colin roybal

The magical world of Willy Wonka's candy empire is a story that most are familiar with. From the rooms with flavored wallpaper, to the oompa-loompa minion workers, to the rich chocolate waterfall and river, the world of Willy Wonka's candy factory is whimsical and epic. But how does that world, which had so much help from cinematic geniuses and high-budget settings, get transferred to the living stage?

'The Normal Heart' by Larry Kramer is not a light-hearted piece of theatre. It is a heavy drama about the terrifying 'new cancer' that ravaged the gay community in the early 1980s. It is dark and frustrating, and beautiful, and the script demands a lot of a cast. It seems that Vintage Theatre Company was up to that challenge and more.

Keep your elbows off the table. Always hold a door for a lady. Remember to say 'please' and 'thank you'. These are just some of the commandments of Mrs. Mannerly's manners class, and in her classroom, you'd better follow the rules.

Stephen Sondheim is one of the most celebrated and revered icons of modern musical theatre. His work has been lighting up Broadway for over 5 decades, and while not all of his shows have been major hits, his work, even in the failures, has been well-respected by all. Sondheim on Sondheim is a wonderful look into the life of the artist, and a celebration of his successes as well as an exploration of his flops.

Anything Goes is a classic Cole Porter masterpiece filled with flashy song and dance numbers, farcical antics, and an intricate plot. It's a tough show to mount, because it involves a large cast and must be carefully directed to bring out the humor and drama in the show. Performance Now Theatre Company has set sail with this epic musical, and riding this luxury liner with them is a theatrical treat.

The year is 1977 and Disco is the name of the game. Brooklyn is overrun with small gangs and poverty, but club 2001 Odyssey is the oasis that all the well-dressed dancing youths flock to. Inside the doors of the club, the rules change, and dreams are made and broken on the glowing dance floor. Arvada Center has taken on this regional-premier musical based on the cult classic film, and with its many challenges, Saturday Night Fever is a high-energy show that dazzles the audience with is spectacle and glam.

Roald Dahl's magical story, Matilda, is one of my childhood favorites. It's a dark story about a little girl who triumphs in the face of adversity. When her family tries to suppress her desire to read and learn, she finds solace in her stories, and unlocks the magic within her books.

La Cage Aux Folles: where the men are men and the women... are too. This hilarious and heartfelt story proves that love really does conquer all.

'Mary Poppins' is a film classic that children of all ages have enjoyed for many years. It is a lighthearted, whimsical tale of a pair of unruly children who are taught the value of order, morality, and family love by a magical nanny who floats into their lives by way of a gust of wind. I was so enamored of Mary Poppins' magic, that as a child I was convinced that singing and snapping my fingers would magically make my chores complete. Alas, things are always sweeter and brighter in Disney films. Such is the case for the stage production of Mary Poppins, which strays from the Julie Andrews version of the tale that we all grew up with from the movie. Instead, some of the darker elements from the P.L. Travers books that Mary Poppins was torn from are included in the musical, and add just the right amount of bitter to the sweetness.

Tick, Tick…Boom! is Jonathan Larson's autobiographical musical that centered on his period of struggle before becoming successful with the Broadway hit Rent.

Few shows capture the glamour and spectacle of the original Ziegfeld Follies as well as 42nd Street. The elaborate showgirl numbers and huge dancing choruses were the stuff of legend, and provided the inspiration for many gaudy Broadway musicals. While the show mocks some of the silliness of the original art, it pays homage to the core glitz and sparkle of the Ziegfeld productions, and keeps the audience tapping their toes throughout.

Razorblade-stuffed apples, body mutilation, and being buried alive: all the stuff of nightmares, right? Such are the elements of the twisted short stories that are a key element in The Pillowman. And how does one combine these gruesome elements into a story that is still palatable enough to sit through with rapt attention? That is the challenge that 11minutes Theatre Company has taken on.

The Denver Center's Garner Galleria Theater is home to some very interesting cabaret-type shows. The most colorful, of late, has been Drag Machine, an original work that combines a traditional drag show with a narrative about the history of drag culture.

The music of jazz legend Thomas 'Fats' Waller is iconic. Born in the Harlem nightlife, his blues/jazz melodies are hauntingly beautiful and complex, and are the feature of Vintage Theatre's production of 'Ain't Misbehavin'.

A six-foot rabbit is not something that goes unnoticed. That is, unless it also happens to be invisible. Despite the fact that Elwood P. Dowd is the only man who sees him, Harvey is certainly a very large presence at the Arvada Center.

Vintage Theatre Productions has tackled one of the more difficult musicals of the last 30 years. Miss Saigon is a show filled with challenges for even the biggest, most equipped theatres. But the smaller-scale production that Vintage performs is a beast in other ways.