Applause Magazine April - May

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Volume XXIV

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NUMber 7

March - May 2013

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ALSO PLAYING…

Monty Python’s Spamalot Other desert cities Blue Man Group

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THE CANVAS WAS HIS ALLY. THE PAINT AND TROWEL WERE HIS WEAPONS. AND THE ART WORLD WAS HIS ENEMY. See the work and experience the life of an American legend.

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Photo: Sandra Still

A GOOD BANK KNOWS YOUR FACE, NOT JUST THE ONE ON YOUR DOLLAR. When dealing with a bank, it doesn’t matter what you’re being told, how many times you hear it or who’s telling you unless it’s useful information. And Proud to be a presenting personal attention is great, but only if it’s sponsor of Denver Center helping you stay on top of your bottom line.

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Photo by terry shapiro

Producing artistic director’s LETTER

W Kent Thompson

through college and into jobs.

Two are legal residents and two not, making their paths to college very different; • Matthew Lopez’s dazzling and heartfelt The Legend of Georgia McBride, tracking the journey of an unemployed performer and about-to-be Dad who finds the most improbable (and uproarious) solution to his need of a job; • Catherine Trieschmann’s hilarious depiction of the politics, bickering, and machinations of a Kansas small-town arts council striving to give a grant to The Most Deserving under-represented and needy artist in the county; • black odyssey, a mind- and time-bending, lyrical and funny adaptation of the Greek classic as a contemporary African-American tale by Marcus Gardley. ou’ll find our entire 2013/14 wide-ranging season on pp. 34-35. The selection also includes the return of A Christmas Carol; the Denver Center premiere of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman; a madcap adaptation of the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers; the moving and contemplative Shadowlands; Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet; and our family/middle school production of Jackie and Me. Thank you for your invaluable and enduring loyalty. n

We close our 2012/13 Denver Center Theatre Company season with Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, a comic drama of strong, articulate characters and family secrets, and with the launching of a splendid world premiere musical, Sense & Sensibility The Musical. This major undertaking, based on Jane Austen’s first novel, was workshopped at our 2012 Colorado New Play Summit. I think you’ll agree that producing it was well worth the effort.

In addition, you’ll enjoy the return of two wacky offerings from Center Attractions: Monty Python’s Spamalot and Blue Man Group. his time of year finds me nailing down plays for 2013/14. This complex process of searching out relevant and exciting scripts was greatly aided by this year’s Colorado New Play Summit, which brought with it such thrilling and imaginative writing that four of the five plays read will receive full productions in the upcoming season.

Included are: • Karen Zacarías’ adaptation of Helen Thorpe’s Just Like Us, about four Kent Thompson Denver Latinas whom she followed Producing Artistic Director from their senior year in high school Denver Center Theatre Company

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Tony Award-nominated director Marcia Milgrom Dodge talks about the challenge of this major world premiere musical based on Jane Austen’s first novel—a first for an author whose works beg to be set to music.

by Sylvie Drake ®

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SENSE & SENSIBILITY BLUE MAN GROUP THE MUSICAL Be a kid again. Join those outrageous blue men who are paying a second visit to Denver with all their noise, outrageousness, enigma and plain old finger-painting fun.

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monty Python’s SPAMALOT

Wit, wiles and giddy silliness. Yes, those clunky Monty Python Knights are back—and the countryside (or OTHER DESERT CITIES the city) may never recover.

How do you vent and get rid of by Genevieve Miller a lot of pent up frustration?

Write a play, says Jon Robin Baitz. Saturday NIght Alive 2013 He did just that. Another glowing and glamorous

by Rob Weinert-Kendt March evening for Arts in Education.

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Editor: Sylvie Drake Associate Editor: Suzanne Yoe Designers: Kim Conner, Brenda Elliott, Kyle Malone Applause is published eight times a year by The Denver Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with The Publishing House. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Call 303.893.4000 regarding editorial content.

Applause magazine is funded in part by

For advertising information call The Publishing House 303.428.9529.

7380 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, CO 80030 Angie Flachman, Publisher

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts 1101 13th St., Denver, CO 80204

303.893.4000 www.denvercenter.org

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is a not-for-profit organization serving the public through the performing arts.

Board of TRUSTEES Daniel L. Ritchie, Chairman and CEO Donald R. Seawell, Chairman Emeritus Randy Weeks, President and Executive Director, Denver Center Attractions William Dean Singleton, Secretary/Treasurer W. Leo Kiely III, First Vice Chair Robert Slosky, Second Vice Chair Christian Anschutz Dr. Patricia Baca Joy S. Burns Isabelle Clark Navin Dimond Margot Gilbert Frank Thomas W. Honig Mary Pat Link Edward A. Mueller Robert C. Newman Richard M. Sapkin Martin Semple Jim Steinberg Peter Swinburn Ken Tuchman Lester L. Ward Dr. Reginald L. Washington Judi Wolf Sylvia Young _______________________ Carolyn Foster, Executive Assistant to Daniel L. Ritchie Kim Schouten, Executive Assistant to Daniel L. Ritchie EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Dorothy V. Denny Mayor Michael Hancock Governor John Hickenlooper Kent Thompson

HonoRary Members Jeannie Fuller Glenn R. Jones M. Ann Padilla Cleo Parker Robinson Management Committee Randy Weeks, President and Executive Director, Denver Center Attractions Dorothy V. Denny, Executive Vice President Vicky Miles, CFO Kent Thompson, Producing Artistic Director, Denver Center Theatre Company Jennifer Nealson, CMO Clay Courter, Director, Facilities Management Emily Davidson, Director, Human Resources Sylvie Drake, Director, Publications John Ekeberg, Director, Programming and Operations, Denver Center Attractions Tam Dalrymple Frye, Director, Education Brianna Firestone, Director of Marketing, Denver Center Theatre Company Janet Flesch, Director of Marketing Jeff Hovorka, Director, Media and Marketing, Denver Center Attractions Ed Lapine, Director of Production, Denver Center Theatre Company Bruce Montgomery, Director, Information Systems

Jennifer Siemers, Director, Accounting Charles Varin, Managing Director, Denver Center Theatre Company Dawn Williams, Director, Venue Sales and Operations Suzanne Yoe, Director, Marketing Services AMERICAN NATIONAL THEATRE & ACADEMY BOARD Kent Thompson, Chairman and CEO Judi Wolf, President and COO Donald R. Seawell, Chairman Emeritus HELEN G. BONFILS FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Lester L. Ward, President Martin Semple, Vice President Judi Wolf, Sec’y/Treasurer Donald R. Seawell, President Emeritus W. Leo Kiely III Daniel L. Ritchie William Dean Singleton Robert Slosky Jim Steinberg Dr. Reginald L. Washington

Tamara Kaida: Desert Paint, 1987

In the law, as in the arts, creativity matters.

