Critic’s pick
“Stomp” it up
TODAY-SATURDAY. Is it music, dance or theater? That question has fueled the touring companies of the percussive stage show “Stomp” for nearly two decades. The ever-evolving production, first staged in the U.K. in 1991, finds eight rubber-limbed performers employing matchboxes, brooms, garbage cans, lighters, hubcaps and more in their pursuit of bizarre rhythmic bliss. If you saw (and loved) the show years ago, it may just be time to revisit. “There’s a lot of freedom for the cast to pretty much bring their own flavor to the stage,” said rehearsal director Andres Fernandez. “And with the cast changing, it changes the whole show.” The show finishes its Colorado run this weekend at the Lincoln Center. 7:30 p.m. today; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. $44-$59. 417 W. Magnolia St. in Fort Collins. 970-221-6730 or . John Wenzel
Family Fun
Horsing around outside the stock-show yards
Through Sunday. Can’t make it to the stock show? Get a fix of horsey fun at the Big Thunder Draft Horse Show in Loveland. The annual festival of huge horses includes three days of contests, with national and local teams rumbling through Budweiser Events Center. Percherons, Clydesdales, Belgians, Shires — the big breeds will be in attendance, competing in different classes and hitches. Serious fans can purchase three-day passes for $30. 6:30 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Budweiser Events Center, 5290 Arena Circle, Loveland; 970-619-4100. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for children. Buy tickets in advance by calling the BEC; tickets will also be available at the door.
A lyrical, musical winter festival in estes park
Through Monday. Cold weather is no reason to stay inside. Celebrate the season at the Estes Park Winter Festival. The party starts tonight with a free Ceilidh Barn Dance inside the pavilion at Stanley Park. Pronounced “kay-lee,” the Ceilidh is a Celtic hoedown with music, storytelling, snacks and more. On Saturday and Sunday, revelers can gather in Stanley Park for live music, shopping, a chili cook-off and an interactive ice castle complete with an ice maze, slide and other frozen fun. As part of Winter Trails Day, the Winter Festival also includes free snowshoe demos on Saturday in Rocky Mountain National Park — which is waiving entrance fees for the Martin Luther King Day weekend. Times and locations of activities vary; visit for details. Admission to Saturday and Sunday’s events at Stanley Park is $5, with fees for some additional activities, like wine tastings and carriage rides.
Run, eat, make and bake at oatmeal festival
Saturday. Oatmeal is a longtime breakfast favorite, and the city of Lafayette wants to throw it a party. The 16th annual Lafayette Quaker Oatmeal Festival is a full-on fiesta for the early-morning staple, with a morning’s worth of activities dedicated to the stuff. The highlight is a huge oatmeal breakfast that features a massive toppings bar for the ultimate customized bowl of oatmeal. Other events include a health fair, the “Quicker Quaker” 5K walk/run and, most deliciously, an oatmeal-themed baking contest. 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Breakfast served at Pioneer Elementary School, 101 E. Baseline Road, Lafayette. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for youth ages 3 to 12 and seniors age 60 and older. Visit for a full list of event times and locations.
Theater
Bold, progressive theater in “The Elephant Man,” “Gin Game”
Through Feb. 5. Denver already has the nationally acclaimed handicapped theater company PHAMALy, which opens the drama “The Elephant Man” this weekend at the Aurora Fox. Now Nicki Runge, who appeared in PHAMALy’s last big summer musical, is debuting her own, like-minded Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre with a production of the Pulitzer-winning play “The Gin Game” — featuring two deaf actors communicating through sign language. D.L. Coburn’s acclaimed play focuses on two dissimilar residents of a rundown nursing home who bond over card-playing. There will be voice interpreters at all performances for the benefit of those who who don’t know sign language. 8 p.m. today, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the 73rd Avenue Theatre, 7287 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, 720-276-6936 or . Meanwhile, PHAMALy is separately staging Bernard Pomerance’s Tony-winning play “The Elephant Man” based on John Merrick, the horribly deformed victim of rare skin and bone diseases who lived in London during the latter part of the 19th century. He goes from the star attraction in traveling freak shows to London society. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 5 at the Aurora Fox, 9900 E. Colfax Ave., 303-739-1970 or . (The play also will be presented Feb. 24-26 at the Arvada Center.) John Moore
Fine art
A modern Marlboro Man
Through Saturday. Where do you find today’s Marlboro Man? Monique Crine turned to — where else? — Craigslist. The Denver artist was looking for a model who would offer an updated take on that classic Western icon, and she found her man in Tony James, a wiry Texan who recently returned from duty as a soldier in Iraq. What results is a kind of photojournalistic series of 10 psychological portraits — all titled just “Tony” — on view in an exhibition that closes this weekend at the Ironton Gallery, 3636 Chestnut Place. But these works are not the expected photographs but technically sophisticated oils on canvas that subtly or sometimes overtly explore the complicated relationship between painting and photography. In these portraits, Crine probes questions of identity, individualism and how we envision cowboys and soldiers in a tech-driven 21st-century America that would seem to have little place for such potentially anachronistic archetypes. In some, Crine peers straight on at James, who is sometimes drinking a beer or smoking. But in others, she poses him more dramatically, including two canvases where he is seen in the mouth of a tunnel, mimicking a scene from “The Searchers.” These multiple dimensions give these pieces a conceptual depth often missing in much ultra-realistic figure painting, and they help explain why Crine is one of the most promising and exciting young artists on the Denver scene. The exhibition is on view 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Free. or . Kyle MacMillan
