Lord of the what!? Lord of the Dance!

Sixteen years ago, Michael Flatley created and launched LORD OF THE DANCE, the world’s highest grossing Irish dance show selling out arenas and theatres today. Presented by MagicSpace Entertainment and Global Entertainment Group, LORD OF THE DANCE opens in Denver at the Buell Theatre this Friday, February 17, for five performances only. Tickets are now on sale at www.denvercenter.org or by calling 303.893.4100.

LORD OF THE DANCE is a classic tale of good versus evil, based on Irish folklore that brings a romantic and passionate love story to life. The story is based upon mythical Irish folklore as Don Dorcha, Lord of Darkness, challenges the ethereal lord of light, the Lord of the Dance. Battle lines are drawn, passions ignite and a love story fueled by the dramatic leaps and turns of dancers’ bodies begins to build against a backdrop of Celtic rhythm. The show includes 21 scenes of precision dancing, dramatic music, new colorful wardrobes and state-of-the-art staging and lighting.

Irish dance lovers and music fans alike will experience the engaging, rhythmic adventures that helped catapult Celtic dance mania and Irish dancing into the global spotlight. The New York Post raves LORD OF THE DANCE is “fascinating, rewarding and above all, entertaining.” The Los Angeles Times states it is “a showpiece extravaganza.”

Generations of audiences, more than 60 million people from 68 countries, have seen LORD OF THE DANCE. Speaking about the show’s updates, Flatley says, “We have fresh wardrobes and an exciting new set featuring elements from the successful international tour I performed in last year – we sold out more than 20 dates in the UK. Fans will see technological highlights like video incorporated into an LED wall, as well as a number of changes to the overall lighting and set designs.” Flatley retired from dancing in 2011 and is Artistic Director of LORD OF THE DANCE, overseeing all aspects of the production. LORD OF THE DANCE ticket sales exceed more than $800 million worldwide.

Along with Dance Director Marie Duffy-Pask, Flatley handpicked the cast of over 40 dancers.  Each has achieved individual recognition as a national or worldwide dance champion. Lee Marshall, CEO of MagicSpace Entertainment, the tour promoter and veteran of blockbuster entertainment events agrees stating, “These championship dancers have captivated a new generation of fans, and manage the impossible every night. Their collective spirit and energy takes the audience to a time and place that is as imaginative as it is inviting.”

Single tickets for LORD OF THE DANCE start at just $29. To charge by phone, call Denver Center Ticket Services at 303.893.4100.  TTY (for Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons): 303.893.9582.  Groups of 10 or more, please call 303.446.4829.  Additionally, tickets may be purchased at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex lobby. Buy and print online at www.denvercenter.org.

PHAMALY presents The Elephant Man

"The Elephant Man" chronicles the true story of John Merrick, treated as a fairground freak because of his hideously deformed body. Abandoned and helpless, Merrick is discovered by a young doctor who provides him with a home in a London hospital. While no longer a victim of beatings and abuse, he becomes an object of curiosity to exploit among the upper class.

PHAMALY (The Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League) presents encore performances of “The Elephant Man” at the Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, Friday, February 24 and Saturday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, February 26 at 2 p.m.. Go to www.phamaly.org for additional details.

Theater Review - Bring it On: The Musical

We Got Spirit!  Yes We Do!
by Philip Doyle

'Bring It On: The Musical' is inspired by the cheerleading rivalry 'Bring It On' movie franchise.  Live theatre goers have been assaulted as of late with stage versions of successful movies, to various degrees of popularity. I could mention the previous attempts, like '9 to 5', but I wouldn’t want to put a negative vibe out there in cyber land.

'Bring It On: The Musical', soars by leaps and bounds (pun intended), above and beyond its celluloid counterpart.

Set in the realm of competitive cheerleading, the characters live in diametrically opposing worlds.  The story challenges our notions of what is means to be privileged, popular, and accepted.  
The entire cast share exceptional moments of comedic and acrobatic prowess.