Snell & Wilmer is a proud supporter of the Denver arts community. w w w.s w l aw.c o m DENVER | LAS VEGAS | LOS ANGELES | LOS CABOS | ORANGE COUNTY | PHOENIX | RENO | SALT LAKE CITY | TUCSON SNELL & WILMER L.L.P. | TABOR CENTER | 1200 SEVENTEENTH STREET | SUITE 1900 | DENVER, COLORADO 80202

COMING ATTRACTIONS

The Doyle & Debbie Show Now – July 14 Garner Galleria Theatre

Traces June 26 – July 14 Stage Theatre

On Sale Now

On Sale Now

A Weekend with Pablo Picasso Now – April 28 Ricketson Theatre

Peter and the Starcatcher Aug 15 – Sep 1 Ellie Caulkins Opera House

On Sale Now

On Sale Now

Monty Python’s Spamalot Now – March 30 Buell Theatre

Priscilla Queen of the Desert Sep 3 – 15 Buell Theatre

On Sale Now

On Sale Now

Other Desert Cities March 29 – April 28 Space Theatre

Sister Act Sep 24 – Oct 6 Buell Theatre

On Sale Now

On Sale Now

World Premiere Sense & Sensibility The Musical April 5 – May 26 Stage Theatre

Death of a Salesman Sep 20 – Oct 20 Space Theatre World Premiere Just Like Us Oct 4 – Nov 3 Stage Theatre

On Sale Now

Blue Man Group April 12 – 21 Buell Theatre

World Premiere The Most Deserving Oct 11 – Nov 17 Ricketson Theatre

On Sale Now

Mary Poppins May 1 – 5 Buell Theatre On Sale Now

Les Misérables May 22 – 26 Buell Theatre On Sale Now

The Book of Mormon Oct 22 – Nov 24 Buell Theatre *

*Denver Center Attractions 2013/14 Subscribers will have first access to purchase tickets on April 8. A public on sale date is to be determined.

Ballroom with a Twist June 8 – 9 Buell Theatre On Sale Now

Jackie and Me Nov 15 – Dec 22 Space Theatre

A Christmas Carol Nov 29 – Dec 29 Stage Theatre Cirque Dreams Holidaze Dec 10 – 22 Buell Theatre On Sale Now

Evita Jan 15 – 26 Buell Theatre On Sale Now

World Premiere The Legend of Georgia McBride Jan 10 – Feb 23 Ricketson Theatre World Premiere black odyssey Jan 17 – Feb 16 Space Theatre Hamlet Jan 24 – Feb 23 Stage Theatre Million Dollar Quartet Feb 25 – March 9 Buell Theatre On Sale Now

Shadowlands March 28 – April 27, 2014 Space Theatre Animal Crackers April 4 – May 11, 2014 Stage Theatre once May 6 – 18, 2014 Buell Theatre

Costume Collection Judi Wolf’s

Sense & Sensibility The Musical

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rom the stage to the runway, costume designer ESosa brings a modern twist to classic 19th-century silhouettes in this year’s most anticipated new production, Sense & Sensibility The Musical. Known for his work on Porgy & Bess and the popular TV show “Project Runway,” ESosa was the perfect fit to deliver the vision set forth by director Marcia Milgrom Dodge.

In this production, the world of Jane Austen will honor the period (high waists à l’Empire and long dresses) but also apply modern gestures to illuminate the characters. Different locations and individuals will be defined by the use of color and fabrics.

Pastoral prints, for example, represent a simpler way of life, while life in London is a burst of colors and patterns.

The men’s fashion will stay very true to the period’s silhouette—tailcoats and top hats—again taking some liberties with color and fabric selections: “Where I have my freedom is in the color combinations, the details that we add, the shaping,” said ESosa.

“My goal is always to make my actors feel and look good and able to tell the story.”

Step into the world of Jane Austen and be a part of musical theatre history with Sense & Sensibility The Musical playing April 5 – May 26. n

On Sale Now

303.893.4100

TTY: 303.893.9582 • denvercenter.org Audio-description, ASL interpretation and Open Captioning available at select performances; check dates/times when ordering.

Performances at The Denver Center are made possible in part through the generous support of: Denver Center Theatre Company 2012/13 Season Sponsors

Denver Center Attractions 2013/14 Season Sponsors

Denver Center Theatre Company & Denver Center Attractions Media Sponsors

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Sense & Sensibility The Musical costume designs

by ESosa

sense & sensibility the musical

AUSTEN

with music

A musical based on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility?

Makes perfectly sensible sense

www.sneakpeekphotography.com

T “As a choreographer/ director, I always approach my shows from a strong sense of behavior, gesture, movement. I like to say that you could come to my production and understand the story if the sound went out.”

—Marcia Milgrom Dodge, director

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There is an undeniable fascination with the works of Jane Austen that has propelled itself into some strong film and television adaptations of many of her novels. These range from Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice (many versions) to Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma and Sense and Sensibility, her first published novel.

Remarkable? Not entirely. There are good reasons. These 19thcentury novels resonate in any age because they were the elegantly written soap operas of their day—and we’re all in love with love— at any age and in any age.

Now comes a first: a musical version of Sense and Sensibility. While several stage adaptations of Austen’s works have been attempted, “It’s the first time that a musical of Sense and Sensibility has been done on this scale,” said Marcia Milgrom Dodge, the director of Sense & Sensibility The Musical, adding, “I do try to keep up with everything Jane Austen.”

Milgrom Dodge staged a workshop of this world premiere at last year’s Colorado New Play Summit, where it was greeted with such enthusiasm that the decision was made fairly quickly to give it a full production this year—with the same director and with all the bells and whistles it deserves. fell in love with it the minute I heard it,” Milgrom Dodge acknowledged on the line from her home in New York City a couple of months ago. “I plan to honor the authenticity of the period, but at the same time I am the connection to today, which is sort of my mantra doing theatre,” she said, reaffirming something that was evident in her 2009 Tony®-nominated Broadway revival of the musical Ragtime.

“Why is this show different from all other shows? Why should we be doing it now? What makes it relevant to an audience today? I ask those kinds of searching questions,” she continued. “In this production the goal is to present a beautifully rendered period piece, in that we’re setting it in its own time. But we are not afraid to add some modern sensibilities.”

This importantly includes a chorus of society people serving much the same purpose that a chorus did in ancient Greek theatre. It’s the engine that helps move the story along. Milgrom Dodge sees it as the 1800s equivalent of today’s twitterers on their smart devices.

“No, we’re not pulling out cell phones,” she quickly reassured her listener. “Certainly we’re not doing anything anachronistic in that way, but in terms of the emotional presence that this chorus has in the piece, we want an audience to say, ‘Oh, my gosh, these people are just like twitterers.’ You know what I mean. They have that kind of nosy behavior, that sense of never-ending gossip, that need-to-knoweverything that goes on today.

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as a cue to come up with a design that embraces both of those ideas.”

She demurred on offering more details.

“I want people to be surprised, and yet I want them to feel that the choices [we made] are inevitable. Those ‘Aha!’ moments are what I hope for in the theatre.

Powerful emotional responses. Of course they have to be there in the first place and this is the perfect show for them.”

The dancing in the production will be more or less book-ended by a country dance and a more formal high society harvest ball in London. But there is more.

The ensemble/chorus, for instance, has specific movement.

“As a choreographer/director, I always approach my shows from a strong sense of behavior, gesture, movement,” Milgrom Dodge explained. “I like to say that you could come to my production and understand the story if the sound went out.

I try to create a very strong physical core.

It’s not artificial and not over-stylized; it’s as truthful as I can discover with each character. t also helps the transitions. We have a lot of places to go to, a lot of locations. The scenery will have to move…”

In late February, well before coming to Denver for the start of rehearsals, the creative team—consisting of bookwriter and lyricist Jeffrey Haddow, composer Neal Hampton, music supervisor David Loud and conductor Paul Masse—was putting in long hours in the studio going over the music and transitions. The real work had begun and Milgrom Dodge was feeling very good about it.

