"Playboy of the Western World" and "Rabbit Hole"

This is the last weekend for TheatreWorks' student production of Playboy of the Western World - and it's well worth your time to see it.

First, J. M. Synge's 1907 play is much more than an historical curiosity. Though it no longer inspires riots as its premier did, its depiction of rural Irish life - and by extension, human nature - is still bitterly, riotously funny. And the language has a lyric beauty that's all but vanished from the world. (For reasons Synge explains in his preface to the play.)

Second, it's one of the finest student productions I've seen at TheatreWorks, with clear direction from Laura Tesman, a gorgeous Roy Ballard set, and some thrilling fights choreographed by Gene Gillette. Colin Gregory shows tremendous skill range as Christy - the mysterious stranger who's lionized in a small Irish town for having murdered his father.

Synge's play twists and turns as it explores mob mentality. The final master-stroke is both the crowning absurdity and the gateway into the play's profound ending.

Meanwhile, this is also the final weekend for the Star Bar Players' excellent production of Rabbit Hole. Playboy is upstairs in the Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater; Rabbit Hole is downstairs at the Osborne Studio Theater.

If you could only attend one, I'd recommend Rabbit Hole. Its cast is more skillful and more experienced, with a performance by Steve Emily as Howie that's not likely to be bettered this year. David Lindsay-Abaire's tale of a family's reaction to the death of their child isn't likely to age as well as Synge's masterpiece, but it's still an extraordinary script in which every line and every reaction rings true.

So what accounts for the disparity in attendance between the two productions? On Thursday night, Playboy was absolutely full; when I saw Rabbit Hole on opening night, a smaller house was about two-thirds full. Is this simply a result of TheatreWorks's superior marketing and larger subscriber base? Really cheap tickets for Playboy? The fact that it has a large student cast, all of whom have numerous friends? The arguably off-putting subject matter of Rabbit Hole?

I am, as usual, mystified.

The Star Bar Players present Rabbit Hole
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Osborne Studio Theater, UCCS, 3955 Cragwood Drive
Tickets: $15/$12 seniors, military and students; 573-7411 or starbarplayers.org

TheatreWorks presents The Playboy of the Western World
When: 7:30 p.m. today, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater, 3955 Cragwood Drive,
Tickets: $10; 262-3232 or theatreworkscs.org

New Directions in Theater

Two recent shows show theater taking some encouraging new directions in the Pikes Peak region.

The first was Rebecca Buric's "Signature" at the Manitou Art Theater. Virtuoso one-person shows are nothing new at this venue; neither are new shows created by MAT producers Birgitta De Pree and Jim Jackson.

But "Signature" was developed at the MAT with Buric, a Boulder-based actress. Last year she auditioned for the annual "10 Minutes Max" show with a short monologue that impressed Jim and Birgitta so much that they (1) put "Signature" on their season calendar, and (2) then worked with Buric to turn her monologue into a full-length show.

(Jim and Birgitta are firm believers in the "schedule it and it will come" school of creation.)

"It was so satisfying," Birgitta told me. "She's an extraordinary actress, but she had no experience creating her own work."

The result was a powerful and heartbreaking piece of theater. As Aida, a young mother and victim of the Serbo-Croatian War, Buric wove together the story of Aida's last moments with old family tales, creating a marvelous sense of color, texture and place. By the end, I felt I'd been on a journey that was as much physical as it was emotional.

I doubt that Jim and Birgitta could turn my life into such riveting theater: In addition to having a story to tell, Buric is a sensational actress, with a winsome manner and a lithe, expressive body. (Aida imitating an old lady was just one of many great touches.) Though Buric played only one character, her focus was so intense that you began to see the people she was talking to.

And last week, at the 40 Thieves Hookah Lounge. Moody Mystery Theatre made its debut with a new adaptation "Alice in Wonderland."

Though the venue made even the MAT seem opulent - were some of the actors making their entrance from the restroom, or was the smoke just making me light-headed? - and piece was as raw as "Signature" was polished, this imaginative production was further cause for hope. The adaptation by director Cyndi Parr and Tammy Smith was very free with the story's details: For instance, there were three Alices, representing different aspects of her personality. But it stayed true to Lewis Carroll's spirit, especially the part of the Lewis Carroll that loved bad puns and general absurdity.

But what was most gratifying to a fogey like me was the cast and the audience. Except for veteran Danine Schell as the White Queen, this was theater of, by, and for young adults. And everything was marked by a spirit of experimentation and collaboration, with belly dancers - including the amazing Frank Farinaro - tango dancers, and drummers. In short, it was a fun, unpretentious evening of theater - just, I hope, the first of many from Moody Mystery Theatre.

Yuja Wang and Rebecca Buric

If you're reading this criminally undermaintained blog on a dreary Sunday morning, here are two hot tips for today's performing arts:

Yuja Wang, who appears with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic this afternoon at 2:30, is simply one of the most musical and technically brilliant pianists I've ever heard. I'd be there again, if I could.

Full review here.

But I can't, partly because I've had two friends call me to say how amazing Rebecca Buric's "Signature" is. Her last performance of this one-person show about war in the Balkans is today at 2 p.m. at the Manitou Art Theatre.

(I know what you're thinking - "He's a critic. He can't possibly have two friends.")

