Alan Portner - Page 11

J. Kent Barnhart's Quality Hill Playhouse trots out another of his patented cabaret style revues, "Sinatra's Songwriter."  This revue celebrates Sammy Cahn, the longtime lyricist and songwriter for legendary crooner Frank Sinatra.  If the well loved music of the long Sammy Cahn-Frank Sinatra collaboration pings at your heartstrings, then this cabaret show is for you.

Musical Theater Heritage presents a super re-imagination of Andrew Lloyd Weber's 1982 'Cats.'  This show is a two magical hours that will be savored by its audiences.  Director Tim Scott has built a team of designers, actors, dancers, and musicians who would be tough to match on any stage.  'Cats' is total ensemble producing. 

This week at Starlight Theatre; 'Dirty Dancing.'  If you are a die-hard fan of the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing," the live-on-stage version of the film might be the "Time of Your Life."   For others, not so much.

Unicorn Theatre bills itself as a venue for "Bold New Plays."  Its current production, 2014s "Hir" (pronounced "Here") by the playwright Taylor Mac certainly fits in with that expressed goal.  Hir" bills itself as a dark family comedy performed as absurd reality.  It is funny in places and tragic in others.  It blows up traditional values in favor of being on the leading edge of change. 

The original Broadway production of 1975s 'A Chorus Line' ran 6,137 performances because it caught something true and sometimes sad about all those people who labor in the background of musical theater. This new iteration produced by 'Big League Productions,' a non-equity tour company, captures something of the original.

Kansas City Actors Theatre "Skylight" by British playwright David Hare features excellent performances in a top-caliber production running now through June 10th at the H&R Block City Stage inside Union Station.   "Skylight" relates a single evening in the life of three people as they relive and reexamine a complicated relationship history.

Fans of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and their Miami Sound Machine are in for a treat with the touring version of their musical 'On Your Feet!' now playing through Sunday as Starlight Theatre in Swope Park.  'On Your Feet' kicks off Starlight's 2018 summer Broadway season.

For a really, enjoyable evening, don't miss New Theatre Restaurant's musicalized version of the 1992 film comedy 'Sister Act' with a great score by Alan Menken and Glen Slater.  Here is a show with a cast that features absolutely NO WEAK SISTERS. Seldom does an audience get to sit back and simply smile.  You know what is coming and it is still fun. 

Lyric Opera's production of 'The Barber of Seville' or 'The Useless Precaution' by Rossini opened Saturday evening at the Kauffman Center in the first of four performances. As is usual for the Lyric, this 'Barber' is slyly updated from the original 1816 version first performed in Rome.

Running through April 29, is a handsomely mounted production of Irish playwright Jacki McCarrick's "Belfast Girls" presented by Fishtank Theatre at the tiny La Esquina Theater.   A cast of eight young women recalls the Earl Grey "Orphan Immigrant Scheme" which facilitated the resettlement of around 4100 young women from famine torn Ireland to the new colony of Australia between 1848 and 1851.

The Spinning Tree Theatre production of 'Once On This Island' at the Off Broadway Theatre is ninety minutes of your life worth devoting to some excellent vocal performances and some great dance. The plotline is a little involved, but the experience is so much fun you don't care.

'The Coterie Theatre' has opened a new and clever retelling of the classic 1734 English fairy tale about a boy, a giant, and a magic beanstalk. For adults, the enduring charm of 'The Coterie' is seeing a gaggle of squirmy preschoolers and primary schoolers morph into a rapt and respectful audience as soon as house lights begin to dim. The kids sit in bunches on the carpeted floor next to the stage and chatter and wrestle (sometimes restrained by concerned parents - sometimes not) waiting for the show to begin.

Zach Faust's second year community theater company opened its new show, 'Band Geeks' May 19th at the Black Box Theatre inside The Johnson County Heritage Center for a three day run.   A young cast tells the story of the forlorn, stereotypical members of a marginalized high school marching band from Ohio.  

Chicago playwright Jerry Hickey offers a first-time production of his pleasant and entertaining new play entitled 'The Mascot' at 'The Living Room Theatre' in the Crossroads near downtown KC.  

An outstanding cast opened Kansas City Repertory Theatre's new production of Steven Sondheim's 1979 'Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' at the Spencer Theater on the UMKC campus. KC Rep Artistic Director Eric Rosen does more than justice to Sondheim's incredible operatic score and the dynamic libretto by Hugh Wheeler.

The Beatles (or the next best thing existing) played KC's Kauffman Center this past weekend. The ersatz Fab Four treated a full auditorium to fifty-five memorable Beatles' melodies during their 2012 re-creation entitled 'Let It Be.'

Casts for “Theatre In The Park” 2018 five-summer productions to be performed at the Shawnee Mission Park amphitheater have been announced and are beginning their rehearsal periods. “Theatre In The Park” is the nation's largest audience capacity community theater facility.

Six-hundred-fifty hopefuls auditioned for the 49th annual five-production 'Theatre In The Park' outdoor season. The 2018 season features, 'The Little Mermaid' June 8-16, 'South Pacific' June 22-30, 'Into the Woods' July 6-14, 'The Adams Family' July 20-28, and 'High School Musical August 3-11. A combined cast of over two hundred community actors, singers, and dancers will perform plus an expanded number of volunteers, musicians, creative staff, set builders, and administrative personnel.

Sex With Strangers' by Laura Eason at K.C. Repertory Theatre's Copaken Stage downtown is not about what you think it is. Put the sex piece aside.  The 'Sex' is the romantic comedy / tragic / life lesson framework inside of which the real story is constructed.  

MTH Theatre's 'Broadway's Golden Age' is a couple of hours well spent for those of us who love classic musical theatre. A revue full of show tunes is relatively common in Kansas City, but this George Harter written retrospective has a throughput theme and a singing - dancing cast that is particularly satisfying.