Steve Wilson - Page 9

Like a group of Jehovah's Witnesses on steroids, The Book of Mormon is currently playing at the Music Hall in Kansas City. The Broadway Across America satire musical with book, lyrics, and music by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone runs through March 8. The creators of South Park, Stone, and Parker with Lopez's music have created a musical religious comedy that makes Monty Python, Benny Hill, and Saturday Night Live look like dramatic pieces.

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) continues at the Olathe Civic Theatre Association through March 1 at the theater located in Olathe, Kansas. Written by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell the musical is a parody of five musical theater composers, all dealing with the same plot, 'I can't pay the rent!'

A world premiere comedy with an all-woman cast, Women Playing Hamlet, opens March 4 on the Jerome Stage at the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. March 4, 5 and 6 are preview nights with opening night on Saturday March 7. The production is the second Rolling World Premiere for the National New Play Network for Women Playing Hamlet's author William Missouri Downs.

Spinning Tree Theatre in Kansas City announced their 2015-2016 season schedule, which includes two plays and two musicals. The season will premiere Spinning Trees first dance musical. Venues and dates for the 2015-2016 season are to be announced later. The production company is currently searching for a permanent home, after four years of renting venues in the Kansas City area.

The first offering for 2015 of Musical Monday and Tuesday opened Monday night February 16 at the Musical Theater Heritage in Crown Center. Musical Monday has always been an audience favorite and for 2015, Musical Theater Heritage added Tuesdays to the performance schedule. Hosted by Tim Scott the production featured songs from the Broadway musical Big River, bluegrass, and country. The production was like a big river out of its banks flooding the theater with fantastic vocals by some of the best vocalist in Kansas City.

From Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill made its journey to the Kansas City theater scene with the opening Saturday night February 14 at the White Theatre located at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park. The White Theatre celebrates two first on their stage with Paul Hough directing the debut of From Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill and the first time the musical appeared at the theater. Hough directed the play in Los Angeles in 1985, winning the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Production and Direction. Hough was Director of Production for the American Heartland Theatre from 1996 until it closed its doors in 2013.

A Night on the Town quickly turned into a fabulous night on the town as Kansas City crooner Molly Hammer took the stage. Tim Scott directed the new series from Musical Theatre Heritage, which is sold-out through the end of the production. A Night on the Town named to honor the "A Night on the Town" nationally syndicated radio series, with Executive Director George Harter that he founded in 1998 premiered Thursday night, February 12 at the Musical Theatre Heritage Theatre in Crown Center.

The train whistle blows signaling the opening night of The Art of Murder presented by The Mystery Train, Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre. Wendy Thompson directs Philip blue owl Hooser's play, set on a train headed for Kansas City in 1975. Hooser has written The Legend of the Spooky Switchman, Mighty Muddy Murder, and Baldknobbers and Backstabbers all produced by The Mystery Train.

Eurydice, the story of love lost, found, and lost again currently plays at the Living Room Theatre in Kansas City, MO. Written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Natalie Liccardello it is the retelling from Greek mythology of Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus and her travels into the Underworld following an early death. There she finds her father and faces a decision, whether to stay in Hade or leave with her husband Orpheus.

Astonishing best describes The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which opened Friday January 23 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. David P. Saar directs a production that begins as just another children's story and quickly transforms into one of the most charming, enchanting, heartwarming, and sensitive tales told on a Kansas City stage. Everything about the show, lighting, sound, costumes, performances, etc. comes together in such grandeur that I personally believe it is one of the best productions presented on any stage in the metropolitan area.

Lasso of Truth, a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, opened on Saturday night January 31 at the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. Johnny Wolfe directs this multimedia experience, which looks at the life of William Moulton Marston, the inventor of the lie detector and creator of the comic book hero Wonder Woman. The use of video and comic book style slides add additional humor to an already amusing and sensual production. Lasso of Truth is a co-production with the University of Missouri at Kansas City Theatre.

KANSAS CITY, MO (January 26, 2015) - The Kansas City Ballet today announced the 2015-2016 season. The 58th season will commence with the Kansas City Premiere of The Three Musketeers, choreography by Andre Prokovsky and music by Guiseppe Verdi, to be followed by the unveiling of Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney's all new production of The Nutcracker. Following the holiday classic, the winter program will feature the Kansas City Premiere of Swan Lake, choreography by Devon Carney, after Marius Petipa with the beloved music of Tchaikovsky. The 2015-16 season will finish with a joyful Spring Program featuring Kansas City Premieres of Adam Hougland's The Rite of Spring as well as new works by choreographers Helen Pickett, Viktor Plotnikov, and Yuri Possokhov. The Kansas City Symphony, conducted by renowned Kansas City Music Director Ramona Pansegrau, will accompany the 2015-2016 season.

That's Entertainment: The MGM Years the current production of the Quality Hill Playhouse continues through February 15 at the theatre in Kansas City, MO. The show highlights the songs from the movie studio MGM, but in the case of Quality Hill MGM stands for Music Glorious Music and that is exactly what the audience receives.

Spinning Tree Theatre brings the Kansas City premiere of Black Pearl Sings! to the stage of the Just Off Broadway Theatre March 6. Written by Kansas City playwright Frank Higgins the production marks two firsts for Spinning Tree Theatre. Black Pearl Sings! represents their first production of a local playwright and the first time they have utilized a director outside of the Spinning Tree Theatre.

The windy city blew into the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts with gale force on Tuesday night as the Theater League presented the opening of Chicago the Musical. Barry and Fran Weissler present the Tony Award winning musical with book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. David Bushman recreates the original choreography and David Hyslop recreates the original production direction of the musical originally choreographed and directed by Fosse.

The Unicorn Theatre presents a Rolling World Premiere of Lasso of Truth at the theater located in Kansas City, Missouri. Johnny Wolfe directs the Lasso of Truth, written by Carson Kreitzer and co-produced with the University of Missouri at Kansas City Theatre. The show runs January 28 through February 15, with opening night on January 31.

Footloose opened to a packed house on Friday January 16 at the Barn Players Theater. Directed and choreographed by Guy Gardner, presented by the Barn Juniors, Footloose features middle school and high school students. Based on the screenplay by Dean Pitchford the stage adaption is by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie with music by Tom Snow and lyrics by Dean Pitchford.

The Kansas City Theater League presents Chicago at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center January 20 through January 25. The musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Bob Fosse and Ebb is set in Prohibition-era Chicago. It is the tale of two women in the Cook County Jail charged with murder, both fighting for fame that may keep them from the gallows. The interview with Terra C. MacLeod who plays Velma Kelly in the popular musical is courtesy of the Theater League.

The Tale of the Allergist's Wife opened Saturday January 10 at the White Theatre located in the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park. Barb Nichols directs the play by Charles Busch, which opened on Broadway in November of 2000 running for 777 performances. The Tale of the Allergist's Wife won the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Outstanding Playwrighting and received one additional Outer Critics Circle Award nomination plus three Tony Award nominations and two Drama Desk Award nomination.

With the recent closing of The Golden Ox, The Mystery Train is moving over to The Tiffany Ballroom, 903 Harrison Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106 to finish its production of Murder on the Ornament Express, which runs through January 3. The effected performances include December 26, 27, 31 (New Year's Eve), January 2, and 3rd. The shows are an interactive mystery game complete with a delicious dinner and many shady characters, starring Trevor Tournear, Nikki Susco-Taylor, and Stephanie Charlton.