“I have information now; I now know what the physical production will be.

Neal is working hard at creating musical transitions that may not have existed before. We had not factored in costume and set changes. Over the course of the last few days I’ve learned about new craft, new scenic gestures I want, new music that helps emphasize the arrival of scenic events.

“David Loud is an extraordinary, wise, beautiful, experienced music supervisor. I love this part of the work.

Everyone involved is very flexible, very respectful of the work; the criticism is

“I

said with love and received with love.

We feel strongly that we’re going into rehearsal with an extremely tight script.

It’s all about tweaking now—adding new orchestrations, staying open. We’ll have a few preview performances and audiences will tell us what else needs to be done.”

It’s never easy to take a sprawling novel and reduce it to its essentials. Some of the Austen characters aren’t in the musical, yet their absence takes nothing away from the central story. t is Sense & Sensibility The Musical, not Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility,” Milgrom Dodge reminded us. “Neal’s music lets you feel that we’re in another time and place, but there are beautiful harmonics in the piece, certain chords that tug at my heart.

I believe,” she added almost wistfully, “that the best stories are the ones that are so specific to their time and place that they transcend it and become universal.

Everybody loves love, everybody wants love and everybody feels bereft without it.” n

sense & sensibility the musical

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hey had no technology, but they had unbelievable word of mouth. The thing that’s exciting and challenging is that it sometimes took days to get the information from one place to another, whereas now it’s immediate. Everybody hears the same thing. So we’re in Portsmouth, we’re in London, we’re in the environs of England and we want to feel that people know and want to know everything immediately.

“That’s part of the charm of the piece in terms of the use of that ensemble. And,” she added, switching gears, “I’ve brought in an amazing design team for Denver.”

The team includes costume designer Emilio Sosa (known professionally as ESosa, of Broadway’s Porgy and Bess and TV’s “Project Runway”) and Broadway and opera set designer Allen Moyer (Grey Gardens, Twelve Angry Men). While the director does want to remain true to the early 1800s, she wants modern touches to liven up the production. Research at Chawton House, the Jane Austen library in Hampshire, England, showed demure shades of brown to be the rule for party clothes of the time. But… “ ‘Brown doesn’t sound that exciting,’ I told Emilio,” she said. “He agreed. He has such a beautiful design eye, that we hope to bring in contemporary fabrics in bright colors that may not be truly authentic to the period, but that will add energy and sexuality to the piece.”

That, of course, is what theatre is supposed to do—not betray the truth but heighten it. Milgrom Dodge said she’s avoided watching the spate of Austenbased films in favor of more archeological influences: architectural renderings, drawings, paintings and props of the period. “I don’t want to be a plagiarizer of somebody else’s ideas; we’re creating this out of the historical material.” s for the set, “We’re not in a proscenium theatre, we’re on a big thrust stage that presents a lot of opportunities as well as challenges. But the line of the script that turns out to offer a bit more of an option is when Edward Ferrars says to Elinor Dashwood how much he loves the country—the wild and the cultivated side by side. We took that

“I

April 5 – May 26 • Stage Theatre Producing Partners: The Anschutz Foundation, Joy S.Burns, Daniel L. Ritchie, June Travis Sponsored by The Ritz-Carlton, Denver and U.S. Bank A special thanks to Rocky Mountain PBS and “Arts District.”

Signed, Audio Described & Open Captioned • May 19, 1:30pm

Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 • TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups (10+): 303.446.4829 • denvercenter.org 303.893.4100

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Art Partner

The Ritz-Carlton, Denver GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

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We believe the performing arts community is a valuable and thriving asset to downtown Denver and creates unique and memorable moments for guests of all ages.

A proud sponsor of White Christmas, Sense & Sensibility The Musical and Peter and the Starcatcher

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he Ritz-Carlton, Denver is proud to be a partner and supporter of such a dynamic organization as The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). We believe the performing arts community is a valuable and thriving asset to downtown Denver and creates unique and memorable moments for guests of all ages. The DCPA has such a rich cultural history in the city that we look forward to its continued success for years to come.

We also are honored to give back to our local community by supporting various programs and organizations on an ongoing basis as a part of Community Footprints, the social responsibility program of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which focuses on key humanitarian and environmental programs that positively impact local communities.

For more than three years, one Thursday a month has been dedicated by employees to volunteering at the Urban Peak shelter, just a few miles from The Ritz-Carlton, Denver, cooking and serving breakfast to underprivileged young adults. To date, 38 meals have been prepared and served by approximately 60 different Ritz-Carlton, Denver volunteers. Recently, we extended our monthly commitment into 2013 making it four years running.

Urban Peak is a not-for-profit organization that offers extensive services for homeless and runaway youth. During the past three years, the property has hired employees through the organization’s Job Readiness Training program, and countless young people have benefitted from clothing and toiletry drives sponsored by the hotel. Steve Janicek, general manager, recently stated, “We are glad once again to support such a wonderful organization as Urban Peak by continuing our promise of serving meals and engaging with the wonderful youth—and we fully support the goal of seeing them become

a successful part of the Denver community.”

In the fall of 2012, hotel team members attended the Urban Peak job fair along with Mayor Hancock to present career information and job opportunities. Over the last two years, members of the hotel’s sales and marketing team have led classroom sessions at local elementary schools in conjunction with Junior Achievement.

Educational topics included financial literacy, entrepreneurship and workforce readiness to prepare students for the future.

Even our culinary team has stepped into action in the community by presenting healthy eating courses to local elementary school students. Lessons are conducted in the hotel kitchen and aim to provide children with the knowledge and benefits of eating right—from selecting produce to gardening tips.

The Ritz-Carlton, Denver is a two-time recipient of the coveted AAA Five-Diamond award—the first and only in the Mile High City—and was recently awarded Four Stars by Forbes Travel Guide. Situated in a prime downtown location, the hotel offers easy access to the theatre and business districts, 16th Street Mall, Coors Field and LoDo. It boasts 202 spacious guestrooms, including 47 suites and 32 Club Level rooms, highlighted by a sophisticated RitzCarlton Suite. The cosmopolitan destination also features the Forbes Four-Star-winning Ritz-Carlton Spa, Denver and ELWAY’S Downtown, the hotel’s signature restaurant with USDA prime steaks, an award-winning wine program and new outdoor terrace. n

coming soon to The Aurora Fox ...

e the brat pirit! e l e C an s hum Adults - $28 Students/Seniors - $24

THE HE COLOR OLOR PURPLE URPLE THE

MUSICAL ABOUT LOVE

by Alice Walker adapted by Marsha Norman with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Alee Willis and Stephen Bray

Set to a joyous score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel and blues, this is a story of hope, inspiration and triumph.

April 12 - May 12, 2013 The Aurora Fox 9900 E. Colfax Ave

303-739-1970 AuroraFox.org

COLORADO CHILDREN’S CHORALE ‡

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/2&$//< *52:1 Â&#x2021; */2%$//< /29(' We will never tell you to use your â&#x20AC;&#x153;inside voiceâ&#x20AC;?!

Audition for the Colorado Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chorale and let your inner voice sing!

Scheduling auditions for children in 1st-4th grades who love to sing and perform.

