Set in Texas, the contemporary ballet production is accompanied by Clay Rose’s live band and all original music

One of the hallmarks of any Wonderbound performance is the company’s commitment to the highest production standards. That means paying the same attention to sets, costumes, lighting and props as to that of the choreography, music and dancing. Thanks to the aesthetic of co-directors Garrett Ammon and Dawn Faye, every Wonderbound show is visually dazzling, never more so than since the troupe moved into its own gorgeous Park Hill space in 2023.

In addition to a beautiful and comfortable theater, the building contains a scene shop, costume shop, dressing rooms and showers for all the dancers, office space and kitchen. Most of all, from an audience perspective, the theater’s stage is big enough to allow for expansive choreography and live music, which Ammon uses to full effect as collaborations and budget allow.

The current production, Sam & Delilah, is Ammon’s mashup of the Samson and Delilah story transferred to a small Texas town in the 1970s. Sam is the county sheriff who falls in love with Delilah, the struggling owner of a local beauty shop. Over the next two hours (including one intermission) Sam and Delilah have several relationship ups and downs against the backdrop of a subplot involving two feminist activists for the Equal Rights Amendment who are being tracked by Texas Rangers.

The overall production of Sam & Delilah provides more opportunity to appreciate Wonderbound’s theatricality and the technical prowess of its 14 company members — arguably the best dancers in Denver. But the narrative is somewhat convoluted and occasionally difficult to follow, despite a complete scene-by-scene synopsis in the written program. This problem is, surprisingly, compounded by the dynamic, foot-stomping rockabilly-inflected and all-original music of Clay Rose.

Aidan O’Leary and Cameron Cofrancesco as Texas Rangers in ‘Sam & Delilah | Amanda Tipton Photography

The Clay Rose effect

This is Rose’s third collaboration with Ammon, and his engaging music – plus the stellar playing and singing of his accompanying band – is so compelling that it sometimes threatens to overpower the dancing. This is partly due to the band’s overly loud volume, especially in the first act, but also to the score’s pulsating beat. At the Thursday night show I attended, this inspired a number of spectators (yours truly included) to bounce around in their seats to the rhythm of the various songs.

None of this is to take away from the astonishing dancing of the Wonderbound performers and of Ammon’s complex choreography, which alternates between rapid-fire ensemble dancing and more lyrical, gentle pas de deux. Although the intimate love scenes – mostly between Sam and Delilah – are elegant and emotional, it is the large group sequences that showcase the most extraordinary qualities of the Wonderbound dancers — and of Ammon’s ability to move an entire ensemble in perfect unison through breakneck turns, jumps and leaps. In some of the scenes the dancers are moving so quickly through Ammon’s complicated combinations that it is almost impossible to see precise movements or figure out how the dancers transition from one moment to the next.

Nathan Mariano as Sam channeling Elvis | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography

Movable set

As for the overall production design, Ammon once again uses movable large set pieces to create the various environments the characters inhabit. These range from Delilah’s beauty shop to Sam’s jail cell to a cowboy bar. The most dramatic setting is of the town’s near-vacant main street, which ultimately explodes in flames, providing true theatrical magic as the stage goes pitch black in its final moment.

Wonderbound’s dancers are so uniformly strong and technically proficient that it’s sometimes difficult to single out individual performers. However, there are always lead dancers, and here Nathan Mariano and Rachael Dean are given the chance to shine as Sam and Delilah. Mariano radiates a powerful masculinity and Dean a feminine vulnerability that makes their pairing believable and compelling.

Adding to the appeal of Sam & Delilah are the costumes of Dawn Fay and Sloane Crazybear. The women’s figure-flattering short dresses evoke the gender-defining style of the ’50s while the men’s jeans and work shirts make it clear these are hardworking rural folk. Karalyn Star Pytel’s lighting not only brings additional drama to every scene but, as it always does, makes it clear precisely where we’re supposed to look even when there are several things happening at once in different parts of the stage.