Denver chorographer Michael Gorman walked into the eye of Hurricane Katrina “and walked out a better man,” he said.
Gorman was in New Orleans the day before Katrina hit. It took five hours to make it the 50 miles back to Baton Rouge, La., where he was choreographing “A Chorus Line” for the Baton Rouge Little Theatre.
The evacuation of New Orleans “was like a scene from ‘The Grapes of Wrath,”‘ said Gorman, who is back in town to choreograph the Town Hall Arts Center’s “Little Women: The Musical,” opening Friday (303-794-2787).
Some members of his 25-member cast disappeared for more than a week, though all survived. “But many had families who lost everything,” he said. In the three weeks leading up to opening night, the population of Baton Rouge doubled. The cast could hear the “block-long” Army helicopters continually evacuating the displaced right outside the theater.
“Michael handled all of this insanity with grace and poise,” artistic director Keith Dixon wrote in an e-mail. “These few hours of rehearsal a night did more for our spirits than anything else over an entire week.”
The Little Theatre was slightly flooded but largely undamaged. Gorman said the greater challenge was dealing with glazed eyes and damaged spirits. “Those kids were in over their heads,” he said, “but I’ve never seen people give and work that hard in my life. Every night when I walked out of that theater, I swear I felt high.”
After “Little Women,” Gorman returns to work on the 2006 Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line.” As associate choreographer, Gorman is helping legendary original choreography Baayork Lee conduct a grueling, year-long series of auditions. The show will preview in San Francisco for a planned fall 2006 Broadway opening.
“What’s exciting is that Baayork teaches a style of dancing that is just not taught that much anymore,” he said. “But it’s great there is a new generation that really wants to see it again. I mean, these kids are literally bouncing off the ceiling. I’m not kidding – one of them just cut their hand on a ceiling fan.”
“Menopause” milestone
Wednesday marks the 500th performance of “Menopause the Musical” at the New Denver Civic Theatre. That’s a rare and remarkable achievement for any production, much less one in a 320-seat space.
“MTM” opened with a splash on June 30, 2004, but has thrived since almost exclusively on word of mouth. Not only is the cheesy parody of ’70s relyricized pop tunes the longest currently running production in Colorado at 65 weeks, but No. 2 comes in at only seven. The show is a superfluous lark but has become an office-party phenomenon because it has allowed women a rare communal giggle at a subject they rarely get to laugh at otherwise.
Last week, local favorite Mary Louise Lee (Country Dinner Playhouse’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’ “) joined the cast as the Power Woman (303-309-3773).
“Almost Heaven” in N.Y.
The Denver Center Theatre Company’s John Denver tribute “Almost Heaven” finally opens Wednesday in New York at the off-Broadway Promenade Theatre. It again stars Jim Newman (who also headlined the Arvada Center’s “The Full Monty”) and has added Lee Morgan, who starred in the pre-Broadway production of “Brooklyn” at the Civic. Director Randal Myler says last week’s first preview drew a standing ovation.
Briefly …
The Town Hall Arts Center’s new executive director is Rich Harris, who has been the Events Center manager for Teikyo Loretto Heights University for the past 15 years and before that managed the Boulder Theatre. Harris replaces Bil Rodgers …
Denver Center Attractions’ on again, off-again booking of the “Dr. Dolittle” musical is on again. The national tour was canceled Sept. 29, the day after DCA announced it as part of its 2006 season. But the tuner, now starring Tommy Tune rather than Tom Hewitt, is being resurrected and stops here Jan. 31-
Feb. 12 …
Holocaust survivors share their memories in a free seminar at 6 p.m. Thursday before the Longmont Theatre Company’s 7:30 p.m. presentation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” at 513 Main St. Call 303-772-5200 …
Emily Paton Davies, Jonathan E. Brown and Warren Sherrill are among the local stage actors who appear in the 50-minute film “Here Come the Brides,” which gets its first public screenings at 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday at the Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St. “It’s gay marriage meets ‘Reefer Madness,”‘ said director John Aden …
Rosey Waters’ Imagination Makers celebrates 25 years of bringing theater to children in schools with a rare public performance of “Our Best Stories” at 3 p.m. Saturday at Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts. IM has given 2,800 performances for more than 500,000 students (720-565-1055)…
And finally, today marks the final performance of DCA’s Frank Sinatra tribute, “My Way.” The show opened May 26 and is closing after 190 performances. The good news? The bar stays open.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
