by Mark Smiley | Nov 16, 2022 | Glendale City News
By Mark Smiley
The Company of The National Tour of MY FAIR LADY. Photo by Jeremy Daniel
Madeline Powell as Eliza Doolittle in The National Tour of MY FAIR LADY. Photo by Jeremy Daniel
My Fair Lady, opened on November 15 at The Buell Theater. Boasting such classic songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” and “On the Street Where You Live,” MY FAIR LADY tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.” But who is really being transformed?
Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play and Gabriel Pascal’s motion picture Pygmalion, Lerner & Lowe’s My Fair Lady, with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, premiered on Broadway on March 15, 1956. The legendary original production won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical and ran for 2,717 performances making it, at the time, the longest-running musical in Broadway history.
The current touring production features Madeline Powell as Eliza Doolittle, Jonathan Grunert as Professor Henry Higgins, John Adkison as Colonel Pickering, Madeline Brennan as Mrs. Pearce, Michael Hegarty as Alfred P. Doolittle, Cameron Loyal as Freddy Eynesford-Hill and Becky Saunders as Mrs. Higgins.
Accompanying Powell and Grunert is a terrific cast that heightens the incredible rags to riches flip that is showcased in this iconic production. The pacing though is what stands out about the revival. The amount of movement in and out of the numbers really keeps the action lively.
The underlining class struggle is a powerful element behind the whimsical nature of the plot. You find yourself flowing nicely with the spectacle while still hoping for that ‘a ha’ moment.
My Fair Lady runs through November 27, 2022 at the Buell Theater. For tickets or more information, visit www.denvercenter.org.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 27, 2022 | Glendale City News
The Musical Captures It All — Popular Music, Heartache and Tenderness
By Mark Smiley
Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations opened at the Buell Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Center on October 25, 2022. The show runs through November 6, 2022, and tickets can be purchased at www.denvercenter.org.
The Broadway musical follows The Temptations’ journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This show is a high-energy crowd-pleaser filled with songs everyone recognizes and can tap their feet to.
Left to Right, Harrell Holmes Jr., Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Jalen Harris, Marcus Paul James, James T. Lane from Ain’t Too Proud. Photo Credit: Emilio Madrid
The musical is two-and-one-half-hours of top-notch vocals, dancing and theatrics — including drop-splits and mic-stand tricks. With a book written by Dominique Morisseau, based on the memoir “The Temptations,” by Otis Williams (one of the original members), the story is well-constructed and personal, narrated by Marcus Paul James, who plays a likable and earnest Williams.
This musical has a brisk pace and moves through three phases of Williams’ memoir—the gathering of the legends and their rapid rise to stardom; the challenges of keeping them together against internal and external adversaries; and finally the deaths of each member of the originals other than Williams himself.
The show’s chief focus is the shifting dynamic within the group. There are a lot of highs and lows with members of this group. Jealousy, narcissism, drug use, and suicide provide somber moments in the show.
But the high energy ballads from the talented cast and Motown hits from other groups such as The Supremes keeps the audience on the edge of their seats from start to finish.
Tickets can be purchased at www.denvercenter.org.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 21, 2022 | Travel
by Mark Smiley and Jeff Stiglic
Chocolate Pairing: Lady Justice Brewing on East Colfax in Aurora hosted a chocolate and beer tasting on Thursday, October 6, 2022, at their taphouse.
Pints For Prostates: The 13th Rare Beer Tasting was held on October 7, 2022. Amazing and rare beers were spread out over three floors of the McNichols Civic Center Building. The event helped raise awareness for prostate cancer.
Away from the Colorado Convention Center, there were some notable events during the week, including a chocolate and beer pairing at Lady Justice Brewing in Aurora, a Sam Adams and Dogfish Head brunch, and the 13th Pints for Prostates Rare Beer Tasting.
First, David Nilsen, freelance beer journalist and Advanced Cicerone, led a chocolate and beer tasting at Lady Justice Brewing on East Colfax in Aurora on Thursday, October 6, 2022. Guests were treated to high end chocolates paired with specialty beers on tap at Lady Justice.
The Lady Justice Brewing Company was founded by Betsy Lay, Kate Power, and Jen Cuesta during their 2010 service in AmeriCorps‚ asking the question “why can’t we brew beer and give back to our community?” What began as a small operation on a custom-built homebrew system in a tiny storage space has grown into a flourishing taproom and movement.
Next, Sam Adams and Dogfish Head once again collaborated for a brunch held at Rhein Haus Denver on Market Street in Denver. Founders of each brewery, Jim Koch (Sam Adams), and Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), addressed the crowd and talked about their collaboration and shared beers including the latest release of Utopias and Gold Medal winner in the non-alcohol beer category, Just The Haze.
Last, the 13th Rare Beer Tasting was held on October 7 at the McNichols Civic Center Building. This event was organized by Pints for Prostates, a grassroots campaign designed to raise awareness among men about prostate cancer and the importance of early detection in fighting the disease. The group was founded in 2008 after beer journalist Rick Lyke was diagnosed at 47-years-old and successfully treated for prostate cancer.
Pints for Prostates works to engage men in a conversation about their health in a relaxed and non-threatening way. By having some fun with a topic they would rather avoid, they are able to reach a population of men who might otherwise ignore traditional health messages.
Brunch: Sam Adams and Dogfish Head held a brunch at Rhein Haus Denver on October 8, 2022, and featured some of their most popular beers.
On an annual basis Pints for Prostates appears at nearly 100 events across the United States. These include beer festivals and gatherings at bars and breweries.
Since its inception in 2009, the Denver Rare Beer Tasting has attracted some of America’s most respected craft breweries who generously serve their most exotic beers. A total of 201 breweries from 43 states have poured at the event during the first 12 years. Only seven breweries have participated in all 12 Denver Rare Beer Tastings and another 35 breweries have poured at least five times, while 80 have made a single appearance at the event.
For more information about Pints for Prostates, visit www.pintsforprostates.org. For more information on Lady Justice visit www.ladyjusticebrewing.com. They are located at 9735 E. Colfax Avenue.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 21, 2022 | Main Articles
Comrade Brewing Company Wins Gold Medal
by Mark Smiley
Gold Medal Winner: Comrade Brewing Company won a Gold medal at the 2022 GABF for More Dodge Less Ram in the American-Style India Pale Ale category.
The 40th anniversary of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) returned to the Colorado Convention Center October 6-8, 2022. GABF has grown exponentially since 1982, where just 24 breweries and 47 beers were present; 40 years later, GABF featured more than 2,000 different beers from nearly 500 of the nation’s finest breweries.
The 2022 GABF competition awarded 300 medals to the best commercial breweries in the United States. Presented by the Brewers Association (BA), GABF is the nation’s largest professional beer competition.
Award-winning breweries received prestigious gold, silver, and bronze medals in 98 beer categories covering 177 different beer styles (including all subcategories), establishing the best examples of each style in the country. In addition, three GABF Collaboration medals pairing two professional breweries, and three GABF Pro-Am medals pairing homebrewers with professional brewers, were announced.
The competition took place in three phases over a period of nine days and was judged by 235 beer experts from seven countries, including the U.S. In addition to 9,904 commercial brewery entries, the judging panel also evaluated 35 Pro-Am entries and 94 Collaboration entries. The competition was made possible with the help of 310 volunteers.
Hometown Favorite: David Levesque, Owner / Founder / Brew Master of Launch Pad Brewery, left, and Casey Bloyer, Distribution manager of Launch Pad Brewery, celebrate winning a Silver medal for their Citronaut in the English Ale category.
Many of those winning breweries were from the state of Colorado. There were 23 independent Colorado breweries that were awarded 26 medals at the GABF competition on October 8, 2022, held in the Bellco Theater.
Denver favorite, Comrade Brewing Company, earned its second gold medal for More Dodge and Less Ram, taking home top honors in the most competitive category this year, American-Style India Pale Ale. “It was a huge surprise for us, since it was the last category announced, said David Lin, Owner of Comrade Brewing Company. “After we saw there were 423 entries, our hopes were dashed. We’ve been doing our own thing here at the brewery and we’re honored to see the judges think so as well.”
Left Hand Brewing Company continued as the most awarded craft brewery in Colorado, collecting two medals in 2022 and their 29th medal at GABF overall. Bristol Brewing collected the brewery’s 10th GABF medal for Laughing Lab Scottish Ale (the last time the brewery earned a GABF medal for this beer was in 2010), and this is the 14th medal for the Colorado-Springs based brewery.
Cannonball Creek pushed its winning streak to 10 years earning a bronze medal in the specialty saison category, a first for the brewery in this style; the Golden-based brewery has won 15 GABF medals in total across 10 different categories in the past 10 years.
Beer Enthusiasts: These valley residents were excited to be back in person to try some of the best beers from around the country.
“Colorado proves that we are a leader in the craft beer industry and shows that our brewers continue to brew consistently excellent beers in all types of styles,” said Colorado Brewers Guild Executive Director Shawnee Adelson.
Starry Noche: Neil Fisher, Co-Founder, Head Brewer of WeldWerks Brewery, pours Starry Noche at their booth at the 2022 GABF on Saturday, October 8, 2022.
Although it did not win a medal, WeldWerks Brewery from Greeley poured its 2022 vintage of Starry Noche, started as a carefully selected blend of Medianoche batches aged for 20-29 months in a variety of freshly emptied Old Fitzgerald 14-year bourbon, Elijah Craig 19-year bourbon, Sazerac 14-year rye, Blanton’s 8-year bourbon, Eagle Rare 10-year bourbon, and Henry McKenna 11-year bourbon barrels. After resting in these casks for over two years, the blend was conditioned on more than three pounds per gallon of toasted coconut flakes and raw coconut chips and finished with toasted hazelnut.
Overall, there was a buzz inside the Colorado Convention Center. Attendees were excited to be back in person to try some of the best beers from around the country.
“Each year the Great American Beer Festival showcases the best that American brewers have to offer,” said Chris Williams, competition director, Great American Beer Festival. “With 9,904 entries, this year’s competition was the most competitive to date. Congratulations to all the winners who truly demonstrated why the U.S. is the best brewing nation in the world.”
For more information on GABF and to see the list of all the winners, visit www. greatamericanbeerfestival.com. For more information on the Colorado Brewers Guild, visit www.coloradobeer.org. The 41st Great American Beer Festival is set for September 21-23, 2023.