ChildrensChorale.org or 303.892.5600

Other desert cities

DESERT

HOMECOMING Other Desert Cities playwright Jon Robin Baitz expounds on the Left Coast, the political Right and an artist’s necessary exile b y R o b W e i n e rt- K e n d t

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he playwright Jon Robin Baitz walks healthily among the living, but in some ways his articulate, carefully constructed plays feel like throwbacks to a more literate, less cynical age. Plays such as The Substance of Fire, Three Hotels and The Paris Letter, map out internecine battles of love and loyalty among family, friends and lovers with a comic clarity that evokes Shaw, and a fraught psychological texture, thick with explosive secrets and lies, that recalls Ibsen.

Given those antecedents, it’s surprising that his career until last year was bookended by two formative West Coast experiences that would seem to belie his plays’ well-made classicism.

A native of Los Angeles, Baitz got his first playwriting education from the now-defunct Padua Hills Playwrights Festival, where mavericks like John Steppling, and Maria Irene Fornes pushed the form to its extremes.

Then, after success as a New York-based playwright, Baitz went back West in 2006 to create the hit ABC-TV drama “Brothers & Sisters,” only to be fired after the show’s first season in a welter of mutual recrimination. It left him reeling and, as he admits now, “half-mad.”

From the ashes of that defeat came a phoenix called Other Desert Cities, another play about smart, funny people with deadly serious problems. It opened to acclaim off-Broadway in early 2011 and transferred to Broadway that fall, constituting Baitz’s long-overdue main stem debut as a proper playwright. (His adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler came to Broadway in 2001.) Though the play isn’t autobiographical, Baitz says he wrote much of his own fired-from-TV frustration into Brooke Wyeth, a nervy novelist who returns to her parents’ Palm Springs home for the holidays bearing a tell-all memoir that could rattle every last skeleton in their closet.

Backed up in part by her barely-sober aunt Silda, Brooke challenges the complacency of her formidable parents—an avuncular film actor, Lyman, and a whipsmart former screenwriter, Polly, Hollywood Republicans who were once close with the Reagans.

In a not-coincidental overlay, the family’s political differences are exacerbated by the timing: The play is set in 2004—one month after President George W. Bush was re-elected and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stretched ahead seemingly indefinitely.

Baitz sat down late last fall in New York to talk about the play’s genesis, his arm’s-length love for his hometown, and other pertinent matters.

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Rob Weinert-Kendt: A lot of the play’s energy derives from an East Coast/West Coast divide. Brooke’s parents moved West, remade themselves and raised their kids there. But she rejected that and moved back to New York.

Jon Robin Baitz: It’s interesting because my brother and I have

both done the same thing. He’s a composer and I’m a playwright, and we both sort of rejected some idea of being comfortable in LA. I could not in fact have written the play from LA. I had to be in exile. It’s very much a play about exile. The Wyeths have placed themselves, for various reasons, in this scorching, stultifying desert, where everything is sort of in amber, from 1972 to 1980-something, the Annenberg/Reagan years. I think I’ll probably keep coming back to LA as a subject. Or the West.

RWK: Right, Palm Springs isn’t LA; it’s a whole other state of mind.

JRB: It is. Palm Springs is about the suspension of all but the mirage. It has a kind of eternally beautiful-and-damned quality about it that I find compelling. Tremendous beauty, tremendous exhaustion. Retirement in all senses.

RWK: When you said “mirage,” I thought Las Vegas, but that feels more transient. Folks really plant themselves in Palm Springs.

JRB: Completely. After my dad retired from Carnation, my parents bought a house in Palm Springs, behind gates, with some tennis courts, a little community. They would go back and forth between LA, their little condo off Burton Way, and their little house in Palm Springs.

I understand the desire to separate yourself from the forces of nature because the forces of nature in modern urban living are pretty ugly.

It’s precisely the refusal to admit those forces that makes the place so compelling.

RWK: The play was written during the Bush era, but do you think its politics still resonate in the age of Obama and will continue to be relevant?

PHOTO BY Ryan Miller

JRB: I think they will, given the identity confusion within conservative American politics, which is so much a part of the play and of my own area of interest—how a party shifts on its axis and becomes something else, while there are these marriages going on between unlikely bedfellows who seem to marry their ideas together in a kind of odd nexus of government interfering in certain parts of your life and not in others.

RWK: But the brand of moderate Republican represented by Polly and Lyman seems absent from the national political stage.

JRB: Well, because they have been silenced and kicked out and replaced by Tea Party politicians—and usually, with all possible respect, somewhat illiterate Tea Party politicians who have no sense of macro- or micro-economics, no sense of American history or who misread it endlessly. So the people in this play are virtually extinct, and they’re in the desert near those dinosaurs at Cabazon.

RWK: Polly and Silda are very entertaining, acidly witty characters. Did they ever threaten to run away with the play?

JRB: Yes. There are places where Silda occasionally hijacked the play; I’d write pages and pages and you’d just see the play vanishing in the distance, and Silda doing “The Silda Hour.” That’s why one does drafts. I certainly heard them very clearly, Silda and Polly. Restraint is everything, of course, and to let them go unfettered would actually become sort of monotonal.

—Jon Robin Baitz

Other desert cities

My characters tell me what they are. And a lot of the way Brooke feels is the way I’ve felt at various times in my life when I’ve been in extremis. She’s a portrait of the artist in despair.

RWK: Brooke may represent the artist speaking her truth, but you let the other characters speak a lot of opposing truths back to her.

JRB: Listen, I think there’s a danger in being outraged and having selfrighteousness to the extent that she does. The certitude is troubling, the sense of entitlement on some level is really very dangerous—the lack of humility, the notion that you can appropriate without consequences, that your moral center is so much more beautiful than everyone else’s. And people lie to themselves, even a recovering depressive who’s just finding her way back. I think sometimes the fear of depression is much worse than the depression, and Brooke is in that state; she’s running as fast as she can away from another episode, and she’ll do anything she can.

Brooke has the same disease that her mother has—this sort of absolutism. In her mother’s case, it’s sort of wonderful, because she’ll sort of fight to the death for this family, this cause of hers.

RWK: Until that fight doesn’t have any love in it anymore.

JRB: Well, love is not necessarily a soft and pleasant thing. I’ve been loved very hard by people. I’m very conservative when it comes to things like decency, just basic decency. And I guess the play is so simple, on some fundamental level: It argues for humility in the face of what you don’t know and compassion in the face of what you do know. n

RWK: Do you calibrate funny vs. not funny as you write?

Rob Weinert-Kendt is associate editor at American Theatre, and has written about theatre and the arts for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Guardian and The San Francisco Chronicle.

JRB: It’s all in the service of the narrative. A joke is only useful if it does a lot of other work.

A slightly different version of this piece ran in the December 2012 issue of Performances magazine.

RWK: Brooke is there to dump cold water on everything. She has a lot of fine qualities, but you’re not easy on her.

JRB: She’s had a lot of trouble. She’s capable of being funny, but she’s got a lot of scar tissue. My characters tell me what they are. And a lot of the way Brooke feels is the way I’ve felt at various times in my life when I’ve been in extremis. She’s a portrait of the artist in despair. And when you’re decompensating, humor is very hard to find, unfortunately.

RWK: Your despair came after your “Brothers & Sisters” breakup?

JRB: Totally. The Brooke despair was my trying to make sense of having left LA the way I did, in personal misery, professional misery— with this kind of hysterical, half-crazy, incredibly self-destructive faux-truth-telling. Telling the truth is perhaps my expensive hobby, you know? For some people it’s horses.

