11th Annual Central City Opera Weekend

This year marked the 11th year we have made the trek to that magical mountain dreamland that appears every summer, Brigadoon-like, from late June to early August, known as the Central City Opera Association's Summer Festival. This year we enjoyed two separate weekends with two groups of friends. 

This Chase Creek Inn Bed and Breakfast, where we make our home for a wonderful weekend every July.

Our room. Breezy and full of light.

Lobster Buffet at the Riviera.

Walking into Central City.

Waiting for the curtain to rise on "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" for our first weekend's entertainment. 

View down Eureka Street at intermission.

Après Opera has become one of our favorite activities of the weekend. After the evening opera on Saturday, members of the Summer Festival troupe and sometimes cast members from the evening's opera come to the Teller House's "Little Kingdom Room" to perform arias and show tunes, many comedic in nature. It is loads of fun and lasts until nearly midnight.

A view of the historic opera house.

The playbill for this year's performances.

 Web announcement of the festival's performances.  (Showboat was performed at the Buell Theater in Denver this year, and it was excellent.)

 Second weekend. Our traditional first night's feast at the Ameristar's Centennial Buffet.

 Karen's breakfasts at Chase Creek Inn cannot be beat.

These rocking chairs provided great relaxation for all of us throughout the weekend. It's fun to sit and watch the numerous hummingbirds and chipmunks that make their presence known. 

This year, we discovered a delightful place for a sandwich lunch, just down the street from the B&B. Check out the Blackhawk Mountain Mocha Cafe.  

Delicious dinner before the opera at Kevin Taylor's at The Face Bar. 

Best seats in the house. Down front in the balcony. Awaiting the start of "Our Town."

We always brag about the amazing stagecraft of the Central City Opera, their ability to produce appropriate props. This year's performance of "Our Town" featured austere staging.

Daytime view from the balcony.

Saddest part of the weekend, saying goodbye (until next year).

Stopping by Dostal Alley before heading home. Their pizza and sandwiches are good, but the service is rather slow.

Annie Oakley's, the only convenience store/grocery/liquor store in the city of Central, at the corner of Main Street, as you enter or leave the city.

Saying goodbye to Central City. A view back up Main Street. See you next year.

        

10th Annual Central City Opera Weekend

In the mountains above Idaho Springs, Colorado, lies a treasure called The City of Central, once known as the "richest square mile on Earth." At one time, it was the most prominent city in Colorado. Its Teller House Hotel was considered the finest such establishment west of the Mississippi.

The Opera House, built in 1872 by Welsh and Cornish miners, eventually fell into disuse as the city declined after the gold rush fever ran its course. It was reopened in 1932 and has been in continuous operation since then. This was our 10th annual visit to Central City and its jewel-box opera house. Few people realize what an incredible array of enjoyable activities take place in Central City between late June and early August year after year. Name performers, as well as a cadre of younger apprentices, come from around the country to take part in the annual festival.

This family of bears seems to be aware of something happening in Central City as they head up the Central City Parkway!

Since discovering the Chase Creek Inn Bed & Breakfast in 2004, it has become our base of operations for our visits to Central City.

Located in Blackhawk "around the corner from all the hustle and bustle of the gambling establishments," this B&B is an oasis of tranquility, with the Chase Creek gurgling alongside the house and birds chirping in the trees. Sitting on the porch, one can watch squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, hummingbirds, bumblebees, and other creatures, while enjoying gentle breezes or quiet conversation. Here we are, having just arrived on Friday night.

The proprietors of the Chase Creek Inn B&B, Hal and Karen, always make our stay feel more like visiting family and friends than staying in a hotel.

There are three rooms in the Inn. This was ours this year.

Our Friday night meal tradition is to hike down to the Ameristar Hotel and Casino in Blackhawk to enjoy their delicious buffet.

I am usually too focused on the buffet to remember to snap a photo. Here we are at the Centennial Buffet at the Ameristar Hotel and Casino.

Free parking is available in one of the public lots. Here we are walking into town from the lot.

This picture was taken to illustrate the sagging of the building that houses the Easy Street Casino. One of our regular stops is Millie's, the restaurant on the top floor of this establishment.

In the afternoon, before our first opera, we had a sort of warmup called Short Works. It consists of three scenes from three different operatic works. In our case, we were treated to two advertisements for next seasons offerings, a scene from Showboat and one from The Barber of Seville. Additionally, they presented a scene from Rigoletto. Short Works are presented in the Williams Stables, across Eureka Street from the Opera House and Teller House.

On Saturday evening, we saw Oklahoma. Technically a musical, it was a wonderful night of musical entertainment, with lively, fun-filled singing and dancing and an appealing plot. Every year, the Central City Opera House Association tries to highlight opera in English, particularly American opera and at times, a musical. We have enjoyed seeing West Side Story (2008) and A Little Night Music (2009) in years past.  The American opera Susannah (2008) has become one of our favorites.

