Family fun
Stock show
Through Sunday. Ending soon. It’s the last weekend to visit the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo. Highlights of the next few days: The Draft Horse and Mule Show and the final days of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association competition. There’s lots to do outside of the arenas, too: Watch dog-agility games, sit in on a livestock auction, and go backstage with a rodeo clown. Times and ticket prices vary; general admission to the stock show grounds is $7-$12 for adults, $2-$3 for children under age 12. National Western Complex, 4655 Humboldt St.; 303-295- 1166. To buy tickets and learn more, visit nationalwestern.com or call 303-295-6124. Kathleen St. John
“Sleeping Beauty”
Saturday. Rock ‘n’ roll reboot. It won’t be hard to stay awake when the Missoula Children’s Theatre presents “Sleeping Beauty” at the D.L. Parsons Theatre in Northglenn. Starring local kids, the classic story gets a rock ‘n’ roll reboot. After a princess is born, a misplaced invitation for the party causes evil Scarella to cast the sleeping spell. When the princess wakes up 500 years later, the kingdom is rocking to a different beat. 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. D.L. Parsons Theatre at the Northglenn Recreation Center, 11801 Community Center Drive, Northglenn; 303-450-8800. Tickets: $7.50 adults, $6.50 students and seniors. northglenn.org. Kathleen St. John
Cowpoke roundup
Today-Saturday. Poetry, comedy, music. Yippee-ki-yay, Western fans: The 21st annual Colorado Cowboy Gathering is back. Tonight, Western comedy and music group Riders in the Sky kicks off the festivities. Saturday, lovers of cowboy culture congregate for daytime sessions, listening to cowboy poetry, music and visiting the chuck wagon. The gathering’s finale features cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell, above, spinning yarns about life on the trail. 7:30 tonight and Saturday. Day session: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Ranum Auditorium Theater at Ranum High School, 2401 W. 80th Ave. $32-$48 for tonight’s performance, $25-$38 for Saturday’s show. Saturday’s daytime session, $15 each. Tickets at ticketswest.com, at King Soopers locations, or call 866-464-2626. coloradocowboygathering.com. Kathleen St. John
Women’s pop history
Saturday. Denver Women’s Chorus. Take a trip through pop history with “Girls Rock the Radio,” the winter concert from the Denver Women’s Chorus. The show features Roger Emerson’s “Girls Rock” medley, a mix of Avril Lavigne, Madonna, Sheryl Crow and other pop favorites. The chorus shows off rock and soul skills, with takes on Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” and the swinging “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy.” 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. L2 Arts and Culture Center, 1477 Columbine St.; 303-321-3291. Advance tickets $20 adults; $16 students; free for kids 12 and younger. Tickets are $2 more at the door. rmarts.org or 303-325-3959. Kathleen St. John
Classical music
Opera tryouts
Friday and Saturday.Opening round. Is there a budding Renee Fleming in our midst? Find out this weekend during the first phase of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. About 35 singers will take part in the opening round of the Colorado-Wyoming district auditions, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. today and run for much of the day. The top 10-15 singers will return at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for the finals. Winners will compete in regional finals at 2 p.m. Jan. 29. At the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Performing Arts Complex; free and open to the public. 303-697-8821 or rmauditions.org. Kyle MacMillan
Visual art
“Warhol in Colorado”
Ongoing. Photography. Beginning in 2007, the Andy Warhol Foundation dispersed more than 28,000 of the celebrated artist’s Polaroid portraits and other photographs to 183 university galleries across the United States. Among the three recipients in Colorado was the University of Denver, which has mounted an exhibition centered on the gift. The show, “Warhol in Colorado,” opens this weekend and runs through March 13 in DU’s Myhren Gallery in the Shwayder Art Building, 2121 E. Asbury Ave. Free. 303-871-3716 or du.edu/art/myhrengallery.html. Kyle MacMillan
“trans-formations” art
Today. Painting. For her first solo exhibition in Denver, recent Denver transplant Melissa Furness has created a multimedia installation — a 20-foot-long wall piece depicting ruins both imagined and real. Also on view at Plus Gallery, 2501 Larimer St., will be several of her paintings, which spill off the canvas and onto the wall. The show, titled “trans-formations,” opens today with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. and continues through Feb. 25. Hours are noon to 5 Wednesdays through Saturdays. Free. 303-296-0927 or plusgallery.com. Kyle MacMillan
Stylized-portrait exhibit
Today. Painting. Denver artist Brian Comber specializes in bold, stylized portraits that blur the bounds of abstraction and realism. His most recent works go on display today with a public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at Sellars Project Space, 4383 Tennyson St. The show continues through Feb. 1. Free. 720-475-1182 or sellarsprojectspace .com. Kyle MacMillan
Randolph, T Bone walk a historic road
Robert Randolph has gone out of his way to let people know that he and the Family Band’s latest LP, “We Walk This Road,” is a celebration of African-American music.
But that goes without saying, really. Everything Robert Randolph and the Family Band has released can be classified that way. Of course Randolph, a pedal-steel legend, loves his blues, R&B and gospel.