March 29 – April 28 • Space Theatre Producing Partners: Terry & Noel Hefty and Karolynn Lestrud Signed & Audio Described • April 28, 1:30pm

Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 • TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups (10+): 303.446.4829 • denvercenter.org 303.893.4100

A P P L A US E

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OF

2012/13 Florence Ruston Award

For Philanthropy In The Arts

T Joy’s personal interest in the classics prompted her to provide major support as a Producing Partner of Sense & Sensibility The Musical.

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Photo by Suzanne Yoe

ART PARTNERS

JOY NEW PLAYS

THE

Joy S. Burns and Kent Thompson, Producing Artistic Director

he prestigious Florence Ruston Award for Philanthropy in the Arts will be given to Joy S. Burns at the April 11 opening night celebration for the world premiere of Sense & Sensibility The Musical.

Joy moved to Denver from Texas after studying business at the University of Houston at a time when such a course of study for a woman was considered noteworthy. Burns was a trailblazer then and remains a trailblazer today, setting the pace for women in business.

She established the Burnsley Hotel, long a Capitol Hill landmark, and helped found Small Luxury Hotels of the World. She was a founder of The Woman’s Bank, now Colorado Business Bank. Her love of sports and her business skill were a combination that led to The Denver Post’s description of Joy Burns as “the most powerful woman in Colorado sports.”

She helped guide the University of Denver’s athletic program as they transitioned to NCAA Division I. She is the only female member of the Metropolitan Football Stadium Board, and was instrumental in the campaign to build the new stadium that is home to the Denver Broncos. As a philanthropist, Joy has helped transform the DU campus, serving as a member of its Board of Trustees and as its first woman chair. Her mark on the university may be seen in many ways, most notably in the Joy Burns Ice Arena and the Franklin Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, named in honor of her late husband.

Sports, business, higher education…what more could this woman achieve?

Joy helped to bring the 2008 National Performing Arts Conference to Denver, providing major financial support and putting Denver’s performing arts scene on the map. In 2007, she joined the board of trustees of The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. She brought her sense of adventure with her, immediately discovering the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Women’s Voices Fund and the new play program. It is so like Joy to support the playwrights, the readings and the plays that are new and still unknown—where the risks are always greatest.

With her support, the Colorado New Play Summit is now considered one of the top new play festivals in the country. Joy’s personal interest in the classics prompted her to provide major support as a Producing Partner of Sense & Sensibility The Musical. Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC) Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson says, “I chose to produce this new musical because it was the best stage adaptation of a classic book that I had read. As one might expect, it is a complex effort involving many entities and artists.

That Joy chose to support it at such a high level was integral to getting it off the ground.

For her strong commitment, the company remains most grateful.”

Adds Joy: “Kent believes that this production will lift the DCTC’s national image. I couldn’t agree more. Wouldn’t it be exciting if this show might have a future life in the West End or on Broadway?”

The Ruston Award was created during the 2006/07 Denver Center season. Past recipients include Robert and Judi Newman, Margot and Allan Frank, Leo and Susan Kiely, Alison and Jim Shetter, Jim Steinberg, and Diana and Mike Kinsey. n

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JOINING WITH THE ARTS FOR A STRONGER COMMUNITY

T “We take great pride in supporting Denver through building stronger partnerships such as [the one we have with] The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Our support of the DCPA is a direct reflection of what we believe our role as a good corporate citizen should be both in Denver and across the country.”

— Hassan Salem, Market President of U.S. Bank in Denver

A proud sponsor of Sense & Sensibility The Musical and Arts in Education programs

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he arts inspire, move us and enhance our quality of life. The U.S. Bank team in Denver values the power of the arts and is committed to supporting the magnificent programs and spectacular performances that are a critical part of our community. The arts educate, promote understanding, broaden our perspectives, enable us to share rich cultural experiences and provide an escape when needed. We are fortunate that the Denver arts community is a strong resource and has produced some of the nation’s finest theatres, museums and artists.

“We are actively engaged in developing, strengthening and energizing our communities. Nowhere is this more important than in the communities where we live, play and work. We take great pride in supporting Denver through building stronger partnerships such as [the one we have with] The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA),” said Hassan Salem, Market President of U.S. Bank in Denver. “Our support of the DCPA is a direct reflection of what we believe our role as a good corporate citizen should be both in Denver and across the country.”

Employee community involvement and guidance from community leaders weaves U.S. Bank into the fabric of Denver’s neighborhoods. Employees are active with local nonprofits, and members of the U.S. Bank board in Denver provide regular feedback on the bank’s current activities that helps crystallize the bank’s vision for the future.

U.S. Bank is committed to providing consumers and businesses with a comprehensive range of financial tools and services to help meet their goals. For clients with more complex financial needs, U.S. Bank offers wealth management strategies and services

through its Wealth Management Group. From investment management services to trust and estate administration, the Wealth Management Group offers clients sophisticated solutions options, sound advice, and customized service.

“The Denver Center for Performing Arts is a crown jewel of the Mile High City,” said Darren Markley, Managing Director of The Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank in Colorado. “We are fortunate to have a world-class artistic venue with high quality performances and experiences. The DCPA always delivers on creating memorable moments for our valued clients.”

U.S. Bank is honored to be associated with The Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

The U.S. Bank team in Denver believes a community that offers diverse cultural experiences is a great place for individuals and families to live, learn, play and thrive. n Investment products, including shares of mutual funds, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by U.S. Bank or any of its affiliates, nor are they insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. An investment in such products involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

Deposit products offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Member FDIC.

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ART PARTNERS

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Blue MAn GROUP

Seeing Blue Those blue guys are not aliens; they’re

members of Blue Man Group, bringing their energy and enigma to Denver

I

t’s 10 minutes to show time at a performance of Blue Man Group, and the noise in the theatre is so loud that the audience seems more like a group of revelers at a party than spectators in a theatre.

People are boisterous, anticipation is high, the buzz is electric. By the time the Blue Men appear, the audience is screaming with delight.

It’s a scene repeated most nights in New York, Boston, Chicago, Orlando, Vegas and wherever Blue Man Group is appearing.

How often do you see theatre audiences so revved up at the end of most shows, let alone before one has even begun? The decibel level rises as the evening goes on.

By the end, the atmosphere is euphoric.

The Blue Man Group experience is unique and not confined to the United States. There are or have been productions in Tokyo, Toronto, and numerous European cities including Berlin, London, and Amsterdam. Millions of people of all ages and nationalities have seen the show, and countless numbers are repeat visitors.

Although the off-Broadway production has been around since 1991, the demand for it is still strong and Blue Man Group has heeded the call with this national

24 24

AAPPPPLLAAUUSSEE

v ercenter. center.or orgg ddeennver

tour—a tour that features a combination of the Blue Men’s most popular pieces with fresh material created exclusively for this iteration.

Why all the excitement?

It’s impossible to say exactly. Blue Man Group is totally off the grid—a contemporary comedic piece, performed by three silent, bald-and-blue characters who engage in a variety of set pieces ranging from primitive to sophisticated that combine music, comedy, science, technology and mind-boggling creativity.

Just as in old-time vaudeville, they have something for everyone. e’ve done surveys to figure out who our audience is, and we’ve found that our demographic ranges from eight to 85 years old,” says Puck Quinn, creative director of character development and appearances.

“That’s when we know we’re doing something right. A kid can come to the show and just enjoy the rhythm or the mess or the colors or the spectacle. Adults can come and do the exact same thing, but they might also come away with something to think about. When we do our work well, the show succeeds on multiple levels.”

