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ENLARGE
The rustic feel of the Breckenridge Theater is the pitch-perfect setting for a melodrama, and the crew at the Backstage Theatre has put together a production that's funny, charming and borderline ridiculous.
“You can go way more over the top than you can in any other kind of theater,” said actor Dustin Murphy. “It's a style that's supposed to be silly.”
The newest play at the Backstage is “The Drunkard,” a temperance melodrama set in 1859 Breckenridge that opened Thursday night. Murphy plays the titular drunk, a former temperance leader named Edward Middleton. Murphy and the rest of the cast play up the silliness to the extreme throughout “The Drunkard.” All the raging emotions and exaggerated action often cross the line into self-parody, but that's part of the charm and the source of most of the humor.
“Anything I do, I try to lose myself and jump in as much as I can,” Murphy said. “Physical comedy is kind of my forte.”
While Murphy has lots of fun as the hero stumbling on stage, he's overshadowed by a truly despicable villain. As is often the case, the evil lawyer Cribbs gets all the best lines and chews the scenery with delicious glee. He even sports those three staples of classic villainous costumes: a cane, a cape and a tophat.
“I love playing the bad guy,” said Seth Maisel, who plays Cribbs. “I usually play the nice dumb guy. You don't typically get cast as the villain when you're 5 foot 5.”
The plot revolves around Cribbs' attempts to acquire some land that comes into Middleton's hands. Cribbs decides to turn Middleton into a drunkard since booze killed Middleton's father. At the same time, Middleton falls in love with the daughter of the widow who lives on his land, and he eventually faces a tough choice between the bottle and his lady. The crew said making sure the jokes didn't eclipse the stage drama was one of the tougher parts of the production.
“For me, the challenge is to ... try to make sure the story is being told,” said director Rick Bernstein. “The funny stuff is the easy part.”
The story is mostly there to propel the characters along though. “The Drunkard” is definitely a comedy, and the humor comes flying fast in many forms. The actors have a ball hamming it up whether they're overjoyed, deeply depressed or gnashing their teeth in rage. One running gag is whenever the widow or her daughter bring up the widow's deceased husband, they both pause for a drawn out sigh of grief.
There's also some sly dialogue humor, mostly in the characters' interactions with the audience. “Death, why have you not yet taken me?” Middleton cries out in anguish in the midst of a lengthy session at the saloon. Seeing him go all out is entertaining in and of itself, but Cribbs' follow-up makes the moment priceless. “Yes, why?” he says disgustedly, complete with a sneer to the audience and glare at his nemesis. At a later point, the widow and her daughter are searching for Middleton in the city and the widow remarks, “Who knew there were so many drunks in Denver?”
What brings the package together is the piano stylings of local musician Keve Wilson. Sitting in a corner with a piano that looks as if it was lifted from a John Ford western, Wilson is an integral part of the play even if she doesn't have any lines. Subtle musical cues highlight key moments and are even part of some of the jokes. When Middleton is first introduced, he's accompanied by the theme from the “Indiana Jones” movies. Cribbs makes a grand entrance about halfway through the first act to the music of the opera “Carmen.” When Middleton has his epiphany near the play's end and delivers an eloquent speech on the virtues of sobriety, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” underscores the already-overstated drama of the moment. The music adds a final layer of charm onto the charicatures and melodrama.
“It's fun, goofy theater,” Bernstein said.
“You can go way more over the top than you can in any other kind of theater,” said actor Dustin Murphy. “It's a style that's supposed to be silly.”
The newest play at the Backstage is “The Drunkard,” a temperance melodrama set in 1859 Breckenridge that opened Thursday night. Murphy plays the titular drunk, a former temperance leader named Edward Middleton. Murphy and the rest of the cast play up the silliness to the extreme throughout “The Drunkard.” All the raging emotions and exaggerated action often cross the line into self-parody, but that's part of the charm and the source of most of the humor.
“Anything I do, I try to lose myself and jump in as much as I can,” Murphy said. “Physical comedy is kind of my forte.”
While Murphy has lots of fun as the hero stumbling on stage, he's overshadowed by a truly despicable villain. As is often the case, the evil lawyer Cribbs gets all the best lines and chews the scenery with delicious glee. He even sports those three staples of classic villainous costumes: a cane, a cape and a tophat.
“I love playing the bad guy,” said Seth Maisel, who plays Cribbs. “I usually play the nice dumb guy. You don't typically get cast as the villain when you're 5 foot 5.”
The plot revolves around Cribbs' attempts to acquire some land that comes into Middleton's hands. Cribbs decides to turn Middleton into a drunkard since booze killed Middleton's father. At the same time, Middleton falls in love with the daughter of the widow who lives on his land, and he eventually faces a tough choice between the bottle and his lady. The crew said making sure the jokes didn't eclipse the stage drama was one of the tougher parts of the production.
“For me, the challenge is to ... try to make sure the story is being told,” said director Rick Bernstein. “The funny stuff is the easy part.”
The story is mostly there to propel the characters along though. “The Drunkard” is definitely a comedy, and the humor comes flying fast in many forms. The actors have a ball hamming it up whether they're overjoyed, deeply depressed or gnashing their teeth in rage. One running gag is whenever the widow or her daughter bring up the widow's deceased husband, they both pause for a drawn out sigh of grief.
There's also some sly dialogue humor, mostly in the characters' interactions with the audience. “Death, why have you not yet taken me?” Middleton cries out in anguish in the midst of a lengthy session at the saloon. Seeing him go all out is entertaining in and of itself, but Cribbs' follow-up makes the moment priceless. “Yes, why?” he says disgustedly, complete with a sneer to the audience and glare at his nemesis. At a later point, the widow and her daughter are searching for Middleton in the city and the widow remarks, “Who knew there were so many drunks in Denver?”
What brings the package together is the piano stylings of local musician Keve Wilson. Sitting in a corner with a piano that looks as if it was lifted from a John Ford western, Wilson is an integral part of the play even if she doesn't have any lines. Subtle musical cues highlight key moments and are even part of some of the jokes. When Middleton is first introduced, he's accompanied by the theme from the “Indiana Jones” movies. Cribbs makes a grand entrance about halfway through the first act to the music of the opera “Carmen.” When Middleton has his epiphany near the play's end and delivers an eloquent speech on the virtues of sobriety, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” underscores the already-overstated drama of the moment. The music adds a final layer of charm onto the charicatures and melodrama.
“It's fun, goofy theater,” Bernstein said.
