Randal Keith still can’t believe it happened.
Six months ago, the star of the Arvada Center’s “Les Miserables” slipped on water pooling underneath a fog machine. He hasn’t worked — or walked normally — since.
Seven bones in his ankle were broken. “The largest bone broke completely in half. The fibula broke into four pieces, and the talus — that’s the ball in the middle — broke off at the top,” Keith said last week from his home in Las Vegas.
“It basically severed my foot, other than my skin.”
Somehow, no muscles or tendons were damaged. But it took two surgeries, a metal plate and 10 pins to put the ankle back together. And not the itty- bitty kind.
“We’re talking those long carpenter screws that you would build a house with,” Keith said.
Any actor’s life is a precarious one, moving from show to show and enduring sometimes long employment gaps.
Keith has been one of the lucky ones. He’s of the most employable actors in the country. He’s played Valjean in more performances than any other actor. And his surgeries were paid for by workers’ comp.
“But I still can’t really work,” he said. “I am still limping really badly and in physical therapy.”
This horrible tale took a happier turn last week, when the Arvada Center announced Keith will return in April 2010 to star in “Nine,” the Broadway musical based on Federico Fellini’s film “8 1/2.”
“I am so looking forward to it,” said Keith. “I just wish that it was so much sooner, because if I don’t work until I do ‘Nine,’ then (artistic director) Rod Lansberry will have to find where I’m living on the street and bring me in to put me on the stage.”
Keith was the lone “ringer” Lansberry brought in to join an otherwise all- local cast for “Les Mis,” the highest- grossing show in the Arvada Center’s 33-year history. Though he performed in it for only 10 days, Keith is humbled by the bonds he forged. Cast members visited daily. They raised $5,000 selling his CDs to departing audience members. They kept his spirits up.
“They were just incredibly generous,” Keith said. “I couldn’t believe they took the time and energy just to help out in whatever ways they could. I’ve never really worked with a cast that close. It was just a few weeks of my life, but these people became my family.”
Keith can’t comment on the likelihood of litigation against the city-run theater, though it’s been presumed since Day One he’ll eventually seek compensation for lost wages during his rehabilitation.
“It’s been very difficult,” said Keith. “It is frustrating because I love working. I’ve missed it so much.”
That he’s coming back to Arvada for “Nine” shows there’s no hard feelings on either side.
“It could have been avoided, but it was something that no one set out to do, and it was fixed immediately,” he said.
“Nine” is a dreamlike musical with stunning water effects. On Broadway, a fresco in an Italian spa started leaking water, and several scenes that followed took place on chairs in a growing pool of water.
Lansberry may go another way. Asked if he’d ever put Keith and water on the same stage ever again, he joked, “Probably no.”
Calling Rachel deBenedet
In a scheduling oddity, Lansberry’s new season includes two titles that featured Arvada Center alumna Rachel deBenedet in New York — “Nine” and the backstage opera comedy, “The Second Tosca.” If schedules can be worked out, expect to see deBenedet back at least for “Tosca,” and possibly for “Nine,” as well.
“I don’t have it confirmed,” Lansberry said with a laugh, “but I am doing it.”
DeBenedet got the lead in New York’s “Tosca” when writer Tom Rowan, an ex-Denverite, approached her with a script at the stage door of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”
“He had seen me in several shows at Country Dinner Playhouse, and he thought this part was perfect for me,” said deBenedet, who got rave reviews as Lisa, the up-and-coming standby soprano.
Read all about hte Arvada Center’s new season
For our full report on the season announcement,
Briefly …
Congrats to Matt Zambrano, slam-poet champion and 2008 Denver Post Ovation Award winner for best actor in a children’s production (Buntport’s “Trunks”). He’s been accepted into the Denver Center’s National Theatre Conservatory Class of 2012 . . .