Head cheerleader Campbell, played by Taylor Louderman is as endearing as she is beautiful.  What amazes me the most is how she can harmonize while literally standing on the shoulders of her cast mates.  Taylor brings it!

Gregory Haney serving confident beauty as La Cienega.

Gregory Haney plays La Cienega, a confident and beautiful transgender student.  I admire how La Cienega struts the stage as an untroubled and strong woman.  I must admit that, with her unfettered attitude and amazing body, for me, Haney’s La Cienega is the perfect woman.  I think I may be in love.  I mean for realz.  Haney brings IT!

Ryann Redmond is a star.  She plays the outcast and dejected, “neurotic and weird,” Bridget, and takes her character to glorious heights of joy.  Her energetic and playful performance is an uplifting celebration of diversity that this musical is all about.    Redmond brings it, serves it, crunks it, and the audience loves it!

Elle McLemore is an adorable she-devil as the ambitious and conniving Eva. Adrienne Warren brings it with sass, and a very likeable approach, as Danielle.

Technically the show is a spectacle of lights, sound, set, and costume design that fills the theatre with radiant energy. Under the competent musical direction of Dave Pepin, the show never misses a beat.

Each cast member of 'Bring It On: The Musical' possess such a staggering arsenal of diverse performance talent, it boggles the mind.   They sing, dance, leap, tumble, and practically fly on stage.  It would be a challenge to recall a show that demands so much physical acuity and confidence.


BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL plays at the Buell Theatre until January 21st.
Tickets may be purchased at www.denvercenter.org or by calling (303) 893-4100.

2010 Colorado New Play Summit

Artistic Director Kent Thompson, Director of New Play Development Bruce Sevy and Literary Manager Douglas Langworthy have selected the following new works to present to artistic directors, literary managers, dramaturgs, directors, press representatives and ATCA critics who will travel to Denver February 11, 12 and 13 for the 2010 Colorado New Play Summit, “a new play festival that is a must-see event for theatre professionals from across the United States.”

See what's on the agenda after the jump.


THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS
by Caridad Svich based on the novel by Isabel Allende

From the confines of her prison cell in an unnamed Latin American country, Alba thinks back over the past 50 years of her family’s history. Her grandfather made his fortune working in the mines, but her father became a field hand and revolutionary. While the tensions between the haves and the have-nots escalate, the Communist party takes power. Caridad Svich’s haunting and lyrical adaptation of Isabel Allende’s critically-acclaimed bestseller, The House of the Spirits, looks at four generations of political and social upheavals through the powerful lens of memory.

Caridad Svich
Caridad Svich is a US Latina playwright, translator, lyricist and editor whose works have been presented across the US and abroad at diverse venues including Repertorio Espanol, The Women's Project, INTAR, 59East59, Cincinnati Playhouse, McCarren Park Pool, 7 Stages, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, ARTheater-Cologne, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival/UK. The summer 2009 issue of American Theatre magazine featured a significant profile about her work, and she is the recipient of the 2009 Lee Reynolds Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women. Among her key plays are 12 Ophelias, Any Place But Here, Alchemy of Desire/Dead-Man's Blues, Fugitive Pieces, Iphigenia...a rave fable, Instructions for Breathing, and The Booth Variations. She has translated nearly all of Federico Garcia Lorca's plays as well as works by Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca, Julio Cortazar and new plays from Spain, Cuba and Mexico and has freely adapted works by Wedekind, Sophocles, Euripides and Shakespeare. She's a former Harvard/Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellow and has received grants from the NEA, TCG, Pew Charitable Trusts and California Arts Council. She has edited several books on theatre and performance including Trans-Global Readings: Crossing Theatrical Boundaries (Manchester University Press) and Divine Fire (BackStage Books). Her work is published by TCG, Smith & Kraus, Playscripts and more. She is alumna playwright of New Dramatists, founder of NoPassport theatre alliance & press, associate editor of Routledge's Contemporary Theatre Review and contributing editor of TheatreForum. She is member of PEN American Center, The Dramatists Guild and is featured in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latino History. She holds an MFA from UCSD. Website: www.caridadsvich.com


