Plus, a conversation with Sasha Cucciniello, artistic director at Telluride Theatre

In this episode of the OnStage Colorado Podcast, hosts Alex Miller and Toni Tresca began by discussing our Colorado theatre experiences since the last episode. Alex reviewed & Juliet at the Denver Center, describing it as surprisingly enjoyable despite disliking the pop music soundtrack. He also attended the 24 Hour Plays fundraiser at Curious Theatre, featuring six playwrights creating original works in 24 hours, with notable performances from Denver theater veterans.

Toni covered several productions including Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song (which we discussed in detail on a bonus episode), the interactive art installation Oracle at Union Hall, Comedy Works’ New Faces competition (25th year, 168 local comics competing), Little Miss Sunshine at Aurora Fox (which he found problematic as an adaptation), and The Tempest at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which he praised for its visual magic and strong performances.

Denver Fringe Festival Recap

Time: 24:30 – 33:30

We both attended the sixth annual Denver Fringe Festival, which kicked off with a showcase at Cleo Parker Robinson Theater hosted by Juice the Clown. Alex saw three shows including a cabaret performance and Plant the Musical (a confusing two-person show where both actors played the same character). Toni saw eight shows and published seven reviews, with Ben Franklin Sex Party at Rise Comedy being his favorite — an immersive comedy involving the audience in founding a new country called “Birdlandia” that ended with a group orgy scene and syphilis outbreak.

Tony Awards Discussion

Time: 33:30 – 42:45

We discussed the relevance of the Tony Awards for Colorado theatergoers, noting that while the shows are only in New York initially, Tony wins can help shows tour nationally. Major winners included Maybe Happy Ending (Best Musical) and Purpose (Best Play). Toni watched clips of the ceremony, praising host Cynthia Erivo’s opening and noting that the Hamilton reunion performance was the evening’s highlight, though it overshadowed other nominees.

Colorado Theater News

Time: 42:45 – 49:45

Theater Funding Crisis: As reported by the Denver Gazette’s John Moore, two northern Colorado theatres – Bas Bleu (33 years old) and OpenStage (50 years old) – are both facing financial shortfalls due to reduced public arts funding, needing emergency fundraising of $40,000 and $15,000 respectively. This contrasts with Denver metro theaters that benefit from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).

Other News:

  • Colorado Renaissance Fair opens June 14th for its 48th season, though elephants may be banned due to legal challenges
  • Denver native Annaleigh Ashford returns for DCPA’s Saturday Night Alive gala on June 14th
  • Breaking news: We announced the 19th Annual Henry Award nominees, with the ceremony scheduled for July 28th at Lone Tree Arts Center. Notably, this is the first year without gendered performance categories.

Interview: Sasha Cucciniello, Telluride Theater

Time: 49:45 – 1:15:15

We interviewed Artistic Director Sasha Cucciniello about her journey from avant-garde theater in New York (Performance Space 122) to founding Telluride Theater 18 years ago with just $68. The theater has grown to three full-time employees including new Operations Manager Kevin Douglas and Executive Director Ryan Heidenreich.

Key Topics We Covered:

  • Unique Programming: Combines traditional theater with burlesque performances through their troupe “House of Shimmie Shake,” which sells out annually
  • Original Works: Cucciniello has written over 20 plays, mostly devised collaboratively with ensemble casts
  • Recent Success: Ski Bum the Musical by local ski bum Lionel Starr (rap name: Lyft Ticket) was hugely successful
  • Challenges: Despite being in a wealthy town, funding remains difficult due to competition among nonprofits and housing costs
  • Future Plans: Developing artist retreat space, expanding education programs (recently hired to save the local school’s drama program), and growing their fringe festival

The theater maintains the motto “Keep Telluride Weird” and serves as one of the last community gathering spaces in the increasingly expensive resort town.

Colorado Headliners (Top 10 Upcoming Shows)

Time: 1:15:15 – 1:26:18

We Featured These Productions:

  • Little Miss Sunshine, Aurora Fox, June 6-29
  • Frozen, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, Grand Lake, through Aug. 30
    • Also doing Guys & Dolls and Footloose this summer

Closing & Upcoming Content

Time: 1:26:18 – End

We previewed next week’s bonus podcast featuring the Bobby G Awards winners discussing their upcoming New York trip, and announced our joint trip to Steamboat Springs for the 27th Colorado New Play Festival – noted as the state’s oldest and longest-running new play festival.

Website Updates: We mentioned reviews of And Juliet, Fringe coverage, upcoming Tempest review, and Four Old Broads on the High Seas at Funky Little Theatre in Colorado Springs.

Transcript

Created by AI orcs; errors and hallucinations may be present

Alex Miller (00:01)
Hey, hello again and welcome to the OnStage Colorado podcast. I’m Alex Miller and as always, almost, I’m joined by Tony Tresca. Hey, Tony.

Toni Tresca (00:09)
Hey there, Alex. ⁓ I’m feeling a little tired after my theater weekend.

Alex Miller (00:14)
man man you hit a lot of stuff I mean I had a decent amount of stuff too but you are all over the place we’ll talk about that in a sec so we’re recording this on Monday June 9th you’re listening to it on June 10th and beyond so on this week’s we’re going to recap our experience attending the sixth annual Denver Fringe Festival which I know we’ve talked a fair amount about in recent episodes so but we’ll just talk a little bit about what what it was like we’re going to touch on the Tony Awards which you know of course were Sunday night

and then tucking through some news around the state and sharing our usual top 10 Colorado headliners.

Toni Tresca (00:48)
Yeah, and we’ve also got a really fun interview with one of the leaders over at Telluride Theater. So can you share a little bit about who you chatted with, Alex, and what folks can expect to learn from that conversation?

Alex Miller (01:01)
Yeah, yeah, of course we love to talk to theater artists from around the state. You we tend to be a little metro area heavy because that’s where, you know, 90 % of the action is. But I’ve always wanted to talk to somebody at Telluride Theater because every time I look at their site, they always have such interesting things going on. So I spoke with Sasha Kuchaniello, who’s the artistic director for Telluride. She has a really interesting background in Avant Garde Theater in New York and Burlesque. you know, she’s been there for a while.

Talks about how the theater began and now that they have three full-time ⁓ employees now, including a friend of the pod, Kevin Douglas, also part of Two Cent Lions, saw him over the weekend at Fringe and also a new operations manager with Ryan Heidenreich. So I’m sorry, Kevin is the operations manager. Ryan is the new executive director. So they’re cruising, they got lots going on. And it’s interesting also to think about, you might think that a theater in a very wealthy town like that,

Toni Tresca (01:50)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (01:56)
is good to go and she’s like that’s not necessarily the case you know they struggle like any small theater so stick around for that interview.

Toni Tresca (02:03)
Yeah, I also imagine when you’re in Telluride and the big arts ⁓ organization in town is the film festival, maybe as the other arts organizations might be struggling to compete in that regard. That’s interesting. I hadn’t actually thought about that. ⁓

Alex Miller (02:17)
Yeah, yeah,

it vacuums up all the all the money kind of like Sundance is probably going to do in in Boulder, which we’ve talked about. So I guess, you know, we’ll see.

Toni Tresca (02:27)
Absolutely. Now before we dig into the fringe, let’s start by talking a little bit about what non-fringe shows we’ve both seen since we last talked. Alex, you want to kick us off? What have you seen recently?

