Denver Center Attractions’ 2008 season of national touring productions comes out Wednesday, but we already know Disney Theatricals is returning to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.
No, not “The Little Mermaid Redux,” but the one title that will make all those giddy Ariel fans flop breathlessly about again like fish out of water.
“High School Musical” is coming to Denver next July as a one-week, nonsubscription added attraction.
This innocuous story of prep-school drama (on stage and off) was a surprise hit for the Disney Channel last year, and has since become a cottage industry. The soundtrack became the biggest-selling U.S. album in 2006, and led to a stage show that Disney Theatricals initially was content to license out to schools. (Several in Colorado have performed it already).
But the phenomenon has yet to slow. Tweens turned actors like Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens into teen-mag and gossip-column stars.
The Disney Channel’s initial airing of the sequel last month was the highest-rated basic cable telecast of all time. Four out of five girls age 6-11 watching TV at the time were watching “HSM2.” A national tour was an inevitability.
DCA’s 2008 season also will include the previously announced Denver launch of the “A Chorus Line” national tour; a third crossover offering with the Denver Center Theatre Company (this holiday season it will be “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas”); and the next show for the Garner-Galleria cabaret space.
There were serious negotiations to bring the pre-Broadway tryout production of “Gladiator” here, but it looks like that’s not going to happen.
Buell gets new seats
The reason “High School Musical” goes into the Ellie is because, at long last, the Buell Theatre will be closed for two months next summer for new seats that will be installed in preparation for the Democratic National Convention.
At one time, the plan was to reduce the capacity of the 2,800-seat Buell by 300, increasing legroom in the orchestra area. Now Denver Center president Randy Weeks says that’s no longer necessary.
“There is new technology in seating so that people are going to be more comfortable,” Weeks said.
Look for the full DCA season announcement in Thursday’s Post.
Shadow looks to Aurora
Shadow Theatre Company is hoping to move to Aurora, two blocks east of the Aurora Fox Theatre. A $250,000 loan proposal goes before the City Council on Monday.
If approved, the state’s only black theater company will move to a new 149-seat stage on Dayton Street between 14th and Colfax avenues, with a planned grand opening in February with “Dinah Was” (about Dinah Washington) to coincide with Black History Month.
“We are very confident that we will be approved, but we have not in fact been approved yet,” said Shadow spokesman PJ D’Amico.
Councilman Larry Beer told the Aurora Sentinel the move was a “slam dunk” for Aurora, which has been trying to develop an arts district in the area. And Shadow founder Jeffrey Nickelson has been wanting for years to move from his woefully inadequate 75-seat facility at 1420 Ogden St.
Briefly…
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts has picked up a powerful new trustee: Ben Cameron, one of the nation’s leading arts advocates. Cameron, known for his innovative ideas in developing new audiences, is former executive director of New York’s Theatre Communications Group, where he also was a particular champion of Denver’s Curious Theatre …
Colorado Springs’ TheatreWorks on Thursday debuts its world-premiere commission of Bernardo Solano’s “Zorro,” updating the classic tale to the 21st century, complete with immigrant laborers, a sadistic chief of security and an ineffective computer geek who’s taken in by a homeless man who claims to be the original Zorro (719-262-3232) …
Curious Theatre presents three original 10-minute plays about climate change, written by its New Voices students, at 2 p.m. Saturday at the 29th Street Mall in Boulder. Part of “The Wonders of Science Saturday.” Free (303-623-0524) …
And finally, welcome home to Michael Gribben. The Loretto Heights grad and prolific musical director is playing keyboards for the national touring production of “Spamalot.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
This week’s theater openings
THU-OCT. 20 | Denver Center Theatre Company’s “You Can’t Take It With You” (Stage Theatre)
THU-OCT. 14 | TheatreWorks’ “Zorro” | COLORADO SPRINGS
FRI-NOV. 17 | Countdown to Zero’s “My Name is Rachel Corrie”
FRI-OCT. 27 | Miners Alley Playhouse’s “My Old Lady” | GOLDEN
FRI-OCT. 7 | Performance Now’s “Hello Dolly!” | LAKEWOOD
FRI-NOV. 11 | Jesters Dinner Theatre’s “The Phantom of the Opera” (all-teen version)
SAT-OCT. 28 | Modern Muse’s “Thom Pain (based on nothing)” (at the Bug Theatre)
This week’s theater closings
TODAY | Jesters Dinner Theatre’s “The Wizard of Oz” | LONGMONT
SAT | Nonesuch’s “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” | FORT COLLINS
SAT | OpenStage & Company’s “Arabian Nights” | FORT COLLINS
SAT | Upstart Crow’s “The Hostage” | BOULDER
SAT | Backstage’s “Escanaba in da Moonlight” | BRECKENRIDGE
SAT | Parker Arts Council’s “Deathtrap”
SEPT. 30 | Colorado Festival of World Theatre | COLORADO SPRINGS
SEPT. 30 | Thin Air Players’ “Annie Get Your Gun” | CRIPPLE CREEK
This week’s podcast
RUNNING LINES | This week’s guests are Annawyn Shamas and her daughters, Ellen and Laura. Annawyn and Ellen star in Playwright Theatre’s “Eleemosynary.” |
This week’s critic’s choice recommendation
In what is believed to be an unprecedented twin bill anywhere, Germinal Stage Denver is staging Eugene O’Neill’s “A Touch of the Poet,” followed in November by its even rarer sequel, “More Stately Mansions.” Ed Baierlein is not only directing but starring as a domineering former British army officer who thinks himself a nobleman, but has been reduced to owning a shanty tavern outside Boston in 1828. Baierlein has amassed a masterful pantheon of thought-provoking and intelligent performances over 34 years, but this is something else entirely. This volcanic, dangerous portrayal of a vile, acidic poseur will stand as a milestone. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 7 at 2450 W. 44th Ave. $15.75-$19.75 (303-455-7108) or germinalstage.com. | John Moore
