PHAMALy
Encyclopedia
The Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League, or PHAMALY, is a theater group and touring company formed in 1989 by a group of former students of the Boettcher School in Denver, Colorado
. The students were frustrated with the lack of theatrical opportunities for people with disabilities and wanted to create a theatre company that provided those individuals with the opportunity to perform. PHAMALY performs at the Denver Performing Arts Complex
and the Aurora Fox Theatre. The company's season also includes various touring and educational shows.
The mission statement of PHAMALY is: To provide professional theatre opportunities and artistic development for performers with disabilities, and to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in the performing arts community.
The group strives to empower actors as they acquire and improve their acting skills and educate theater professionals in methods of adapting their own productions to the needs of people with disabilities.
PHAMALY has gained national recognition and has received numerous Denver Drama Critics' Circle Awards, and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. Most recently, PHAMALY's 2005 production was awarded two Ovation Awards from the Denver Post, including Best Musical and Best Director, was recognized by the Rocky Mountain News
as one of ten best productions of the year, and was named top overall show by the Boulder Daily Camera
. At the first annual Henry Awards (Denver's version of the Tonys
), PHAMALY was nominated for four awards and won one: Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Director Steve Wilson for Joseph...).
On August 29, 2006, PHAMALY was featured in a lengthy segment of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
on PBS
. This marked the company's first mainstream national publicity.
In January 2007, the company opened the first non-musical production in its history: Thornton Wilder
's classic, Our Town
, at the Aurora Fox Theatre. PHAMALY's 2009 winter production was Steel Magnolias
, performed at the Aurora Fox.
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. The students were frustrated with the lack of theatrical opportunities for people with disabilities and wanted to create a theatre company that provided those individuals with the opportunity to perform. PHAMALY performs at the Denver Performing Arts Complex
Denver Performing Arts Complex
The Denver Performing Arts Complex located in Denver, Colorado, is the second largest performing arts center in the world after New York City's Lincoln Center. The DPAC is a four-block, site containing ten performance spaces with over 10,000 seats connected by an tall glass roof...
and the Aurora Fox Theatre. The company's season also includes various touring and educational shows.
The mission statement of PHAMALY is: To provide professional theatre opportunities and artistic development for performers with disabilities, and to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in the performing arts community.
The group strives to empower actors as they acquire and improve their acting skills and educate theater professionals in methods of adapting their own productions to the needs of people with disabilities.
PHAMALY has gained national recognition and has received numerous Denver Drama Critics' Circle Awards, and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. Most recently, PHAMALY's 2005 production was awarded two Ovation Awards from the Denver Post, including Best Musical and Best Director, was recognized by the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
as one of ten best productions of the year, and was named top overall show by the Boulder Daily Camera
Daily Camera
The Camera is a daily newspaper in Boulder, Colorado. It is owned by Prairie Mountain Publishing, a division of MediaNews Group.-History:Frederick P. Johnson and Bert Bell founded the weekly Boulder Camera in 1890, and it became a daily in 1891. Ownership has changed several times...
. At the first annual Henry Awards (Denver's version of the Tonys
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
), PHAMALY was nominated for four awards and won one: Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Director Steve Wilson for Joseph...).
On August 29, 2006, PHAMALY was featured in a lengthy segment of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
PBS NewsHour is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, and Liberty Media, which owns a 65% stake in the...
on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. This marked the company's first mainstream national publicity.
In January 2007, the company opened the first non-musical production in its history: Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's classic, Our Town
Our Town
Our Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
, at the Aurora Fox Theatre. PHAMALY's 2009 winter production was Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
, performed at the Aurora Fox.
Previous productions
Previous productions have included:- Guys and Dolls (1990)
- Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
(1991) - Anything GoesAnything GoesAnything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
(1992) - Kiss Me, KateKiss Me, KateKiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
(1993) - Fiddler on the RoofFiddler on the RoofFiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
(1994) - How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingHow to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
(1995) - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ForumA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ForumA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
(1996) - Mame (1997)
- The Boyfriend (1998)
- Side ShowSide ShowSide Show is a musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who make a change from being a circus act to becoming famous stage performers in the 1930s. The show was written by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger . The show starred Alice Ripley as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy...
(1999) - Grand HotelGrand Hotel (musical)Grand Hotel is a musical with a book by Luther Davis and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, with additional lyrics and music by Maury Yeston....
(2000) - Damn YankeesDamn YankeesDamn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
(2001) - Once Upon a MattressOnce Upon a MattressOnce Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
(2002) - The Pajama GameThe Pajama GameThe Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
(2003) - Guys and Dolls (2004)
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
(2005) - The WizThe WizThe Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
(2006) - Our TownOur TownOur Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
(January 2007) - Urinetown: the Musical (July/August 2007)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
(January 2008) - Side ShowSide ShowSide Show is a musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who make a change from being a circus act to becoming famous stage performers in the 1930s. The show was written by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger . The show starred Alice Ripley as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy...
(2008) - Vox Phamalia (2008 - Present)
- Stand Up for Democracy (2008)
- Steel MagnoliasSteel MagnoliasSteel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
(2009) - Man of La ManchaMan of La ManchaMan of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
(2009) - Barefoot in the ParkBarefoot in the ParkThis article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
(2010) - Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
(2010) - The DivinersThe DivinersThe Diviners is a novel by Margaret Laurence. Published by McClelland & Stewart in 1974, it was Laurence's final novel, and is considered one of the classics of Canadian literature....
(2011) - How to Succeed In Business Without Really TryingHow to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
(2011)