Denver Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 3

BWW Review: CATS at DCPA
by Jon Bee - June 02, 2022

There are some shows that you have been waiting a lifetime to see that once you see it, a meaningful and transformational experience can occur. Big name musicals that travel the world and finally make their touring stop in your city. And then there are shows that you've waited for with high expectat...

BWW Review: QUIXOTE NUEVO at DCPA
by Jon Bee - May 27, 2022

Throughout the decades, some shows have stood the test of time while newer productions test their strength to stand among the best. And sometimes, you see a new show about an old tale that is a sight for sore eyes. In DCPA's current prodution of Quixote Nuevo, audiences are delighted to a family tal...

BWW Review: Arvada Center's KINKY BOOTS is Filled with Heart and Sole
by Chris Arneson - April 14, 2022

Kinky Boots is just one of those shows you can't help but leave feeling just a little sparklier. Based on the British 2005 film of the same name, Kinky Boots follows Charlie Price, who inherits his family's multigenerational shoe factory from his deceased father. In order to keep the business alive,...

BWW Review: TOOTSIE is Mostly a Drag at the Buell Theatre at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts
by Chris Arneson - April 06, 2022

Oh look, another movie turned musical no one was asking for! When a film is adapted for the Broadway stage (which is almost a given nowadays), I'll get excited if it's a classic I can't wait to see updated and reimagined. The trouble with Tootsie is...I guess I just didn't care from the start....

BWW Review: RESPIGHI'S PINES OF ROME & JOYCE YANG at Colorado Symphony
by Jon Bee - March 17, 2022

In their recent concert, the Colorado Symphony opened with Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra before moving on to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491 featuring guest artist Joyce Yang, piano....

BWW Review: THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES at BDT Stage
by Jon Bee - March 17, 2022

Seeing new musicals is something I relish. With no frame of reference, it allows me to take in every aspect of the show more profoundly. The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes at BDT Stage is the latest contemporary musical to be picked over by yours truly....

BWW Review: IN THE UPPER ROOM at DCPA is as Good as it Gets
by Jon Bee - March 06, 2022

I’m all for a period piece, especially one from the 70s - see what I did there? In the world premiere of In the Upper Room by Beaufield Berry, we meet a bunch of Berrys in their family home in Omaha, Nebraska in the 1970s. A lively crew, this family is on display in a way that is relatable…and other...

BWW Review: Opera Colorado's THE SHINING
by Chris Arneson - March 06, 2022

If your experience is more with the book, you might appreciate the recently adapted opera version better. Currently playing with Opera Colorado, Moravec & Campbell’s The Shining is being presented for the first time since its premiere with Minnesota Opera....

BWW Review: The HAMILTON Hype is Real
by Chris Arneson - February 25, 2022

I avoided Hamilton as long as I possibly could. I wouldn't even listen to the cast recording, wanting to have the freshest live experience I possibly could. Somehow I held on until around 2018, right before the show visited Denver for the first time....

BWW Review: AN EVENING WITH DIANNE REEVES at Colorado Symphony
by Jon Bee - February 23, 2022

I suppose it’s true you can always find our way back home, especially if home is where the heart is, as they say. For Denver’s own Dianne Reeves making her return to Boettcher Concert Hall, it feels like Dolly Levy has come back to Harmonia Gardens. ...

BWW Review: THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN': THE MUSIC & LYRICS OF BOB DYLAN at Colorado Symphony
by Jon Bee - February 23, 2022

Bob Dylan is many things, among them a music icon. Though, it is often the covers of his songs that live louder. Under the baton of Steve Hackman, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to Dylan in a way that truly highlights the original artist....

BWW Review: DCPA's Long-Awaited RATTLESNAKE KATE Attacks
by Chris Arneson - February 22, 2022

The musical is based on former Lumineers member Neyla Pekarek's first solo album, Rattlesnake, which features songs inspired by the life of Colorado's own 'Rattlesnake Kate' Slaughterback. Nearly 100 years ago, Kate killed around 140 rattlesnakes mostly using a wooden sign she found after her rifle ...