MAP OF HEAVEN
by Michele Lowe

Lena’s painting career is on the rise; her beautiful abstracted maps of places real and imaginary are poised to take downtown New York by storm. But her husband Ian, a radiologist, makes a fatal error that upends Lena's relationship with her agent and threatens to take down her first show. A contemporary drama with tragic undertones, Map of Heaven explores the devastating consequences of a single lapse in judgment.

Michele Lowe
Michele Lowe is the author of Inana, which premiered at the Denver Center Theatre Company and was a finalist for the 2009 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her play Victoria Musica recently premiered at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. New York productions include The Smell of the Kill (Broadway debut) and String of Pearls (Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play). She is the librettist and lyricist for the musical A Thousand Words Come to Mind (Joe’s Pub), which she wrote with composer Scott Richards. She also is the author of Mezzulah, 1946 (City Theatre) and Backsliding in the Promised Land (Syracuse Stage). Lowe has been commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Arden Theatre and Geva Theatre. Her plays have been produced by companies around the world including Primary Stages, Vineyard Theater, Intiman Theater, Florida Stage, Reykjavik City Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Asolo Rep, and Cleveland Play House. Her work has been developed at the Eugene O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference, Colorado New Play Summit, New Harmony Project, PlayLabs, New York Stage and Film, Hartford Stage’s BRAND: NEW Festival, the ACT & Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival and the Lark Play Development Center. Her work appears in New Playwrights/The Best Plays of 2005 (Smith & Knaus, 2006), The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2005 (Smith & Knaus, 2006) and Monologues for Women by Women (Heinemann, 2004). Screenplays include The Emergence of Emily Stark and Quitting Texas. She recently completed her first novel, It Goes Without Saying. Lowe is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Playwrights’ Center and ASCAP.



THE CATCH
by Ken Weitzman

America’s national pastime meets America’s financial meltdown. A failed dot-commer plots to regain his fortune by catching a star slugger’s record-breaking home run ball – through a mix of willpower, determination and sheer optimism. Playwright Ken Weitzman’s baseball drama The Catch knocks the cover off our national obsession with sports, stardom, money – and positive thinking.


Ken Weitzman
Ken's previous plays include The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival ’07), Arrangements (Atlantic Theatre Company, Pavement Group), Spin Moves (Summer Play Festival), Hominid (Theatre Emory), Fire in the Garden (Castillo Theatre), Stadium 360 (Out of Hand Theater), Memorabilia (Alliance Theatre). Ken’s plays also have been developed and presented at, among others, New York Stage and Film, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Arena Stage, the Geva Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Dad’s Garage, Florida Stage, Page 73 Productions, Hartford Stage, and the New Harmony Project. His awards include The L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Arrangements, the McDonald Playwriting Award for The As If Body Loop (best new play in San Diego), The Mario Fratti/Fred Newman Political Playwriting Contest for Fire in the Garden, and the Elizabeth George Commission for an Outstanding Emerging Playwright (chosen and awarded by South Coast Repertory Theatre). He has been commissioned by Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, the Alliance Theatre, Theatre Emory, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Currently, Ken is the Playwright-in-Residence for Out of Hand Theater Company. Ken received his MFA from the University of California, San Diego, and has taught Playwriting at Emory University, University of California San Diego, and, currently, at Indiana University.



CIVILIZATION (ALL YOU CAN EAT)
by Jason Grote

The filming of a post-racial TV commercial kicks off Jason Grote’s fierce burlesque of America’s love/hate obsession with food. A giant pig on the rampage, mass choreography, Washington and Jefferson selling snacks to the inner city, the search for love and meaning – all are braided together to devastating effect through the inspired vision of the author of 1001 – DCTC’s acclaimed 2007 premiere. Commissioned by Clubbed Thumb.

