The foundation is being laid on a new $4 million dinner theater in Johnstown, 45 miles north of Denver, on a 3.5-acre lot at the Johnson’s Corner exit of Interstate 25. That’s 20 miles south of Fort Collins.
The Candlelight Dinner Theatre, which hopes to open Nov. 23 with “The Music Man,” would be a 380-seat Equity theater with union actors, full table service and an orchestra pit holding up to 11 musicians. The 21,000-square-foot facility would include a 50-seat balcony and two private suites.
If all that comes to fruition – a big if – Candlelight would not only be a player, it might be the player in Colorado’s burgeoning dinner theater market. Candlelight would be the 12th dinner theater in an industry that generated $11.1 million in revenues in 2004. But it would be the first to boast union actors, high-end food, table service and large orchestras all in the same place. Country Dinner Playhouse, the granddaddy of them all, is the only union dinner theater, which is affordable only because it offers buffet service and limits orchestras to two to four members.
“We may be in a for a majorly rude awakening, but right now we think we can achieve all of those goals,” said Nick Turner, who will continue to run his new Nonesuch Theatre in Fort Collins with his wife, Gina Schuh-Turner, her brother Troy Schuh and technical director Peter Muller. Their Circle Productions Co. will partner with landowner Chauncey Taylor and Loveland’s Clark Construction Co., with one additional financial partner to be announced.
“We call ourselves optimistically pessimistic,” Turner said.
Turner was a playwright in the Denver Center’s playwriting unit for two years, and his wife starred in “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” for four years before taking the lead role in Nonesuch’s current hit, “Ruthless! The Musical!” Turner and Troy Schuh also run the La-De-Da performing arts school. Taylor’s daughter attended La-De-Da and he later offered Turner a $450,000 plot in exchange for an ownership stake. Clark made a monetary contribution and is spearheading the construction.
Candlelight and the new Bas Bleu would be the crown jewels of a theater scene that is exploding from Longmont to Fort Collins, though Candlelight’s presence is likely to make nearby dinner theaters a bit nervous – Jesters in Longmont, Carousel in Fort Collins and Union Colony in Greeley.
“We have such huge respect for all the other theaters in the area, and I believe from my experience that if you create loving theater, it won’t draw people away from other quality theater,” Turner said. “If they see something they like, they will only want to see more.”
Turner, who was an actor and director at Carousel a decade ago, thinks the two theaters will complement one another. Carousel’s emphasis is being first on shows like “Cats” and Miss Saigon,” while Candlelight will follow “The Music Man” with “Singin’ in the Rain, “Oliver” and “Guys and Dolls.”
“We have been watching the local industry trends closely and we believe we need to do a full year of these really good old standards,” Turner said. “At that point our audience may trust us to take some risks, but this is about being a good, old-fashioned dinner theater.”
The creation of this new theater is good news for both union and non-union actors. “We are completely dedicated to casting Colorado-based actors,” Turner said, “because there are too many quality actors here who are not getting enough work.”
“Persephone” in Tuscany
Chasm View closes its lovely, hour-long production of “The Persephone Project” at 2 p.m. today at Boulder’s Dairy Center before taking the work to the Arrezo Festival beginning June 26 in Tuscany, Italy.
“The Persephone Project” is an original piece based on a lesser-known Ovid tale that is said to explain the origin of the seasons. When Persephone is raped and abducted by Hades, her mother Demeter, goddess of the harvest, goes into a deep depression that brings famine to the Earth. Zeus allows Persephone six months per year at home and six months in the underworld (during which Demeter’s grief brings fall and winter). The co-directors are CU-Boulder’s Cathy Hartenstein and Anastasia Koumidou of Greece (720-890-4265).
Briefly …
Firehouse Theatre Company hosts a reception and silent auction Friday to mark the birthday of its late founder, John Hand, before an 8 p.m. performance of “The Humble Boy” (303-562-3232). … The Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp in Steamboat Springs wraps its annual New Noises festival today with a 2 p.m. reading of the musical “River’s End,” by Chuck Larkin and Cheri Coons (970-879-7125). …
Last week I talked up the new Modern Muse Theatre Company’s first season, but the correct phone number for ticket information is 303-780-7836. …
Buntport brings its acclaimed “Kafka on Ice” to Colorado College next weekend with performances at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. June 26 at the Armstrong Theater. Starring Gary Culig, it is all things Kafka, “Metamorphosis” and Disney-esque songs, all performed on a synthetic surface by six actors who don’t really know how to skate (719-389-6001).
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
