Opening Night for the Actors of a New Company
Opening night to an actor is different from any other performance of the season. Facing a capacity audience for the first time, with drama critics in place to notice every move and hear every word, the anticipation of the performer is immeasurable.’
Opening night at the theater is always a time of tenseness, high-strung emotions, anxiety, eager anticipation and swift responses.
Kenneth MacKenna and Irene Purcell, leads in the 1936 company, are seasoned troupers, but they felt the electric forces that hover in the wings as the footlights flash on and the curtain starts upward.
The Eiitch Gardens Theatre is a playhouse of national reputation. It is big-time – as famous in the summertime amusement world as are the time-honored theaters of New York’s winter Broadway. The whole nation knows it. The impressions scored by a new company there on opening night make theatrical news from coast to coast, and every member of the cast knows it.
That knowledge keys them all to a performance backed by their best efforts – and Denver’s first night audience knows and appreciates that.
[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9744331-4-1. OCLC 823177622. p. 185]
Kenneth MacKenna returned for the second successive season as the leading man. Barbara Robbins was the leading lady. A note in the Elitch program states, “Kenneth MacKenna, Barbara Robbins and others of the company hurry up Lookout Mountain practically every evening after the show … They never tire of the view of Denver as seen from Wildcat point”
[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9744331-4-1. OCLC 823177622. p. 187]
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1929
- 1936
- 1937
Productions/Roles:
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
Elitch Theatre Connections:
Wikipedia Link:
