Emily Shackelford

Review: PORGY AND BESS at Music Theater Heritage
by Alan Portner - Jun 10, 2024

Now playing in the Grand Theater at Crown Center is Music Theater Heritage’s production of Gershwin’s “PORGY AND BESS.”  This is an example of MTH going “all in” on a very challenging show and producing an extremely credible final product. 

Cast and Creative Team Set For GODSPELL at Music Theater Heritage
by Stephi Wild - Mar 28, 2024

Music Theater Heritage, the professional theater in residence at Crown Center, has announced the cast and creative team for Stephen Schwartz’s GODSPELL. This is the first time a Stephen Schwartz musical has been presented in the theater’s 22 seasons.

Photos: First Look at IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY at Music Theater Heritage
by Stephi Wild - Dec 8, 2023

All new photos have been released from IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: a live radio play at Music Theater Heritage.

Full Cast and Creatives Announced For IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE at Music Theatre Heritage
by Blair Ingenthron - Nov 18, 2023

Music Theater Heritage, the professional theater in residence at Crown Center, has announced casting for its holiday production It's A Wonderful Life: a live radio play. The production is directed by MTH Artistic Associate Emily Shackelford.

CYRANO DE BERGERAC Comes to Kansas City Repertory Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Aug 29, 2023

Kansas City Repertory Theatre opens its 60th Anniversary 2023-24 season with the timeless passionate tour-de-force, Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand, freely adapted by Martin Crimp and directed by Associate Artistic Director Nelson T. Eusebio III. Performances run September 5 through 24, 2023, at Spencer Theatre.   

Kansas City Repertory Theatre Reveals Cast For CYRANO DE BERGERAC
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Aug 9, 2023

Kansas City Repertory Theatre kicks off its 60th Anniversary Season with the timeless classic Cyrano de Bergerac. Get all the details on the cast and performance dates here.

Music Theater Heritage Announces SWEENEY TODD, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, And More For 22nd Season
by A.A. Cristi - Aug 2, 2023

In perhaps its most ambitious season to date, Music Theater Heritage has announced bold and imaginative programming for its 2024 season. Utilizing three different venues, MTH's 22nd Season highlights stories that orbit around the power of love and the lengths we take to protect it. The season includes Tony Award winners, re-imaginings, original concert productions, and represents some of the most celebrated dramatists, composers, and songwriters of the 20th century. 

Review: GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE at Music Theater Heritage
by Alan Portner - Jun 19, 2023

Part of the fun of live theater is revisiting favorite materials and seeing how new directors and new actors re-interpret the material.  Often, the resulting production is only peripherally connected to the original show.  One example of this phenomenon is “Gypsy: A Musical Fable,” often called the greatest musical play of all time. 

GYPSY Comes to Music Theater Heritage in June
by Stephi Wild - May 25, 2023

Music Theater Heritage has announced the cast and creatives for its summer production of Gypsy. Famously one of Stephen Sondheim’s earliest works, Gypsy features a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sondheim. It is based on the memoirs of burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee.

Music Theater Heritage Presents the Kansas City Professional Premiere of THE SECRET GARDEN
by Stephi Wild - Mar 16, 2023

Music Theater Heritage has announced the cast and creatives for its upcoming production of The Secret Garden. Based on the classic novel, The Secret Garden is a compelling tale of forgiveness and renewal, with haunting melodies and a glorious score.

Music Theatre Heritage Announces Casting for A SPECTACULAR CHRISTMAS SHOW Next Month
by Blair Ingenthron - Nov 27, 2022

The production is directed and choreographed by MTH Artistic Associate Emily Shackelford, making her professional directing debut. The talented six-person ensemble features Chelcie Abercrombie, Taylor Avazpour, Valerie Chamberlain, Arthur Clifford, Catera Combs, and Douglass Walker.

SD Junior Theatre Presents THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL in October
by Stephi Wild - Sep 29, 2022

San Diego Junior Theatre, the nation's longest-running youth theatre program, opens its 75th Anniversary Season with The SpongeBob Musical!

