Worthy Fund Raiser!

Christ the King Roman Catholic Church and School

Presents

After-Dinner Theater - Fall 2008

Since 1999 — Our 12th Production of Fundraising, Drama, and Desserts

October 24 and 25, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
and October 26, 2008, 2:00 p.m.

Christ the King School Gymnasium
860 Elm Street
Denver, Colorado

FEATURING:

Christ the King Parishioners, Students, Neighbors, and Friends performing in...

Lil' Monsters
A sleepy, little musical
By Dave and Terry Brandl

Free 4 All
Live improvisation

Places, Please!
A post-modern dating story
By Dave Brandl

$10 per family or group
Bring a dessert to share

303-960-5018 for tickets and information

Note: Dave Brandl is a member of THE TROUPE, a playwright, director and actor extraordinaire, performing in THE TROUPE'S "Everyman" and "Heaven Sent," and co-directing "Pilgrim's Progress." Terry Brandl performed in THE TROUPE'S "Everyman."

REVIEW: Tales of the Night

Seth Maisel as Orson Welles in the "War of the Worlds" portion of the radio-show inspired Tales of the Night at the Denver Victorian Playhouse.

In celebration of the Halloween season, director Edwin Fronheiser tunes audiences into the thrills and suspense of classic 1930's radio drama with Tales of the Night, playing through November 8 at the historic Denver Victorian Playhouse.

All three stories begin in New York City, in the days when men wore fedoras, women wore dresses, policemen had Irish accents, and everyone spoke with a heightened, florid vocabulary.

Lucille Fletcher's classic thriller "Sorry Wrong Number" is about a worrisome and annoyingly persistent invalid (Jan Cleveland) who inadvertently intercepts a telephone call about an imminent murder, and her increasingly desperate attempts to save the unwitting victim who could very well be someone much like--or even exactly like--herself. Cleveland does a fine job building her character's paranoia to a breaking point, and the ensemble plays a wide variety of telephone operators, policemen and thugs. Even if you know the ending, it's a fun ride.

Fletcher's Twilight Zone-style "The Hitch-Hiker" is a ghost story that boasts an exquisitely crafted build up to a fever pitch of dread, only to be sabotaged by a self-contradictory revelation in the climactic moments. Seth Maisel brings to mind a young William Shatner in the starring role of the doomed commuter, who, like the invalid in "Sorry Wrong Number," is driven to a breaking point by overwhelming stress.

After an intermission where the audience can calm its jittery nerves with tea and cookies in the Vic's lovely parlor/lobby, it's back to the basement where the ensemble presents Orson Welles' adaptation of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds," in which a Martian invasion of New Jersey is thwarted by microbes.

Sounds silly now, but this Halloween hoax actually inspired mass panic when it was first broadcast. Our suspension of disbelief is hindered because of the "live studio" setting. Even so, the program holds up well because of the "gee whiz" factor of simulating radio technology and supposed links between various broadcasting sites. Remember the Internet video reports from Baghdad, and how the grainy, jumpy footage that was often delayed or interrupted held our attention? "War of the Worlds" has that same appeal.

The selection of works, ranging from literary gems to melodramatic potboilers (sometimes in the same piece) is excellent in its variety of setting, continuity of period and ensemble appeal. All three pieces share a common theme: that humanity is small, weak, and helpless in an inexplicable and hostile universe we can't possibly control. There isn't a hint of religious sensibility in any of the tales, so this primal fear factor goes unchallenged.

The cozy basement theatre at the Vic is an ideal venue for this hybrid show, which has elements of a live radio broadcast, but also fully staged dramatic scenes to maintain audience interest, and everything in between. The local cast of familiar regulars and two newcomers blend well together, bringing welcome moments of humor to the rather bleak and forbidding material.

And isn't that what Halloween is all about? A quickened pulse, an occasional shriek, a dash of comic relief, and we pass through the darkness unscathed. But most of all, it's about swapping stories, and in this respect Tales of the Night delivers both tricks AND treats.

Tales of the Night plays at the Denver Victorian Playhouse in north Denver through November 8, 2008. For information or reservations, call 303-433-4343 or visit online at www.denvervic.com.

REVIEW: Noises Off

Morgan Hallett as Poppy Norton-Taylor, Brent Harris as Frederick Fellowes, Megan Byrne as Belinda Blair and Kate Skinner as Dotty Otley in the Denver Center Theatre Company production of Michael Frayn’s hilarious theatrical farce Noises Off. Photo by Terry Shapiro

I've always enjoyed watching a demolition team implode a building. A group of highly skilled professionals spend weeks on intricate, methodical planning and painstakingly detailed preparation. They thoroughly examine the building's structure, lay the charges, and then BOOM! The whole thing collapses in on itself. When the dust clears, there's nothing but a pile of rubble. If the team knows what they're doing, the whole project appears effortless.

Michael Frayn's classic door-slamming farce Noises Off is a theatrical demolition job of the first order, and the Denver Center Theatre Company's well-seasoned and top-notch cast, under the superb direction of Kent Thompson, are a joy to behold as they go about bringing the curtain down on one of the 20th century's greatest back stage comedies.

The complicated and frenetically paced play within a play is constructed in three acts, during which a second rate theatrical company rehearses and performs the first act from a two-bit sex farce. The old adage that a terrible dress rehearsal precedes a great opening falls flat, as these insufficiently rehearsed, largely untalented, bed-hopping thespians inadvertently pose the question: "Precisely WHY must the show go on?"

After the dress rehearsal flops most hysterically, we fast forward a month, only to discover that the show's problems and inter-cast relationships have gone from bad to worse, though this time we see all the carrying on, most of which is pantomimed, from behind the scenes. Six more weeks have elapsed by Act Three, and both the play and the company have broken completely and hilariously down.

The action, consisting mostly of eight or more continuously slamming doors, quick costume changes (of the pants-falling-down variety), and escalating pranks and sabotage, is performed at break-neck speed, but with absolute precision. The Denver Center's brilliant actors wring an outstanding script for all it's worth.

And yet, the overriding worldview of the play is cynical and pessimistic. Both the actors and the characters they play have little in the way of redeeming values. No one learns or grows, and none of the myriad problems on or off stage are ever resolved.

After a building is imploded, no one wants to stick around for the clean up. And so it is with this comedy, that gasps to a halt amidst a lot of human wreckage; and that's no kind of happy ending.

With Noises Off, the audience laughs 'til it sighs.

The Denver Center Theatre Company's production of Noises Off plays at The Stage Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex through November 1, 2008. Call 303-893-4100 or visit www.denvercenter.org for information and reservations.

REVIEW: Magdalene, Woman of Light

Marika Reisberg and Benjamin Francis star as lovers Mary Magdalene and Jesus in Magdalene, Woman of Light.

All I can say is, we had it coming.

For centuries, the Christian church has neglected, avoided, and maligned the more feminine aspects of God. Many have forgotten that God created us, male AND female in his image, of equal value but with distinct roles to play in his plan. Those who sought to balance the masculine and feminine aspects of our faith were persecuted and driven underground, so that many allied themselves either with the heresies of Gnostic Christianity or pagan goddess worship, while the church became increasingly patriarchal, power hungry and intolerant of legitimate criticism. Now the pendulum is swinging the other way, as the quest for alternative spiritualities hits the mainstream.

And yes, payback is a b-tch.

Magdalene, Woman of Light, a "rock opera experience" playing through October 19 at the Denver Civic Theatre, seeks to redress some of Judeo-Christianity's sins, presenting Mary Magdalene, who best personifies the historic church's error, as the ideal female counterpart to Christ. In Magdalene, Jesus gets a girlfriend who really does know how to love him--though it's mostly their destinies, not their bodies that are intertwined.

From the Bible we know that Mary Magdalene was close to Jesus (not a prostitute, as vicious rumor maintained for centuries), received his healing touch, anointed him for burial, stood by him at his Crucifixion and was the first to see him after the Resurrection. Surely she deserves honor. This Magdalene, however, is not the woman from the gospels, but from extra-biblical texts.

In many ways, Magdalene is the flip side of Jesus Christ Superstar. Both are non-Christian musical interpretations of the Greatest Story Ever Told. But where Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice portrayed a petulant, angry messiah doomed by socio-politlcal forces beyond his control, Michele Wagner and Susan Griffin (book and lyrics) and Kama Devi (music) find their inspiration in the Osiris/Isis mysteries of ancient Egypt, goddess worship of the Divine Feminine, and the Gnostic writings related to Mary Magdalene, and her nemesis, the apostle Peter.

Magdalene switches back and forth between alternative spiritualities, oblivious to the many contradictions: Isis/Mother Wisdom/Head Priestess (the phenomenal Natalie Oliver-Atherton) initiates Mary Magdalene (the appealing and naturally evocative Marika Reisberg) into the Egyptian mysteries, consecrating her priestess, naming her beloved daughter, and presenting her with a fateful alabaster jar containing spikenard. The parallels to the origin and baptism of Jesus are obvious.

Magdalene, a healer, mystic and gifted with the ability to listen with her heart, hears Jesus' call from afar and embarks on a quest to find her soul mate, the man of her dreams. After crossing a river, she meets Jesus (the rugged and playful Benjamin Francis) and it's mutual love at first sight. Much to the dismay of the disciples, especially the peevish, effeminate Peter (Steven J. Burge), Jesus acts like a smitten schoolboy and drops everything--teaching, healing, casting out demons, proclaiming the kingdom of heaven--to hang out with Magdalene, the only one who truly understands and appreciates him.

All too soon, Jesus has to "go away" (in Gnosticism, the crucifixion is downplayed), Madly jealous Peter viciously attacks Magdalene, and she has to summon the female power of her grandmothers to pull herself out of her funk. But -- and this is where Magdalene is superior to JC Superstar and Godspell -- the Resurrection occurs, and she is reunited with her one true love, sort of. Distraught, Peter flings himself at the feet of Isis and gets a dose of female Holy Spirit power (Pentecost?), and is restored to balance, now capable of leading the disciples and founding the church, while the ascended Jesus, and his mother Isis gaze fondly down from heaven.

Some elements of Gnosticism are important to consider when looking at Magdalene. Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, is absent because Gnosticism generally rejects the body as evil. The physicality of Jesus and all of humanity is seen as a curse, or at the very least, illusory. Jesus even sings about how this world is make believe and only heaven is really real. It is significant that Mary Magdalene has no earthly or human origin. She is a true daughter of the Light. And there are continuous Gnostic references to the worlds of Light and Darkness. Except for the scene where she anoints Jesus with the spikenard, there is very little human tenderness between them. Their love exists on a different plane altogether.

The musical ignores the biblical reference to Jesus having cast demons out of Mary Magdalene. Jesus and Magdalene do have a Jewish wedding, so presumably she renounced polytheism, but when in crisis, she calls on Isis. It's a fascinating character study, though once Jesus is resurrected, she has very little left to do in the show.

The portrayal of Peter, who dominates the last half of the second act, is especially problematic. He's the spurned favorite, and his sniveling jealousy is disturbingly tinged with what appears to be homosexual longing. There's even a "love triangle" number. It takes supernatural intervention on the part of the Divine Feminine to transform Peter into a real man, comfortable with the yin and the yang of his human nature. But in the ecstasy of his epiphany, Peter actually sings, "I am that I AM."

No. Oh, hell no. Until that moment Magdalene is interesting, amusing, tuneful, entertaining and pretty benign, if somewhat inconsistent and misguided. But that lyric is blasphemy, pure and simple, and patently offensive to Jews, Christians, and probably Muslims, too. It's the equivalent of pipsqueak Peter proclaiming "I am Jehovah. I am Allah. I am God the Father." Don't go there. Just don't.

I have no idea where Magdalene is going to find an audience. Many New Agers, giddy with having escaped the "confines" of Christianity, simply won't be interested in something that is still linked to the "faith of our fathers," at least at some level. There is an Isis Center in Denver, and probably a goddess worshiping underground, but will thousands of people come to see this show? Bible-believing churches most likely won't send their people, and I doubt it has much secular appeal.

It's too bad, because Magdalene is a worthy musical. It has a lot going for it: it's not like most of the Broadway musicals making the rounds, it deals sincerely with spiritual concerns, and it's a great discussion-starter. But will people show up? I hope so, but I doubt it.

Maybe we're just not yet ready to give Mary Magdalene her due after all.

Magdalene, Woman of Light plays at the Denver Civic Theatre through October 19. Call 303-309-3773 or visit www.magdalenewomanoflight.com for information and reservations.

REVIEW: Night of the Living Dead

I'll admit it. I love horror plays and movies. Yes, I do. Not the heinous, sadistic torture movies that are currently so popular, and not the slasher movies that made household names of Freddie, Jason and Michael. Ick, ugh and blecch. But I just can't resist thoughtful, action-packed horror movies and plays. There's nothing more bracing and thrilling than a foray into the darkness of the unredeemed human psyche, or a brush with the hint of evil personified, so long as we don't lose sight of the light. And if it's a comedy, all the better, because everyone knows that laughing at our fears is the best way to conquer them.

Is it okay for a thinking Christian to attend horror shows? Absolutely! Who but a Christian can fully appreciate how vampires pervert our most treasured sacrament: seeking eternal life by consuming the blood of a willing victim? Anyone who knows their Christian literature should recognize in Little Shop of Horrors a reenactment of Faust. Ghost stories pique our curiosity about the survival of the soul after the body dies. Werewolf and other "beast" tales warn us of the demonic origins of so-called animal spirits. My favorites are the ones dealing with spiritual warfare and exorcism, because that's our own turf - or should be, if we follow the admonition of the gospels.

Less appealing to me, but loads of fun in small doses, are the zombie movies, a perversion of the resurrection promise, in which the dead rise from their graves, but instead of receiving glorified bodies, remain rotting corpses. Their insatiable appetite for human flesh triggers frightful echoes of cannibalism, a direct assault on the natural instinct to preserve and perpetuate our species. I even wrote my own zombie comedy, Zombie Family Picnic.

Although zombie flicks date back to the silent movie days, George Romero's classic, low budget, black and white, 1968 film Night of the Living Dead is the touchstone. And now, Duane Brown and Kris Hipps have adapted this most influential of zombie movies into a drop dead funny spoof, playing at the historic Bug Theater in north Denver through Halloween.

A handful of the living barricade themselves inside a farmhouse after a strange radioactive atmospheric incident reanimates human corpses, only to find themselves under siege by innumerable zombies. Some try to survive, some snap under the pressure, and one of them is already infected. The acting is corny, over the top, and yet the ensemble is totally committed to the surreal reality of the situation.

What fun it is to see live theatre populated by the undead! The makeup and gore are just perfect. Interspersing black and white video segments with "live" action, Night of the Living Dead has all the suspenseful thrills and chills of the original, but also evokes uproarious laughter and cheers of delight. It's campy and nostalgic, retro and cutting edge entertainment. Go a little deeper, and you'll find interesting insights into male-female relationships, the breakdown of the nuclear family and loads of political and social satire.

Don't miss this show. Dig up a bunch of friends and shuffle on over to the Bug Theater. The stage version of Night of the Living Dead is an instant classic. It could become a perennial favorite, the Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life of the Halloween season.

Night of the Living Dead plays at the Bug Theater through November 1, 2008. Call 303-477-9984 for information and reservations.