Alan Portner
Al Portner is a retired career journalist and media executive. He has written for publication over more than 40 years. He has published daily newspapers in venues as far east as Washington DC, as far west as Honolulu HI, and a number of communities in between. His new book on the literary partnership of Ulysses Grant and Mark Twain will be available in 2018.
BWW Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN at Starlight Theatre
BWW Review: BREAKNECK JULIUS CAESAR at 2017 KC Fringe Festival
BWW Review: YIDDISH WITH DICK AND JANE at 2017 KC Fringe Festival
BWW Review: ALL STAR DETECTIVES at 2017 Fringe Festival
BWW Review: THE ART OF MAGIC at 2017 KC Fringe Festival
BWW Feature: KANSAS CITY FRINGE FESTIVAL at All Over
BWW Review: LIMINAL STATE at 2017 KC Fringe Festival
BWW Review: THE NUTCRACKER at Kansas City Ballet
BWW Review: STOMP at Broadway Theater League
BWW Review: AVENUE Q at MTKC Pro
BWW Review: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Lyric Opera Of Kansas City
BWW Review: MOTOWN THE MUSICAL at Starlight TheatreAugust 23, 2017
2013's 'Motown, The Musical' opened Tuesday night for a week's run through August 27 at Starlight Theatre inside Swope Park to a responsive, handclapping, music-swaying, delighted audience. 'Motown' is what old films might call a biopic with music. It tells the story of 'Motown' founder and owner Berry Gordy Junior and his business and personal journey through popular music based in the black experience of mid-20th Century Detroit Michigan.
BWW Review: AN EVENING WITH GEORGE GERHSWIN at Musical Theater HeritageAugust 14, 2017
Well performed but a little academic and study in how styles have changed
BWW Review: BREAKNECK JULIUS CAESAR at 2017 KC Fringe FestivalJuly 28, 2017
Holding an audience on a stage by yourself for a whole hour is no small task, but it is one accomplished by Buffalo Grove Illinois' Tim Mooney in his remarkably cogent performance of 'Breakneck Julius Caesar' at the Unicorn Theatre's Jerome Stage as his contribution to the 2017 Fringe. Tim Mooney is a repeat offender at Fringe and he is always excellent.
BWW Review: LIMINAL STATE at 2017 KC Fringe FestivalJuly 28, 2017
Value expressed as mystery and state of being
BWW Review: YIDDISH WITH DICK AND JANE at 2017 KC Fringe FestivalJuly 26, 2017
As part of the 2017 KC Fringe, 'Yiddish With Dick And Jane' is worth seeing at the Arts Asylum close to downtown. Although just about anyone can enjoy this one, it says something about age when one realizes his own education falls after the McGuffey Reader period and smack in the middle of 'Reading with Dick and Jane' years.
BWW Review: THE ART OF MAGIC at 2017 KC Fringe FestivalJuly 26, 2017
Five man magic show provides professional and enjoyable hour
BWW Review: ALL STAR DETECTIVES at 2017 Fringe FestivalJuly 26, 2017
Misguided attempt at film noir style misses the target
BWW Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN at Starlight TheatreJuly 26, 2017
Dust off your willing suspension of disbelief. Starlight Theatre transforms into Elizabethan London in the year 1595. The play is 'Something Rotten.' William Shakespeare has not authored his 38 famous plays and 150 sonnets. By masquerading as patron to the struggling Bottom Brothers from Cornwall, the Bard has purloined their ideas and most of their dialog lock, stock, and couplet.
BWW Review: HUCK FINN - GUEST OF THE WINDING WIND at Just Off Broadway TheatreJuly 25, 2017
Props and Costumes are the high points. The playwright should reread Huck Finn
BWW Feature: KANSAS CITY FRINGE FESTIVAL at All OverJuly 25, 2017
Now spreading like a virus with a lifespan of only ten days, the annual Kansas City Fringe Festival has once again exploded across Kansas City entertainment venues for the thirteenth July in a row. It is an entertainment stew chock full of short plays, musical performances, dance, comedy, storytellers, clowns, puppeteers, improv groups, one man shows, magicians, and visual artists.
BWW Review: THE CRUCIBLE at Barn PlayersJuly 16, 2017
Crucible reminds us of the good old bad old days of church extremism and Congressional blacklists along with a warning for today.
BWW Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at New Theatre RestaurantJuly 14, 2017
Imagine transitional rock superstars Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis hanging out together for an impromptu recording session early in their musical careers. This is the unlikely, but mostly true tale told by the new production of the 2010 Broadway musical 'Million Dollar Quartet' now opened at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park. This is one entertaining evening.
BWW Review: JERSEY BOYS at Starlight TheatreJune 28, 2017
One you transport back to the late 50s and 60s this one is a lot of fun.
BWW Review: CRAZY FOR YOU at Theatre In The ParkJune 19, 2017
'Crazy For You,' now playing at the Theatre In The Park in Shawnee Mission Park, is the theatrical equivalent of the 'Little Engine That Could.' It represents the fifth generation of musical shows based on George and Ira Gershwin's 1930 'Girl Crazy' score. Even though the original version kicked off the careers of Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers, none of these shows remotely resembles any of its siblings.
BWW Previews: CRAZY FOR YOU at Theater In The ParkJune 12, 2017
Gershwin 1992 reboot of 1930's Girl Crazy features songs and dances in the Nevada Desert... A true backstage romantic comedy.
BWW Review: YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND at Quality Hill PlayhouseJune 12, 2017
Several hours spent with Kent Barnhart and friends at Quality Hill Playhouse are never time wasted if you love the great American songbook. The current sold out program features two hours of music celebrating tunes music of Carole King, James Taylor, and a few others of similar genre from the 1960s and 1970s.
BWW Review: GREASE at TTIP IndoorsJune 12, 2017
Excellent production kicks off Black Box theater history
BWW Review: TOMMY at MTHJune 11, 2017
Excellent production of a very complex piece of Musical Theater
BWW Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. at City Theatre Of IndependenceJune 5, 2017
Now running at the City Theater of Independence is the 2013 Tony winning comedy 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike' by Christopher Durang. Based loosely on charcters and the works of Anton Checkhov, you don't have to be familiar with the Russian writer to get all the jokes. Well, you might need to know a little bit to get all the in-jokes, but the New York critics gave this show a resounding seal of approval.
BWW Review: THE LITTLE MERMAID at Starlight TheatreJune 5, 2017
Disney's Little Mermaid at Starlight offers a great show and value added video assist
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