Review: SHOUT! THE MOD MUSICAL at Black Box Theater
by Alan Portner - March 12, 2024
Shout! The Mod Musical” is more of a loose musical revue, than a musical play. It is costumed and set for London during the period I was emerging from my teenage cocoon years into young adulthood. I clearly remember the performers who introduced the music from this show into the canon....
Review: MAMMA MIA! at Kansas City Music Hall
by Alan Portner - March 06, 2024
Plain old feel-good musicals are rare. The “Dancing Queen” of this limited genre is “Mamma Mia!” The 25th Anniversary tour of this truly enjoyable evening out at the theatre plays through Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Kansas City Music Hall in downtown Kansas City....
Review: ALOHA FROM VEGAS at New Theatre & Restaurant
by Alan Portner - February 17, 2024
Victor Trevino, Jr. as Elvis Presley is brilliant in New Theatre & Restaurant’s new Tribute Concert to the “King” called “Aloha from Vegas.” To get much closer to Elvis, you need a time machine. ...
Review: THE PROM at White Theatre
by Alan Portner - January 30, 2024
What did our critic think of THE PROM at White Theatre? Running now at the White Theatre inside the Jewish Community Center is a production of a new musical dealing with the serious subjects of celebrity, gender identity and social intolerance run wild that somehow still offers the audience a real f...
Review: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY at Kauffman Center
by Alan Portner - January 24, 2024
Connor McPherson’s “Girl from the North Country” enjoyed the Kansas City opening of its first national tour at the Kauffman Center on Tuesday night for a one week residency. McPherson has written and directed a “slice of life” show and filled in the blank spaces with songs from Bob Dylan’s career.
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Review: GASLIGHT at Union Station
by Alan Portner - January 20, 2024
They say you never forget your first. That was certainly the situation for a former Scotland Yard Police Inspector named Rough (played by John Rensenhouse). Oddly, Inspector Rough had no known first name. Rough’s first bloody murder case in 1865 remained unsolved fifteen years after the event....
Review: JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG at MET's Warwick Theatre
by Alan Portner - January 13, 2024
“Judgement at Nuremberg” at Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre’s (MET) Warwick Theatre is a fictional rendering of the 1947 Judge’s War Crime Trial held at Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. “Judgement at Nuremberg” is a painful remembrance of an attempt to both punish those accountable for the barbarisms comm...
Review: TINA at Kansas City Music Hall
by Alan Portner - December 07, 2023
The sheer spectacle of “Tina” is amazing. Emphasizing the fact that Tina Turner was one of a kind, the gravely-voiced, sexy, full out singing style of Tina is so stressful on the performer’s voices, this show uses two actresses to play her on alternate evenings. ...
Review: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN at New Theatre & Restaurant
by Alan Portner - December 02, 2023
“Catch Me If You Can” at New Theatre Restaurant is a comedic turn on the Murder Mystery genre. It will keep you guessing from the opening curtain until the big reveal at the end of the show.
San Francisco Marketing Consultant Daniel Corbin (Ross Hellwig) has sneaked away for a holiday weekend with ...