The holiday stage buffet is again filled with plenty of traditional family choices this season. But two high-profile newcomers promise to give audiences edgier and welcome alternatives.
While “A Christmas Carol” again will be scaring the Dickens out of Scrooges everywhere from Grand Junction to the Denver Center, those who just can’t take on one more brooding ghost have “Season’s Greetings” and “B.F.E.: The Town that Christmas Forgot” to blacken their hearts this holiday season.
“Season’s Greetings” is the Denver Center Theatre Company’s antidote to its own “A Christmas Carol,” which is back for a 17th season but just the second since artistic director Kent
Thompson switched scripts to a more Victorian take on the tale.
“Season’s Greetings” is British playwright Alan Ayckbourn’s take on characters so boozy, oversexed and generally fractious that the holidays degenerate into a series of increasingly outlandish calamities (You can read more about it in the Sunday Arts & Entertainment section in an interview with director Gavin Cameron-Webb).
“B.F.E.: The Town that Christmas Forgot” marks the return of the Rattlebrain Comedy Theatre after a two-year hiatus. The popular sketch-comedy team is back, but this isn’t the same Rattlebrain. “B.F.E.” is an original musical that attempts to parody the form (at the Avenue Theater).
“Sure, you could go see shows like ‘The Nutcracker,’ or ‘A Christmas Carol,’ but let’s face it; we already know how they end,” said director Dave Shirley. “Plus they don’t have awesome Rattlebrain holiday values such as stealing and dying.”
Two wicked seasonal traditions are back: Colorado native Gary Culig returns from New York for his eighth straight holiday season retelling “The SantaLand Diaries,” David Sedaris’ acerbic recounting of his time working as an elf in a Macy’s display. This year, a limited run begins Dec. 8 at the Bug. The Victorian Playhouse is again offering Christopher Durang’s subversive holiday comedy, “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge.”
Other titles: “Sister’s Christmas Catechism” opens Dec. 5, christening the Arvada Center’s new $7 million black-box theater. And starting Dec. 7, El Centro Su Teatro is bringing “The Miracle at Tepeyac” back to the Auraria campus for the first time in four years.
The accompanying chart details further holiday offerings in Arvada, Breckenridge, Castle Rock, Cripple Creek, Denver, and Evergreen, Fort Collins, Golden, Longmont and Manitou Springs.
Holiday-themed stage offerings
THROUGH DEC. 10|Fine Arts Center’s “1940s Radio Hour,” $28-$30|719-634-5583, csfinearts center.org|COLORADO SPRINGS
DEC. 7-10|Castle Rock Players’ “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” $8-$11|303-814-7740, crplayers.org |CASTLE ROCK
DEC. 10|Stories on Stage’s “Making Merry” (holiday tales by Truman Capote, Ntozake Shange, Frank O’Connor and others; read by Malachy McCourt, Jamie Horton, Gabriella Cavallero and Charlotte Booker). At Seawell Ballroom, $20|303-494-0523,
storiesonstage.org
THROUGH DEC. 16|Festival Playhouse’s “Merry Christmas Miss Vickers,” $13.50|303-422-4090,
festivalplayhouse.com|ARVADA
DEC. 1-16|California Actor’s Theatre’s “A Tuna Christmas,” $11-$15| 303-774-1842, californiaactorstheatre.com |LONGMONT
DEC. 16|Evergreen Players’ “A Christmas Carol” (staged reading at Center/Stage), $5|303-674-4934, evergreenplayers.org|EVERGREEN
DEC. 5-17|Arvada Center’s “Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold,” $36-$40|arvadacenter.org, 720-898-7200|ARVADA
DEC. 9-17|El Centro Su Teatro’s “The Miracle at Tepeyac,” $15-$18 (at the King Center)|303- 296-0219, suteatro.org
DEC. 20|Evergreen Players’ “A Christmas Carol” (staged reading at Mt. Vernon Country Club, $40 (includes dinner)|303-674-4934, web|GOLDEN
THROUGH DEC. 23|Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Season’s Greetings,” $24-$50|303-893-4100,
denvercenter.org
THROUGH DEC. 23|Rattlebrain’s “B.F.E.: The Town that Christmas Forgot” (at the Avenue Theater), $20-$24
|303-321-5925, avenuetheater.com
THROUGH DEC. 23|Miners Alley Playhouse’s “Amahl & the Night Visitors,” $16-$18|303-935-3044,
minersalley.com|GOLDEN
THROUGH DEC. 23|Victorian Playhouse’s “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge,” $16-$20
|303-433-4343, denvervic.com
THROUGH DEC. 23|Bovine’s “I Know What You Did Last Christmas” (original sketch comedy) $16|
303-521-4610, bovinemetropolis.com
THROUGH DEC. 23|Iron Springs Chateau’s “2006 Holiday Extravaganza,” $14-$25|719-685-5104
|MANITOU SPRINGS
THROUGH DEC. 24|Denver Center Theatre Company’s “A Christmas Carol,” $29-$50|303-893-4100,
denvercenter.org
DEC. 8-24|The Bug’s “The SantaLand Diaries” (starring Gary Culig), $22-$25
|303-477-9984, bugtheatre.org
DEC. 21-24|Backstage’s “A Backstage Holiday Revue: The Christmas Trunk & An Elf’s Tale,” $30-$46|303-893-4100, denvercenter.org|BRECKENRIDGE
THROUGH DEC. 30|Bas Bleu’s “Greetings,” $10-$19|970-498-8949, basbleu.org|FORT COLLINS
DEC. 20-30|Lake Dillon’s “One-Man Scrooge” (written by Tom Mula, performed by Gary Ketzenbarger), $12-$18|970-513-9386, lakedillonfoundation.org|DILLON
THROUGH DEC. 31|Heritage Square Music Hall’s “Scrooge,” $23-$36 |303-279-7800, hsmusichall.com
|GOLDEN
DEC 1-31|Carousel Dinner Theatre’s “Plaid Tidings,” $34-$38 |970-225-2555, adinnertheatre.com |FORT COLLINS
THROUGH DEC. 31|Butte Opera House’s “A Cripple Creek Christmas Carol,” $7-$12|719-235-8944, butteoperahouse.com|CRIPPLE CREEK
