Looking over some of the stats for OnStage Colorado this year, I was a little surprised to see that we’d posted a total of 166 theatre reviews in 2023. With the addition of more reviewers this year, I knew we’d done quite a few but still — that’s a lotta shows!

2023 was a great year for theatre in Colorado, with a great many impressive productions from theatres large and small. As usual, I was constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of the talent pool in our state, and we had a lot to choose from, whether it was brand new or an old stalwart. From big musicals like Cinderella at the Arvada Center or Six at the Denver Center to well-wrought shows in smaller theatres like Benchmark or Firehouse, Colorado theatre artists in 2023 looked at the bad news about theatres nationwide and said, “Not us!”

Read John Wenzel’s Denver Post story about the resilience of Colorado theatre.

Covering more shows

For OnStage Colorado, it meant that covering it all was going to be a challenge, and while we didn’t get to everything, we saw a lot. Based in Aurora, our correspondent Eric Fitzgerald joined us at the end of 2022 and has been a very busy guy at the theatre with more than 50 reviews this year. We also added two more Denver-area correspondents this year with Julie Walker and Susan Harper — both of whom have strong writing and theatre backgrounds. Up in Summit County, Karen Mason covers shows in Breckenridge and Silverthorne while April Tooke gets to some shows in Colorado Springs and Karie Redmond covers what’s going on in Fort Collins.

And while Toni Tresca mostly took the year off doing reviews to focus more on feature stories appearing in Westword and the Boulder Weekly, he was an ongoing presence as my co-host for the OnStage Colorado podcast. Toni is still working on his graduate degrees, but since moving to Colorado in the fall of ’22, he’s become a well-known and well-respected arts journalist who seems to get to just about every show in the metro area. If you haven’t had a chance, check out our podcast where we talk and joke through everything going on in Colorado theatre and feature interviews with some of our state’s many extraordinary theatre artists. (New episodes begin Jan. 7.)

Thanks to the OSC Review Crew for getting out there to spread the word about all of these plays and musicals! I also owe a big thanks to Lane Ware of Golden, who helps enter many shows into our calendar. It’s a thankless job but it’s helped us create what I believe is the most comprehensive theatre calendar in the state.

Looking ahead

OnStage Colorado marked its fifth anniversary in the fall of 2023, and it seems like it’s finally time for us to start doing our own theatre awards. We’re working on our picks as I write, and we’ll have those to announce sometime in January. Rather than picking “best this” or “best that,” it’s a simple award recognizing excellence with multiple winners in each category. We’re also doing away with actor/actress distinctions and supporting roles to create a more streamlined list of deserving artists.

Check out John Moore’s annual True West Awards honoring Colorado theatre artists.

It’s been a lot of fun working on my own list for the OnStage Colorado Awards (the OSCAs!). It’s a little trip down memory lane as I recall individual shows, performances, moments of delight and contemplate all the work that went into all those productions. Just a few that stand out in my mind include:

Against the backdrop of so much geo-political upheaval this year, Colorado theaters helped us travel to other places — if just for an hour or three. Some of those places may have been just as messed-up as our own, but whether it’s the horrific hotel room of Blasted or the magical kingdom and happy ending of Cinderella, stepping outside our own reality is what theatre is all about.

For my part, it was the usual mix of ups and downs. My family greeted a new grandchild this year and our five kids and their own families are all doing well. Like many others in tech, I lost my job and am still working to find another after three months of looking. My day job is what enables me to keep the OnStage Colorado train running, so it was with tremendous gratitude that several theatres started supporting the site with advertising buys this past quarter.

2024 will come with a few milestones as I turn 60 in January and mark 12 years since I left my beloved town of Frisco to move to the Denver area. More than anything, I felt the loss of community as I went from a small county where I knew tons of people to the anonymous suburbs of Highlands Ranch. But now my community is the theatre community, and I feel very grateful for the many friends I’ve made since launching OSC in 2018. I look forward to making the site bigger and better in the coming year and much thanks to all who help make it possible either by contributing, subscribing, reading or listening.

I’ll see you at the theatre!