Kudos to 'Carmen'

I took my 15-year-old skateboarding baskeball-playing son to see the last show of "Carmen" on Sunday.

It was his first opera, and he really liked it.

Of course, casting Jennifer De-Dominici in the title role helped. She's amazingly hot -- and she wonderfully captured the spirit of the fiery gypsy.

I've been impressed with how far the Opera Theatre of the Rockies has come. "Carmen" was a production worthy of a Central City.

Caveman and vaudevillians

My wife and I saw the one-man show "Defending the Caveman" at the FAC this weekend.

What a fun date night. Cody Lyman did a great job in what is essentially a stand-up routine about the battle of the sexes. We laughed all the way through it. But it kinda bugs me that this isn't Cody's piece. It was Rob Becker's. It's been preserved like a museum piece and farmed out to various actors.

It had me longing for something fresh. I felt the same way after seeing TheatreWorks' "Blithe Spirit" last weekend. Wonderfully talented cast. But some Noel Coward has gotten tired. Again, some fine laughs. But ....

Then, last Saturday, I found something fresh: "10 Minutes Max" at the MAT. The sixth annual outing of this vaudeville show based on short bits was the best ever. The comedy, the dancing, the magic ... there wasn't a weak link here.

I especially loved actress Ashley Crockett's poetic monologue, "Hair" about her relationship with her hair from the time when she was a kid to when she lost her locks to cancer.

But it was the enormously versatile Emily Keller as the ticket girl who pulls a Lucy and tries to sneak into the show who ended up stealing it.

House concert recap

Gazette columnist Barry Noreen caught his first house concert last night. Here are a few of his thoughts:

Patty Larkin was well received Sunday night as she gamely performed while suffering from a bad cold. Because of that she did only one long set and there was not the customary intermission. Her cold robbed her of a few high notes but did not hurt her performance on some songs, such as "Johnny was a Pyro," which is done in sort of a talking style anyhow. She did a really nice job on "Mary Magdalene" and I would say that her guitar work has matured a bit since we saw her 7 or 8 years ago.

"Our House" at the Denver Center

The 3rd annual Colorado New Play Summit began tonight with "Our House," Theresa Rebeck's dramady about the increasingly thin line between news and entertainment on television.

The first hour of this new 90-minute play is excellent. The characters, who range from relatively unlikable to cringe-inducingly loathsome, are memorable and sharply drawn - including a cynical, profit-minded network head, a beautiful and ambitious news anchor, and four roommates with serious issues. Rebeck's dialogue sizzles. The characters often talk over one another, heightening the sense of realism. The situations are cleverly handled, especially a meeting of the roommates, which takes a reality-TV twist. As life imitated reality TV - pulling together some of the play's most important threads - it looked as though "Our House" might be a great contemporary play.

But as is often the case in real life, everything went awry with a gunshot. With Jennifer, the news anchor, on the scene to cover a hostage situation, Merv, the passive-aggressive TV-addict, suddenly begins spouting articulate criticisms of the medium.

It's not bad dialogue at all, except that it doesn't even remotely sound like Merv. It sounds as though Rebeck - who's written extensively for television - really wanted to say some things about the medium, but lacked a character who could give them voice. The final few minutes are a grab-bag of interesting lines, spoken by whoever happens to be available. Even Wes, the virulently anti-intellectual network head, turns philosophical.

Rob Campbell as Merv and Kate Nowlin as Alice, the household antagonist whose hatred of Merv reduces her to incoherent stammering, deliver particularly strong performances. But as the writing falls off near the end, so does the acting, and several actors were reduced to mugging.

One decision by director Daniel Fish works so well that I'm surprised I've never seen it elsewhere: At times, two spaces spaces exist simultaneously on stage - for instance, Jennifer, in the TV studio, walks past Merv slumped in front of the TV in his house. It's wonderfully theatrical and prevents set changes from slowing the TV-like pace. Of course, it's only possible because Andrew Lieberman's unfinished plywood set is completely non-naturalistic.

"Our House," which opened January 11 and closes Sunday, is the first of three world premiers on the Denver Center season. The New Play Summit continues Friday with two staged readings and a full production of "Plainsong," which runs through Feb. 23. Saturday will feature two more readings and a full production of "Lydia," which runs through March 1.

Kudos to the Denver Center Theatre Company and its artistic director, Kent Thompson, for making the commitment to new work. There's no way to know how a play is going to work until you see it, and to see your work for the first time in such a polished and thoughtful performance must be a playwright's dream.

Saturday in the FAC with "George"

Another profound waste of talent at the FAC. Sure, the sets and staging are brilliant. Sure, the orchestra sounds great. Sure, the leads have strong voices.

But what a horrible, horrible show. Mark tells me Sondheim was working his way through a midlife crisis and searching for something original as the rest of Broadway was growing stale. The result was "Sunday in the Park With George," a musical about the artistic process.

Whatever the reason, he came up with a musical that's cold, dull and off-putting. I hear a lot of people have been leaving after the first act. They're lucky. It gets worse in Act II. I absolutely hated the artist schmooze reception scene.

The show gave me nobody to really care about. I suppose I had mild interest in Georges' girlfriend, Dot. But when she leaves George for the baker, it was a big so-what.

The cast is mostly fine, but there's one supporting player who just annoys the heck out of me.

Am I missing something? Are people loving this show?