Alan Portner - Page 7

Need an evening that stretches your G-rated mind with a fun, supremely entertaining, ninety minute rib-tickling exercise? How about an evening free from national politics? Oddly, it is available in a show about the nation's founders and others. You will enjoy Spamilton, an American Parody literally on the stage at Starlight Theatre's reformatted Cohen Stage through Sunday November 17.

MY MOTHER IS ITALIAN, MY FATHER IS JEWISH, & I'M IN THERAPY is a long-running off Broadway comedy show that has landed in Musical Theatre's main room for a three week long run.

Dear Evan Hansen was the winner of six 2017 Tony awards including Best Musical and Best Performance by an actor. The first national tour of a Dear Evan Hansen has set up shop at the Kansas City Music Hall for a one week run.

Sensatia the Cirque Cabaret, is an incredible journey through multiple entertainment genres . The adult, ninety-minute presentation is immersive, erotic, surprising, and unlike any other experiential performance you are likely to enjoy.

a?oeRagtimea?? at Musical Theatre Heritage is more than just a great show. It has harnessed extraordinary power to move its audience and remind us of the idea that is America.

An evening at the theater does not get much better than New Theatre's “The Last Romance.” Joe DiPietro's “The Last Romance” is a rare example of a charming, tiny, four-person comedy-drama that rises to be an extraordinary production through the talent force of its actors and the care of its director.

Opening this past Friday was the Theatre In The Park, indoor, community theater production of 1966's 'Sweet Charity' The show is best known for several Cy Coleman/Dorothy Field songs that have long survived the play's original run and several revivals. The most well-known tunes are 'Big Spender,' 'If My Friends Could See Me Now,' and 'There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This.'

Opening on Friday night at The Coterie Theatre inside Crown Center is a?oeRise Up,a?? a four person, seventy five minute play written by British playwright Lisa Evans. The subject is the 1961 a?oeFreedom Ridersa?? project designed by James Farmer's CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). The premise is a group of four contemporary secondary students recount a conflict in the struggle for racial equality in the U.S. for a school age audience.

'Gross Indecency; The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde' is a fascinating, well-acted, and well-directed construct of the playwright's final years seen through the lenses of Wilde himself, his lovers, his accusers, and his defenders.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre opens its 2019-2020 season with an ambitious production of a difficult, intense, family drama by Tennessee Williams, one of the twentieth century's most renowned talents. a?oeCata?? won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1955 and is said to have been Williams' favorite.

Former Navy corpsman Bud McNamara (Gary Neal Johnson) lies sleeping in the hospital bed. Amanda Kalowsky (Jen Mays), a hospital volunteer, has agreed to comfort patients who are alone and terminal. This is the basic setup to Victor Wishna's new play, a?oeDNA,a?? now enjoying its world premiere at The Living Room Theatre. a?oeDNAa?? is a dark comedy told in four scenes with a twist in the final stanza.

Playing this weekend only at Starlight Theatre is the traveling version of the very successful a?oeCirque Dreams a?' Jungle Fantasy.a?? a?oeCirque Dreamsa?? is a family friendly, modern, circus production and was greeted with thunderous applause and warm approval from an almost full amphitheater. There can be nothing but praise for the wide menu of gymnasts, aerialists, jugglers, contortionists, and balance specialists.

This very week, eighty years ago, preview showings of the film a?oeThe Wizard of Oza?? opened on silver screens in Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Audiences were wowed. The new a?oeTheatre In The Parka?? production of Dorothy and Toto's big adventure is every bit as spectacular and fun as the 1939 filmed version.

'A Bronx Tale,' playing this week at Starlight Theatre, is one of those hidden gems of a show that enjoyed a fairly limited Broadway run. And because the Broadway run ended last fall after 700 performances (for now), a good portion of the New York cast has signed up for the touring company and are performing for Kansas City audiences. These folks obviously love this show. It shows in the performance.

Leawood Stage Company, the mainly city supported suburban, community theater program under the Leawood (KS) Park and Recreation District operates in several city controlled locations including the outdoor Ironwoods Amphitheatre. The current production, Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate," opened this past weekend and will be performed through July 20 at 8:00 p.m. nightly. Leawood City has provided everything needed to put on a great show. Tickets are free.

Meredith Willson's 'Music Man' at 'Theatre In The Park' could not be a more iconic community theater rendition of early twentieth century Iowa and Americana unless the entire forty-six member cast entered by running through a framed newsprint mock-up of Grant Wood's 'American Gothic.'   As a matter of fact, the couple from Grant Wood's painting (complete with pitchfork) show up in the opening scene.  

A superb touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classical-dance-musical opera 'Cats' from 1982 opened Tuesday evening at Starlight Theatre inside Swope Park for a week long run. 'Cats' unlike many touring shows makes maximum use of its huge venue and the stage possibilities made available through it.

Jukebox musicals have become a too dominant form both on Broadway and for its touring cousins. The music is familiar and audiences flock to relive old favorites. "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" playing this week at Starlight Theatre is one of the best of this form. It is very entertaining and works very well on KC's huge, outdoor, crown venue.

The Queen of France, an assassin, and a freed slave woman run into each other at an artist's loft in 1790s Paris. 'The Revolutionists' is a comedy about the serious subject of female subjugation through the centuries.

TTIP's Annie' is a solid, Tim Bair, community theatre production of a show that has inspired thousands of little girls to get up on a stage for the first time and belt 'The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.'