The city of Denver and its primary Buell Theatre tenant, Denver Center Attractions, are working together on a plan to remove up to 300 orchestra-level seats by the end of next year.
The move, which would reduce capacity to about 2,580, is in response to patron complaints about the lack of leg room and the difficulty in passing from the aisle.
Just before the Buell opened 14 years ago, there was a late rush to add several rows of orchestra-level seats, which diminished patron comfort but boosted the venue’s overall capacity and bottom line. The same kind of late add-on would take place at Coors Field four years later.
The Buell’s extra seats come in handy for sold-out concerts such as Josh Groban and tough-ticket Broadway national tour stops such as “The Lion King” and the upcoming “Wicked.”
But for most Buell events, namely Broadway tours that play to healthy but not always capacity crowds, those extra seats mean cramped knees for the highest-paying customers.
“I firmly believe, and the folks at Denver Center Attractions agree, that the Buell has too many seats,” said Jack Finlaw, director of Denver’s division of theaters and arenas. “Particularly in the orchestra section, there were a lot of extra rows crammed in at the last minute, and I would like to come in and redo that section to give people more leg room.”
Removing some rows would add several inches to each that remains. In most cases, Denver Center for the Performing Arts president Randy Weeks said, “The loss of those seats isn’t going to hurt us.”
Rodney Smith, Denver’s director of programming, pointed out that while 2,880 seats was too many, the original specs called for the Buell to hold 3,500 – in the same space.
Plays in the Caulkins?
Weeks said he hopes the renovated Ellie Caulkins Opera House, opening Sept. 10, might also host touring or locally produced plays.
“We’re keeping our eyes open for a play we can do in there as a test run, because it feels so intimate in there,” Weeks said. He would have to work around the schedules of the primary tenants, Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet, but Weeks hopes a play can be mounted there “sometime in 2006.”
DCTC ’05-’06 directors
New Denver Center Theatre Company artistic director Kent Thompson has completed his roster of directors for his debut season: San Jose Repertory Company’s Amy González (“September Shoes”), new DCTC associate Bruce K. Sevy (“All My Sons”), Theatre Aspen artistic director David McClendon (“Jesus Hates Me”), the Guthrie Theatre’s Casey Stangl (“The Ladies of The Camellias”), and National Playwrights Conference artistic director Wendy C. Goldberg (“The Clean House”).
Previously reported were Thompson (“A Flea in Her Ear” and “Measure for Measure”), Sevy (“A Christmas Carol”), Israel Hicks (“Gem of the Ocean”), Anthony Powell (“After Ashley”) and Kent Gash (“Crowns”).
Three female directors in one season will be the most in the DCTC’s 27-year history.
Pinnacle’s scarlet letter
How low can things go at the beleaguered Pinnacle Dinner Theatre? No sooner had president David Pritchard settled an ongoing problem by finally getting most of his cast and crew paid up last week when another brouhaha erupted.
Someone with an obvious ax to grind against Pritchard sent a letter to the editor of The Denver Post accusing Pritchard of unpaid state and federal payroll taxes, and conducting building work without permits. The letter was signed Ben K. Burk – Pritchard’s recently departed chief financial officer and a 15-year associate.
“I did not write that letter,” Burk said when read its contents. “As a CPA, writing a letter like that would have been highly unethical.”
Pritchard denies the letter’s many charges, but Burk acknowledged the author must be a past or present employee with access to Pinnacle financial records. Burk says he has a good idea who the author is, and that he “definitely will follow up” with his attorney.
“I don’t want anyone using my name in that way,” he said. “You just don’t have the right.”
Showcase’s local actors
The list of local actors and directors participating in the second Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region opening Friday at the Arvada Center has been finalized, and it again represents a massive cooperative effort by many area companies.
A partial list of notable actors includes Joe Abramo, Bill Berry, Amy Board, Rhonda Lee Brown, Terry Burnsed, Laura Chavez, Ed Cord, Russell Costen, Timothy Englert, Gene Gillette, Josh Hartwell, Jenny Hecht, Judy Phelan-Hill, GerRee Hinshaw, Jim Hunt, Elgin Kelley, Paige Larson, Trina Magness, Kendra Crain McGovern, Sheila Swanson McIntyre, Jim Miller, Michael Morgan, Laura Norman, Denise Perry-Olson, Martha Harmon Pardee, Deborah Persoff, Karalyn “Star” Pytel, Jada Roberts, Michael Shalhoub, Jane Shirley, Terry Ann Watts, Chris Willard and Guy Williams.
Directors include John Ashton, Rick Bernstein, donnie l. betts, Pamela Clifton, Mark Devine, Gene Kato, Liz Jury, Christy Montour-Larsen, Christopher Leo, Melissa Lucero McCarl, Richard Pegg and Gregg Vigil.
PHAMALy sets records
The Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors League’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” obliterated all previous company records, drawing 95 percent capacity to 11 performances at the Denver Center’s Space Theatre. The total attendance of 4,371 was 36 percent higher than “Side Show” in 1999, and it grossed $79,140 for the nonprofit company.
Would-be patrons were even spotted holding “I need tickets” signs outside the box office on closing weekend.
Briefly …
Northern Colorado graduate Andy Kelso, an alum of the Country Dinner Playhouse (“Footloose”) and Walden Family Playhouse, will make his Broadway debut in “Mamma Mia” as Sophie’s fiancé, Sky, in September. Kelso came this close to being paired opposite fellow UNC grad Jenny Fellner, who just completed her year as Sophie on Broadway and is now in rehearsals for the new Broadway-bound musical “Princesses.” It opens Tuesday in Seattle for a pre-Broadway run.
Denver North, the only high school to have performed at the Buell (last year’s “Zoot Suit Riots”), returns Saturday with its original creation, “One Love: A Hip-Hop Theatre Joint.” Tickets $10-$20 (866-464-2626).
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