Alex Miller (02:34)
you

Yeah, yeah.

So I got out to the Denver Center to see the touring Broadway production of And Juliet, which ⁓ I kicked off my review by saying, how is it possible to enjoy a musical when you kind of hate every song? Because the soundtrack from And Juliet is driven by a guy named Max something. ⁓

my program. He’s a Swedish, think it’s Norwegian or something like that, but he’s written tons and tons of pop hits that all these different, know, like Katy Perry and all those types of have songs. So that’s the, you know, that’s kind of the soundtrack. But the show itself is actually quite funny. The book was really well done. And it’s a great comedy. the premise being that, you know, Juliet wakes up at the beginning of the show and she’s not dead. She’s just

you know, sleeping and she’s, you know, she’s alive and Romeo’s dead and what’s she gonna do with her life? She’s only 13 going on 14 or they kind of joked it. Let’s just say she’s in her mid 20s. anyway, fantastic performances. my God, the woman who played in Juliet was just fantastic. I’m sorry, here it is. So yeah, her name was Rachel Simone Webb. So she was great. the couple, so the other, the big comic.

Toni Tresca (03:41)
Fair enough.

Alex Miller (03:58)
tension comes between William Shakespeare himself and his wife Anne Hathaway and they ⁓ That was a lot of fun to Cory Bach and Teal Wicks. So yeah, that one is playing through I think it’s got a couple more ⁓ Dates to go so you can still catch and Julia at the Denver Center. I’d recommend it. It’s a lot of fun

Toni Tresca (04:18)
So wait, before we go on, I’m now confused. So you just said that the story is following Juliet after she wakes up, but William Shakespeare, who created the character of Juliet, and his wife Anne Hathaway are also characters in this show? How does that work?

Alex Miller (04:20)
Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha!

Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Well, the gimmick is that they’re starting the rehearsal for his new play Romeo and Juliet, and she’s visiting from Stratford on Avon because she wants to get away from the kids. And basically, when she hears the ending, she’s like, my God, that sucks. That’s a terrible ending. You know, don’t kill off Juliet. She’s a great character. And so there’s all this sparring as she tries to help rewrite the script.

As the show goes on so so that’s the so it’s it’s really it’s really clever play if you can endure You know, maybe unless you like that music I must say my wife Jen absolutely loved the show She she really thought it was great and she remembered all those songs from like, you know when our young our oldest daughter was growing up in the 90s and it’s a little little newer than that, but anyway, so that’s and Juliet and then the other thing I got out to on Friday was the 24-hour plays so this is

the second annual one at the Curious Theater. It’s a fundraiser and so this gimmick is you get six playwrights and you have them holed up for 24 hours to write a play. And so what the result is is this little group of plays which you know great all these names that I know it was such a fun night out there it was just like a who’s who of Denver theater and

know so the playwrights included Edith Weiss, Josh Hartwell, Stephen J. Burge, Luke Sorge, Kenya Mahogany-Fashah, and David Nels, is he pronounced it Nels or Neels? I’m sorry.

Do you know? Okay. Okay. It looks like Nels. It’s N-E-H-L-S. ⁓ And so, yeah, they were, you know, as you can imagine, ⁓ know, plays often take years of gestation before they’re born. So these were definitely on the raw side, but there was some pretty nice stuff in there. course, all these, ⁓ especially, know, dialogue was great, even if the plots were a little half-baked, but I think the funniest one was probably Luke Sorge’s play, Mom’s New Bow.

Toni Tresca (06:09)
Not sure. Nails, I think.

Alex Miller (06:36)
And it has this, so Anne Oberbrockling, who’s an older actress, her son, Brian Landis Fokins plays the son, and Mackenzie Byers, his partner. And so she’s like, oh, you got to meet my new boyfriend. And they’re like, oh my God, it’s some gold digger trying to get mom’s money. And it turns out that he’s like 30, he’s almost not quite 30. And she’s probably, you know, what, 70 or 80?

And so, and they were just kind of all over each other and talking about the sex they’re having. And Brian Landis-Folkins, BLF was just great. It just like reacting to this like, my God, mom, yeah, it’s disgusting, blah, blah, blah. And then come to find out that they set him up, that this guy, Gus Jacob Sorling was not really her beau. They just wanted to trigger him. And she was trying to make a point that she’s like, look, I may be old, but I’m not like, incapable of whatever. I’ll let you know what I am. So that was pretty funny.

David Neal’s was a little musical that was it was kind of like a good night moon. It was almost like a kids show. So Michaela Murray played this little girl going and trying to trying mom and dad are trying to get her to go to bed. And so it was a really kind of sweet, you know, catchy, catchy songs. And by the way, David kind of was was there for all the plays. He kind of provided sort of some background tinkling of the ivories in the back there. So so yeah, a lot of fun.

I’m not sure if any of these are going to be the kind of thing that you turn into something bigger, but they were lot of fun to watch.

Toni Tresca (08:08)
And I heard a little whisper that the mayor, Mike Johnson, was going to be there in some capacity. Is that true?

Alex Miller (08:12)
yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. in the first ⁓ show by Edith Weiss called, most of the best Edith Weiss, it was called A Bitchfest of Biblical Proportions. ⁓ And it has all these kind of historical or biblical characters like Lot’s wife, who Andrea Rutherford was making a big deal out of the that in the Bible, Lot’s wife doesn’t even have a name, she’s just Lot’s wife. Had the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, Eurydice, and Satan, and

Mayor Mike Johnson played St. Peter. So it was kind of more of a cameo. He came out with a clipboard. He was kind of trying to get things going. But everybody gave him a warm welcome and applause when he went out. But yeah, really receptive, ⁓ fun crowd. Everybody was having a great time. ⁓ Unlike most curious theater ⁓ opening nights, no party. ⁓ Suzanne Jada Dixon ⁓ was like, I’m sorry. I always get her name mixed up.

⁓ So, Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon, who directed Mom’s New Boat, was like, we are exhausted, we’re all going to bed, so no party. So that was ⁓ a lot of fun.

Toni Tresca (09:20)
Yeah, that does make sense. guess after all the creative teams staying up for 24 hours straight, probably the last thing they want to do is go to an after party and start drinking and partying some more.

Alex Miller (09:31)
Yeah,

and I should just add that, you know, even if the plays were understandably not like the, you know, polished pearls, the cast, my God, just dream casts. mean, you know, so you had, ⁓ you know, Jim Hunt came on ⁓ in this one called Mooch that was kind of reminding me of School of Rock where so Rachel Turner and Josh Robinson play these, this couple where his best friend is on the couch and he’s out of work. ⁓

And in Stephen and Jay Burge’s show, Cheryl McCallum, Abner Janisse, Candice Areno, ⁓ had Leo Leff, like I mentioned, ⁓ Christina Fontaine, Michaela Murray, Billy McBride, Piper Lindsay Arpaon. mean, just great, great, great casts all around.

Toni Tresca (10:21)
Yeah, that sounds like a fun time. I was not able to make that out because I was fringing up a storm that day, but I’m going to maybe I’ll try to make that up, make it to that next year, because it does sound like a really fun event. used I did 24 hour play festival when I was in an undergrad in college. So I did like a college version of it, which ⁓ I imagine is probably similar in form. But ⁓ yeah, it would be cool to see what the professional version looks like over at curious.

