Denver show at the Buell

Last Saturday night, UWP made their debut performance at the prestigious Buell Theatre in downtown Denver. (For the Minnesotans, this is comparable to performing on the mainstage at the Ordway). We had a full house- over 2,000 seats filled, and the sponsorship of the show made it possible to donate all the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. The grand total donated was $50,000.

The cast did a phenomenal job, putting together a new show in just over three weeks. Its similar to the show we traveled with last semester, but has some new songs and moments that are fun, and add to the continuity and message of the show, which is to “shine the light” on local organizations doing good in the community—like all the agencies we do volunteer work with, especially, in this case, Habitat.

One of the coolest things about performing at the Buell was being backstage. National and international touring companies have “wall rights”, to paint an artistic rendering of their show poster on a wall backstage. The cast then signs it. These painted show posters are all over the backstage hallways and wings, and include signatures of Julie Andrews (directing the Boyfriend), President Clinton (painted with the presidential seal), Bill Gates (painted on the Windows logo), and many shows like Rent, Wicked, Spamalot, & Riverdance. Because we are a touring company, we also got wall rights. One of our incredibly talented students from last semester, Yuri Yamaguchi from Japan, recreated our show poster on the wall, and we all signed it after the show Saturday night. So cool!