This year's offering of Oklahoma was a triumph. The excitement starts immediately and doesn't end until the final curtain falls. If our schedule permitted, we would see it again.

This is a shot of the Victorian style seen in the historic Teller House Hotel, as we made our way to the Face Bar for further musical entertainment.

This is the Teller House's "Face Bar," named for the picture painted on the floor of the bar.

We saw The Face on the Barroom Floor, the one-act opera by Henry Mollicone, performed in the Face Bar back in 2007.

This is the room next to the Face Bar, where about ten performers (including two of the main characters from Oklahoma) came to sing arias, show tunes, and comical songs until midnight. They call it "Après Opera," and it is loads of fun. This has become a regular part of our weekend.

One of the most hilarious of the offerings was the following. Ours was performed by a male soloist, but it's funny with this group, too. Check it out.

Our second opera of the weekend was La Bohème. This is Kathy's favorite, and Puccini is definitely one of my favorite composers of opera. It was very well done, and we enjoyed it immensely. After the excitement of the night before, it was of course, much more subdued, but that was to be expected.

Along with an English opera, the Central City Opera folks also perform an "old favorite" every year. This was it, and it did not disappoint devotees.

In addition to opera, there are other fun things going on during opera season. On Saturday, there was a mock gunfight on Main Street. One of the gun fighters showed up anachronistically on his Harley!

Our midday meal on Sundays is often at Millie's, a family-style restaurant on the second floor of the Easy Street Casino.

As in former years, an incredibly good time was had by all.

2011      2010     2009     2008     2007

9th Annual Central City Opera Weekend—2011

This year we saw two of the Central City Opera's offerings, Bizet's "Carmen" and Handel's "Amadigi di Gaula."

The "Carmen" presented this year was quite different from what we had seen at the opening of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver in 2005. It was very good, very entertaining, just different, and that is one of the things that makes the Central City Opera productions so much fun. They are not afraid to do things differently, to try new things, to perform operas that are not often performed. It keeps us coming back year after year!

"Amadigi di Gaula" was different from most operas we have seen. A Baroque Opera, it focused more on the music than the story. It also made use of the countertenor voice. The lead in this opera was sung by South African countertenor, Christopher Ainslie, making his Central City and North American debut. The musical score allowed the performers to demonstrate their virtuosity on many levels. For lovers of Handel, it was a feast. From the opening chord and every note thereafter, it was unmistakably Handel.

I love this quote from the 2011 Opera Insider, "Amadigi di Gaula is a Baroque 'magic opera' based on a Renaissance story about a Medieval knight. It is also an Italian opera written by a German composer for an English audience, based on a French play, based on a Spanish book." I might add, "and performed in a mountain gambling town's nearly sesquicentenarian opera house for an American audience."

Friday night we arrived in town, and after checking into the Inn, we shared our traditional dinner at the Ameristar's Centennial Buffet (one day, I'll have to take a picture, but we're always so intent on eating that I forget). For Saturday lunch, we wandered Central City and came upon a place called Stella's, in an alley near the Teller House. Inside, it looked enchanting, but the service was not good, and we do not recommend it.

Saturday, we had our traditional dinner at the Kevin Taylor restaurant operating out of the Face Bar at the Teller House. They may lose us next year, however, as the portions had grown smaller, the prices higher, and they did not serve Truffle Fries, which is one of the items we especially liked on their menu.

Sunday, we like to stop at Millies, an old-fashioned family restaurant above the Easy Street Casino in Central City. They have a fairly extensive menu, fast, courteous service, and reasonable prices.

Cheese Fries at Millie's (in our defense, four of us shared this culinary luxury). 

And of course we stayed at our favorite B&B, the

Chase Creek Inn.

Here we are, preparing to enjoy one of Karen's marvelous breakfasts.

Yum.

A nice cup of java before breakfast.

The relaxing porch with rocking chairs is one of the many attractions of the Chase Creek Inn Bed & Breakfast that keep us coming back year after year. Hummingbirds buzz around the feeders to quietly keep us company.

I like to tell people our favorite B&B, the Chase Creek Inn, is around the corner from all the hustle and bustle of the casinos (it's behind and around the corner from Bullwhackers in Blackhawk). Here's a view off the back porch.

Another attraction of the B&B for me is Chase Creek itself. The babbling brook, the chortling creek, the gurgling stream can always be heard. As we drift off to sleep, we can hear the pleasant sound of the creek in the background.

Click on the video with speakers on to hear Chase Creek's pleasing tune. 

This weekend is a highlight of our year. This was the 9th annual weekend relaxing in the mountains of Colorado, enjoying a lovely weekend of fellowship with friends, drinking in the fresh air, walking around the quaint towns of Blackhawk and Central City, as well as the Chase Creek neighbohood, and enjoying wonderful musical entertainment at the Central City Opera House.

Former Weekends:

2010, 2009, 2008, 2007