Alex Miller (10:26)
Yeah.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, I should mention that it is a national thing that started in New York several decades ago. And they actually had one of guys from the national organization of the 24 hour plays there who got up and spoke a little words and talked about how wonderful curious shows were. So anyway, well, let’s go on and talk about what you saw other than fringe stuff.

Toni Tresca (10:55)
Mm-hmm.

Well, first we’ll start with the one that we actually saw together, ⁓ Forbidden Broadway. Merrily We Stole a Song. This was at the DCPA’s In Their Cabaret Theater. Won’t spend too long talking about this since you and I talked about this as the subject of our bonus podcast last week, but we had a pretty good time with it. was, ⁓ we thought overall maybe they included a little bit ⁓ too much musicals that…

We’re new in New York, maybe that because we heard from a lot of the crowd that the references went over people’s head, as well as from your son, Andy, that it was kind of hard to follow some of the stuff like The Outsiders or Ann Juliet, because those are newers and newer shows and just now coming to Denver. But the four person cast, as well as Jack Lipson at the piano, they’re really tight, fun group. They’ve got great chemistry together. And so if you have not seen Forbidden Broadway in a while,

Rest assured, this is an entirely new and updated version, so you’re not going to be getting a ton of repeats.

Alex Miller (12:15)
Yep, yep, and you got, I think it plays into, I don’t know, for at least another month or something like that.

Toni Tresca (12:23)
That’s right, yeah, it’s through the end of June. So you’ve got a little bit more time if you’re interested in checking that out. And a night at the Cabaret Theater is always fun. They’ve got table service. The bar out in the lobby is really fun. It’s just a fun, intimate atmosphere.

Then I also went over and checked out the interactive art installation Oracle over at Union Hall. I teased this a little bit on the pod last time we talked, but this show is it’s a really kind of it’s all female artists. It’s in the Union Hall. ⁓ Kind of in the Union Hall area, which I had never been to. It’s kind of in this venue inside the Colorado, which is an apartment complex.

at Union Station, so needless to say, I got lost on my way in. I did not find it the first time. But once I got in, all of the art, you kind of, you enter the exhibit with a blindfold on, and then you kind of, somebody is guiding you around the place, and they ask you how you feel in front of each thing. You kind of talk through it. And then after you do that, you pick which one of the objects that you want to go back and reveal. And you’re supposed to ask this installation a question.

Alex Miller (13:12)
Ha ha.

Toni Tresca (13:37)
And then this piece that you see gives you the answer. And so it’s like an ancient oracle. You approach the oracle with a question, it gives you the answer. And while it wasn’t quite as immersive as I think, or interactive as I thought it was, it was highly reflective. I found myself really lingering on the piece that I was in front of, which was this one called Space Cowboy, which was really cool, kind of futuristic piece about

Alex Miller (13:41)
Interesting.

Toni Tresca (14:07)
kind of embracing change and stuff. And I was like, oh, wow, I’m gonna be thinking about this for a little bit and how it kind of applies for specifically with the question that I had went in with. So don’t go in expecting something immersive, but if you are kind of open to that experience and that sounds fun, I think you’ll get a lot out of it. Cause I thought it was really cool. And then afterwards you get to wander the art exhibit and look at all of the artwork in there. And it’s all super varied, nothing the same, everything from like,

rugs to portraits to these like kind of ⁓ mannequin style people looking things that are in a corner. So it’s everything and anything.

Alex Miller (14:47)
Oh, that sounds great. I know. that going on for a while?

Toni Tresca (14:50)
Yes, it is. This is going on until July. So you’ve got quite a bit of time. And if you want to read a little bit more about the experience, you can head over to Denver Westward and check out my review of it. ⁓ I also went over to Comedy Works’ Downtown Club to check out their New Faces competition. This is a part of their new talent program. And this is actually the 25th year of the New Faces contest. They’ve been doing this contest

for a long time and this is always a lot of fun. 168 local comics enter this contest and it gets whittled down to one winner. ⁓ We’re still in like the opening rounds right now so ⁓ the content is quite varied. You have everything from like I saw one comic who was wearing a leopard print jumpsuit was joking about how she can’t have any weed.

Another person who was clad in a blue suit was riffing about Stevie Wonder driving. There were bits about being mistaken for Fat Drake, discovering your wife is a lesbian, and learning your mom lied to you about being Native American. So the jokes were really all over the place. ⁓ honestly, it’s a lot of fun. This is the club’s of signature event. And it’s running through September 17th. That’s the grand finals.

Alex Miller (15:57)
Ha ha ha!

Toni Tresca (16:12)
in which one comic will be selected to take home $1,500 as the grand prize, as well as all the bragging rights that come with that.

Alex Miller (16:21)
Wow, 168 local comics. didn’t know there were even that many comics or aspiring comics in Denver, but I guess, you know, I think everybody thinks they can probably just do a little stand up.

Toni Tresca (16:34)
Yeah, you and but you it’s not just open to everybody you have to already be in the ComedyWorks like new talent system and you have to come and be have a this five minute set which you perform as part of the contest already worked out and workshopped so that and there were ⁓ there were 250 comics that applied for that those 168 slots so there’s even more than that in the area working which I think really just speaks

Alex Miller (16:57)
Okay.

Toni Tresca (17:03)
to how big the area’s comedy scene is because that’s a massive amount of new talent in the pipeline.

Alex Miller (17:11)
Yeah, for sure. You know, it almost makes you think there should be more comedy clubs to accommodate all these comics other than Rise and ComedyWorks and…

Toni Tresca (17:22)
You know what, Alex, I actually said the same thing as I was walking down 16th Street this weekend. I was curious to check it out. I had heard all the hype about the reopening. ⁓ Did not live up to the hype, by the way. Still lots of it under construction and mostly vacant office spaces.

And I just couldn’t help but thinking there’s one strip that’s ⁓ one block that has the Appaloosa Grill on it, a bowling alley, ⁓ the movie theaters over there, a bunch of restaurants. I was like, the whole thing should feel like this. There needs to be more comedy clubs, more like there should be a theater over here. There should be more things to do to kind of actualize this space rather than right now it’s just kind of like another industrial kind of corporate hellscape that you walk up and down filled with banks and

Alex Miller (18:05)
Ha ha ha!

Toni Tresca (18:08)
hotels and things like that, but nothing to do. It doesn’t feel like a city or place you want to spend any time in. So I’m with you. I think that that area might be a good spot for another comedy club.

Alex Miller (18:19)
Yeah, know, in comedy clubs, like, you know, it’s a lot simpler than setting up a theater. You just need a couple of lights and a stool, you know? mean, I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than that, but, you know, and you definitely need a bar, but, you know, it seems like an area, right, for someone to step in to add some more. So what else did you say?

Toni Tresca (18:39)
Totally.

I also checked out Little Miss Sunshine, the musical over at the Aurora Fox Art Center. This is a musical directed by Warren Sherrill. It’s got a really strong local cast, but I think this is another example of not every movie needs to be adapted into a musical because this is a heartwarming kind of depressing movie about a road trip.

Alex Miller (18:47)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (19:08)
full of family members who can’t speak to each other, they can’t communicate. But in a musical, all the characters communicate very well through song and express exactly how they’re feeling, which undermines a lot of the central tensions and kind of conflicts and what makes a nuance of what makes the original story work. And so I found that I spent a lot of this show just like kind of with my head in my, with my head, my.