Amid the riot of colors and music, the eating and flying food, are the LED screens

“W

displaying sometimes silly, sometimes witty, sometimes thought-provoking messages. There also is a sonorous prerecorded voice guiding the audience through clever set pieces about a variety of topics such as modern plumbing, technology and choreography. ut the Blue Man Group show is mostly visual and aural—as opposed to oral. The Men are mute by choice. Language is not an issue, so the show travels well to other countries.

Beating paint-covered drums and creating cascades of color has visceral appeal in any culture, and the “feast”—in which a member of the audience joins the Blue Men onstage to dine on… a Twinkie—retains its humor and sweetness wherever it plays.

“I think the reason the show works goes back to our ideas about the character,” says Phil Stanton, co-founder of Blue Man Group with Matt Goldman and Chris Wink all those years ago. “It might sound heady to talk about it this way, but the Blue Man is a kernel of humanity or a kind of Everyman. The blue paint gets rid of race and nationality.”

Adds Quinn: “The show deals with topics and issues that are common to every culture: Communication.

Sensory overload. Beating music

B

Blue Man Group. Photos by Paul Kolnik.

“T

Blue Man is really just trying to connect.

He knows, either intellectually or at gut level, that in order to get to that ecstatic, heightened moment, he must connect with these strangers. That’s why the Blue Man is so respectful [of his viewers]. He wants their trust. It’s all about connection.” learly, Blue Man Group is connecting. Stanton recalls a man who saw the show 70 times (“he wasn’t a weirdo”) and others who’ve seen it 20 or 30 times. “Usually, if people see a play they liked, they’ll tell their friends to go see it,” says Quinn, “but with our show, people want the experience of seeing it with their friends. And that creates energy and intensity from the start…. It’s not a passive experience. It’s more like going to a sporting event.

“I tell people that you don’t really start seeing the layers of the onion peeled back until you see the show for the second or third time. I also think people come back for very specific reasons: they want to really listen to the music or pay attention to a particular moment because they couldn’t quite figure out how it was done. And they come back because they want to see how the show is different from night to night. The other thing is, we change the show.

Every couple of years we swap out a whole bunch of material. We want it to be relevant to time and period.”

The national tour should only expand Blue Man Group’s fan base and recidivists will discover a performance quite different from its predecessors.

C

“It might sound heady to talk about it this way, but the Blue Man is a kernel of humanity or a kind of Everyman. The blue paint gets rid of race and nationality.”

—Phil Stanton, co-founder

“We are going to be in large theatres, and that was one of the main impulses for finding another way to deliver a lot of the content,” says Stanton. “We have a new set design, with LED surfaces and LED curtains. It gives the show a completely different look. And we’ve found that we can use the technology to help people focus more.”

The finale—one of Blue Man Group’s most celebrated hallmarks—is now completely new; replacing it, its creators say, took guts.

“We always wanted the show to feel like it was working toward that moment, that ending, when all the things that make us fragmented in the modern world go away and we become one group,” says Stanton.

“It’s hinted at in certain places during the show, and that’s what the arc of the evening is about: two cultures encountering each other and realizing by the end that there are no barriers between them…. here aren’t many places where you can be with strangers and have this shared experience.

The new finale has a similar concept, and the same goal: to make the audience look around and encounter other people.

Visually, we’re taking it to another level.

We hope audiences will find it even more powerful.” n

Blue MAn GROUP

and heavy rhythm. Dancing. All of that crosses every border. We have things that we want to say, and the message is there if you want to hear it, but we don’t care if you don’t. We just want everyone to have fun.”

The relationship between the Blue Men and the audience is the most intriguing part of this phenomenon. The audience could be considered an additional—and unpredictable—character. It’s not just that a woman from the audience is selected to appear onstage each night to partake in the “feast,” or that a man is chosen to get “Jelloed” (new verb?) or that viewers in the first few rows are so close to the action that they’re given ponchos to wear in case paint or other stuff lands on them. It’s that the audience response catalyzes the Blue Men. That symbiosis is what fuels the passions of the show’s devoted fans. he relationship with the audience is everything,” underscores Matt Goldman, “because at the end of the day, the

“T

Material for this article is courtesy of the Blue Man Group website.

April 12 - 21 • Buell Theatre Sponsored by Comcast

Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 • TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups (10+): 303.446.4829 • denvercenter.org

303.893.4100

A P P L A US E

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Please consider contributing today and help create the New Play Fund one seat at a time.

For more information, visit denvercenter.org/seat or contact Tiffany Grady at tgrady@dcpa.org or 303.446.4802.

NAME A SEAT

IN THE RICKETSON THEATRE

Fund Photo by Vicki Kerr

new play fund

Supporting the New Play One Seat at a time

D

id you know that Sense & Sensibility The Musical is an original production that was read at the 2012 Colorado New Play Summit?

This work and other notable productions owe their genesis to the new play program at the Denver Center Theatre Company. This nationally recognized program includes The Summit which attracts industry leaders from around the country, the Women’s Voices Fund which supports female playwrights, and world premieres that go on to stages nationwide.

The New Play Fund ensures The Denver Center’s ability to attract the most promising playwrights, to find the most impacting stories, and to create the classics of the future. We are building the New Play Fund one seat at a time. By purchasing a seat in The Ricketson Theatre, home to many of our readings and world premieres, you help build the future of these activities and visibly show your support to others all season long.

A seat may be in your name, in honor or memory of someone special or in the name of your business. It’s a wonderful gift for someone who loves the theatre. And two Denver Center trustees — Leo Kiely and Jim Steinberg — will match all funds raised through the sale of Ricketson seats, so your gift will be worth twice your donation. Ricketson seat gifts are $1,000 and 100% tax deductible. Payment plans are available. n

The Whale Quilters The Catch Inana Grace, or The Art of Climbing Eventide PHOTOS (Clockwise) – Quilters: (l-r) Victoria Adams-Zischke, Kathleen M. Brady, Linda Mugleston, Kara Lindsay.

The WHALE: (l-r) Nicole Rodenburg, Tom Alan Robbins.

The Catch: (l-r) Ian Merrill Peakes, Nicoya Banks.

Inana: (l-r) Mahira Kakkar, Piter Marek.

Eventide: (l-r) Lauren Klein, Mike Hartman.

Grace, or The Art Of Climbing: Julie Jesneck.

Photos by Jennifer M. Koskinen and Terry Shapiro.

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Thanks to Monty Python’s Eric Idle and his wit and wiles, Holy Grail was reborn as Spamalot

by Genevieve Miller he infamous coconut horse gallop. The knights who say ‘ni.’ Féchez la vache!

Look, we didn’t say it made sense. We just know it’s funny.

Only Monty Python can toss a British accent on some seemingly nonsensical humor and have an audience in stitches. A long-time sensation in the English-speaking world for its television series and films, the Monty Python legend expanded in 2005 when Python alum Eric Idle created Monty Python’s SPAMALOT, a Broadway stage musical “lovingly ripped off” from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Idle was the only Python directly involved with creating SPAMALOT, that insanely hilarious spoof of Arthurian lore and winner of the 2005 Tony as Best Musical.