Jason Grote
Jason Grote's 1001 was developed in The Denver Center's first Colorado New Play Summit in 2006 and received its world premiere here the following year. That production received an Ovation Award from The Denver Post, was named best new non-local play by Westword, and was listed in the year-end top ten lists of The Boulder Daily Camera and The Rocky Mountain News. It has since been published by Samuel French and gone on to ten more productions throughout the United States, one of which (Page 73) was listed in Time Out New York's Top Ten of 2007, and another of which (Theater @ Boston Court) was nominated for Best Performance of 2008 by L.A. Weekly. The Washington, DC premiere (Rorschach Theater) was the subject of a feature by Voice of America, broadcast in Farsi into Iran. He is currently developing a musical version of the play with composer Marisa Michelson as part of Montclair State University's 2010 New Works Initiative. His other plays include Maria/Stuart, Hamilton Township, Darwin's Challenge, Box Americana, and This Storm Is What We Call Progress. Other recent projects include HABIT, an installation piece with conceptual artist David Levine, (The Water Mill Center, The Luminato Festival, Mass MoCA); the screenplay to What We Got: DJ Spooky's Quest For The Commons; a radio play program, The Acousmatic Theater Hour on WFMU; and commissions from The Denver Center and ACT/Seattle. Civilization (All You Can Eat) was a commission from Clubbed Thumb, supported with a grant from The New York State Council on The Arts.


The 2010 Colorado New Play Summit also will include a panel of theatre professionals and ATCA critics discussing “New Works and the Critics.” Denver Center trustee and national theatre philanthropist Jim Steinberg of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will moderate the discussion. Panelists include Christine Dolen from The Miami Herald, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins editor of Best Plays and Christopher Rawson from the Pittsburgh Post - Gazette.
With additional funding from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Play Development Bruce K. Sevy and Dramaturg and Literary Manager Douglas Langworthy are insuring the future of the Colorado New Play Summit by developing one of America’s most ambitious new play commissioning programs, building a collection of new works, now numbering more than 20, to be featured at Summits and eventually at the Denver Center and other national stages in full productions.





Mamma Mia

MAMMA MIA! is the ultimate feel-good show that has audiences coming back again and again to relive the thrill. This smash-hit musical combines ABBA’s greatest hits, including “Dancing Queen,” “S.O.S.,” “Super Trouper,” “Take A Chance on Me” and “The Winner Takes It All,” with an enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship. Whether it’s your first visit or your fourteenth, see the show that has the whole world coming back for more, because every time feels like the first time at MAMMA MIA!

La Cage Aux Folles at The Arvada Center

La Cage aux Folles, a flamboyant and humorous musical graces the Main Stage this holiday season. La Cage winner of the 2004 Tony Award® and Drama Desk Award for the Best Revival of a Musical was also popularized by the very successful 1996 comedy remake, 'The Birdcage' starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. It is a story of middle-aged gay couple – Georges, the manager of the St. Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment and his Albin, the club’s star attraction. Having lived happily together for many years, their lives are turned upside down when Georges’ son announces he is getting married to the daughter of a local morals crusader! The show runs November 16 - December 23. Check out www.arvadacenter.org for tickets or more information.

2007 La Cage Auditions for the Arvada Center

Are you on the Fringe?

Hey Superstar,

Get ready to apply to perform in the 2008 Boulder International Fringe Festival...

Applications launch on December 15, 2007 at 9:00 am (Mountain Time). Final deadline is January 30, 2008 11:59 pm (Mountain Time)

NEW THIS YEAR!!! First 25% of slots in each category are first come, first serve. The rest will be entered into the general lottery to be drawn on February 21, 2008 at The Big Fringe Lottery Party.

So apply early and be sure to get in on the fun!

Love,
The Boulder Fringe
www.boulderfringe.com
Boulder, CO, USA
2008 Festival - 14-25 August