Alex Miller (19:18)
Right.

you

Toni Tresca (19:35)
my head in my hand, because I was just like, my gosh, these songs are so bad. ⁓ The cast is really trying, but I just could not, I could not get into this piece. I didn’t find it compelling as a musical, and I thought it was an even worse adaptation of a movie that I really, really enjoy.

Alex Miller (19:45)
huh.

Wow, well, yeah, great cast. Wow, Jenna Ball-Rays, Don’elia Antweiler, Matthew Murray, Eric Sandvold. Yeah, and looks like they have some, are they some kids in it as well?

Toni Tresca (20:06)
They do, because the whole thing revolves around this Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant that the family is trying to take their daughter Olive ⁓ to. And so there are a lot of kids. And another big kind of issue, just a technical issue with this production is about 75 to 80 % of the show takes place inside the family’s yellow Volkswagen van, which the team very realistically creates on stage. They have like the hollowed out shell of this vehicle complete with all the walls.

However, because it’s on a flat stage, you can only see the two people who are in the front seat. And so any of the dialogue scenes with all the family members in the car, you just cannot see the people who are in the back seats of the car. I’m not sure why they didn’t take the roof off of the car or kind of like make the seats at an incline so that you could see the people. But from where I was seated in the mezzanine, about…

A good majority of the show I could not see most of the cast who was speaking. So that was a very, that was another kind of frustrating element of the show that kind of interfered with my enjoyment of the piece.

Alex Miller (21:06)
that’s an issue.

All right. Well, and then you got over and saw one of my faves, The Tempest at Colorado Shakespeare Festival. And this one is interesting because it’s got ⁓ a female Prospero called Prospera.

Toni Tresca (21:28)
That’s right, Ellen McLaughlin, who folks might remember starred as King Lear at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival back in 2023 has returned. She’s playing Prospero. And this is a really visually stunning production directed by Kevin Rich over there. The show is kind of framed as this island fairy tale. And so.

The people who come to the island who are shipwrecked there are wearing kind of more modern suits and clothing, but the island still feels very magical in contrast. And Kevin kind of leans into this ⁓ and this idea of the one of the ways that magic is created is through music and has the central character of Ariel create this constant musical soundscape on the mandolin.

that is just kind of going throughout the show. He’s riffing on other Shakespeare songs and inserting them into the play. And that just really ties this production together in this kind of musical magical bow that makes it all work. There’s also these really beautiful sequences of shadow puppetry to kind of explain the wedding as well as the kind of spirits and how Prospero got to the island. And then the performances are just amazing.

Top to bottom, Ellen is really great as this kind of, she starts as this reserved, in control, Prospero who gets more and more emotional as she sees her daughter fall in love and realizes her own mortality and what she’s done by enslaving the creatures on the island. You’ve got some really funny comic performances from Matt Zambroni and Sean Scroggins who are playing Trinculo and Stefano. Trinculo is the kind of the gesture who is on the boat with them and ⁓

Stefano is this drunken buffoon who ⁓ Caliban, who is played by Karen Slack, excellently finds his way in servitude to. And they have this hilarious scene at the end of Act one in which Caliban and Trinculo are under this rug together. And then Stefano finds them and are talking that I’ve seen the show many times. That sequence is very hard to stage effectively. One of the best renditions I’ve ever seen.

Alex Miller (23:25)
Nice.

Toni Tresca (23:47)
of it. just, if you like Shakespeare, like The Tempest, this is a really visually arresting production of it with this top-notch cast. I’m really impressed by this. This is a really strong start to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival 68th season.

Alex Miller (24:05)
That’s great. Yeah, I wanted to ask though like the tempest is it’s not it’s I think it’s labeled as a comedy and it has some comedy in it and I know that ⁓ You know that riches kind of leaned into the comedy and some of the other shows we’ve seen is there is there a lot of element of like really? Pumping up the comedic elements

Toni Tresca (24:23)
That’s a really great question and that has been one of my critiques of Kevin’s productions in the past, specifically Much Ado About Nothing, is that I just found it descended into cheap clowning with no kind of emotional stakes. That was not true of this production. All of the characters, even though it is in this kind of fairy tale land, that doesn’t mean that the characters themselves are hamming it up or larger than life. In contrast, actually,

Alex Miller (24:36)
Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (24:52)
They are very grounded. It’s the world around them that feels magical and overwhelming to them because it is to these characters. They are being taken control by everybody except for Prospero, who is being overwhelmed by emotions and not necessarily the magic of the island. But I thought that in contrast to some of the other productions, like you were saying, this production struck that right tone between the visual magic that was being created with the stagecraft, but it

and keeping the characters still feeling very true and not cheapening them for laughs.

Alex Miller (25:29)
Okay, good. All right, well, let’s move on to Fringe. Like we said, you know, we have covered this pretty extensively, but and Tony, you cranked out ⁓ quite a number of reviews of these shows that are on our website, if you want to hear about some of them. ⁓ But yeah, it started off on Wednesday with a kickoff party at the Cleo Parker Robinson, where as many as many of the performers as they could kind of came on and did these 30 second just little bits of their show, which was kind of fun to watch.

Toni Tresca (25:58)
It was, it was hosted by Juice the Clown, ⁓ who was very funny and had various objects off stage that they were like, if you overstay your time, I’ll come out and beat you. However, at a certain point, ⁓ Juice found that there were a couple of performers who enjoyed being beaten on stage publicly. so that, exactly.

Alex Miller (26:01)
Uh-huh.

You

Yes, more and more so. And then they were playing people off with what was the

song they were playing? Is people playing people off? ⁓

Toni Tresca (26:25)
It was something really silly and funny. The whole atmosphere was very loose and communal. It was inside the Cleo Parker Robinson Theater and it was just packed. Pretty much every single seat was taken with fringe performers or people coming to watch this kind of celebration of community.

Alex Miller (26:27)
Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, so yeah, you saw eight, I only cut three because I was busy on Thursday and Friday with other things and I was just too puked on Sunday to go out again. But so I’ll just mention I saw a cabaret, which was really fun. was ⁓ at the ⁓ place formerly known as the Mercury Lounge Jungle Room, now the Pearl. ⁓ Yeah, so now, so this was was kind of like it was cool. was a classical sort of cabaret, which is to

Chantous, Asha Romeo, her stage name was Miss Honey, or Miss Honey, and a piano player, and then also Gerald Robinson, a musician, who was, I don’t know, think he’s kind of early in his career. I think he could use a little smoothing, but he was pretty good. So that was a lot of fun. And I have to say, they’re serving some pretty good food in there that we were able to get some lunch and good beers and stuff. the Mercury Lounge tradition continues there.

And then ⁓ yes, plant the musical. So this one was a two person musical. We’re both. So I had looked this up after because Andy and I were both kind of baffled by what we saw. But apparently both actors play the same character at the exact same time, which I absolutely did not get. So well, and neither of us got because she’s.

