First-look photos at 'Molly Brown' first rehearsal

/in , /by

Video: Writer Dick Scanlan talks about bringing “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” back to the surface.

The cast of The Unsinkable Molly Brown gathered for the first time in Denver on Tuesday. To see our complete gallery of first-day photos, click here.

image

First read-through (and sing-through) of ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’ at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on Aug. 5. Those pictured include actors Burke Moses and Beth Malone, director Kathleen Marshall and writer Dick Scanlan. Photo by John Moore. 

 
First-day comments: Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson

“Molly Brown was one of the most accomplished women in Colorado history, and in American history. I think she is an iconic American woman who was a role model for her day, and also for today because of the social and economic and political issues she confronted. She was obviously a very ambitious, driven, strong-willed woman. She certainly changed this state, and in some ways, the country. She was driven so much by her desire to improve the lives of working men and women, children and families.

“And she remembered where she came from, unlike other characters in this story. She was very wealthy, and J.J. Brown helped make her so. But she never forgot her roots, and she never worried perhaps as much as some people felt she should have about public opinion. I think her courage and her commitment to what she believed in makes her a role model for today. It’s a very relevant story even today in our country, and it has become maybe even more relevant with what has been going on in the world over  the past few years.

“It was really exciting to watch Dick Scanlan’s shaping of the story for a more contemporary audience. But we are not doing a docu-musical. We’re not suddenly doing the Peter Brook version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown. It’s still a musical. And there are still a lot of things from the original that are widely beloved.

“For me, this is a wonderful thing to be doing because part of our mandate is to reflect the stories of the Rocky Mountain region. And how can people find a more iconic story than Molly Brown’s?

 

Ticket information

The Unsinkable Molly Brown opens Sept.12 in the Stage Theatre and runs through Oct. 26. For tickets, call 303-893-4100 or go to www.denvercenter.org

 

Previous Molly Brown coverage on MyDenverCenter.Org: