If you look at the idea of what a classic is, and if we look at classics from other cultures, first of all, Americas a young country, so we dont have 400-year-old classics, Sneed says. We have 50-year-old classics, 75-year-old classics, and our classic theater is the musical theater, because we essentially invented that form.

Not unlike a stoner confronted with the choice between a fresh bag of crunchy, nacho-cheesy Doritos and a plate of warm, gooey, fresh-out-of-theoven chocolate chip cookies, I am completely and utterly conflicted. Its not a simple, cannabisinduced outbreak of the munchies that bemuses me though.

Speaking of Hook, his pirate ship is one of the biggest, most impressive pieces of set design I've seen from BDT in ages. It virtually fills the stage during the climactic confrontation between Hook's hearties and Pan's lost boys. Kudos to Scenic Designer Amy Campion.

It`s not often that I reach for the Bible when trying to wrap my mind around a theatrical experience. Sports metaphors? Sure. Pop culture references? Naturally. But the Bible, not so much. Yet after taking in the opening night performance of the Upstart Crow Theatre Companys Ring Round The Moon,.

All of you — okay, both of you –— avid theatre review readers will remember that my last review was of Roller Skating With My Cousin which, unsurprisingly, contained generous amounts of on-stage roller skating. Who’d of thunk that this, my very next review, would be of a play as different from the last as peanut butter is from the space shuttle and yet, through some heretofore unheard of cosmic convergence, would also feature roller skating? I mean, what are the odds? No, seriously, I have no idea. Feel free to email in with your statistical estimates.

Aziz Ansari, who turns 27 next week, will bring his stand-up act to Denver’s Comedy Works on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20. “I’m excited to come back to Comedy Works,” he says. “This set I’m doing is a new hour I’m working on to tour with later this year. It will pretty much all be material that’s not on the special and I may do one or two things if people want to hear them.” Jokingly, he adds, “I’ve also worked out a deal with Kawasaki and everyone that comes to these shows will get a free dirt bike.”

How many times have you been to the theatre during the past year? Granted, you’re reading a theatre review, so you’re probably pretty far down the right hand side of the Bell Curve, but be honest. Did you go once? Twice?

"It's getting closer all the time,” says Cheech Marin about what he calls the “quasi-legal” state of marijuana use in America. “You can walk down the street of just about any city smoking a joint, and nobody’s gonna hassle you. It’s ridiculous that it’s not legal. Sometimes our country has this puritanical element about it that just pops up like a mutant gene.”

Christmas time is again upon us. Depending on your orientation, it is a time for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, a time for jubilant gift-giving in the name of secular bonhomie or a time to get all Grinch green in the gills and decry every thought and action of anyone subscribing to either of the first two groups.

I can’t speak for any other critics, but for me the most difficult plays to review are those that rest in that nebulous in-between place, those that are formidably mediocre and thereby fail to inspire either serious praise or derision.