The woman is saying he’s calling her mom and she’s calling him son. And so we thought, okay, it’s a mother and son. And so whatever. It was pretty, pretty wacky. just kind of, there’s not really any choreography. There’s just him on the keys and they both had great voices. it was cute. was interesting where they’re trying to come up with the, trying to solve the world’s problems somehow. And then the other one I saw was in loving memory. So this is kind of a, you know,

redo ⁓ redux of the ⁓ Two-cent Lion ⁓ show from a couple years ago where there’s this dead squirrel and so this is revisiting this ⁓ funeral of this squirrel. ⁓ Izzy Churn ⁓ and Kevin Douglas were the two actors ⁓ on stage and I have to say they’re at the Red Lion Contemporary Art Museum which is a beautiful space. It sucked for performance. It was just the echo

was just, it was really hard to hear them, especially if they raised their voices. And I would say to the French, do not use this venue again, unless there’s something really quiet or mellow or something, because it just didn’t work. And the show itself was, I don’t know, I didn’t quite get it all that much. I mean, thought Izzy was great as this kind of neurotic weirdo who’s still mourning the squirrel that she ran over two years ago.

And Kevin was great as kind of her brother who’s just like, what the fuck? Why don’t you just squirrel? And at one point he dumps the bones out of the box and it’s like, give it up, forget about it. So it had some laughs, but yeah, I don’t know. I wasn’t quite sure why they felt they needed to do this one again. But yeah, what about some of the ones you saw? So the one that, of all the reviews, the one Ben Franklin’s Sex Party was the one that just made me laugh reading the review.

Toni Tresca (29:47)
That was my favorite of the weekend. ⁓ As you mentioned, I saw eight shows at Fringe and I published seven reviews to the site on OnStage Colorado. The only one I didn’t review was a nuptial nightmare, which was a reading that I saw over at the Savoy’s Flex space, because it’s our policy, we don’t review readings.

Alex Miller (30:07)
Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (30:12)
I just was in attendance for that one. But all of the other fully staged performances, you can check out my full thoughts over on the site. But Ben Franklin’s Sex Party was a really wild one that happened at Rise Comedy. It follows Ben Franklin, who comes back through a portal and he’s like, why am I here? Why am I here? He then realizes that America is in a doomed state and recalls this prophecy that his mother told him. Ben Franklin would be here at the beginning and he’ll be here at the end.

Alex Miller (30:23)
You

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (30:41)
So

we realized together that America is at, we’re at the end of time. So Ben Franklin decides we’re gonna found a new country together inside the walls of Rise Comedy, which we do. Our country was called Birdlandia and we created a bunch of different rules that we wanted to have in our society. Then we had a massive group orgy with Ben Franklin, who ⁓ the woman who was performing went backstage and she whipped out this massive

Alex Miller (31:04)
you

Toni Tresca (31:10)
erect penis that she used to just like whip across the entire crowd coming everywhere as she did. And then we realize, uh-oh, now we’ve all got syphilis because Ben Franklin is a, he’s a historic freak. He’s got that syphilis in him and now he’s given it to all of us. So then we, we then have to work together to take Ben out and move on. It’s a absolutely hysterical show. I,

Alex Miller (31:10)
Uh-huh. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Wow. ⁓

Toni Tresca (31:38)
Such a funny lead performance. And yeah, I laughed so hard at one point, as I say in my review, that I literally spit stuff out of my nose. Because I was taking a drink, she then said something ridiculous, and then there went the liquid out of my body.

Alex Miller (31:48)
Yeah.

Yeah,

that’s great. Yeah, love shows like that where you just like die laughing. wow. All right. Well, yeah, definitely check out some of Tony’s reviews. haven’t gotten around to the three that I saw. I don’t know that I’m going to just like that. You know, none of them were all that memorable. But yeah, was a great time and it was just a fun atmosphere getting around to some of those. You really don’t know what you’re going to see.

Toni Tresca (32:20)
That’s what I was just about to say is I got pretty lucky. feel like overall of the eight shows I saw about like about five of them, I would say were very strong and had something really interesting and I really got something out of. And so I feel pretty lucky in that. But you really never know. Like I could have I could have selected eight totally different shows and been like, wow, what a fringe. I didn’t like anything. But.

That’s just the way it goes. That’s the name of the game. People are trying out new things. They’re trying ideas. And ⁓ we get to kind of be a part of that experimentation, which is fun in its own way.

Alex Miller (32:55)
Absolutely. Yeah, and I want to reiterate our suggestion that next year Denver Fringe create a t-shirt that says WTF Did I Just See, ⁓ because that’s kind of the theme.

Toni Tresca (33:03)
⁓ Or if not

a t-shirt, at least a little button that you can wear on your shirt or whatever.

Alex Miller (33:08)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Also a quick note if you’re still hankering for fringy stuff or you missed this Denver run the Aspen Fringe Festival is going on this Friday and Saturday June 13th and 14th but it’s kind of a different deal they’re doing Beauty, a psychedelic ballet Friday at the Wheeler Opera House and a world premiere comedy by David Leadingham called Lincoln Goes to Hollywood so I’m not sure that sounds like fringe stuff to me it sounds like two kind of fully produced works but sounds cool anyway. ⁓ So that’s up in Aspen. So also

What else, Tony, you were watching the Tonys last night at Radio City Music Hall. What can you tell us about them? I wasn’t able to see the show, but I know you caught some of it or recap some of it, because you were out doing real theater.

Toni Tresca (33:53)
Yeah, that’s right. So I was not in front of the telecast last night because, yeah, I was at the Tempest, but I was checking my phone throughout, watching the winners all roll in. And then when I got home, I sat down in front of my YouTube and I watched the show in clips. So I watched everything pretty much except for all the really boring stuff. ⁓

where they talk and do bad jokes in between. So I watched all the musical performances. I watched Cynthia Rivo, who was hosting her opening number, her opening monologue. I watched the in memoriam section and I watched quite a few of the key winners speeches. So I can, in preparation for this conversation today.

Alex Miller (34:36)
All right. So, well, I wanted to ask, like, do the Tony Awards still matter? mean, what’s what’s the point of this award show for people like us in Colorado who maybe won’t even get to see a lot of these nominated shows?

Toni Tresca (34:49)
I mean, that’s a really, that’s a good point, because the shows that are in consideration in this contest are only in New York City. They’re only in New York City, and they’re only in the 41 theaters in and around Times Square, and they each must have at least 500 seats. And of these 29 shows that were nominated for Tonys, they include everything from original musicals, like maybe Happy Ending, which don’t really have a lot of name recognition and are a bit of a tougher sell.

to stuff like corporate IP cash grab plays like the Netflix’s Stranger Things, The First Shadow. And I would say overall, the Tonys, they matter a little bit in terms of if you win quite a few Tonys, you may be able to help produce your tour and then that will get it to places here in Colorado. And or if you are one of the musicals that are nominated at the Tony Awards,

Alex Miller (35:24)
Mm-hmm.

Yep, that’s a good point. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (35:47)
you are given a little over three minutes to perform a musical number live on the air. And while, let’s be honest, not that many people watch live TV anymore, the ratings for the Tonys aren’t going to be huge. They will live on YouTube. And if you have a really memorable Tony Awards performance, that can significantly boost sales overnight.

Alex Miller (36:05)
Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (36:13)
So that is the thing that still matters. That exposure, that live telecast, that performance, if it really hits, that’s the reason for the Tony Awards. is, and you’re like, Tony, doesn’t that just mean it’s a cynical marketing play for all of these musicals to show up? I mean, yeah, a little bit, but aren’t most award shows?

Alex Miller (36:32)
Ha ha ha ha.

