The Country Dinner Playhouse and Boulder’s Dinner Theatre have entered into an unprecedented cooperative era, starting with the casting of longtime BDT favorite Joanie Brosseau-Beyette as Eva Peron in CDP’s “Evita,” opening May 9.
“There are so many talented performers in the metro area, and I’m excited for our audiences that we now get to share some of that talent,” Country Dinner Playhouse producer Paul Dwyer said.
Brosseau-Beyette is finishing her 18th season as a member of the Boulder Dinner Theatre family. Its envied regulars enjoy the most stable, full-time employment in all of Colorado theater. In a recent interview, Brosseau-Beyette said her only small regret has been not having the chance to work with friends in other companies.
This doesn’t happen without the blessing of Boulder boss Michael J. Duran, who will welcome his starlet back after July 8. Duran’s mantra is putting the community in the local theater community, as evidenced by his very successful, unprecedented collaboration with the black Shadow Theatre on “Ragtime.”
“It’s just karma,” said Duran, who took over the company in 2003. “I knew it would be good for Joanie, and it would be good for Paul. I really believe what goes around comes around.”
Beyette played Eva in the company’s four-star production in 2000, with Denver Post critic Sandra Dillard raving, “Brosseau-Beyette is a commanding Evita from the top of her carefully coiffed blond chignon to the bottom of her little peep-toe pumps.”
Country Dinner Playhouse lands “Altar Boyz”
With “Hairspray” unavailable to regional theaters until at least fall 2008, the biggest new musical for next season is the off-Broadway phenom “Altar Boyz” – and the Country Dinner Playhouse has got it.
It’s a poppy tuner about a Christian pinup boy band consisting of “the self-anointed apostles of pop” – Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham (who’s Jewish). Look for the possible Country Dinner Playhouse return of Jesse Johnson, who plays Luke in the “Altar Boyz” national tour.
And expect the rest of the Country Dinner Playhouse season in two weeks.
“La Cage” tops Arvada Center season
The Arvada Center was hoping for “Hairspray” and got aced out of “Altar Boyz” and “Doubt” (which went to the Denver Center Theatre Company), but it’s still sporting an eclectic and expanded new season, the first to fully employ its stellar new studio theater.
The big musicals will be Harvey Fierstein’s “La Cage aux Folles” (director Rod Lansberry, Nov. 20-Dec. 23) and “Buddy… The Buddy Holly Story” (July 8-Aug. 10). Those who object to the gay content of “La Cage” will be offered the simultaneous holiday offering “Plaid Tidings” in the studio theater (director Anita Boland).
The mainstage season kicks off with Ron Hutchinson’s “ Moonlight and Magnolias” (director Bev Newcomb Madden, Sept. 11-Oct. 7). It covers the backstage drama in the making of “Gone With the Wind.”
A solid lineup of black-box studio dramas: John Patrick Shanley’s “Defiance” (director Jane Page, Oct. 2-Nov. 4), John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” (director Terry Dodd, Jan. 29- March 9) and John Guare’s “House of Blue Leaves” (director Billie McBride, April 8-May 11).
A nonsubscriber (good thing!) “special engagement” of Dan Goggins’ “Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue” takes the mainstage March 6-23. Goggins will direct.
For detailed descriptions of each play, click here. For subscription info, call 720-898-7200.
Jackson, Arp summering in Creede
The Creede Repertory Theatre’s exciting summer season is headlined by “Urinetown,” with Broadway vet Patrick Ryan Sullivan returning as Lockstock, Rebecca Gibel as Hope and hotshot Denver actor John Arp as Cladwell.
Former Denver Center Theatre Company director Nagle Jackson returns to helm Edward Albee’s “Everything In the Garden.” Francis X. Kuhn directs “Pygmalion,” with Sullivan as his Higgins and Allison McLemore as his Eliza. Diana Dresser stars in Ken Ludwig’s “Leading Ladies” (director Jack White) and again tackles Theresa Rebeck’s “Bad Dates” (director Maurice LaMee). She performed the one-woman show earlier this year in Denver in co-production with Modern Muse.
Full cast lists for the upcoming Creede season are posted as a blog item on our Denver Post MySpace page, click here.
Briefly …
Kathy Kuehn, longtime Arvada Center performing arts director, retires May 5 … “Monty Python’s Spamalot” and “Doubt” were named best musical and play at the 2007 Touring Broadway Awards …
And finally: In case you missed the news, David Lindsay-Abaire has won the drama Pulitzer Prize for “Rabbit Hole,” but only after a 17-member committee invoked a seldom-used rule and tossed out the three finalists and instead pulled “Rabbit” out of its hat. “There’s a lot of luck involved, and this time I was lucky,” Lindsay-Abaire told the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t know what happened in that room, and frankly, I don’t care. All I care about is somebody called me up and said, `You’ve won the Pulitzer.’ ” Also getting lucky? The Lake Dillon Theatre Company. It already had secured the rights for next season, and will perform it May 23-June 22, 2008.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
This week’s theater openings
WED-JUNE 2 | Cabaret Dinner Theatre’s “Cinderella” | GRAND JUNCTION
THU-MAY 27 | Modern Muse’s “Squall” (at Arvada Center’s Black Box Theatre)
FRI-JUNE 16 | The Avenue’s “God Sees Dog: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead”
FRI-MAY 19 | Longmont Theatre Company’s “Two By Two”
SAT-JUNE 9 | Curious’ “Mall Mart: The Musical”
This week’s theater closings
TODAY | Backstage’s “Hidden” | BRECKENRIDGE
TODAY | E-Project’s “Sylvia” | LAKEWOOD
TODAY | Metro Playhouse’s “On Golden Pond” | GRAND JUNCTION
SAT | Buntport’s “Moby Dick, Unread”
SAT| TheatreWorks’ “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” | COLORADO SPRINGS
SAT | Festival Playhouse’s “Hotel Pickle” | ARVADA
APRIL 29 | Miners Alley Playhouse’s “Tuesdays With Morrie” | GOLDEN
APRIL 29 | Main Street Players’ “Grease” | ENGLEWOOD
APRIL 29 | Performance Now’s “Gypsy”| LAKEWOOD