BWW Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Littleton's Town Hall
by Chris Arneson - February 11, 2022

Little Shop of Horrors may not be the happiest musical, but there's something about a plant wreaking havoc on a bunch of downtrodden folks that might offer a bit of momentary schadenfreude. And if you don't get it from that, Town Hall's production is likely to scratch your itch for a well-designed p...

BWW Review: FANTASIA IN CONCERT at Colorado Symphony
by Jon Bee - February 08, 2022

There have been a handful of constants in my life - among them are music and Disney. I can presume I am one of many that would say the same. As a young boy, I can remember watching Fantasia and being overcome with joy as the little winged horses danced on the screen along to some of the greatest cla...

BWW Review: THE CHOIR OF MAN is Exactly What You Expect
by Chris Arneson - January 21, 2022

If you've ever thought you needed a live show about a pub choir of burly men, have I got news for you. The Choir of Man is literally that, and apparently they're big in the UK....

BWW Review: THE OTHER JOSH COHEN at DCPA
by Chris Arneson - January 06, 2022

Josh Cohen is overweight, can't get a date, and his apartment was just emptied by a burglar--but that was a year ago, and a lot has improved since then, according to a much healthier and happier-looking Josh Cohen with a guitar....

BWW Review: WHITE CHRISTMAS at Boulder Dinner Theatre
by Jon Bee - January 04, 2022

We may not have gotten snow just yet, but White Christmas at Boulder Dinner Theatre is the perfect way to catch the holiday spirit....

BWW Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse
by Jon Bee - December 29, 2021

The classics can go a long way at Christmas. Although the story doesn’t really mention Christmas, there is something about classic musicals that still some captures the essence of festivity. In Candlelight Dinner Playhouse’s latest production of The Sound of Music, the hills are anything but quiet....

BWW Review: 'The King Has Returned' to Denver
by Chris Arneson - December 14, 2021

Somehow, I had managed to avoid seeing the Broadway production of The Lion King for its decades-long existence. Well, maybe not avoid necessarily--it was killing me that I'd never planned well enough to catch it. So until I did, I avoided anything that might make my first viewing any less magical th...

BWW Review: Christmas Chaos Ensues in ELF, THE MUSICAL at Arvada Center For Arts & Humanities
by Jon Bee - December 11, 2021

The holidays always come with baggage. Winter events, gift giving, and family gatherings can quickly devolve into mayhem among the twinkling lights that line every streetlamp and window sill. Though, Arvada Center's current holiday production of Elf provides it's own sense of pandemonium....

BWW Review: HIP HOP NUTCRACKER at DCPA
by Jon Bee - November 29, 2021

Hip-hop meets Tchaikovsky? Sign me up! The latest stop for the Hip Hop Nutcracker was Denver’s own DCPA Buell Theater. Though it may not be the ballet you’re used to, this rendition brings classical into the contemporary space....

BWW Review: JEST A SECOND at Cherry Creek Theatre
by Jon Bee - November 19, 2021

Coming out is hardly ever easy. The build up to the reveal, even down to the very second that the words, 'I'm gay' leave your lips can make it feel like as soon as you say it, everything that you built up in your mind will immediately come cascading down like an avalanche. Such a moment is where we ...

BWW Review: Forge Light's LIZZIE Kills
by Chris Arneson - October 15, 2021

If there's one thing I will never get enough of in musicals, it's fierce women belting their faces off. That alone is enough of a reason to tell you why you can't miss Forge Light Theatreworks' current production of Lizzie: The Lizzie Borden Musical....

BWW Review: THE IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY at DCPA
by Jon Bee - October 15, 2021

I’ve always had a soft spot for Shakespeare plays. While studying abroad in Italy back in college, I performed a variety of Shakespeare scenes, including the infamous Queen Mab monologue. I also got the chance to visit Verona and stand atop Juliet’s balcony. So when a Shakespeare inspired improv com...

BWW Review: SISTERS IN LAW at Theatre Or
by Jon Bee - October 13, 2021

History has its eyes on you - or at least according to Alexander Hamilton. American Political History has never been more important in today’s society than in the moments we collectively take together. Relationships and bonds between our friends and neighbors, or perhaps lack there of, is highlighte...