Chris Arneson News

What did our critic think of THE WEDDING SINGER at Town Hall Arts Center? What's better than a '90s romantic comedy set in the mid 80's? Maybe if it's a musical too.

The First National Tour has officially begun for the history-making production of To Kill a Mockingbird, Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin's new play, directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher and based on Harper Lee's classic novel. Read the reviews here!

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, Charlie partners with a drag queen named Lola to produce heels that can withstand the weight of a male figure. 

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.

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.

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.

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 ran out of ammunition, not only saving herself but also her 3-year-old son and their horse, Brownie. 

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 production bursting with talent.

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.

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.

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 than if I was my 8-year-old self seeing my first Disney musical on Broadway. 

Camp Christmas is back with a fresh outdoor setup for the 2021 holiday season. The festive event formerly took place in 2019 at the Stanley Marketplace, but has been reconfigured to be more of an outdoor experience at Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park. 

Reprising their roles from the 2019-2020 season are Danielle Wade as Cady Heron, Megan Masako Haley as Gretchen Wieners, Jonalyn Saxer as Karen Smith, Mary Kate Morrissey as Janis Sarkisian, Eric Huffman as Damian Hubbard, Adante Carter as Aaron Samuels, Kabir Bery as Kevin G. and Lawrence E. Street as Mr. Duvall.

Platte Valley Players (Brighton, Colorado) will present their first main stage musical production since 2019 with their production of Jason Robert Brown’s emotive song cycle, SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD- running October 29-November 6 at The Armory Performing Arts Center. 

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.

At some point in the last year, we were all a lonely person in a chair, nostalgically listening through every one of our favorite Broadway cast albums, reminiscing of a time we were able to see them live.

Oh, how I missed raunchy theatre. It's been years since I paid my old pals at Avenue Q a visit. And the jokes still feel as fresh as...well, the salad I had right before I watched puppet sex at a dinner theater.

As a theatre person, I can confidently say if my life were suddenly a musical, I'd be thrilled. Isn't the what many of us crave, anyway? The combo of having the world not only revolve around our story, but supplemented with harmonies and well-rehearsed choreography?

Just by hearing the title, you've probably got the familiar bops of Little Shop of Horrors running through your head.

Even if you're not much of an art connoisseur, you probably know a bit about Van Gogh. At least enough to be excited about an immersive exhibit featuring his work.