This summer, there’s going to be a whole lot of spelling going on. The quirky Broadway hit “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” already a recent hit from Fort Collins to Boulder, will take over stages from Creede to Grand Lake to Greeley to Breckenridge.
Can you spell u-b-i-q-u-i-t-o-u-s?
Two big-name touring productions are coming to town: The first-ever Broadway revival of “South Pacific” and the musical stage adaptation of Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival will welcome the Denver Center’s John Hutton to play King Lear, while expanding its “American classics” series to include “Our Town” and “The Fantasticks.”
Events worth circling on your theater calendar include the annual Perry Mansfield New Works Festival in Steamboat Springs, where the Denver Center Theatre Company and other major regional theaters will workshop developing works from June 18-20 (800-430-2787). The DCTC will be focused on Julie Marie Myatt’s “Flooded,” which got a reading at the 2009 Colorado New Play Summit.
Modern Muse comes out of dormancy June 10-12 to present its 2010 New Play Festival — with works by Judy GeBauer, Melissa Lucero McCarl and Coleen Hubbard at the Bug Theatre (303-780-7836). The annual Boulder International Fringe Festival is Aug. 18-29 (720-563-9950).
TEN MOST INTRIGUING TITLES OF SUMMER 2010:
73rd Avenue Theatre’s “Women Alone and Their Stories”
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June 15-Aug. 17
Nobel-winning playwright Dario Fo, best known for 1978’s “Tale of a Tiger,” and wife Franca Rame, a senator and leading actress in Rome, wrote these four monologues that introduce four distinct women. Tuesdays only. Free.
7287 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, 720-276-6936,
Creede Repertory Theatre’s “The 39 Steps”
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June 18-Sept. 25
In this quirky British send-up of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller, four actors play more than 150 roles, retooling the classic thriller into a hilarious comedy that manages to be faithful to the movie. This staging stars Steven Cole Hughes, right. In September, the Denver Center Theatre Company stages its own production. Creede’s 2010 summer ensemble also includes Christy Brandt (for her 36th season), Jessica Jackson, Laura Jo Trexler, Kyle Steffen and Michael Bouchard, winner of the Denver Post’s 2009 Ovation Award for best year by an actor.
124 N. Main St., 719-658-2540, 1-866-658-2540;
Also by Creede Rep: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (June 4-Aug. 21); “The Ladies Man” (June 25-Aug. 28), “This Day and Age” (July 23-Sept. 24) and “Zeus on the Loose” (through Aug. 7)
Avenue Theater’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
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June 19-Aug. 7
Nick Sugar, right, returns to the stage after a four-year absence to star in a new production of John Cameron Mitchell’s live concert musical about the sex-changed East German glam-rocker who comes to America for freedom, fortune and love. Co-starring Amanda Earls as Yitzhak.
417 E. 17th Ave. 303-321-5925, 80203-1213,
Lake Dillon Theatre’s “Hair”
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June 25-Aug. 27
“Hair” is flowing again on Broadway, and Lake Dillon will become the first Colorado company in at least a decade to bring the quintessential Vietnam-era musical to the stage. These young bohemians struggle with the war, drugs and teenage pregnancy, singing songs like “Let the Sunshine In,” “Aquarius” and “Good Morning Starshine.” And, oh yeah, there’s nudity.
176 Lake Dillon Drive; 970- 513-9386,
Also by Lake Dillon: “Rent” (June 18-Aug. 29) and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” (July 15-Aug. 26 at the Park Lane Pavilion in Keystone)
Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s “King Lear”
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July 1-Aug. 8
In February, longtime Denver Center Theatre Company actor John Hutton, right, played the malevolent Iago, who poisons the ear of Othello (pictured right). This summer, he’ll age about 40 years to star in Shakespeare’s masterpiece about the petulant old king who’s driven into a murderous rage when he doesn’t feel the love from his daughters.
Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre and University Mainstage (indoors) on the CU-Boulder campus, 303-492-0554,
Also by Colorado Shakes: “The Fantasticks” (July 2-Aug. 8), “The Taming of the Shrew” (July 9-Aug. 6), “Measure for Measure” (July 15-Aug. 6) and “Our Town” (July 16-Aug. 4)
Theatre Aspen’s “The Marvelous Wonderettes”
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July 1- Aug. 21
Theatre Aspen brings a touch of Broadway to Aspen each summer, presenting repertory theater in the park with an ensemble of New York veterans interspersed with talented locals. Beth Malone, a longtime favorite at the Country Dinner Playhouse and an original member of the New York production of “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” right, qualifies as both. This fluffy revue includes iconic ’50s and ’60s pop songs like “Heatwave.” “Mr. Sandman” and “It’s My Party.”
400 Rio Grande Place, 970-925-9313,
Also by Theatre Aspen: “Defying Gravity” (June 18-26) and “Same Time, Next Year” (July 16-Aug. 20)
Senior Housing Options’ “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”
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July 8-Aug. 14
For the third year, a play will be staged in the lobby of the Barth Hotel to benefit Senior Housing Options, which provides assistance to 500 low-income seniors. Steve Martin’s acclaimed 1993 play imagines a chance meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso at a Paris bar in 1904. The ensemble includes Denver Center Theatre Company veteran Lawrence Hecht, right. Also featuring James Nantz. Directed by Terry Dodd.
Barth Hotel, 1514 17th St., 303-595-4464, ext. 10,
PHAMALy’s “Beauty and the Beast”
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July 15-Aug. 15
The tale may be as old as time, but no one can tell it like Denver’s renowned handicapped theater company. Leonard Barrett stars as the cursed beast who learns to love (and be loved in return) just in the rose-thorn-prick of time. Jenna Bainbridge, right, plays Belle. After the Denver Center run, the show will be presented at the Arvada Center’s outdoor amphitheater Aug. 25-26.
Stage Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 303-575-0005 or
Paragon Theatre’s “The Real Thing”
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July 17-Aug. 14
Denver Center Theatre Company stalwart Sam Gregory, right, helped solidify Paragon’s place on the theater map with his performance for them in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” and he’ll soon be back starring as Henry in Tom Stoppard’s comedy about the passionate exploration of love and honesty, where nothing is as it seems. Also featuring Brandon Kruhm and Eric Mather.
1385 S. Santa Fe Drive, 303- 300-2210,
National touring production of “South Pacific”
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July 20-Aug. 1
“South Pacific” returned to Broadway in 2008 for the first time in 54 years — meaning almost none of us has ever seen it the way it was meant to be performed. Here it is, with all its spectacle — and racism — intact. When Rodgers and Hammerstein introduced the idea that “You’ve Got to Be Taught (to Hate)” in 1948, it was shocking for its time. Pictured right is Matthew Morrison (“Glee”) in the original Broadway revival cast (he’s not in the touring cast).
Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303- 893-4100,
Other tours coming to town: “Mark Twain Tonight!” (June 5) and “Young Frankenstein” (June 15-27)
Complete 2010-11 theater listings in three handy formats
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
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