Yeah. Well, what were some of the big winners? And if you can just mention like which which ones what are these newer ones would you love to see come through Colorado?

Toni Tresca (36:47)
Yeah, so the big winners of the night were Maybe Happy Ending, which is a robot musical that took home the award for best musical as well as five other Tony Awards. And Purpose, which is a new play about a politically connected black family ⁓ that won best play as well as another Tony. And I’d be curious in seeing both of those come through. Both of them sound pretty interesting to me. ⁓

Alex Miller (37:12)
Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (37:15)
Although the musical number that the cast of Maybe Happy Ending performed on the telecast itself, which was Chasing Fireflies slash Never Fly Away, wasn’t the most. I didn’t think it did a good job of showcasing what the show was about. I knew it was about robots, but from watching that, was like, I don’t know who these kids… I know it looks like these two people are in a relationship together and it’s very sweet. The set was very cool.

But from what I’ve heard, there’s a lot more going on there that I kind of wish had been gestured to a little bit more in that performance. But I’d be curious in seeing that as well as purpose about that black family who was kind of dealing with the fallouts of a political situation. I’d be curious in both seeing both of those.

Alex Miller (38:02)
Okay, cool. And then who are some of the other winners?

Toni Tresca (38:07)
Other big winners include the best musical revival for Sunset Boulevard. This is kind of the gritty ⁓ reimagining of the movie that was adapted into a musical that was not well received, but now that it’s been reinterpreted and they’ve added like a lot of video projections and live moments where they’re filming stuff and showcasing it on the stage, apparently it works now. so…

I don’t know if I’d be interested in seeing that one, though. It kind of sounds hokey to me, and I hate the music from Sunset Boulevard, the musical, so I don’t think even if they’ve dressed it up that I will care. ⁓ Best Play Revival I am curious in seeing, though. It’s a show called Eureka Day, which was written in 2018, and it’s about a city council reacting to a measles outbreak, and it’s a satire about vaccine skepticism, which…

Alex Miller (38:41)
Ha ha ha!

Okay.

Toni Tresca (39:02)
with RFK in ⁓ charge of the health administration, I think it only feels more timely.

Alex Miller (39:11)
Okay. All right. Well, I guess, you know, everybody can look online to see who some of the other winners were anything. What about the show itself? I know you didn’t watch the whole thing, but it’s did it get a decent reception because war shows are often panned or praised one way or the other.

Toni Tresca (39:28)
thought Cynthia Rebo did a pretty good job. Her opening number, Sometimes All You Need, is a song. It was a little slow to get going, kind of showing ⁓ her vocal prowess at first, but then you kind of worked into this funny number that referenced all of the show’s very high energy that I thought was pretty good start to the show. And then she had a really pretty funny monologue roasting the people in attendance. And then she made a pretty big claim about this being

the most financially successful season in Broadway history, which while technically true, is not really necessarily due to a lot of the shows that were nominated tonight. It’s due to the Hollywood actors who have come in to do stuff like Othello and Glengarry Ross and are charging hundreds of dollars for tick hunt or even thousands for tickets. So I felt like maybe that just needed a little bit more context. ⁓

Alex Miller (40:05)
All right.

Yeah.

huh. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (40:24)
And then as for the stuff, as for the performances, there were a couple good ones. I thought that the Pirates, the Panzan, the Pirates, the Panzan musical, which is the jazz re-imagining of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirate of Panzans was excellent. They did a melody of we sail the ocean blue and this washboards kind of a rhythm number. Amazing. I had no interest in seeing that show, but now I’m kind of like, ooh, I would want to, I do kind of want to see that. ⁓

Alex Miller (40:45)
Cool.

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (40:54)
And then Buena Vista Social Club did Candela, which I didn’t know anything about this music before and I didn’t really follow what was going on, but it looked cool and it made me kind of curious as to what else was happening. And so I thought that was a pretty effective performance, but I think arguably the best one wasn’t by any of the shows that were actually nominated. It was the 10th annual reunion performance of Hamilton that performed that was the best. It was a…

great number. had Lin-Manuel Miranda and the whole team back on stage. It was and it really reminded you why Hamilton has made so much money and become such a smash hit and is like the pinnacle of Broadway right now. ⁓ And it did really kind of make some of the other shows look a little bit less in comparison, which I don’t know how the other producers of the shows felt about that. But as somebody who was just watching the musical numbers, I was like, this is great for Hamilton and this is a great number.

Alex Miller (41:26)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. All right. Well, moving on, what’s what’s in the news this week?

Toni Tresca (41:59)
Well, there is a trouble of brewing up north for two local theater companies, Ba Blue and Open Stage, according to reporting by our friend at the Denver Gazette, John Moore. Ba Blue, which has been around for 33 years, has launched an emergency fundraiser to raise roughly $40,000 to make up for the dip in funding that they had expected to receive from ⁓ local sources. And similarly, Open Stage, has

been in the area for 50 years issued the statement ⁓ saying that because of the shift in public arts funding is down roughly 36 percent, they’ve been left with a pretty big shortfall and so are now aiming to raise $15,000.

Alex Miller (42:45)
I to see that ⁓ happening with those two theaters. John’s point in the story, which I couldn’t read just because I couldn’t get through the garbage on the Denver Gazette page. It’s just like all this stuff and it’s paywalled. But anyway, he pointed out that the SCFD, the Science and Cultural Fund, what the hell’s the acronym? It’s the science.

Toni Tresca (42:49)
Mm-hmm.

the

Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

Alex Miller (43:13)
Right, it’s a big differentiator between Denver and Fort Collins because you know there’s I think seven counties that throw money into the SCFD for arts and culture organizations in the Denver metro area and it really it’s a huge ⁓ benefactor for all these theaters.

Toni Tresca (43:32)
That’s right. Yeah. And John noted in the piece that voters actually up North in Larimer County had the opportunity back in 2016 to essentially create their own version of the SCFD, which would have added one penny to every $10 purchase to support arts and culture in the area. But Larimer County residents crushed initiative 200, uh, with 64 % of the vote and

That was on the same day that Denver voters reauthorized the SCFD for 12 more years with 65 % of the vote. it’s, yeah, it’s really, it’s kind of, it’s hard to hear that these organizations are struggling, particularly when you have that little bit of context that there could have been a built-in kind of funding mechanism that could support these organizations right now in these hard times.

Alex Miller (44:23)
⁓

That’s awful. One penny on ten dollars. All right, well, ⁓ yeah, well, I know, you know, John can be a little bit of a doomsayer sometimes, but I think he deserves a lot of credit for doing these stories to, you know, shine a light on some of these things that are going on because if no one raises the alarm, you just don’t know. might not know there’s a fire. So it’s good to know.

Toni Tresca (44:47)
Yeah, in other news, the Colorado Renaissance Fair is returning to Larkspur for the 48th season soon. They’re opening this upcoming weekend, June 14th, and over 100,000 people are going to be making the trek to this event that features 180 different vendors and over 80 live performers who will be doing shows.

I really enjoy the Colorado Renaissance Fair. think that they do a really cool job. It’s out in this beautiful secluded area. It’s very hilly, very majestic, very easy to get lost in the fantasy of it all. ⁓ How about you, Alex? Have you ventured to the Wren Fair recently?

