Live Theatre Returns to the Aurora Fox Arts Center This Fall

On Friday September 18, the Aurora Fox Arts Center in Aurora, Colorado will do something it hasn't done since March 12: host an actual audience of real, live human beings.

"Tomfoolery - The Words and Music of Tom Lehrer" will be the first mainstage show at the Aurora Fox since the global Coronavirus pandemic shut the theater (And almost every other theater in Colorado) down on Friday, March 13, cutting its 35th season short and costing the company tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. The comedic music revue, adapted by Cameron Mackintosh ("Les Misérables;" "Miss Saigon") & Robin Ray, will feature a company of only four actors and one musician as part of the Aurora Fox's comprehensive safety and re-opening plan.

"Aurora Fox patrons are returning to the same wonderful shows they've come to expect, here, but some brand new ways of experiencing the theater," explains Executive Producer, Helen R. Murray.

New ticketing software automates socially distanced seating; the concessions center will be closed at least through the end of 2020; and both patrons and staff will be required to wear masks while inside the theatre. Actors are permitted to perform without masks, but only because they are tested, weekly, for COVID-19 and the production's staging keeps them a minimum of 25 feet away from the first row of audience members.

"As much as we wish we could sell every seat, our greater priority is safety," says Murray. "We will be operating at approximately one third our normal seating capacity, all season long. That does mean audiences will be smaller, so hopefully they will laugh and clap all the louder!"

"Tomfoolery" is a celebration of famed satirical songwriter, Tom Lehrer. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, the Harvard educated math nerd delighted millions of fans with his dry and cynical (but still good-humored) attacks on hot-button social issues of the day like racism, religion, pollution, the military, and even the Boy Scouts. Director, Kenny Moten, recognizes those as topics that still resonate, today.

"My concept for this show brings the biting satire of Tom Lehrer into our current times," says Moten. "His songbook explores race, gender, social responsibility, education, government and so much more. We'll dive into those topics using the pandemic as the backdrop."

But, he promises, people can still expect plenty of laughs!

Colorado favorites, Tim Howard, Corey Exline, Valerie Igoe and a brilliant, young newcomer named Mosés Brown will perform some of Lehrer's best-loved songs & schtick. Audiences can expect Lehrer classics like "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "When You are Old and Grey," "The Masochism Tango," and "The Old Dope Peddler," as well as an unforgettable Gilbert and Sullivan-esque recitation of the table of elements, all linked together with Tom Lehrer's own inimitable concert patter. Local renowned music director, Trent Hines, will pull double duty as, both, music director and the show's lone musician.

Murray hopes the theater's new safety protocols will inspire people to feel safe returning to the Aurora Fox this Fall, and that the show can provide some healing to a community grappling with so many points of pain in this day and age.

"To laugh, together, with other people can be magic. It can literally be healing," says Murray. "Studies show laughter releases endorphins; improves mood; stimulates your heart and lungs; produces natural painkillers in the body; and can even boost your immune system. There's a reason people say laughter is the best medicine!"

"Tomfoolery - The Words and Music of Tom Lehrer" opens Friday September 18 and plays four shows a week through Sunday October 11. For tickets or to learn more about the Aurora Fox Arts Center's comprehensive safety protocols and re-opening plan, visit their website at AuroraFox.org or call the box office at 303.739.1970.

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