31. Denver Brass/Denver Brass5
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 832-4676
Address: 2253 Downing St.
Description: Formed in 1981, the 14-member Denver Brass is one of very few symphonic brass ensembles in the country. Concerts feature something for everyone, from splendid brass fanfares to Big Band music. Performances, including an annual Christmas concert, are held at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver and Bethany Lutheran Church, 4500 E. Hampden Avenue. Also under the same management is the Denver Brass5. Founded in 1976, The Denver Brass5 has toured the US, Europe, and South America; performed its fresh and vibrant renditions of chamber music live on National Public Radio; and recorded several albums.
32. Denver Young Artists Orchestra
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 433-2420
Address: 1245 E. Colfax Ave.
Description: The Denver Young Artists Orchestra was formed in 1977 as a means for Colorado’s talented young musicians (ages 12 to 23) to rehearse and perform under professional standards. The orchestra plays four to six concerts each year in Boettcher Concert Hall and Gates Concert Hall, including one side-by-side concert with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
33. Opera Colorado
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 778-1500
Address: 695 S. Colorado Blvd.
Description: Opera Colorado presents three grand operas each winter and spring, all performed at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver. Performances are sung in the original language. Patrons are treated to seat-back titling at every seat in the house, in one of only three opera houses nationwide, nine worldwide, that provide such an amenity. Opera Colorado also performs at special holiday concerts and summer festivals throughout the state. The Opera Colorado for Children program includes children’s opera workshops, matinee performances for students, and an in-school puppet opera.
34. Colorado Ballet
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 837-8888 (office)
Address: 1278 Lincoln St.
Description: The Colorado Ballet was established as the Colorado Concert Ballet in 1961, and has been molding dancers ever since. The resident company of 30 dancers is under the artistic direction of Gil Boggs and is the only dance company in the state to perform with a live orchestra. Its repertoire includes full-length classical and one-act ballets. Performances are held in either the Gates Concert Hall or Ellie Caulkins Opera House fall through spring.
35. Dawson/Wallace Dance Project
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 789-2030
Description: The Dawson/Wallace Dance Project is Denver’s foremost professional contemporary ballet company. In addition, it’s one of the region’s major presenters of The Nutcracker, which is performed annually at the Lakewood Cultural Center and on tour throughout the state and the country. Although they perform classical dance, the main focus of the company is original contemporary works. The performance of A Children’s Rainforest Odyssey is one of its most popular productions. The company performs in different venues throughout Metro Denver from September through May.
36. Kim Robards Dance
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 825-4847
Address: 1387 S. Santa Fe Dr.
Description: Kim Robards Dance was established in 1987 as the Colorado Repertory Dance Company and is an important center for modern dance in Colorado. Its school and administrative offices are part of the emerging Platte River Drive South Cultural District, and the company recently secured a 24,000-square-foot permanent home. The company has a dynamic collection of works that include pieces by artistic director Kim Robards. The professional touring company has performed in New York and California, among other places. Locally the company presents a winter and spring season, a statewide educational outreach program, and classes for beginners age 4 to adult and professionals at its school.
37. The Bug Theatre
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 477-9984
Address: 3654 Navajo St.
Description: The buzz is good on the Bug Theatre, a renovated movie house that’s now an avant-garde showcase for emerging artists and their artwork, including poetry, music, film, and new media. Check out Freak Train, the open-mike talent show that takes place the last Monday night of each month. Performers ranging from amateur to seasoned pros do pretty much whatever they want—for 5 minutes. Wild, uncensored, unpredictable, and occasionally off-key, the evening is anything but dull.
38. Festival Playhouse
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 422-4090
Address: 5665 Old Wadsworth Blvd.
Description: There’s plenty of history behind the Festival Playhouse. The Denver Players Guild, formed in 1936, stages eight plays a year—primarily Broadway comedies—in this converted Grange building in Olde Town Arvada. The Players Guild believes it is the oldest community theater group in the country under the same family management, and the playhouse is even older. Built in 1874, it’s the second-oldest standing Grange hall in Colorado and the oldest building in the city of Arvada.
39. Germinal Stage Denver
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 455-7108
Address: 2450 W. 44th Ave.
Description: Germinal Stage Denver was founded by four Denver actors in 1973, making it one of the longest-living small theaters in the region. Performances are held in an air-conditioned, 100-seat converted storefront, 5 blocks east of Federal Boulevard. The repertoire includes traditional works such as Tennessee Williams’s The Eccentricities of a Nightingale to more arcane and experimental plays. The Germinal has an excellent reputation for producing quality theater.
40. The Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 575-0005
Description: PHAMALY was formed in 1989, when a group of Boettcher School alumni decided to organize a theater company for people living with disabilities. This group stages several plays each year, and a touring show that takes actors to businesses, senior centers, festivals, and schools. Performances are always wheelchair-accessible, and arrangements are made to provide assistance to hearing-impaired and visually impaired audience members. Recent performances include Little Shop of Horrors, Steel Magnolias, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
41. Su Teatro at Denver Civic Theatre
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 296-0219 (box office)
Address: 721 Santa Fe Dr.
Description: Su Teatro was formed in 1971 by the students at the University of Colorado Denver as a forum for those interested in the Chicano civil rights movement. It has grown into a multidisciplinary cultural arts center that sponsors concerts, drama, performance art, dance, festivals, film, poetry festivals, workshops, and art exhibitions. Theater performances emphasize original works by Chicano and Latino playwrights, including Rudolfo Anaya’s classic, Bless Me, Ultima. The company has created more than 15 original productions that have toured widely around the country. The Denver Civic Theatre is the new home of Su Teatro.
42. The Bluebird Theater
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 377-1666
Address: 3317 E. Colfax Ave.
Description: The Bluebird Theater is one of three historic venues clustered along East Colfax that welcome music fans of all ilks to Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Built in 1914 as a movie theater and originally used to show silent films, the Bluebird fell upon hard times and closed in the late 1980s. The restored theater reopened in fall 1994 as a performance hall for musicians of all kinds. Expect to see names such as Candlebox and Bonnie Prince Billy on the marquee.
43. Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 220-7000
Address: 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd.
Description: Originally named Fiddler’s Green, this huge open-air amphitheater rocks during summer months. It holds 18,000 fans, which means only the performers who can draw a crowd are booked into this south Metro venue. Reserved seats are available, but you can also buy cheaper general admission tickets for the lawn area. In previous years, Fiddler’s Green has hosted Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Tim McGraw, Nine Inch Nails, Toby Keith, Nickleback, and Bette Midler.
44. Fillmore Auditorium
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 837-1482
Address: 1510 Clarkson St.
Description: This Capitol Hill landmark opened in 1907 as a skating rink but gradually fell into disrepair. It had a short but brilliant life at a concert hall called Mammoth Gardens in the late 1960s and early 1970s, hosting The Doors, The Who, and The Grateful Dead before closing its doors. New owners reopened it in 1999 and named it for Bill Graham’s Fillmore Ballroom in San Francisco, which provided the original inspiration. It now holds 3,600 people (it seats a whole lot less than that), and has become one of Denver’s premier venues for groups such as KORN, Thievery Corporation, and Sound Tribe Sector 9.
45. The Ogden Theatre
City: Denver, CO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (303) 832-1874
Address: 935 E. Colfax St.
Description: A vaudeville-era theater that later became a movie house, the Ogden’s newest incarnation is as a concert hall presenting a wide variety of local and national acts. It’s located in the heart of Capitol Hill, along with the Bluebird Theater and the Fillmore. Some recent headliners included Brian Jonestown Massacre, Railroad Earth, and Lily Allen with Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.