
NEWS &
REVIEWS

Theatre Barn Will Live Stream Excerpts From New Mommie Dearest Musical
03.31.2020
MARK PEIKERT - Playbill
After a memoir, a film, and a solo show, Christina Crawford now brings her story to the musical stage. With a book by Crawford based on her 1978 memoir, and a score by Crawford and David Nehls (The Great American Trailer Park Musical), the Mommie Dearest musical will get a sneak peek April 7 when New York Theatre Barn live streams two of its songs on YouTube with stars Tina Scariano (Christina) and Charlie Levy (Christopher).
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"Mommie Dearest The Musical" Excerpts
04.07.2020
'Xanadu' Hits Denver Stage
01.22.2019
Gregg Moody​
CBS4 Denver
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PASSING STRANGE
at The Aurora For Arts Center
April 2018
Music Director David Nehls creates a new arrangement of the National Anthem, and his singers ‘melt some faces’
March 4, 2019/in Cabaret /by John Moore, Senior Arts Journalist
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Music Director, composer, conductor and lyricist David Nehls didn’t play sports growing up. So when he was asked to create a new arrangement of the National Anthem to be performed at recent sold-out Denver Broncos and Denver Nugget games, he says with a laugh, “This is what finally put me over the top with my family.”
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Your First Look at Denver Center's 'Xanadu'
11.06.2018
Denver Center of Performing Arts​
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This is a musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, with an original score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar.The director is Joel Ferrell, who most recently choreographed the DCPA Theatre Company’s DeVotchKa-infused Sweeney Todd and directed Off-Center’s 'Drag-On.' His cast includes Denver Center favorites Lauren Shealy, Sheryl McCallum, Sarah Rex, Marco Robinson and Aaron Vega. 'Xanadu' performs in the Garner Galleria Theatre through April 28, 2019.
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ONCE @ Miner's Ally
08.26.2019
Ray Bailey​
'Wild Party' Planners
12.7.2017
By Lisa Kennedy
American Theatre
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"Musical director David Nehls—who has a home at the local Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities—came onboard when Off-Center was planning Rocky Horror. In another life, he had originated the role of Riff Raff for the show’s European tour. “Honestly, I was told on a conference call with Amanda and Charlie that we’d be doing The Wild Party and, no lie, I was going to quit,” Nehls admitted. “‘The Wild Party—we’re going to do that?’ It was a bear. I almost ran screaming. I didn’t, and I’m glad I didn’t.”
Still, it was a steep hill to climb. “This particular musical has a reputation as being one of the most difficult musical scores written for commercial theatre,” Nehls said. “So I was thinking, How are we going to take this very dense orchestration, very dense choral writing and put it into this immersive situation?”
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'The Wild Party' Takes Us Back To The Roaring 20's (REVIEW)
10.24.2017
CBS4Denver
Greg Moody
Historic Elitch Gardens Theater Has Come Back To Life
CBS4 DENVER 8.23.2015
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“The first live performances in this theater since 1991,” David Nehls with the Historic Elitch Gardens Theater Foundation said.
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Nehls says the Shakespeare-inspired building was abandoned in 1991 after spending nearly a century employing some of show business’ best and brightest.
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Your first look at Off-Center's
"The Wild Party"
10.18.2017
Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson
Music Director - David Nehls
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Video by DCPA Video Producer David Lenk
Tickets and Information: wildpartydenver.com
Elitch Theatre Announces Summer Film Series
KUSA-TV - 4pm News
May 2013
Elitch Theatre celebrates 125 years with gala event
By Joe Vaccarelli
Denver Post AUGUST ​19, 2015
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"This summer, 125 years after Elitch Theatre opened, there’s a chance that future generations of actors will get the start that Hollywood legends such as Grace Kelly, Vincent Price and Douglas.."
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FULL ARTICLE - DENVERPOST.COM
After 24 years, live performances return to Historic Elitch Theatre
JOANNE OSTROW
The Denver Post August 18, 2015
This week, it will once again host live performances. After a multi-phase, years- long renovation, the theatre re-emerges as a Denver cultural landmark open to the public with the New Works Festival, Thursday through Saturday. “You'll still see paint peeling,” said David Nehls, vice president of the board.
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FULL ARTICLE - DENVERPOST.COM
Ragtime History with David Nehls
City of Arvada, CO
8.25.2011
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The Arvada Center opens it's 2011-2012 theater season with "Ragtime". We talked to music director David Nehls about the history and music of that era. See "Ragtime" at The Arvada Center
September 13 - October 2, 2011.
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Kirk Montgomery Tours Elitch Theatre
Live With David Nehls
2012
KUSA - 4pm News
Breach
Avenue Theater, Denver, CO 2011
Meet David Nehls, Musical Director of Schoolhouse Rock
CITY OF ARVADA MARCH 4, 2010
"Good Time Gone Bad" by David Nehls
performed by Kevin Cahoon & Ghetto Cowboy
Joe's Pub - October 15, 2006
Souvenir 2006: David Nehls & Alex Ryer
The Arvada Center

The Great AmericanTrailer Park Musical's award winning Gypsy Of The Year performance
Neil Simon Theatre, December, 2005
Cathy Trien, Marya Grandy, Tony Holds, Traci Jai Edwards, Leslie Kritzer
Band- David Matos, Paul Ranieri, Chris Jago
Pringles, Double-Wides and Wal-Mart Gags in Bulk
Charles Isherwood
The New York Times September 28, 2005
"Mr. Nehls's music is more appealing if not markedly original, a blend of pop idioms ranging from country balladry to R&B to rockabilly. In one of the show's splashier numbers, a homage to the Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men" (that's fancy talk for rip-off), virtually the whole cast gets to make like bad drag queens and twirl around in garish wigs and shiny swirls of synthetic fabric."
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Great American Trailer Park Musical
Off Broadway - New World Stages, NY
Betsy Kelso, David Nehls
September 22, 2005 - December 4, 2005
THEATER IN REVIEW; 'The Great American Trailer Park Musical'
CAMILLE SWEENEY
The New York Times OCT. 1, 2004
"...With music and lyrics by David Nehls, and book by the comedy writer and performer Betsy Kelso, this heartfelt, humorous look at trailer park life is surely destined for bigger things. Every song is full of surprises, as the music slips across the dial of American radio from country to blues to rock to disco to bump and grind and R&B..."
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