The summer mountain theater slate opens in earnest this week with the Creede Repertory Theatre’s 43rd season opener, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
Creede is nestled 250 miles southwest of Denver with a year-round population of 400, but the theater company, the largest employer in Mineral County, drew a record- breaking 20,000 customers last year. The troupe stages five mainstage shows and two children’s plays in two spaces.
The big news is the new year- round studio theater being planned to replace the one occupying the third floor on Main Street. The new space will be built down the street in the Bob Ford Mini-Mall for a 2009 opening.
“Drood” is Rupert Holmes’ musical takeoff on Charles’ Dickens’ final, incomplete novel. Because Dickens’ murder mystery was never completed, the audience gets to end the story, and the cast has to be prepared for up to a dozen possibilities.
The slate also includes “Fools,” “Quilters,” “Life is a Dream” and the world premiere of “Billy Hell,” Steven Cole Hughes’ sequel to “Slabtown” (1-866-658-2540 or ).
There are also big doings in Grand Lake and Aspen:
The Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre also has a new theater in the planning stages in Grand Lake, 100 miles northwest of Denver. It needs it.
Last year, the Rep drew 12,400, an unheard-of 96 percent of capacity. Even the most successful companies target closer to 65 percent.
In the meantime, this troupe known for safe and sophisticated family fare is inching out onto the tree branch of risk by slating “Urinetown” (which really isn’t much of a risk), and buffering it with “Oklahoma,” “Big: The Musical” and “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (970-627-3421 or ).
Theatre Aspen opens its 25th-anniversary season June 26 with “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Rounding Third,” “Seussical” and “Crimes of the Heart.” It’s the first season under the artistic leadership of Broadway actress Paige Price, who starred there in last year’s “The Last Five Years,” then was named boss.
Her ensemble will include lots of Broadway vets. “Little Shop” features Jamie LaVerdiere (“The Producers”) and Gordon Stanley (“Cabaret”). “Rounding Third” features Kevin Stapleton (“Salome”). “Crimes of the Heart” has Janet Metz (“Fiddler on the Roof”), Lisa Datz (“The Full Monty”) and Sally Mae Dunn (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”). You may not know the names, but trust the pedigree (970- 925-9313 or ).
And while Greeley isn’t in the mountains, the oldest company in the state is the seasonal Little Theatre of the Rockies, which headlines its 74th year with the first-ever amateur production of “Hairspray,” with a national cast and crew of 48 high-school students. It will have four preview performances at the University of Northern Colorado from June 19 to 21, then play the 2008 International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Neb.
Also on the slate: “Quilters,” “Picnic,” “Doubt” and “Nunsense,” starring Town Hall’s Megan Van De Hey (“Company”); 970-351-2200.
And Trinidad’s seasonal Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre returns June 13 with a lineup of “Lend Me a Tenor,” “The Spitfire Grill” and “Lucky Stiff” (719-846-4765 or ).
East Coast odds and ends
Longtime Denver Center Theatre Company actor Jacqueline Antaramian is starring in Emily Mann‘s world premiere modern Chekhov adaptation, “A Seagull in the Hamptons” at the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey . . . Tobias Segal (“After Ashley”) was nominated for a Drama League Award for the classroom gun drama “From Up Here” . . . Jeanine Serralles (“1001”) was nominated for her work in both “The Black Eyed” and “The Misanthrope.” . . .
The Denver-born “The Little Mermaid” is in legal trouble: Adrian Bailey, a 51-year-old ensemble actor, fell through an open trap door on the boat and plummeted up to 40 feet just before a performance in New York’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. “He didn’t break every bone in his body, but he came close,” said his lawyer, Mark Manus, who is preparing a lawsuit.
Briefly…
Alex Ryer (“Pure Piaf”) has been invited to sing Edith Piaf songs Friday at the home of the French Ambassador in Washington. She was sought out by the Washington National Opera for the gig. After “Pure Piaf” opens Bas Bleu’s season Sept. 13 in Fort Collins, Ryer’s taking it to New York for an off-Broadway run . . .