Alex Miller (45:30)
I’ve seen a couple I went to one in New York City a long time ago and I have gone to the one in Colorado I think at this point I’d rather have my fingernails pulled out with a pair of pliers than go to an event like that again. To me it’s like hot dusty crowded everything’s wildly overpriced ⁓ and kind of been there done that if I wanted I’ll go home and watch Game of Thrones or something to see swords and stuff but I don’t know ⁓ if you’re into it you’re into it.

Toni Tresca (45:57)
You know, fair enough, I cannot dispute to you that it is always hot. One thing about the Renfair is it’s set in this village where all the vendors themselves have roofs, but there’s no roof for you, so you are just out in the sun. ⁓ And it can get dusty at times. I’m not gonna dispute that, but it’s in the news in addition to opening.

Alex Miller (46:02)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (46:24)
this upcoming weekend, according to reporting by Kristen Fierro over at Westward. This year, there might not be any elephants at the Ren Fair. ⁓ I know Colorado Parks and Wildlife has refused the elephant keepers a permit to exhibit the animals at the event. ⁓ This comes after the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law had threatened litigation against the state if they had issued the permit, but

Alex Miller (46:31)
What?

Toni Tresca (46:51)
The state, they dispute that. say that was definitely not a part of the process to deny the permit to ⁓ the elephants. company who wants the permit is called Trumps and Humps, which I, that’s pretty funny, but I for one am not upset that there will be no elephants.

Alex Miller (47:12)
Yeah. OK. What else?

Toni Tresca (47:16)
Yep, one final bit of news. We’ve got Denver native Annaleigh Ashford coming home for the Denver Center’s Saturday Night Alive gala. It’s very soon. She’ll be here on June 14th. And Annaleigh, she won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Eze in the 2014 Broadway revival. If you can’t take it with you. She was just on Broadway opposite Josh Groban in Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Bleach Street.

⁓ And yeah, she’s she’s a local. graduated from Wheat Ridge High School and she’s performed at companies that we talk about all the time on this podcast, like Littleton Town Hall, as well as the DCPA and as well in the former country dinner, playhouse and theater group in Denver. And so this fundraiser that she’s here has been happening for the last 43 years and has raised more than twenty two point five.

million dollars in support of the Denver Center’s theater and education programs. That’s a lot of money going to the education program. And this fundraiser is, it does cost a pretty penny to get in, a thousand dollars, but hey, at least it’s going to a good place.

Alex Miller (48:33)
Yeah, yeah, I’ve gotten, I bought a table this year. So, I’m just kidding, I didn’t buy a table. ⁓

Toni Tresca (48:37)
⁓ good for you, you participated in the auction. ⁓ no, I

was like damn Alex.

Alex Miller (48:48)
Someday

that’d be cool. We have an onstage Colorado table at that one. yeah, not yet.

Toni Tresca (48:56)
Well, that is it for our news roundup, but don’t go anywhere yet because we have got a great interview with Sasha Kuchaniela from Telluride Theater to chat a little bit about what’s happening in that spunky, funky little theater in one of the most famous small towns in America. And then after that, and a word from our sponsors, we will share our top 10 Colorado Headliners.

Alex Miller (49:21)
Hey, we’re back. Well, that was a lot of fun to hear from Sasha. really enjoyed talking to her and hearing about, ⁓ you know, theater, the interesting little theater down in a very special place. Telluride. don’t know if have you ever been to Telluride, Tony?

Toni Tresca (49:33)
I have not, no, it’s, I’ve only ever heard stories about the magic and splendor of Telluride. It sounds like a very scenic place, yeah.

Alex Miller (49:38)
Yeah, it really is cool. Yeah,

it’s beautiful.

Toni Tresca (49:44)
And yeah, as two people who are primarily Denver-based reporters, it’s always cool to hear about what’s going on in the arts communities in mountain towns. They often have to make really creative decisions to get by there. And so it’s just kind of curious about how they serve the communities that are out there.

Alex Miller (50:02)
Yeah, it’s tricky, know, because, you know, I was involved with, you know, the theaters in Summit County, ⁓ pretty extensively in the 90s, like Don’t Theater Company and Backstage Theater. And it really is, it’s really challenging to figure out what to put on to please the locals and the tourists. You know, the locals don’t necessarily want to see the stuff the tourists see. but, know, it’s interesting because, you know, hearing her talk about how popular the burlesque is, ⁓ you know, that’s that’s really interesting, you know, in a kind of

probably pretty liberal town I can see that working but may not work in you know whatever some other places so all right well let’s go ahead and get into our Colorado headliner so these are some of the upcoming shows we think you should know about in no particular order Tony you want to kick it off

Toni Tresca (50:45)
Sure, so I’m kicking this off with an immersive food experience by the Catamounts. It’s Feed Wood over at Lone Hawk Farm in Longmont. It’s running June 13th through the 15th. And Feed is part of the Catamounts original series, which pairs food, drink, and performance in a four-course seated meal. And they’ve been doing this basically since the beginning of the company’s history. And this installment of Feed is going to celebrate the role that Wood plays.

in both the sound and resonance of guitars as well as the aging and flavor of whiskey.

Alex Miller (51:20)
Wow. All right. Well, my first one is Something Rotten at Stage Door Theatre in Conifer, June 6 through 29. I think I mentioned this is one of those shows that somehow or another I haven’t seen yet. So I’m really looking forward to going up and seeing this one. It’s gonna take me a little bit to get up there. But so I’ll have a review of that. But yeah, this is a it’s apparently a very funny show. So I’m looking forward to it.

Toni Tresca (51:45)
My next headliner is a remount ⁓ by Buntport Theatre Company, which is Denver’s five person ensemble that creates new works. And that is their production of the book handlers. They originally wrote this back in 2018 in response to the Trump administration. It’s a comedy that delves into the anti-intellectual movement inspired by Brian O’Noltman’s short story. And I was just over at the space chatting with the team and

I joked with them, I was like, I bet you hoped you would never have to remount this show. And they were like, you are absolutely right. But unfortunately, it’s even more relevant today in 2025 than it was when they first wrote it. if you’re interested in a satire skewering ⁓ people who don’t want to think, head on over to Buntport for the book handlers.

Alex Miller (52:18)
Yeah.

Yeah,

that is sad that that we’ve got to bring this back. I said, yeah, they are definitely even more anti art, anti science, anti all that’s good. In the second second run through. All right. Well, my next one is kind of a trifecta. I’m just going to mention Driving Miss Daisy, Mamma Mia and Million Dollar Quartet are the three shows going on at Theatre Aspen now through August 23rd. So I haven’t been to it, but I’ve seen pictures there. There’s this beautiful outdoor facility. I think it’s kind of indoor outdoor. I think there might be a tent kind of

to the Hearst Theater there. yeah, if you’re up in Aspen Way this summer, I would definitely check out that. I think they have a really good program up there.

Toni Tresca (53:15)
My next pick is a series that’s going on over at the Westcliff Center for the Arts. It’s called Shakespeare in the Sand Grees. And this is a series of programs that’s designed to entertain that rural community that has less than 5,000 county residents. This year, they are programming ⁓ Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and Yo Ho Hum.

which is a new comedy by Marcus Anthony that debuted at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival in 2014 and tells the story of Steed Bonnet, a respectable 18th century gentleman turned pirate captain and his hapless first mate whose dream of becoming a meteorologist is dashed as the result of a fateful encounter with Blackbeard. So both these shows are gonna be done in rep at the Jones Theater and the West Cliff Center for the Arts.

