An Iranian son channels his mother — robes of lamé fabric and all. A high school student wrestles with parental and cultural expectations after her sister’s death. A murderer hides amid a boarding house full of suffragettes. A native son of Colorado awakens near Cherry Creek Reservoir after a bender and, thanks to two sets of grandparents, begins a reckoning. A group of Black men cook and quibble ahead of a Memphis hot wing competition. And a famously indecisive prince tangles oh-so-ambivalently with the power dynamics of Denmark.
Those are some of the storylines to be presented in next season’s lineup at the Denver Center Theatre Company, which made the announcement last week. Among them: “Avaaz,” by Michael Shayan; “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” based on Erika Sanchez’s young adult novel and adapted by Isaac Gómez; and “The Hot Wing King” by Katori Hall.
In addition, Sandy Rustin’s “The Suffragette’s Murder” and returning native Jake Brasch’s “Reservoir” will receive world premieres here, the company announced in late February at the conclusion of the Colorado New Play Summit. Both were alums of the 2022 summit. The company begins with “Hamlet” (a work perhaps befitting an election season).
Related: 10 things to know about Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson
Earlier in March, the Denver Center’s Broadway wing unveiled its subscription season, which begins with the launch of the national tour of the Tony-winning musical “Kimberly Akimbo.” David Lindsay-Abaire’s cleverly staged, charming and mighty funny musical features the titular teen faced with a rare illness, one that finds her aging rapidly.
season draws include the musicals “Funny Girl,” “Some Like It Hot,” “Back to the Future: The Musical” and the play “Life of Pi.” Also set to return to the Buell Theatre: “Hamilton,” “The Book of Mormon” and, yes, here we gladly go again, “Mamma Mia!”
Whenever a Broadway hit such as “Book of Mormon,” “Frozen” or “Kimberly Akimbo” launches a national tour in Denver, intriguing questions arise. What about this city and its audiences is a draw to producers? Is there something special about us? And, if so, what?
It’s terrain that executive directors and artistic directors like the Broadway division’s John Ekeberg and the theater company’s Chris Coleman navigate as they put together seasons. What does a Denver audience look like? What do Denver’s ticket-buying and season-subscription commitments say about us, about our city and its culture?
A balance of offerings
A balance must be struck when putting together a subscription package. And there’s a shorthand that Ekeberg and his team use about the shows they present to audiences — both subscribers and single-ticket buyers. “Some shows feel like they’re more lean-forward, and others are lean-back,” he offered one recent morning over coffee at Vibe, a café and bar near the performing arts complex.
One of the lean-forward offerings next season will be “Life of Pi.” Written by Lolita Chakrabarti and Yann Martel, and based on the latter’s best-selling novel, the play (not a musical) sets sail with teenage Pi and a Bengal tiger, the survivors of a shipwreck. (The big-screen adaptation won director Ang Lee an Oscar in 2013.)
What about a lean-back?
“ ‘Mamma Mia!’ ” Ekeberg replied, not missing a beat. “The music is upbeat and fun, and the story just takes you along. With shows like ‘Kimberly’ or ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ you lean forward to really engage in the story. I think people can, on any given night, enjoy one experience or the other — and over the course of the season.”
“& Juliet,” about life after Romeo, might have you leaning in for its play on Shakespeare’s tragedy, and leaning back for the pop-pleasures of a jukebox musical brimming with Swedish rocker Max Martin’s hits.
Recent seasons have offered signs of just how much theatergoers will go to lean in. “Beetle Juice” had patrons dressed in costume. And “people were coming to ‘Mamma Mia!’ in their 1970s disco stuff, or coming to Chicago in flapper dresses,” said Ekeberg, with a hint of marvel in his smile.
Dissecting Denver audiences
In many ways, the Denver Center’s Broadway division comes with the adjacent marketing muscle of Broadway itself as well as buzzy Tony clamor. Over at the theater company, there is a slightly different task because the work is often newer and comes from Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway or other regional theaters. The cast, crews and sets are built by Coleman and Co.
Of the audiences that visit the four-house Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex, the theater company’s home, Coleman has learned that they are “eager, smart, up for the ride,’” he wrote in an email. They are also “more than happy to tell you when they DON’T like something, but that doesn’t seem to deter them from returning.”
Returning was (and remains) a concern for Broadway as well as regional theaters. Yet, the Denver Center has weathered the ongoing tumult set in motion by the COVID pandemic with robust attendance compared to the national average.
Coming off of the most recent season as well as the 2022-23 season, Ekeberg and Broadway division organizers were “happily surprised” that the go-tos and newer works were all embraced. “It felt like a lot of us assumed that coming out of the pandemic, all people would want was the known, the comfort food, the old titles they’ve seen before. No surprises. No risks — only sort of safe stuff.” But the embrace of new work seemed to rebuff that notion. “There is some real love for ‘Mamma Mia!’ getting back on the road — huge — and “Chicago” out on the road now. Huge. But the new stuff is also being embraced.”
In need of a few laughs
Except for Shakespeare’s Danish “Hamlet,” the theater company appears to have set the table for if not lighter fare, more comedy-laced offerings. “The world seems to be asking to be uplifted these days,” said Coleman. There will be laughs but, he cautions, don’t expect the facile. “ ‘I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter’ is definitely a dramedy with many layers in the cake, as is ‘The Reservoir.’ So, there are a lot of textures in the season.”
In one of the great traditions of the theater company, the season’s two world premieres come out of 2022’s Colorado New Play Summit. There’s the screwball, deceptively easy romp “The Suffragette’s Murder,” which Coleman calls a “unique beast that is unapologetic about the laugh machine it’s building, but then also reveals a more serious, political interest underneath.”
And then there’s “The Reservoir.” Not only is it set in Denver, its playwright will be returning from New York to his hometown for the occasion. “The show has a special resonance because of Jake’s deep ties to this community,” said Coleman. He took classes at the DCPA. He ushered. “It was his life’s dream to be onstage here,” he said. “It’s kind of amazing that Jake’s first professional production as a writer is launching here, and then going onto Atlanta.”
But what about the beloved, wacky musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” a surprise choice for the theater company? “I felt the urge to direct something straight-up silly,” Coleman admitted. “And when I re-listened to the score, it reminded me how incredible it is. And, yes, everyone and his brother has produced it, but … maybe there’s something interesting about seeing us take a whack at it.”
THE SEASONS AT A GLANCE
Theatre Company Subscription Shows:
“Hamlet”: Sept. 13-Oct. 6
“I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”: Sept. 27-Nov. 3
“Avaaz”: Oct. 4-Nov. 17
“The Reservoir”: Jan. 17-March 9, 2025
“The Suffragette’s Murder”: Feb. 7-March 9, 2025
“Little Shop of Horrors”: April 11-May 18, 2025
“The Hot Wing King”: April 25-May 25, 2025
Non-subscription package highlights:
“A Christmas Carol”: Nov. 22-Dec. 29
The Colorado New Play Summit: March 1-2, 2025
Broadway Subscription Shows
“Kimberly Akimbo”: Sept. 22-Oct. 5
“Funny Girl”: Dec. 10-22
“Back to the Future: The Musical”: Jan. 22-Feb. 9, 2025
“Life of Pi”: March 18-30, 2025
“The Wiz”: April 9-26, 2025
“& Juliet”: June 4-15, 2025
“Some Like It Hot”: July 8-20, 2025
“Gutenberg! The Musical!,” (locally produced) at the Garner Galleria Theatre: Nov. 2, 2024-May 4, 2025
Non-subscription attractions highlights:
“Hamilton,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and more.
Single tickets will go on sale in the future. For subscription packages and more information on the upcoming seasons at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, go to denvercenter.org.
Lisa Kennedy is a Denver-based freelance writer specializing in film and theater.
