LBJ and MLK post-JFK in ‘All the Way’
Boulder boasts some outstanding theater. Led by stalwarts like the Boulder Ensemble Theater Company (BETC) and BDT Stage, the Boulder theater scene is both varied and vibrant. As with dining and art,...
View ArticleBETC synergizes a new paradigm
Isn’t language marvelous? The interplay between words and meaning, denotation and connotation, is ever evolving, its fluidity influenced by cultural, temporal and psychological factors. A single...
View ArticleThis silence is golden
Any theater purists out there who weep into their chamomile about the stage being corrupted by more and more adaptations of (gasp!) films, need to bear two things in mind or else run the very real risk...
View ArticleUnreal reality: ‘The Realish Housewives of Cherry Creek’
Is the idea of a reality TV parody an inherent redundancy? Whether it’s The Real World, Duck Dynasty, The Jersey Shore or Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, the most popular reality TV shows exist in a dusky...
View ArticleGet your Bard on
The BolderBoulder has already bounded by. Cottonwood tufts blanket the ground like allergy-nightmare snow. Thermometers regularly top out in the 90s and with University of Colorado’s students on break,...
View ArticleRemember, remember…
For more than 400 years, every Bonfire Night Britons have recited the following verses in remembrance of the foiled plot to assassinate their king and fundamentally change the course of their history....
View ArticleWar is Helen
You’ve probably heard the old saw about sex being like pizza: “Even when it’s not that great it’s still pretty good.” The same may be said of the works of Señor El Grande Jefe del Teatro, William...
View ArticleThe Abaire-able lightness of being
Despite all of its affluence, education and aspirations to cultural relevance, Boulder sometimes struggles with maintaining a vibrant theater scene. The Dairy Arts Center, which is Boulder’s analog to...
View ArticleThe second American Revolution
Beyond the inability of many hardworking, taxpaying citizens who have health insurance to obtain necessary medical care at a reasonable cost; beyond a legislature too busy back-stabbing and...
View ArticleThe exception that proves the rule
In terms of all-time great chestnuts, right up there with, “A stitch in time saves nine,” and, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia,” is, “It is the exception that proves the rule.” On dozens of...
View Article‘It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol Life’
The Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (BETC) is on a roll. In addition to continuing a remarkable run of top notch productions that cement BETC’s reputation as one of the best theatre companies in not...
View ArticleGunderson’s glory
Back in September, The Catamounts put on The Taming, a rousing if uneven play by Lauren Gunderson. It was my first experience with Gunderson’s work, and I found it exceedingly clever and biting, but...
View ArticleLocal boy makes God
The old school newspaper headline, “Local boy makes good,” seems to have fallen out of fashion of late. Should we blame the 24-hour news cycle with its insatiable craving for doom and gloom...
View ArticleSome enchanted evening
With a portfolio that includes Pixar, Lucasfilm (i.e., the Star Wars empire), Marvel, ABC, ESPN, Touchstone Pictures and the Muppets, these days Disney is the very definition of market-capturing,...
View ArticleSweet 60
People from Denver and points beyond can have all their talk about “the bubble” and “The People’s Republic of,” but the fact is there is a lot to love about Boulder. Beyond its prime weather and...
View ArticleClassic Caesar
Man landing on the moon. The Vietnam War. Two gulf wars. VCRs. Video games. Cell phones. The Internet. Cassette tapes. Compact discs. DVDs. AIDS. Reaganomics. Bush. Clinton playing hide the cigar. Son...
View ArticleHamlette
Which is more feminist: shouting from the rooftops that the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s production of Hamlet this season features a female Hamlet — a Hamlette, if you will — or not mentioning it at...
View ArticleR + G = H
Just like with land, they ain’t making more Shakespeare plays. With a finite canon from which to pull, Shakespeare festivals face the very real and terrifying possibility that audiences will (gasp!)...
View ArticleHere’s to the next 20 years
The Curious Theatre Company in Denver is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Having had the privilege and pleasure of reviewing Curious’ shows for the bulk of its existence, I can say without...
View ArticleYou say you want a revolution?
The Revolutionists will not be televised. You’ll have to put down the remote, tablet, laptop or phone and get your unplugged self to the Dairy Arts Center. There, seated stadium-style in the comfy...
View ArticleSomething doesn’t add up
With a little bastardization, Einstein’s most famous equation, E=mc2, sums up the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company’s latest, Smart People, with elegant precision. If “E” is “Every...
View ArticleAn elfing good time — take a trip to SantaLand
Forget the alleged War on Christmas. Judging by the Xmas-themed commercials on TV, the Xmas music playing at the mall and the Xmas decorations that popped up on both public and private property on Nov....
View ArticleThe sun comes out today
When you’ve seen Annie as many times as I have, it’s easy to dread another couple of hours spent with that plucky, Depression-era redhead, she of the ringlet curls and unbounded enthusiasm. Luckily and...
View ArticleLady Day sings the blues
The #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements exist for the sad but simple reason that sexism and racism are all too alive and well in 2018. Of course, as bad as things are, they could always be worse....
View ArticleA terrific two-hander
Ensemble pieces and one-man (or woman) shows are a dime a dozen. Two-person plays — also known as “two-handers” — are a much rarer bird. Two-woman two-handers qualify for the endangered species list. A...