That said, this newish T Bone Burnett- produced record has a more pointed concept than his past releases.
“We went into the original library of American music and went back into the earliest forms of recorded music,” Randolph said recently. “The slave field recordings, ‘Traveling Shoes,’ the stuff recorded in the early 1900s, ‘Dry Bones.’ We wanted to go back and listen to that stuff and see how we could fit it in my own original musical brain to see what would happen. And we came out with a lot of these different things.”
Randolph and the Family Band are hitting the road with “Traveling Shoes,” “Dry Bones” and more songs off their latest album, and they’ll swing through Denver at the Ogden Theatre on Saturday.
Q: Are you or your crew planning on skiing or riding while in Colorado?
A: Not really. Some of the guys do, but I never do any of that stuff. I broke my hand about a month ago. I fell on some ice while walking around and cracked the bone in my right hand.
Q: Is it affecting your playing?
A: It’s on one of my picking fingers. It’s healing up pretty good.
Q: Your hands are insured, I would suppose. For how much?
A: For enough money.
Q: Sounds like you had fun listening to all this old music and reinterpreting it.
A: It was really cool listening to this stuff. Over time it really just became this event record to where there was something new happening every day. Ben Harper came and brought ideas for “If I Had My Way” and other tunes.
Q: What about working with T Bone?
A: T Bone is a guy who enjoys when we all attack stuff. He got so excited, and it was like, “Man I’ve never heard anything like the way you play the guitar and the history of the church where you all come from and how it all holds together.”
Q: How did you arrive at John Lennon’s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama?”
A: We were watching the (presidential) debates and following all these different story lines with the press. We found this Lennon tune that we were listening to in the studio, and we just said, “Hey, let’s record this song. It sounds like something we’re going through today.”
Q: So you’ve been working on this record for a long time. What’s taken so long?
A: I guess that’s what happens when you’re having fun. You have all these great guys coming by the studio every week. Robbie Robertson and Bob Dylan. Everybody’s telling stories and collaborating and writing music for other things. Leon Russell and Elton John — all these different names. It was the greatest time of my life so far.
Q: Did it surprise you that your search for a producer led you to a middle-aged white guy?
A: When you look at it, T Bone is a really soulful guy. It was cool to be able to make music with a guy who doesn’t care about radio or doing things that are trendy. He said, “What’s trendy is diving in and finding your stuff and doing it and not worrying about a radio hit.” These things will last forever, and it’s been great.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
“ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND.”
Pedal steel boogie. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave. with the Constellations Saturday. 9 p.m. $25. ogdentheatre.net
Curious’ “Circle Mirror” reflects on 5 misfits in drama class
Don’t let the title cause your fingers to scratch your head, says actor Erica Sarzin-Borrillo. Curious Theatre’s “Circle Mirror Transformation,” by Annie Baker, is not a sci-fi freakout. It’s a sweet comedy about five misfits taking an adult “creative drama” class in a small New England town.
“There is no reason to be intimidated by this play,” said Sarzin-Borrillo, a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. “It’s the second most-produced play in America right now, and for good reason. It’s charming, warm, funny and poignant . . . and most important, it is deeply human and therefore quite accessible.”
Sarzin-Borrillo has been performing on local stages for nearly two decades. Just not Curious, which has become known in its 13 years for bringing audiences a wide variety of proven, local actors, rather than relying on the same closed circle of company members. Others in this incoming class of Curious newcomers include big shots Mark Rubald, Bob Buckley and Barbra Andrews.
Question: What does that commitment to the local talent pool say about Curious?
Answer: Generally, companies work within a closed circle for the simple reason that they’ve developed a common language and way of operating. It’s kind of daring to step outside a framework that has worked well. However, inherent in its vision, as the name implies, Curious is a company with a seeking spirit and curiosity for that which is new, whether it be new material or new personnel. I think they have a willingness to take risks and that suggests that all involved truly want growth. It’s quite impressive.
Q: OK, so does it give too much away to ask what the odd title means?
A: The title is taken directly from an acting exercise developed in the 1970s. “Circle Mirror Transformation” is one of many exercises the students take part in during the play, and it works as a metaphor of sorts. Exercises like these were designed to produce a sense of freedom through moving beyond the social persona so full of fear and defense. Literally, they are designed to bring one back to the kind of joy and innocence we knew as children.
Q: We called them “theater games.” What’s the silliest one you’ve ever taken part in?
A: The silliest was at a rehearsal for a show that just wasn’t working: We sang the entire show, with wildly over- the-top operatic voices. Hysterical!
Q: I’m fascinated by what the people who take classes like these are really looking for. Do they have something in common?
A: I think non-theater folks who take these classes do so for a variety of reasons, but there’s a general understanding that creativity can be life- enlightening. These folks want to expand their understanding of life and make meaningful connections with others. But perhaps most important, they’re trying to find a way to ignite their vital spirit.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION.”
Comedy. Presented by Curious Theatre, 1080 Acoma St. Written by Annie Baker. Directed by Christopher Leo. Through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. $18-$42. 303-623-0524 or curioustheatre.org
