Madame Butterfly

Madame Butterfly
Central City Opera
Central City, CO
July 7 - August 5, 2019

Madame Butterfly is a rare opera that reaches further than just classical audiences. It inspired the play M. Butterfly and the musical Miss Saigon. Even people who do not love opera know the name and the story. This year the Central City Opera Festival features it as their marquee show.

The music was beautiful and well sung but the story was dated. The script did not give a clear explanation that Butterfly’s motive was to preserve her honor. In today’s society, it came across more that she was in despair.

The cast was disappointing in the obvious lack of Asian performers. For a show set in Japan, it would have been appropriate to have people who appeared Japanese.

The character Butterfly got her nickname due to her effervescent and fluttery personality. However that wasn’t rally the case. She was large and stoic. She didn’t bring butterflies to mind at all. Pinkerton, her love, was uninteresting and rather smarmy. He came across as a callous player rather than the man of anyone’s dreams.

It was Butterfly’s son who stole every scene. While a bit too old for the part, the child was charming and hit every cue.

The set was simple, yet was surprisingly versatile throughout the show. It had many entrances to create a feeling of a larger space. The costumes were beautiful and were the most integral part of creating the Japanese setting.

Overall, the Central City production of Madame Butterfly was lovely to look at and listen to. But some casting decisions did take away from the integrity of the production.

Cinderella and Her Barely Godmother

 Cinderella and Her Barely Godmother

Arts in the Open
Four Mile Historic Park
Denver, CO
July 25, 2019

Cinderella and Her Barely Godmother is not the y typical fairy tale damsel in distress story. In fact, this play took the familiar story in a brand new and very modern direction.

The show was created for outdoor showings. This performance was presented at Four Mile Park in Glendale. The production team chose the locations wisely, using the historic buildings that perfectly set each scene. The guide was also well versed in the local wildlife that he would point out between scenes.

The show began as expected. The stepmother and the stepsisters were cruel and not too bright. Cinderella was clearly demonstrated her intellectual and social skills early.

The second scene took the audience to Fairy Godmother school which might have been mistaken for Hogwarts. Each student godmother had their own personality and issues that came across quickly. There the audience met Barely, the struggling student "godfather."

Barely was a charming, awkward character who bonded sweetly with the practical Cinderella. Their interactions were the heart of the show. The script allowed their relationship to unfold with a few surprises. The cast jumped from character to character quickly and used simple costume pieces to create a new persona. They kept a consistency despite the constant changes.

The production at Four Mile Park brought Arts in the Open back to the Denver area for a relaxing walk instead of a strenuous hike. It created an ideal experience for families with small children. Hopefully they will return to this venue in the future.

Lunar Landing 50th Anniversary Celebration

Lunar Landing 50th Anniversary Celebration
Colorado Symphony
Boettcher Concert Hall
Denver, CO
July 20, 2019

This year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first Lunar Landing. To mark the occasion, the Colorado Symphony presented a special concert.

The program was filled with soundtracks written by John Williams. It started with the main theme from Star Wars and also included suites from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET, the Extraterrestrial. These familiar pieces were more dynamic when played live.

Passages was the last number before intermission. It was preceded by a short video about how it was created for the 100th birthday of John F. Kennedy. Unfortunately, the video was necessary to understand the piece.  It was a strange operatic singing of Walk Whitman’s A Passage to India interspersed with soundbites from Kennedy, some manufactured, some real. It was confusing and not pleasant to listen to.

The highlight of the show was From the Earth to the Moon and Beyond, featuring a slideshow and narration by astronaut Richard Heib. It brought together the feat of landing on the moon in 1969 with a look into the future of space travel. It was an inspiring piece.

The encore performance of Clare de Lune or Moonlight was pretty, but it was anti-climactic after the powerful performances that preceded it.

The Lunar Landing Concert was a unique way to celebrate the anniversary of one of humankind's accomplishments. And it showcased how music and art reflect life.

Hamlet

Hamlet
Foothills Theatre Company
Clement Park
Littleton, CO
July 19 - 27, 2019

Summertime is the season for Shakespeare. In Colorado, at least five companies regularly present the Bard’s works in an outdoor setting. The smallest of these companies is Foothills Theatre Company who performs their shows for free in Clement Park. This season’s play was Hamlet.

Hamlet is a huge undertaking. Presenting it outdoors with a limited set and a small cast was a challenge, but this group did not shy away from it.

Hamlet himself was a young man. He played the feigned madness of the character effectively, but the transitions between his crazy antics and lucid thoughts were not believable. His feelings for Ophelia were also unclear. In the early scenes he seemed to dislike her. It wasn’t until after her death he admitted he cared for her.

The performance of King Claudius was mesmerizing. He was a narcissistic character who only displayed remorse when he was caught. The role was played with passion and depth, giving the show a complex villain.

For the role of Polonius, the directed opted to cast a woman. The gender switch worked well within the script, creating Polonius as a confidant of the queen rather than a lord with an over friendly relationship with her. Unfortunately the performance was stiff and the audience was unable to bond with the character.

The set looked basic but it was surprisingly versatile. The main backdrop hid a small scaffold which was used as the ramparts where the ghost of Hamlet’s father was seen and a balcony where the ghosts of slain characters eerily watched the actions after their deaths.

Hamlet was not an easy choice of show, but the cast and crew pulled it off. It was never too ambitious, rather the goal was to simply tell the story, which it did successfully.