View ArticleLeave it to BETC
Atheist, agnostic or true believer. Which one are you? Whichever it is, you probably feel quite firmly that you’re right and the other two groups are, depending on your temperament and the number of...
View ArticleThe politics of laughing
I’ve got good news and bad news for all the dyed in the wool, “red ’til I’m dead!” conservatives and “true blue!” liberals out there. The good news is that, whichever side you’re on, Human Error will...
View ArticleLabour of love
People live on the island of Manhattan their entire lives and never visit the Statue of Liberty. There are lifelong Arizonans who’ve never stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon, San Franciscans who’ve...
View ArticleThe nose knows
Shakespeare purists shake their fists and gnash their teeth when a Shakespeare festival includes works by playwrights other than the Bard. From a pedantic perspective, they certainly have a point....
View ArticleThe odd duck quacks the loudest
This year’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) is a bit of an odd duck. But then, isn’t it always the oddest ducks that quack the loudest? Only 50 percent of the plays at this year’s CSF were penned...
View ArticleWhat’s not to love?
Love. It can be exciting and new, welcoming you aboard, even expecting you. It can be life’s sweetest reward, an open smile on a friendly shore. Love can also hurt, scar and wound. It can be a flame...
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You definitely won’t shoot your eye out
It doesn’t matter whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie (it isn’t, by the by, from Bruce Willis’ own lips during the only funny moment of his Comedy Central roast). Or how many times you’ve experienced...
View ArticlePride and prejudice and Christmas
As Billy Squier so sweetly sang, “Christmas is the time to say ‘I love you.’” As Christmas is coming up on us faster than a distracted trucker behind schedule to deliver her last trailer-load of Amazon...
View ArticleRadical truth
Every audience member experiences every play — or movie, or performance art piece, or symphony, or puppet show — through their unique lens. A 72-year-old, African-American lesbian from Atlanta will...
View ArticleA curious night at the theater
Half of a geodesic dome fills most of the Grace Gamm Theatre stage at the Dairy Arts Center. The dome is built of thin, circular pipe. Material covers many of the dome’s triangular sections while...
View ArticleBeauty is truth, truth beauty
They just don’t make ’em like they used to, eh Keats? Built in obsolescence means that $1,000 (or more) smartphones have scratched up screens within a couple of months and stop working altogether...
View ArticleShakespeare’s here
People are born and live their entire lives in Manhattan and never ride the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, visit the Empire State Building or take in a Broadway show. Some residents of the Grand...
View ArticleBrawling love
Is Romeo and Juliet a romance or a tragedy? It probably says a lot about the human condition that an overwhelming number of people see Romeo and Juliet’s relationship as one of the most epic romances...
View ArticleAnomie of the state
When it comes to orgies, swap meets and many of life’s other adventures, what one brings to the experience often determines what one gets out of it. That’s certainly the case with most live theater. A...
View ArticleThe first rule of entertainment
Like Fight Club, entertainment has rules, and the first one is so fundamentally important it deserves to be the first two. The first rule of entertainment is be entertaining. The creators, producers...
View ArticleNo humbug here
Maybe it’s the lack of snow in the metro area? Or the dearth of Christmas lights throughout great swathes of Boulder (I’m looking at you, Twenty-Ninth Street Mall). Maybe it’s a fatigue born of...
View ArticleABBAcadabra
Calling something that’s as awesomely desirable as it is difficult to find a “unicorn” is currently in vogue. Wall Street types call low-risk, high-reward IPOs from bleeding edge, niche companies...
View ArticleMalt shop memories
Next to the olfactory sense, the sense of sound is generally considered the most closely tied to memory. The smell of chocolate chip cookies can whisk you back to being a kid in grandma’s kitchen, and...
View ArticleA portrait of the artist as a young transplant
More than a lot of other locales, Boulder is peopled by transplants. Almost everyone you meet is from somewhere else. In all my years living in our fair city, I’d estimate only a miniscule percentage...
View ArticleOld Testament 101
Based on my recent visit to Jesters Dinner Theatre in Longmont, one thing is abundantly clear: Jesters has recommitted itself to being the best darn dinner theatre it can be. When I last ventured in to...
View ArticleThe kids are all right
Reinvention is as American as Edison appropriating Tesla’s work or Donald Trump cloaking himself in the mantle of legitimate presidential candidacy. Hollywood’s current remake/reboot craze illustrates...
View ArticleLove, Irish style
The Political Correctness Police seem to have a blind spot when it comes to the Irish. Racial slurs against African Americans, Asians, etc. are obviously right out. Heaven forbid you should question...
View ArticleNot fade away
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who think there are two kinds of people in the world and those who know better. Life is more shades of grey than black and white, so investigation and...
View ArticleMothertrucker
Loneliness, one of the most elemental of emotions and an inextricable part of the human experience, serves as the basis for, or at least informs, much great art. Think of the solitary figure in Edvard...
View ArticleThis fish is foul
As the renowned inventor Charles F. Kettering said, “One fails forward toward success.” Louis C.K. expressed a similar sentiment in more modern parlance when he opined, “Whenever you leave behind...
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