Alex Miller (54:00)
Wow.

Toni Tresca (54:07)
June 13th through the 29th.

Alex Miller (54:09)
Yeah, that is a town I have never been in. West Cliff, Colorado.

Toni Tresca (54:13)
Neither

have I, ⁓ it’s nice to know that they’ve got some, it sounds like interesting programming there. Midsummer Night’s Dream is obviously kind of, you’re more crowd pleaser, but it’s cool that they’ve got that additional piece of programming that sounds a little bit more experimental from the fringe circuit.

Alex Miller (54:23)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. ⁓ My next ⁓ pick is actually another group of shows I just wanted to mention. So this is in the melodrama vaudeville arena, which is kind of like a sort of a summary thing. A lot of times, you know, people that are on vacation like like this kind of thing when you come across them in small towns. So in Cripple Creek, the Butte Theater is doing the Colorado Colleen, June 13th through July 13th. ⁓ Iron Springs Chateau in Manitou Springs has a show up now all the way through August 2nd called Disturbance and the Delta.

I think there’s a subtitle of or here fishy fishy or something at Main Street Live in Trinidad. They’re doing a pair of melodramas Pony Expresso and the Old Cookie Shop from June 13 through 22. And then the Glen Glenwood vaudeville review I just wanted to mention so they’re pretty much always running but they’ve got a show that’s running all the way through October 12. So if you’re in Glenwood area definitely recommend checking that out. It’s kind of they’ve got like a kind of a cash dinner theater that you can either watch the show.

know, just watch the show or you can get dinner and I think it’s kind of like barbecue. It’s kind of like a chill dinner theater experience that’s really fun and it’s all kinds of corny, corny fun stuff to see in their vaudeville review there.

Toni Tresca (55:39)
I’m gonna keep us in that dinner theater space with my next headliner, Anastasia over at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown. This is a pretty popular musical at this point. was done, it’s toured through here. It was done over at the Arts Hub recently. But this is a show that is set in Russian Empire in the 1920s and follows a woman who sets out to discover the mystery of her past.

It’s based on that movie, it’s got a great score, and I’m sure Candlelight is gonna do a bang-up job with this, because it’s a big, luscious musical, and Candlelight does. That’s their specialty.

Alex Miller (56:18)
Big Luscious Musicals. Anastasia is a great show. I really enjoyed it when I saw it, I think at the Arvada Center.

So my last one is Frozen at Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater in Grand Lake. So they have a rep theater, rep season going through August 30th. It also includes guys and dolls and Footloose this summer. So again, if you’re up in the mountains, Grand Lake is, it’s sort of the mountains. ⁓ It’s sort of in the high valley there and I guess North Park. But yeah, definitely if you’re.

wandering around out there and doing any hiking or you know there’s a big lake up there obviously and Grand Lake that people do stuff on so definitely check out what Rocky Mountain Rep is doing there.

Toni Tresca (57:01)
My final pick is Steel Magnolias, a theater silco in Silverthorn. This is a pretty familiar title to folks. It’s set in a salon and follows a hodgepodge of women who form friendships as strong as steel when a tragedy strikes. And the reason I wanted to feature this, ⁓ in addition to being a cool show going on in a mountain town, yeah, it’s the cast is out of this world. I mean, these are just a couple of them.

Alex Miller (57:22)
What a cast, holy cow.

Toni Tresca (57:30)
Emma Messenger, Leslie O’Carroll, Maggie Tisdale, and Teresa Schwartz. It’s just a really outstanding cast that the company has assembled to do this show. I mean, if the show is half as good as the cast, it’s going to be amazing.

Alex Miller (57:47)
Yeah, yeah, they do a great job up there. And you know, they don’t do a lot of plays. They mostly do, you know, crowd pleaser musicals up there. So this is a little bit of an outlier, but I actually think I’m going to try and make it up there for that one just because I love theater silco and, you know, it’s such a great play and it’s like, I’ve seen it a number of times before, but with that cast and any excuse to go up to, you know, Summit County and, you know, fit in a hike or something beforehand. Why not? And yeah, if you want to go, Tony, let me know.

Toni Tresca (58:15)
Yeah, I’m definitely interested. We’ll have to have that conversation off pod.

Well, that is it for this week’s Colorado Headliners and brings us to the end of the show. Alex, what can people check out on onstagecolorado.com now and coming soon?

Alex Miller (58:34)
Yeah, well, I’ve got my review of Ann Juliet and all of your fringe coverage that we talked about. Plus, I think you’re going to be doing a review of The Tempest and April down in Colorado Springs, four old broads on the high seas at Funky Theater. So she’ll have a review of that. And yeah, that’s some of the things that will be coming up on the site.

Toni Tresca (58:42)
That’s right.

Yeah, and if you want to stay up to date with what’s going on in theater and comedy venues across the state, subscribe to the OnStage Colorado newsletter, which comes out pretty much every Thursday.

Alex Miller (59:07)
Yep. So next week for our bonus pod, we’ll have the two winners of this year’s Bobby G Awards on to talk about their upcoming trip to New York. So I’m looking forward to that. I think I’m talking to them later today. We’ll also be talking about the trip that Tony and I are taking to Steamboat Springs so we can attend the 27th Colorado New Play Festival.

Toni Tresca (59:25)
Yeah, which should not be mistaken for the DCPA’s Colorado New Play Summit, which has only been around for a measly 20 years, not the 27 years that the Colorado New Play Festival has. That event that we’re attending in Steamboat is widely regarded as the oldest and longest running new play festival in the state. And since neither of us had been before, we decided why not make the trek together to check out the festival’s four featured plays.

Alex Miller (59:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I think the playwrights will be there. Maybe it’ll be rubbing shoulders with Lauren Gundersund and some of the other ones up there. So yeah, we’re gonna go up there. We’re gonna burn that place to the ground, man. Steamboat, we’re there. Yes, absolutely. And yeah, we’re gonna be staying with my old friend, Po Keathley, who I met when I got cast in The Nerd a million billion years ago.

Toni Tresca (1:00:06)
Hell yeah, Steamboat will never be the same after we take it.

Alex Miller (1:00:18)
Breckenridge Backstage Theatre and who’s remained a friend of mine for many years, a fantastic actor, but now he runs a t-shirt shop up there in Steamboat, so looking forward to seeing old Poke. So, all right, well, that’s it for this week. Thanks so much for listening. I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (1:00:33)
And I’m Tony Tresca and we’ll see you at the show.

Alex Miller (1:00:36)
Woo!

Editor & Publisher at  |  + posts

Alex Miller is editor and publisher of OnStage Colorado. He has a long background in journalism, including stints as the top editor at the Vail Daily, Summit Daily News, Summit Country Journal, Vail Trail and others. He’s also been an actor, director, playwright, artistic director and theatre board member and has been covering theatre in Colorado since 1995.

+ posts

A Colorado-based arts reporter originally from Mineola, Texas, who writes about the evolving world of theater and culture—with a focus on the financial realities of making art, emerging forms and leadership in the arts. He’s the Managing Editor of Bucket List Community Cafe, a contributor to Boulder Weekly, Denver Westword and co-host of the OnStage Colorado Podcast. He holds an MBA and an MA in Theatre & Performance Studies from CU Boulder, and his reporting and reviews combine business and artistic expertise.