Arts news of the week includes Josh Blue; a new musical written by a Coloradan and an Indigo Girl; and: Why Nirvanna is spelled just right.

The Miners Alley Performing Arts Center is expanding its scope and commitment to community next week by launching the first Comfort and Comedy Festival, billed as a two-week celebration of comedy, theater, music, magic and interactive performance. It will be staged from Feb. 23 through March 8 across multiple venues in downtown Golden.

The biggest, boldest name on the lineup is self-deprecating Denver comedian Josh Blue, who performs at 7:30 p.m. March 3 at Gnarly’s, 1224 Washington Ave. Blue, winner of the 2006 season of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” famously quips that he puts the ‘cerebral’ in ‘cerebral palsy.”

The inaugural festival will offer about 20 events ranging from stand-up to Broadway performers to family programming, late-night shows and hands-on classes.

MAP boss Len Matheo calls the festival “a shared community experience” that he hopes will grow into an annual event that supports downtown Golden during the quietest part of the tourism season.

“Comedy brings people together in a way few things can,” he said. This festival “invites people to gather and laugh and connect through stories that feel both entertaining and deeply human.”

Other big names:

• Feb. 23: Broadway’s Next Hit Musical (an improv troupe that turns audience suggestions into a fully improvised musical in real time). At MAP, 1100 Miners Alley

• Feb. 25: The Chalks (a trio of Broadway performers offering smart (and smart-alecky) comedy and original music). At the Buffalo Rose, 1119 Washington Ave.

• Feb. 28: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show Experience” (with a live shadow cast performing alongside the iconic film). 10 p.m. at Gnarly’s.

• March 2: Buckets N’ Boards (a family friendly music-and-comedy duo that combines the percussive physicality of “Stomp” and the sketch-driven energy of “Saturday Night Live”). At the Buffalo Rose.

• March 3: Peter Juris (close-up, interactive magic). 3-5 p.m. pop-up performance at Washington Avenue and 12th Street, then again from 6-8 p.m. in the Golden Mill, 1012 Ford St. (Also: a separate hypnotism show at 8:30 p.m. March 4 at MAP).

• March 5: “King Penny Radio Show” (improvised live, Golden Age radio-style broadcast using audience suggestions). 7 p.m. at Gnarly’s.

Throughout the festival, MAP’s ongoing live theater comedies, “The Female Odd Couple” and  “My Mother and the Michigan/Ohio War,” will continue at 1100 Miners Alley.

Tickets range from $5 to $55, with a 20% discount if you buy at least three events. Complete lineup and more info at minersalley.com.

‘Starstruck’ strikes

“Starstruck,” a new musical comedy with a book co-written by Colorado’s Tony Award nominee Beth Malone with Mary Ann Stratton – and music and lyrics by Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls – is ready for its closeup. It premieres at the Bucks County Playhouse from Feb. 19-March 21 in New Hope, Pa., with Malone starring alongside Krysta Rodriguez.

Briefly …

Holy cow! Five-time Grammy winner and Kennedy Center Honoree Renée Fleming will appear at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival alongside Bela Fleck for “The Fiddle and the Drum” an all-new collaboration between the legendary soprano and banjo luminary. “We thought we knew all the tricks up Bela’s sleeve by now, but here he comes with a new collaboration to blow our socks off in such a deep and beautiful way that you’d never expect it,” said Planet Bluegrass’s Craig Ferguson. Just this week, we were taking you back to 2005 and the night Fleming headlined the opening gala for the Ellie Caulkins Opera House …

CU theater professor and prominent local actor Tammy Meneghini will perform her developing play “Elizabeth I,” written with Carole Levin, at three churches in Boulder and Denver Friday through Sunday with live music performed by the Ars Nova Singers. The monologue explores the shrewd, virginal monarch as she nears the end of her life. Info at arsnovasingers.org …

The Denver Art Museum will present two exhibitions at the Kirkland Museum in 2026:  “Round the Clock: 24 Hours of Colorado in Prints,” and “Space Is the Place: Art & Design in the Atomic Age,” both opening March 1 …

Opera Colorado’s 2026-27 season will include Verdi’s “Macbeth,” “The Snowy Day” (a one-hour opera inspired by Ezra Jack Keats’ book) and Mozart’s witty “The School for Lovers.” Info at operacolorado.org.

Just sayin’

My new favorite sleeper film of the year is the wonderfully titled “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” and no matter how many times my editor changes my typing, it is spelled Nirvanna, which becomes clear enough when you see the film (now playing at the Sie FilmCenter). This sweet Canadian homage to “Back to the Future” has all the buzz, and for good reason.

The premise: “When their plan to book a show at a local club goes horribly wrong, Matt (Johnson) and Jay (McCarrol) accidentally travel back to the year 2008.” As you do. It’s a wildly hilarious film, and its 100% fresh audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes backs that up. Slate calls it “a roof-shaking blast.”

You are welcome.