces the stage. Also featured is Samuel Barber’s dramatic love triangle “Vanessa.” “Paul Bunyan,” an operetta by Benjamin Britten, depicts the folk-tale lumberjack.
For tickets, call 800-851-8175 or 303-292-6700, or go to centralcityopera.org.
Lillian Ross is a freelance writer who lives in Howard.
