Culture

IMGP1119 "Opus." The word is Latin for work, but it was no work at all. The experience was, top to bottom, a pleasure.

Yesterday, Telluride Inside... and Out headed to the Curious Theatre Company for a Sunday matinee of Michael Hollinger's "Opus," a play about drugs (medicinal), sex (past and future and only insinuated), and chamber music, along with our friend and regular Denver writer, Tracy Shaffer. (Tracy, also a member of the Denver Center company and regular in the Denver theatre scene, just completed a run as Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate.")

Aliceinwonderland_smallcharacter Telluride's Nugget Theatre will show "Alice in Wonderland" for the week of Friday, April 9 - Thursday, April 15. Showtimes are 7:30 pm nightly. The movie is rated PG.

"Alice" may never really have been a children's tale, and this Tim Burton version is decidedly dark, hence the PG rating. Mia Wasikowska has been praised for her Alice and the versatile Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter. All the familiar Lewis Carroll characters are here, but Alice has been reimagined as a 19 year old, and that has implications. Should be intereting.

See the Nugget website for trailers and reviews.





STREET DANCE 10 The things these two Telluride bands share are really big ones. I am talking about amps.

The cross-dressing Ralph Dinosaur and his Fabulous Volcanoes headline Telluride KOTO radio's end-of-season FREE street dance/costume contest, tomorrow, Friday, April 2, 3 – 8 p.m.

"There is nothing in the world like a Telluride party," said KOTO's special event queen jumpin' jan (zink), quoting  Ralph from his original "Telluride Stomp."

And now for something completely different. This year, at this party, for the very first time, Telluride's favorite dragster shares the stage with a sizzling hot opening act, performers who might be coaxed into dresses for high school reunions, weddings, and funerals: the town's favorite all-women rock 'n roll band, The 525s.
[To hear Adrienne Lent's conversation with Susan click "Play"]

Telluride's First Thursday Art Walk is a blast.

_MG_4657 The first Thursday of every month – April Fool's Day is the last of the winter season – the Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities organizes a walkabout to showcase the town's fine art scene. Art venues and retail shops stay open late until 8 p.m.

A relatively new must-visit in the line of march, is Amy Boebel's Sapsucker Studios, 299 South Spruce.

In case you were wondering, Sapsuckers Studios got its name from a dead bird owner/artist Amy Boebel found stiffening outside the door of her studio space before she turned it into a gallery.

[click "Play" for an uplifting message from Bunzy Bunworth]

IMG_2273 Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House...


On April Fool's Day, 7:30 p.m., watch sacred cows getting pounded into Whoppers, when the town's favorite actor, Jeb Berrier, along with friends – Buff Hooper, Doug Jones, Jen Julia, Leo McNamara and Bunzy Bunworth (yes, Bunzy, back in town from Down Under) – get together to perform  "Nothing is Sacred II: The Resurrection." The show is billed as a raucous blend of original sketches and live music by Sorbitol: broader than Broadway, more wild(e) than Oscar. Expect an evening that goes straight to The Dogs.

(editor's note: The Melodians were originally scheduled to perform at the Opera House on January 2, 2010. That concert was canceled because of weather. Lucky us: The Melodians will now play Telluride Wednesday, March 31, 8:00 pm)It's strictly ballroom at Telluride's historic Sheridan...

[click "Play", Sasha tells us why to support the Squids]

No joke. But lots of fun.


AprilFoolsPoster Remember Jerry Lewis? In an over-the-top, no-holds-barred attempt to win the Telluride Foundation's Text-to-Give contest by a landslide, Telluride's SquidShow Theatre troupe hosts a "Squidstravanganza,"  a variety show/telethon modeled on the meastro's kitschey fundraising marathons.

Highlights of the evening include "Best of the "Squids": song, dance, burlesque, comedy. The event, hosted by Squid founder Sasha Cuciniello and partner in crime Colin Sullivan (who moonlights as the Ah Haa School for the Arts curriculum development director), takes place April Fool's Day, 9:30 p.m., at Telluride's The Llama (corner of Colorado & Pine).

Mrs R 6
Tracy Shaffer as Mrs. Robinson

by Tracy Shaffer

After a prolonged "heartbreak hiatus," I really felt no need to step back onto the stage. The slow slide of a dramatic divorce, sudden shock of single motherhood, and a stairway fall that took my brother’s life were enough to send me to my room. Though life in general was good, I was not ready to step that far out on a ledge, so to speak, and act again.

Long before the sideways years, I’d fallen out of love… or so I thought: 25 years in the spotlight had left its mark. I was tired of having to be given "permission" by the casting process in order to create. I loved the times when I was "first" but exhausted by the times being "second." “Lift yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again” sounded like heavy lifting where acting was concerned. I chose instead to let this deeply defining part of me go.

Tom White The prodigal son returns in triumph to Telluride.

The Telluride Council for Arts and Humanities and The Chamber Music Festival are proud to present pianist Tom White, performing live at the Michael D. Palm Theater Sunday, March 28, 4:30 p.m.

Former Telluride local, Tom has spent the past two years completing a masters degree in piano performance at the University of Northern Colorado. He is excited to return to his former stomping ground to perform some of his favorite piano music. The program includes works by Brahms, Debussy, Scarlatti, and Beethoven.