The Avenue’s “That Woman Show” has been extended through May 30.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
This week’s theater openings
Opening Tuesday, through April 19: National touring production of “Tang Concubines,” Buell Theatre
Thursday-May 17: Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Sunsets and Margaritas,” Ricketson Theatre
Thursday-April 26: Manitou Art Theater’s “Signature” Colorado Springs
Thursday-April 26: Lake Dillon’s “The Good Body”
Friday-May 10: Aurora Fox’s “The Skin of Our Teeth”
Friday-May 10: Town Hall Arts Center’s “Bat Boy, the Musical” Littleton
Friday-May 10: Germinal Stage-Denver’s “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale”
Friday-May 9: Firehouse’s “Incorruptible”
This week’s theater closings
Today: Miners Alley Playhouse’s “The Visitor” Golden
Today: Evergreen Players’ “Sixteen Wounded”
Today: The Bug’s “Ten Buddhist Tales” April 5: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s “Lend Me a Tenor”
Today: Colorado Homegrown Tales’ “A Little Frayed at the Edge” (Byers-Evans House)
April 12: 73rd Avenue Theatre Company’s “Mary, Mary” Westminster
April 12: Jesters Dinner Theatre’s “South Pacific”
Audio podcast: Running Lines with Rod Lansberry and Randal Keith
This week, artistic director Rod Lansberry and “Nine” star Randal Keith discuss the newly announced Arvada Center slate with Denver Post theater critic John Moore. Run time: 9 minutes. To listen,
This week’s best bet
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” The Denver Center Theatre Company presents a stage adaptation of John Irving’s darkly comic novel, “A Prayer for Owen Meany.” It’s about a dwarfish boy with a strange voice who accidentally kills his best friend’s mom with a baseball and comes to believe he is an instrument of God. Through April 25. Note: Read our interview with John Irving Denver Center Theatre Company, Stage Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays through April 25. $25-$51. 303-893-4100 (800-641-1222 outside Denver), all King Soopers or
Most recent theater openings
“Anon(ymous)”
A young refugee named Anon, separated from his mother, flees his war-torn country and journeys to the U.S., where he must rely on his instinct, resilience and humor as he navigates the chaotic, changing landscape. Written by Naomi Iizuka and based on Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Through May 2. Presented by OpenStage & Company at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins, 970-221-6730 or
“Cups”
Joni Sheram’s one-woman play traces the milestones of a woman’s life through her bras, which she sees as a metaphor for her tales of womanhood. Through April 25. Presented by Modern Muse at the Bindery Space, 770 22nd St., 303-780-7836 or
“Murder on Pirate Island”
Interactive dinner-theater mystery comedy in which pirate crews from all over the world have assembled to crown the new Pirate King. Through May 30. Adams Mystery Playhouse, 2406 Federal Blvd., 303-455-1848 or
“Romeo and Juliet”
Shakespeare’s tragedy about the star-crossed young lovers whose feuding families will never allow them to follow their hearts. Through May 3. Vintage Theatre, 2119 E. 17th Ave., 303-839-1361 or
“Well”
Lisa Kron’s cleverly staged memoir covers growing up in a household full of allergies and social activism. Lisa soon loses control of her own storytelling and things spin into a riotously comic universe when her mother interrupts the proceedings in order to set the record straight. Through May 10. Bas Bleu Theatre, 401 Pine St., Fort Collins, 970-498-8949 or
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
Re-cap: This week’s theater coverage in The Denver Post
John Irving: Oscar-winning screenwriter John Irving takes questions from fans and members of the creative team behind the Denver Center Theater Company’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany.”
Denver Center, Colorado Ballet cut play: The DCPA cut wages by up to 3 percent for full-time, non-union employees, and the two men at the top agreed to 10 percent cuts each.
Arvada Center season: After a record-shattering year, here come four more lavish Broadway musicals, including “Miss Saigon” and “Nine.”
JOHN MOORE’S COLUMNS
Randal Keith: Six months ago, the star of the Arvada Center’s “Les Miserables” slipped on water pooling underneath a fog machine. Randal Keith hasn’t worked — or walked normally — since. He’s returning to star in”Nine.”
It was an “Adventureland”: John Moore recounts his six years working at the Games Department at Denver’s Elitch Gardens. The film “Adventureland” opened Friday.
REVIEW: Denver Center Theatre Company’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany” ***1/2
REVIEW: Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Radio Golf” ***1/2
REVIEW: Victorian Playhouse’s “Greater Tuna.” **
And introducing … The Running Lines blog
You can now find our roundup of daily theater news and dialogue at blogs.denverpost.com/runninglines
