At the Denver Center Theatre Company, Shakespeare’s romantic fantasy receives an elegant production with a touch of music.

Enter the Denver Center’s Kilstrom Theatre for the DCPA Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and the first thing you’ll notice is the upright piano standing like a question mark center stage.

A piano? In The Tempest?

As it turns out, adding a singer/pianist in a Nina Simone-like role creates an intriguing extra layer to one of Shakespeare’s most intriguing plays. At the piano is Sarah Statler lightly playing bits from jazz and soul standards like “I Put a Spell on You,” “Feeling Good,” “The Windmills of Your Mind,” and more.

It’s an inspired choice by Director Chris Coleman in a visually gorgeous but otherwise straightforward production of The Tempest. Staged in the Denver Center’s in-the-round Kilstrom Theatre, the production features a clever, multi-level set by Chika Shimizu that turns the usual entrances and exits into stairs, with one featuring a boxed pedestal that rises and falls.

What really stands out is the costumes, designed by DCPA veteran Kevin Copenhaver. Every character is clothed head to toe in something so distinctive, colorful and intricate that you’ll forgive yourself if you miss a few lines while staring at things like Miranda’s fabulous sleeves, Caliban’s shellfish-y headpiece or Ariel’s brightly feathered shoulder gear.

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For the nobles such as Alonso, Antonio and Gonzala, the medieval-inspired finery is museum-level fancy, while more pedestrian characters such as Trinculo and Stephano are spot-on in their everyman attire.

Copenhaver always goes above and beyond, but this may be his most impressive costume design lineup yet.

Jacqueline Antaramian as Prospera. | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography

A troubled sorceress

In what’s become a common casting pick for the play’s lead, Prospero is Prospera — here played by Jacqueline Antaramian. It makes sense: Prospera is charged with her teenage daughter’s care and future, and the switch brings in some dynamic gender politics.

When the mom nudges her daughter toward a union with Ferdinand, it feels less mercenary, and the themes of forgiveness this production leans into also sit well with a female leader more interested in reconciliation than war.

Shakespeare’s final-ish play is neither comedy nor tragedy but a fantasy with a strong romantic center. Prospera’s brother Antonio (Rajesh Bose) pushes her out of her position as the duke of Milan and sets her adrift on a remote island; a dozen years pass before Prospera has a chance at revenge. In that time, she’s learned to harness magical powers to take control of the island’s spirits. Chief among them is Ariel, an airy spirit she has freed from a witch’s imprisonment, who now serves Prospera.

Erika Soto steals every scene she’s in as an Ariel in constant motion. As eager to please Prospera as she is to be out from under her control, Ariel is one of Shakespeare’s most fascinating characters. A servant, yes, but also someone who has an impact on the story’s moral arc.

When Prospera learns that Antonio will be sailing near the island — along with an entourage that includes Alonso, king of Naples (Timothy McCracken), and his son Ferdinand (Alistair Toovey) — she has Ariel cause a shipwreck that scatters the characters across the island. With everyone believing the others have drowned, Shakespeare spins out a series of mini-stories.

Erika Soto as Ariel in ‘The Tempest.’ | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography

A plot of plots

The round stage is ideal for a play like The Tempest, and Coleman makes full use of the space to create playing areas for the action — with Ariel gliding in and out of all of them to do Prospera’s bidding.

Comic relief comes in the form of Alonso’s two doofus servants, Trinculo (Sean Scrutchins) and Stephano (Rob Nagle) — both familiar faces on Colorado stages doing nice work here as boozed-up fools. They hatch a cockamamie plot with Caliban (Moses Villarama) to kill Prospera while on the other side of the island Antonio is working on one with Sebastian (Ben Cherry) to bump off Alonso and Gonzala (Tamarra Graham).

As the young couple falling instantly, madly in love with each other, you can’t ask for better than the adorable Janiah-Camile François in the Miranda role and the dashing Toovey as Ferdinand. As appealing as they are funny, the pair give The Tempest a real heart amid all the scheming.

As it all comes together at the end, the play’s darker elements fade as humanity shows its brighter side. Along the way, Statler and her piano smooth the many transitions while offering subtle, occasionally humorous commentary on the goings-on. With credit to Sound Designer Lindsay Jones and Music Director Dan Graeber, it’s a neat device that never overstays its welcome or overshadows the dialogue — just a touch of music here and there adding a bit of panache to this elegantly staged production.

Rob Nagle as Stephano, left, and Moses Villarama as Caliban in ‘The Tempest.’ | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography