Denver on stage - Denver, Co's performing arts district

Sunset, Oct, 1999 by Lora J. Finnegan

From drama to dance, music to comedy, here's a guide to the city's new performing arts district

* A kind of maverick pride surfaces in Denverites when you ask them about their performing arts scene. "Everybody knows we're a major-league sports town," a local was overheard saying recently, "but now we're major league in ballet, opera, theater, and symphony." A bit of bragging? Maybe - after all, even Denver boosters admit the city doesn't quite rival, say, Los Angeles's theater scene or San Francisco's oft-noted opera. But now there's an abundance of arts choices here, with a neat blend of artistic innovation and recognition of the classics.

And surely some pride is deserved. Because while sports teams are still strong in Denver, this Queen City of the Plains is becoming - well, a prince of the performing arts. At last year's Tony Awards, Denver Center Theatre Company was crowned as the country's best regional theater. The Denver Performing Arts Complex, which has helped revitalize the downtown, is the largest such complex in the West.

Using this guide, you can plan an entire performing arts weekend around Denver's theater district (informally 14th to 17th, Market to Stout streets). Here are the cultural scene's star players, including the best arts venues, the trendy cafes, the new hotels - and for after-hours fun, hot jazz and blues clubs, as well as a little basement comedy.

STAR PLAYERS, GREAT VENUES

The district's anchor, the vast Denver Performing Arts Complex, is second only to New York's Lincoln Center in terms of seating. It holds eight theaters in all. Under the shimmering steel and glass arcade, families head for Broadway musicals at the Buell Theatre, men in tails stride to the symphony in Boettcher Concert Hall, and kids in torn jeans and cowboy boots amble toward the Space for experimental plays.

Various theaters in the complex are home to plays by the Denver Center Theatre Company. Courtly, 85-year-old Donald Seawell helped create the arts complex and founded the theater company, where he remains a driving force. "When I first came to Denver in the late 1950s, there was very little in the way of arts here. Back then, Denver prided itself on being a cow town," Seawell notes. "It's anything but, now. We have a young population and a fast-growing city. We have a very high level of sophistication in the arts here." Proof is the company's big production for next year, a 15-hour performance of Tantalus: An Epic Story of the Trojan War in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Founded in 1961, the Colorado Ballet has been lauded for its depth and maturity. "We're not your typical classical ballet company," says executive director Rita Sommers. "We do the good old warhorses, like Sleeping Beauty, but also a lot of contemporary classical ballets."

The Colorado Symphony is considered by many a living lab for symphonic innovation. "It's the only symphony orchestra in the country operated principally by the musicians," says its music director and principal conductor, Marin Alsop. "And the atmosphere is still informal, flexible, and open to innovation." Even the small Opera Colorado is beginning its 17th season in February with four performances of three operas.

How does a relatively small city like Denver support all these arts? "I like to say there are no couch potatoes in Denver," quips Alsop. "Everybody's up and running out to something."

COCKTAILS, CAFES, HOTELS

Start near the north end of the theater district, at the Oxford Hotel's art deco Cruise Room bar at 17th and Wazee streets, where you can unwind in the pink neon light with a perfectly chilled martini. Then stroll across the street to Jax Fish House for a dinner of chilled oysters or other fresh seafood.

Or if you want to get theatrical before showtime, patronize the Denver Palm, with walls covered in caricatures of athletes and entertainers, a la Sardi's, to get you in the mood. Palomino Euro Bistro prints the performing arts schedule right on the menu, so you can plan your next evening out while you dine. If you're a latecomer, or want a leisurely meal, head for the casual bistro Jou Jou in the Hotel Teatro, or the European Cafe, both so close to the performing arts complex that you can finish your dessert minutes before the curtain rises. If you have more time (and wheels) try the elegant Strings restaurant - a hangout for actors, decorated with cast-signed posters from past shows.

If you want to follow along with the play, you might pick up a script at Scene to Screen, Denver's largest theatrical bookstore. For late fun after the evening's main event, check out the laughs at the Comedy Works in Larimer square, supposedly where comedy diva Roseanne (then Barr) got her start. If you don't mind a little cigarette smoke, the sultry El Chapultepec is a must for jazz lovers, while Brendan's Pub caters to blues hounds. For the "cookies and milk" crowd, the best postplay bet is Racines Restaurant with its tantalizing desserts (chocolate brown parfait, huge apple crumb torte, a killer avalanche chocolate pie) and spotlighted theater memorabilia and photographs.