Arts news: The star of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s upcoming musical is from Colorado Springs; Arvada Center announces season

Decades of efforts to reopen the historic Yates Theater in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood have taken a major step forward. On Monday, Denver’s Board of Adjustment approved a critical zoning adjustment that will allow the long-vacant space to reopen as an independent cinema at 44th Avenue and Yates Street. That’s one block east of Sheridan Boulevard, and across the street from the Crow Bar.

The cottage-style Yates Theater, which blends seamlessly into the homes and small shops that surround it, was built in 1926 and officially opened the next year as a 500-seat silent movie house where the projectionist lived in a third-floor apartment. It has sat largely vacant since the 1980s.

Macy Lao and Kyle Hagan, a Sunnyside couple who signed a 10-year lease in 2025, plan to open the Yates as a 300-seat indie cinema with an attached hipster lounge called Waystation. Before Monday’s variance, such venues were limited to 100 seats.

A major sticking point for residents has been the theater’s lack of off-street parking. Residents initially pushed back on the liquor license application because of that and potential noise issues. But, according to a Denverite report by Paolo Zialcita, “a majority of neighbors who attended the Monday meeting spoke up in support of the project.” One neighbor was quoted as saying: ”To see the creative and innovative idea they have for this has been very exciting for us.”

‘Next to Normal’ stars one of our own

It still sometimes confuses people when they see that a Broadway musical is being presented at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, and it’s not a national touring production. But the homegrown Denver Center Theatre Company has staged at least one big musical on most of its seasons dating back to the 1980s.  Last year, it was a “Little Shop of Horrors” that was as good as anything Broadway could have done.

The difference is the theater space. The homegrown company performs its musicals in the 600-seat Wolf Theatre, which is a fraction of the 2,800-seat Buell Theatre, which hosts most of the out-of-town tours. That means everyone has an uncommonly intimate experience. And that will be to everyone’s advantage who sees the DCTC’s “Next to Normal,” which runs April 3-May 3.

This Tony- and Pulitzer-winning musical tells the story of a mother who struggles with a worsening bipolar disorder over 20 years, and her family’s efforts to keep it from tearing them all apart. It’s an incredible musical. And in Denver, it will star Aléna Watters as the troubled mother, Diana Goodman.

Watters grew up in Colorado Springs, taking classes at the Bemis School before attending Widefield and Mesa RIdge high schools and matriculating to the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. She is legit one of Colorado’s brightest Broadway stars, with six shows to her credit ranging from “West Side Story” in 2009 to “Bad Cinderella” in 2023.

Speaking of, Watters came home to play both the Fairy Godmother (2023) in “Cinderella” and Princess Winnifred (2024) in “Once Upon a Mattress,” both at the Arvada Center.

Diana, however, will be the role of her life so far. And when she takes the Wolf Theatre stage, she will be doing so representing both the best of Broadway and the best of her home state. Info at 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org.

Arvada Center breaking out the Dreamcoat’

The Arvada Center has announced its 2026-27 (wow, first time typing that) theater season, and the big news is the return of its once automatic Biblical holiday hit: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

The Arvada Center’s production of “Joseph” was a holiday staple in the 1990s, ending in 2002. The company brought i back in 2009 and 2017. In the early years, the Narrator was most often played by Colorado’s Beth Malone, who is now starring in a developing musical she co-wrote with Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls. It’s called “Starstruck,” a lesbian take on “Cyrano” playing through March 23 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania.

The Arvada Center lineup includes Stephen King’s perennially popular popcorn-muncher about the writer who comes to regret taking a respite in the Colorado mountains close to his No. 1 wacko fan. And just as I get done saying no one does Neil Simon plays anymore, he’s having a resurgence that continues with the newlywed romance “Barefoot in the Park.” Completing the trifecta of sorts (bankable, established old-school playwrights?) is John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt: A Parable,” about a nun who accuses a priest of molestation, then comes to, well, doubt it.

Of late, the Arvada Center has taken to ending its season with a big-buzz musical, and its staging of “Dear Evan Hansen” will be the first by a local company now that rights to the polarizing Broadway musical are available for pick-up. The musical follows a lying outcast who turns inadvertently popular at school when everyone misinterprets the meaning of a suicide note. Subscriptions available at arvadacenter.org/subscribe. Single tickets go on sale July 6. Info at 720-898-7200.

But, first things first: The current season has not ended yet. And this whole community is frothing a bit for the Arvada Center’s upcoming first Denver staging of the beloved 9/11 redemption musical “Come From Away,” running March 27-May 10. This is the one everyone has been waiting all year for.

2026-27 at a glance:

• “Misery,” Sept. 4-Oct. 11
• “Barefoot in the Park,” Sept. 25-Nov. 1 (studio theater)
• “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,”  Nov. 20-Jan. 3, 2027
• “Doubt: A Parable,” Feb. 12-March 28, 2027 (studio theater)
• “Dear Evan Hansen,” March 26-May 9, 2027

What else is opening?

There is an abundance of new theater openings pretty much every weekend all the year round in Denver. But there are a few notable new offerings just around the corner:

• Su Teatro’s “Just Like Us” is an original adaptation of Colorado First Lady Helen Thorpe’s book about four North High School students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. All four girls have grown up in the U.S., but only two have documents. 721 Santa Fe drive. Info at 303 296-0219 or suteatro.org.

• Curious Theatre Company’s “Birthday Candles” follows Ernestine Ashworth across over 90 years of life, from age 17 to 101, as she explores love, loss and the beauty in ordinary moments –  as she bakes a yearly birthday cake. With an all-star local cast including Gabriella Cavallero, Karen Slack, Rodney Lizcano, Devon James, Brian Landis Folkins and Michael McNeil. Info at curioustheatre.org.

• In local playwright Nina Miller’s “Daughtering,” three generations of women navigate living, dying and the dead when they are called home to appease unruly spirits. March 14-21 at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St, Boulder. Info at thedairy.org.

And finally …

We have a Grammy winner coming to Boulder. On March 22, the Boulder Philharmonic welcomes Jennifer Koh for “Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto” – a piece she recently performed at Carnegie Hall with Jaime Laredo and the New York String Orchestra. Koh won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo at the 2002 Grammys for her album “Alone Together” –  39 micro-works she commissioned to support fellow composers during the pandemic. The program also includes “Copland’s Quiet City” and William Dawson’s powerful “Negro Folk Symphony.” It’s called “Barber & Dawson,” and it’s all happening at 4 p.m. March 22 at Macky Auditorium. Info at boulderphil.app.getcuebox.com

John Moore is the Denver Gazette’s Senior Arts Journalist. Email him at [email protected].