This is opening week for the $6.2 million Candlelight Dinner Playhouse 40 miles north of Denver in Johnstown. “The Music Man” opens Friday (970-744-3747). . .
Boulder’s Dinner Theatre is mourning longtime publicist and former state Sen. Joan Johnson. A tribute is posted at /theater.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
This week’s openings
Friday, June 6, through June 29: PHAMALy’s “Side Show” (at the Space Theatre)
Friday, June 6, through Aug. 31: Candlelight Dinner Theatre’s “The Music Man” Johnstown
Friday, June 6, through Aug. 23: Creede Repertory Theatre’s “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
Friday, June 6, through July 6: Germinal Stage Denver’s “Reverse Psychology”
Friday, June 6, through June 29: Vintage Theatre’s “Crazy Bag”
Friday, June 6, through July 12: Victorian Playhouse’s “Catch Me If You Can”
Friday, June 6, through July 26: Thin Air Theatre’s “An Arrant Knave” Cripple Creek
Friday, June 6, through June 8: E-Project’s “A Thousand Cranes” Lakewood
Friday, June 6, through July 26: Adams Mystery Playhouse’s “Murder on Pirate Island”
This week’s closings
Today, June 1: National touring production of “Mamma Mia!” (Buell Theatre)
Today, June 1: Vintage Theatre’s “The Boys Next Door”
Today, June 1: Shadow Theatre’s “Dinah Was” Aurora
Today, June 1: Fine Arts Center’s “Beauty and the Beast” Colorado Springs
Today, June 1: Miners Alley Playhouse’s “Sherlock Holmes … The Final Adventure” Golden
Today, June 1: Longmont Theatre Company’s “Suspenders”
June 8: Arvada Center’s “Altar Boyz”
June 8: Westcliffe Players’ “Rounding Third”
Most recent theater openings
“Bernice/Butterfly: A Two-Part Invention” Former Denver Center Theatre Company director Nagle Jackson’s play takes us to a small, dying Kansas town where we meet a folksy waitress and an off-beat math professor. He explores their dreams and lost opportunities in this gut-wrenching yet comic character study. Through June 29. Bas Bleu Theater, 401 Pine St., Fort Collins, 970-498-8949 or
“God’s Favorite” 1974 Neil Simon comedy loosely based on the Biblical Book of Job. A messenger of the Lord sends all manner of temptations to a God-fearing Long Island tycoon. Through June 21. Gaslight Theater, 7287 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, 720-232-7285 or
“Live . . . at the Rossonian” Back in the day (1958), the Rossonian Hotel was the place to be for crooners and comedians in Denver. Crossroads Theatre revisits the era of the musical variety show by presenting 25 rotating impersonations (five per show) of icons from the era, including Sheryl Renee as Ella Fitzgerald, Hazel Miller as Pearl Bailey, Mary Louise Lee as Billie Holiday and more. Sundays only, through July 30. 2590 Washington St., 720-394-6198 or
“Mamma Mia!” Another return engagement of the popular national tour with a score made up entirely of ABBA songs. The surprisingly cohesive story involves a mother, a daughter and three possible fathers. Through Sunday, June 1. Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or the
“Mass Appeal” A serio-comedy about a witch hunt that breaks out against two seminarians suspected of homosexual behavior. This play replaces the originally scheduled “Burn This.” Through June 28. California Actors Theatre, Twin Peaks Mall, Longmont, 303-774-1842 or
Compiled by John Moore
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of every currently running production in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page..
This week’s podcast: Coloradans in New York
Podcast and slideshow: John Moore talks with to Colorado actors in New York, including Andy Kelso, John Carroll Lynch, Rachel deBenedet, Mike Hartman (with pal Rondi Reed); Peggy Pharr-Wilson, Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Liz Stanton, Shayna Ferm, Gary Culig, Richard Thieriot and Emily Van Fleet.
Bonus: Drama League Awards
Podcast and slide show from the annual Drama League Awards, with guests including Chazz Palminteri, Sierra Boggess, Kerry Butler, Christine Ebersol, Deanna Dunagan, Tobias Segal and Chad Goodridge. Photos by John Moore. and