As one-sixth of the legendary Pythons, Idle had written and performed in TV’s Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969-74) and subsequent Python movies, including Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. They were iconoclasts from the start and launched a whole new standard for original, smart, irreverent and sublimely ridiculous comedy. dle wrote the book and lyrics for SPAMALOT and co-wrote its score with his longtime musical collaborator, John Du Prez. Together they cobbled together the general plot from Holy Grail, but added bits of saccharine showbiz send-up and a few pieces

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from other parts of the Python oeuvre (hence the presence of the jolly Life of Brian tune “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”).

This comic gold, paired with huge production numbers and vibrantly witty songs, made for a true Broadway hit, which saw nearly a fouryear run in New York, sit-down productions in London, Melbourne and Las Vegas, and highly successful successive national tours.

Now the 2005 Tony winner has returned to Denver. How lucky can one city get? Seeking their holy grail all over again, the Knights wander down their misguided path, with all the mischance that happens along the way from the quest’s unveiling to the killer bunny conclusion.

PAMALOT tends to bring out the best in people. When John O’Hurley (perhaps best known to comedy fans as J. Peterman from “Seinfeld”) got a chance to perform as the delightfully dim King Arthur the last time SPAMALOT was in town, he said it was a role he’d had his eye on for a while.

“I thought it was an extraordinary show and I thought it was so funny,” he told Robin Leach in a 2007 interview, just prior to his debut in the show’s production at the Wynn in Las Vegas. “I described SPAMALOT as the show that if you laugh too long, you miss the next joke. It just doesn’t stop and that is why I wanted to do it.

“In college I cut my teeth on Monty Python and The Fireside Theater, and my friends and

S

I used to do entire routines,” O’Hurley told Nevada Today. dle himself, no slouch in the comic repartee department, did a humorous exchange with critic Everett Evans of The Houston Chronicle when the show first hit the stage, describing the knucklehead SPAMALOT knights as “these heavily armed soldiers roaming the countryside, imposing their will on others. What’s more, they’re looking for a cup that God lost—which anyone would have to admit is pretty ludicrous. I mean if anyone would know where the cup is... unless he’s incompetent or he’s got ADD, which he might well have by now...”

In a more serious vein, he also acknowledged that “It was important to cross over and entertain people who had never seen anything Monty Python. We knew we’d get the fans.

But the show had to stand on its own feet.

That’s what we managed to achieve.”

Indeed, it is. Now that those knights are ambling through Denver once more in all their glorious ineptitude, don’t miss the chance to laugh yourself silly—coconuts, killer bunnies and all. n

I

Genevieve Miller is the former Director of PR & Promotions for The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. She now is the General Manager for Broadway Across America in Cincinnati.

Kasidy Devlin, Adam Grabau, Joshua Taylor Hamilton, Thomas DeMarcus and Arthur Rowan 2013.

monty python’s spamalot

THOSE BENIGHTED KNIGHTS ARE

monty python’s spamalot

WHY IS THE KNIGHTS’ TABLE ROUND? We’re Knights of the Round Table We dance when e’er we’re able We do routines and chorus scenes With footwork impecc-able…

—Lyrics from the Spamalot song, “Knights of the Round Table” ike most legendary knights, King Arthur’s knights were men of of courage, honor, dignity, courtesy, nobility and rank.

They protected damsels in distress, fought bravely for their king and undertook dangerous quests like the search for The Holy Grail in Spamalot.

According to www.timelessmyths.com, these knights being noble formed the backbone of the army because they were the only soldiers who could afford expensive armor and weapons, and the cost of owning a horse.

When the knights attended an event at the king’s main hall, those who sat at the head of the table usually lorded it over the others. Those others became miffed, often leading to fights over who would get to sit at the head of the table.

To resolve this, legend has it that the wise King Arthur had his table constructed in a round shape, thus fostering instant equality. No one had precedence over anyone else. Hence, the knights in Arthur’s company became known as… Well, you know. n

FOOLISH FACTS FOR FOOLISH FUN All for one/One for all/All for one/And one for all.

—Lyrics from the Spamalot song, “One For All” ing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table first embarked on a search for The Holy Grail in the very, very, very low-budget 1975 movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The film was written by the Pythons, directed

by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, produced by Mark Forstater with music by De Wolfe and Neil Innes.

This, the second feature-length Python production, was uniquely financed. At the time, tax rates in the United Kingdom (80% or higher) were driving wealthy creative types to find ways to lose money in investments so as to offset the high rate of Inland Revenue.

With two first-time movie directors and a motley bunch of actors and writers, the odds were pretty good that the movie would never make a penny. So financing this really low budget film were such renowned musical groups as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and such prominent artists as George Harrison and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The film was shot in about five weeks for a mere $400,000. Despite telling a very English story, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was almost entirely filmed in Scotland in many historic Scottish castles.

Because of the fiscal limitations, creative measures were used to save money. The Pythons were originally going to ride horses, but soon realized they didn’t have the money to do so. So the actors turned to early radio techniques, slamming together empty coconut halves to replicate the clippety-clop of horses’ hooves as they pranced through the countryside.

The chain mail they wore was actually silver-painted wool. But wool absorbs moisture, and when it rained during filming—which it did often—the actors were weighted down with the rain that the wool absorbed.

The film premiered in March 1975 in Los Angeles and opened in London on April 3, 1975. In an interesting bit of timing, the release of Holy Grail in America coincided with the time that Python was first becoming popular in the U.S. despite its late Sunday night airing on PBS. In 2004, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was named by film fans as the best British picture of all time by the United Kingdom arm of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database. And there you have it.

Sadly, nobody lost any money. n

March 28 – 30 • Buell Theatre Sponsored by Pioneer Natural Resources Signed, Audio Described & Open Captioned • March 30, 2pm

Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 • TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups (10+): 303.446.4829 • denvercenter.org 303.893.4100

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VIP EVENINGS

Best seats at the best shows Denver has to offer!

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Thur. December 12

Treat yourself to a Do Not Disturb kind of weekend.

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ART PARTNERS

Vectra Bank ADDING VALUE TO COMMUNITIES “We know we can fulfill our mission and add value to our communities by supporting these vibrant organizations, which is why we keep investing in The Denver Center for Performing Arts.”

—Bruce Alexander, Vectra Bank President and CEO

A

dding value is more than just a mission statement for Vectra Bank. For this long-time member of Colorado’s business community, Vectra continuously strives to find new ways to develop and strengthen ties to each community it serves. And sometimes that simply means continuing its commitment. As such, we are pleased to have Vectra Bank return again as a presenting sponsor of Denver Center Attractions.

“Denver is fortunate to have so many arts and cultural institutions to unite communities, create economic opportunity and improve the quality of life,” said Vectra Bank President and CEO Bruce Alexander. “We know we can fulfill our mission and add value to our communities by supporting these vibrant organizations, which is why we keep investing in The Denver Center for Performing Arts. Its productions are inspiring, creative and magical, and we are all blessed to have one of the best venues in the country right in our own community.”

Vectra also continues to do its part to drive the economy upward by lending to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits in communities across the state. “I am proud of the contributions that our employees make every time they help customers finance a home, start a college or retirement fund or grow a business,” adds Alexander. “However, beyond products and services, they give back every day by sponsoring events and organizations such as United Way, Junior Achievement, Accion and many others. Vectra’s employees are leaders in their communities by serving on boards of nonprofits, chambers and service organizations, and by generously donating their money, time and talents.”