Photos: Inside Look at Music Theater Heritage's Production of SONG AND DANCE
by Marissa Tomeo - May 14, 2022

Music Theater Heritage has released the first look at its regional premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s SONG & DANCE. The production is led by Emily Shackelford and directed by Jessalyn Kincaid with choreography by Caroline Dahm. The elusive musical features one act told entirely through “Song” and the other told entirely through “Dance.”

Music Theater Heritage Presents Regional Premiere Of Andrew Lloyd Webber's SONG & DANCE
by A.A. Cristi - Apr 22, 2022

Music Theater Heritage has announced the cast and creative team for the second production of its 2022 Season, the regional premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's SONG & DANCE. The production is led by Emily Shackelford, who last appeared at MTH in its record-setting production of CATS in 2018. SONG & DANCE is directed by Jessalyn Kincaid and Linnaia McKenzie with choreography by Caroline Dahm.

BWW Review: LIFE SUCKS at Cygnet Theatre is Uncle Vanya with a comedic twist
by E.H. Reiter - Feb 18, 2022

LIFE SUCKS now playing at Cygnet Theatre through Feb 27th is a new take on a theatre classic; it's Uncle Vanya with a modern comedic twist.

San Diego Junior Theatre to Present A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 28, 2021

San Diego Junior Theatre will present A Year with Frog and Toad, the first show of its 74th Season. A Year with Frog and Toad is the touching story of two unlikely friends, the cheerful Frog, and curmudgeonly Toad.

BWW Review: Syracuse Stage Presents THE WOLVES at the Storch Theater
by Natasha Ashley - Jan 27, 2020

Syracuse Stage along with the Syracuse Department of Drama brings a captivating and raw production of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves under the impressive direction of Melissa Rain Anderson. The production features numerous Syracuse University student actors along with members of the Actors' Equity Association as they bring the Pulitzer Prize nominated drama about nine young women soccer players to life with such immense intensity and talent. The production is intense, chilling, and brilliant.

Syracuse Stage Presents THE WOLVES
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jan 16, 2020

The Syracuse Stage season continues with the critically acclaimed 'The Wolves,' Sarah DeLappe's Pulitzer Prize nominated drama about nine young women soccer players. Co-produced with the Syracuse University Department of Drama and directed by Melissa Rain Anderson, 'The Wolves' runs Jan. 22 - Feb. 16 in the Storch Theatre at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse.

BWW Review: BUDDY...THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY at New Theatre Restaurant
by Alan Portner - May 3, 2019

Most Midwesterners older than a certain age have heard the name and may even know how young Buddy Holly died.  Some fans know exactly where they were and from whom they heard the news.  Many fewer know much about Buddy's backstory.   That hole in the history in early Rock and Roll is plugged by the new production of "Buddy … The Buddy Holly Story" at New Theater Restaurant in Overland Park now through July 7.

BWW Review: INDECENT at Center Stage
by Jack L. B. Gohn - Mar 11, 2019

Paula Vogel's 2015 play Indecent, in a production now arrived at Center Stage after stops at D.C.'s Arena Stage and the Kansas City Rep, is a staggering tour de force of playwriting prowess that is also a tour of a largely forgotten world: international Yiddish theater shortly after the turn of the last century. A play about a play about a play, it follows Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance on a circular path, from Lodz, Poland in 1906 to Warsaw, to various stages in Europe, through Ellis Island and various New York theaters, culminating with an abortive stay on Broadway, and thence back to Lodz once more, at the peak of the Holocaust. And then, in a sort of coda, it concludes in Connecticut with the last days of Mr. Asch. All these parts are contained within an initial framing device in which, like Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a stage manager named Lemml (Ben Cherry), introduces the players and musicians, apparently members of a turn-of-the-century Yiddish theater troupe, and identifies the kinds of parts they will play (like male and female Ingenues). Everything that follows, i.e. a play about presenting a play, is presented as a play performed by this troupe.