Opera House: 2016 Holiday Concert Series, 12/27-12/31

19 Dec Opera House: 2016 Holiday Concert Series, 12/27-12/31

The holiday trifecta is nearing an end with Christmas celebrations this week and New Year’s Eve next Saturday. Everything on your shopping list is checked off. Gifts are tucked under the tree. But what about that other list – your New Year’s resolutions? How about a promise to self to start off the New Year in style, say, by getting all gussied up Telluride-style and shaking your booty with your favorite partner to the gritty, soulful sounds of Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears? The group closes out Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation’s Holiday Concert Series at the Sheridan Opera House. Scroll down to hear Black Joe in action.

Founded as a 501(c) 3 non-profit in 1991, the mission of  the Sheridan Arts Foundation is to preserve the theater, which it owns and operates, provide quality music and entertainment to the Telluride community, and offer educational programs to regional and national youth.

The SAF is proud to present its 2016 Holiday Concert Series at its historic venue. The event, a gift to the community and our guests, features a variety of highly acclaimed performers and artists, including, in order starting December 27, Shawn Colvin, The Doo Wop Project, Trout Steak Revival, and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.

Revenue raised from the Holiday Concert Series is crucial to keeping the doors of the Opera House open and continuing to provide first-rate programming to the Telluride community and beyond. 

Tickets and additional event information are available here or by calling 970.728.6363 x5. (There is a $4 ticketing fee on all tickets sold at all sales outlets.)

The year was 2001. The then Telluride Repertory Theater’s winter blockbuster was a revival of the “Rocky Horror Show,” the kinky, kitschy, rock ’n roll, sci-fi goth opera, a monster hit and cult classic to this day.

The star of the local revival, Frank-N-Furter, was newish to town, having arrived in Telluride in November 2000, a kid from Kansas with a part-time teaching job at the Telluride Mountain School – and a strong educational background in musical theater.

Nathan Scherich led with his very impressive six inches – platform shoes that is – cavorting around the stage like RuPaul in fishnet stockings and a tight black corset in a performance that could be summed up simply as David Bowie meets Joan Crawford. Scherich did not look at all like the original Frank-N-Furter, Tim Curry, but he was, and is, a major talent in his own right.

After Scherich left Telluride, stars in his eyes, he headed for The Great White Way – and ultimately made it. Before returning to town with his young family – wife Allie, also an triple-threat actress, now the artistic director of the Sheridan Arts Foundation’s Young People’s Theater – Nathan was a regular in the cast of the Broadway smash “Jersey Boys.”

(Nathan’s day job now is programming and development director of Palm Arts. And while we are digressing, please don’t miss the Scherichs in Telluride Theater’s magical production of “Peter & the Starcatcher, a co-production with the Sheridan Arts Foundation. He plays Black Stache, the forerunner of Captain Hook; she is Molly Aster, mother to the future Wendy. My review here.)

On December 28, night two of the Sheridan Arts Foundation’s Holiday Concert Series, Telluride audiences will be treated once again to Nathan’s huge, pitch-perfect voice and charisma when he performs in The Doo Wop Project, street-corner singing for a whole new generation. The show features current and former stars of “Jersey Boys,” and “Motown the Musical,” accompanied by a hot band.

The Doo Wop Porject

The Doo Wop Project promises to recreate — in some cases, entirely re-imagine — some of the greatest music of American pop and rock history, showcasing the sounds of iconic performers and groups from Smokey Robinson to Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, all with pitch-perfect, unparalleled authenticity.

Tickets for The Doo-Wop Project are $35-$45 reserved seats. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; show time is 8 p.m.

(From 6:30-7:30 p.m., the SHOW bar will host the annual Holiday Patron Cocktail Party.)

The SAF’s Holiday Concert Series officially begins one day earlier on Tuesday, December 27, with a show featuring multi-Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin, a mainstay of contemporary folk music for close to three decades.

Shawn Colvin

Colvin won her first Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1989 for her freshman release “Steady On.” Since then, she has put out 11 great albums and established herself as one of America’s great acoustic performers.

Colvin was recently recognized for her career accomplishments, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award at the 2016 Americana Awards program just a few months ago.

Tickets for Shawn Colvin are $45-$55 for reserved seats. The show begins at 8 p.m.; SHOW Bar and doors open at 7 p.m.

Bluegrass up-and-comers Trout Steak Revival play a seats-out dancing show on Thursday, December 29.

Trout Steak Revival

From the beginning of Trout Steak Revival as an informal jamming unit during treks through the Front Range, this Denver-based roots quintet has evolved into one of Colorado’s most tightly-knit bluegrass bands. Their brand of heartfelt songwriting blends dynamic musicianship with intricately woven harmonies, all tied together with the unmistakable, happy sound of years of friendship.

From sweat-soaked clubs to mountain festivals, the five-piece group has shown a tenacity for quick-picking and all the right polish – without sacrificing the raw feeling of well-executed bluegrass.

Ever since winning the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, Trout Steak Revival has quickly become a quintessential Colorado band. They won an Emmy Award for a soundtrack they contributed to a Rocky Mountain PBS web documentary. They have collaborated with school children in mentoring programs in Denver and Steamboat Springs. Their music is featured on Bank of Colorado’s radio and television advertisements. Most recently, Westword named them “Denver’s Best Bluegrass Band, “and Trout Steak Revival was nominated as a Momentum Band of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Defined more by expressive songwriting and heartfelt harmonies rather than any one genre, Trout Steak Revival crosses over and blends folk, indie, bluegrass, and roots and, in doing so, evokes its own style of Americana. With each of the band members contributing unique lyrics, lead vocals, acoustic instrumentation, and harmonies, Trout Steak Revival crafts memorable tunes and delivers them to an energetic and growing fanbase.

Trout Steak Revival’s new album, Brighter Every Day, was released in March 2016. Produced by Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters, Brighter Every Day has received major radio play and garnered great acclaim all over the globe.

Tickets for Trout Steak Revival are $26 GA on the floor; $36 for reserved seats in the balcony. Show time is 8 p.m.; SHOW Bar and doors open at 7 p.m.

On December 31, ring in 2017 at the Sheridan Opera House in style with a champagne toast and balloon drop and a show featuring Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears. Paint the town red at this black-tie (Telluride-style) affair.

Joe Lewis hails from Austin, Texas, the intersection of southern soul, midwestern blues, and vagabond punk. Once compared to “Godfather of Soul” James Brown, Black Joe Lewis, a regular at Telluride Blues & Brews, favors an intoxicating brew of vintage blues, soul, and R&B. The man has won fans all over the country with his smooth crooning and killer guitar chops.

Doors for the New Year’s Eve show open at 9 p.m.; Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears start playing at 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 GA (main floor, standing); $250 for balcony seating.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the Telluride Foundation and CCAASE.