As part of Zions Bancorporation, Vectra has the reach and resources of many larger competitors. But its approach to business is decidedly different. Whether the customer is the manager of a growing Colorado company or an individual consumer, both will find at Vectra Bank an innovative banking organization eager to surpass their expectations. n For information on Vectra Bank Colorado, visit www.vectrabank.com.

President and CEO Bruce Alexander

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Death of a Salesman

A heartbreaking portrayal of the American Dream lost World Premiere

Just Like Us

A timely and relevant story of immigration with Denver roots World Premiere

The Most Deserving Agendas, egos and… ART?

Jackie and Me*

Jackie Robinson’s survival of the 1950s’ racial pressure cooker told through the eyes of a child

A Christmas Carol* Lenne Klingaman and Charles Pasternak in the Denver Center Theatre Company’s production of Romeo & Juliet. Photo by Jennifer M Koskinen.

A beloved holiday tradition

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World Premiere

The Legend of Georgia McBride Family values… in drag World Premiere

black odyssey

An epic voyage into modern mythology

Hamlet

Timeless tragedy and ruthless revenge, a must-see Shakespeare

Shadowlands

A powerful story of love and loss based on the life of C.S. Lewis

Animal Crackers

A knockabout Marx Brothers musical comedy

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season Buy season ticketS As low as 8 payments of $28 denvercenter.org/subs | 303.893.4100 | TTY: 303.893.9582 *Not part of the season ticket package SEASON SPONSORS

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Saturday Night Alive

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5 6 4

7 1 Event Chair Jamie Angelich with her husband, Alan. 2 Mimi Roberson, Corporate Chair and President Presbyterian/St. Luke and Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children was joined by HealthONE President & CEO and new DCPA Trustee Sylvia Young. 3 Jack TerHar of Sill-TerHar Motors shows off the Maserati that was included in the 3-day James Bond Getaway package with Quintess Collection.

4 Meredith Black and Roger Hutson. 5 Teaching Artist Laurence Curry served as event emcee and brought along the Denver Center Theatre Academy’s Best Dance Crew. 6 Colorado State Bank & Trust President Bill Sullivan and his wife, Tricia. 7 Michael Pollak’s Hyde Park Jewelers provided all 100 Surprise Boxes. 8 Silent Auction chair Susan Kiely (r) with Denver Center Alliance members Denise Bellucci 36

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8 and Valerie Alford. 9 U.S. Bank president Hassan Salem and his wife Sheila served as Corporate Chairs in 2011. 10 Gregory Sargowicki and Keri Christiansen. 11 David and Bonnie Mandarich of After-Party Sponsor MDC Richmond Homes with Jamie and Alan Angelich.

12 Auction committee member Liz Orr attended with Gerold Spidey.

13 Ernie Blake and Sharon Magness Blake. 14 2012 Event Chairs Ryta and Steven Sondergard with Temptations member (and Ryta’s childhood friend) Otis Williams. 15 Event sponsor United Airlines’ Randy Loveland and his wife Cathy. 16 Auction donor Dan Sharp with decor chair Fiona Baldwin. 17 Gully Stanford, Cindy Velasquez and Federico Pena. 18 Silver table sponsors Keith and Kathie Finger.

Photos by Vicki Kerr.

in review

A soulful Saturday Night Alive scored big for Theatre Education When The Temptations sang “Get Ready” and The Four Tops crooned “Baby I Need Your Loving,” 800 guests at the sold-out Saturday Night Alive did just that — they got ready to show their lovin’ by raising a whopping $640,000 for The Denver Center’s Arts in Education programs. Held on March 2, proceeds from this sold-out, black-tie fundraiser support myriad educational efforts that serve 50,000 students each year. Highlights of the evening included the Surprise Box Sale sponsored by Hyde Park Jewelers, the Silent Auction sponsored by Colorado State Bank and Trust, and dinner by Epicurean Catering. After 33 years, guests and sponsors have raised more than $10 million dollars to build brighter futures for Colorado students. Cheers!

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14

12 13

15 16

17 The Anschutz

And a big thank you to our contributing supporters:

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Thank You!

MDC/RICHMOND AMERICAN HOMES Foundation PMS 485 100Y/100M

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Mary Poppins May 1 – 5, Buell Theatre

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enver’s favorite nanny is flying back into The Buell Theatre. Featuring an irresistible story and unforgettable songs from one of the most popular Disney films of all time, plus brand-new breathtaking dance numbers and spectacular stagecraft, Mary Poppins is everything you could ever want in a hit Broadway show. Get swept up in the fun of this high-flying musical that the New York Post calls “a certifiable super hit,” giving it four out of four stars. It doesn’t get better than that. n

Les Misérables May 22 – 26, Buell Theatre

S

ee it live on stage! In 2011 more than 45,000 people experienced the brand new 25th anniversary stage production of Boublil & Schönberg’s legendary musical, Les Misérables. Now, due to overwhelming demand, Les Misérables returns to Denver for one week only. Cameron Mackintosh presents Les Misérables, with its glorious new staging and dazzlingly re-imagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. This new production has been widely acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences and is breaking box office records wherever it goes. n

Ballroom with a Twist June 8 – 9, Buell Theatre

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his ground-breaking show, starring “Dancing With The Stars” celebrity pros, finalists from TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance” and “American Idol,” pushes the boundaries of ballroom dance, infusing it with the energy and intensity of the latest contemporary and “hip-hop” styles. The show provides a super evening of entertainment for the entire family, highlighted by stunning costumes, magnificent music and breathtaking performances. n

ACT NOW! denvercenter.org/ACT Denver Center Theatre Academy at the Denver Center Theatre Company

Denver Center Theatre Academy is open. Acting lessons range from beginner to advanced…there’s something for everyone!

Photo by Brian Landis Folkins

next up

Looking ahead…

Tickets: 303.893.4100

the shows

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Oct 22 – Nov 24

2013 14 Denver Center Attractions

Season

subscribers receive priority access to purchase tickets to the return engagement of The Book of Mormon on April 8, before they go on sale to the general public. The public on sale will be announced at a later date.

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ellie caulkins opera house

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Impact Creativity is an urgent call to action to save theatre education programs in 19 of our largest cities. Impact Creativity brings together theatres, arts education experts and individuals to help over 500,000 children and youth, most of them disadvantaged, succeed through the arts by sustaining the theatre arts education programs threatened by today’s fiscal climate. Impact Creativity is an unprecedented, nationwide consortium of theatres, companies and individuals striving together to enrich our society. www.impactcreativity.org ($200,000 or more) The James S. and Lynne P. Turley Ernst & Young Fund for Impact Creativity Clear Channel Outdoor CMT/ABC

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Membership ­— $5,000 per person (a generous portion is tax deductible). For your convenience, payment may be made in four installments by automatic charge. To join, please visit denvercenter.org/premium or contact David Zupancic at 303.446.4811 or davidz@dcpa.org. Membership is limited.

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($10,000 or more) Christopher Campbell/ Palace Production Center The Ralph and Luci Schey Foundation John Thomopoulos James S. Turley Wells Fargo ($5,000 or more) Christ Economos Mariska Hargitay Ogilvy & Mather ($1,000 or more) Nick Adamo Mitchell Auslander Steven Bunson Paula Dominick Ryan Dudley Bruce R. Ewing Steve & Donna Gartner Peter Hermann Jonathan Maurer and Gretchen Shugart Florence Miller Memorial Fund Theodore Nixon Lisa Orberg Carol Ostrow Isabelle Winkles

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