Steve Wilson - Page 13

Hello Dolly is currently playing at the Leawood Stage Company located at the Amphitheater at Ironwoods Park in Leawood, Kan. The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder is the basis for the 1964 production that won a record 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Jerry Herman wrote the music and lyrics for Hello Dolly and Michael Stewart wrote the book. Chris McCoy directs and choreographs the Leawood production.

The Kings of Israel an original play by Schaeffer Nelson is playing at the Phosphor Studio in Kansas City. Phil Kinen directed the production in conjunction with the KC Fringe Festival. The festival brings performing arts, visual arts, and dance together for 11 days, giving local artists, performers, and writers an uncensored presentation of their work.

Bad Auditions, conceived and curated by Kevin King and produced by Whim Productions is playing at the Fishtank Performance Studio in Kansas City. The Kansas City Fringe Festival is bringing over 100 performances to the Kansas City area through July 27. Fortunately, for Kansas City the uproarious Bad Auditions is one of those performances.

(Virgin), written by Jesse Ray Metcalf, appears at the Just Off Broadway Theatre in Kansas City for the KC Fringe Festival. Directed by Metcalf and J. Will Fritz the play is a dark comedy centering on a chastity belt, sex, drugs, and a catholic schoolgirl.

Girl on Girl, 3 Quickies in One Hour, opened Saturday July 19 at the Just Off Broadway Theatre in Kansas City. The play is part of the Kansas City Fringe Festival, which runs through July 27. Andre Du Broc directs Girl on Girl a Playing Field Production. The show is a compilation of three short plays by three playwrights. Each segment calls on the magnificent talents of actors Shawna Pena-Downing, Davis DeRock, Aishah Harvey, Brianna Marxen-McCollom, and Petey McGee.

Noises Off, the hilarious farce on theater by Michael Frayn, opened Friday night July 18 at the Barn Players in Mission, Kan. Frayn wrote the 1982 play after watching from the wings of a play he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind."

The KC Fringe Festival comes to Kansas City for eleven days beginning today, July 17 and running through July 27. The festival combines theater, fashion, visual arts, burlesque, dance, music, and film to give the artist an opportunity to produce their work regardless of content. The Fringe Festival utilizes numerous venues to bring the fresh original works to the Kansas City audience.

One of the best musical comedies to reach a Kansas City stage this season opened on Saturday July 12 at the White Theatre. Steven Eubank directs Monty Python's Spamalot, with book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, and music direction by Pam Williamson. Eubank appears to be a comedic genius in his direction of campy stage plays. Working with an extremely talented cast, he puts together a hilarious production reminiscent of one of the funniest movies of all times, Airplane!.

The Fringe Festival comes to Kansas City for eleven days beginning on July 17 and running through July 27. The festival combines theater, fashion, visual arts, burlesque, dance, music, and film to give the artist an opportunity to produce their work regardless of content. The Fringe Festival utilizes numerous venues to bring the fresh original works to the Kansas City audience.

The hilarious production of Legally Dead opened Thursday June 26 at The Mystery Train, Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. Legally Dead written and directed by Wendy Thompson opened on June 27 and runs through August 16. The Mystery Train utilizes the Golden Ox in Kansas City, Mo. and Californos in Westport for the performances.

The world premiere of the Theatre for Young Audiences version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened Friday June 20 at The Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. Ian Fleming the creator of the legendary James Bond spy novels wrote the novel that Roald Dahl adapted. Dahl's adaption became the hit musical MGM motion picture.

The Barn Players Kids presented Disney's Cinderella Kids at the Barn Players Theater located in Mission, Kan. June 17 through June 19. Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston wrote the music and lyrics and Marcy Heisler adapted the book and wrote additional lyrics. Based on a screenplay by Ken Anderson and Homer Brightman, Diane Bulan directed and choreographed the Barn Players Kids production.

Kansas City audiences are fortunate to be highly entertained with a Vegas style show, including magicians, entertainers suspended above the stage, a Liberace impersonator, and the phenomenal Heartland Men's Chorus as they present Vegas Baby at the Folly Theater in Kansas City. Anthony T. Edwards appears as the guest conductor of the Kansas City premiere gay men's chorus. Edwards is the Resident Music Director for Starlight Theatre, The Coterie, and The Unicorn Theatre.

The world premiere Master of the Universe opened Friday night June 13 at the Living Room Theatre in Kansas City. The science fiction retelling of Georg Buchner's Woyzeck was written and directed by Kyle Hatley. Sean Hogge scored and supervised the music and the epilogue was written by Charles Fugate and edited by Hatley.

Rhapsody in Gershwin currently plays at the Quality Hill Playhouse in Kansas City, Mo. The musical tribute to George and Ira Gershwin runs through July 6. The Gershwin brothers wrote songs for Broadway, jazz clubs, films, and concert halls in the 1920s and 1930s. The production is part of the Quality Hill Do It Again, The Best of Quality Hill Playhouse series.

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark opened on Saturday night June 7 at the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. The play written by Lynn Nottage takes place in 1930's Hollywood, where Vera Stark is a black housekeeper for a Hollywood starlet. Directed by Missy Koonce, Vera Stark lands a part in a movie starring her white boss Gloria Mitchell. What happens in the next two acts are the hilarious relationships of Stark, Mitchell, and the other characters in the cast over a 75-year journey.

Roger and Hammerstein's The King and I opens on Saturday June 7 at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre in Kansas City. Karen Paisley directs the musical, and stars as Anna Leonowens. Tim Braselton provides musical direction and the choreography's designed by Matthew King. The King and I is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, which is derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who was governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the 1860s.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opens at The Coterie Theatre in Crown Center on June 20, with preview nights on June 17, 18, and 19. The musical based on the MGM motion picture featuring The Sherman Brothers original music from the film receives its Theatre for Young Audiences World Premiere as part of The Coterie's Lab for New Family Musicals.

The comedy about Hollywood stereotypes, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark comes to the Unicorn Theatre tonight, June 4, with opening night on June 7. Missy Koonce directs the Unicorn production written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage. Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009 for her play Ruined. At the time, she wrote Ruined she was working on a second project, which ended up being By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.