Al Portner is regional editor for Broadway World – Kansas City. He is a retired career journalist and media executive who has written for publication over more than 40 years. Portner has published daily newspapers in venues as far east as Washington DC, as far west as Honolulu HI.
Contact Alan Portner
About Alan Portner
First Show
The first musical I saw on Broadway was 1776 with the original cast.
Favorite Show
My favorite show current recent show is Phantom Of The Opera
Favorite Stories
BWW Review: AN EVENING WITH SIERRA BOGGESS at Musical Theater Heritage - Because of the presence of Ms. Boggess' parents in a small space environment, I felt like the veil dropped and we saw a glimpse of who this excellent performer really is as a person. I was able to feel the relationship of this family in relation to my own children.
BWW Review: BETWEEN THE LINES at Kansas City Repertory Theatre - BETWEEN THE LINES was a Pre-Broadway tryout production performed in front of the Broadway creative team. The show has yet to open in New York, but it remains clever and engaging. It also generated Broadway World reads at a rate four or five times what would normally be expected in a market of about two million.
Review: HADESTOWN at Kansas City Music Hall - The touring company of HADESTOWN featured a complex and thoughtful exploration of an ancient myth transported into another, but indefinite point in time. It was early in the run and a super cast was still extremely excited about performing something new. I personally enjoyed sharing uncommon background material that hoped to enhance the audience experience.
BWW Review: CATS at Musical Theater Heritage - CATS is not a favorite musical play. This particular production, however, featured a director who disassembled the entire show and rebuilt it with young, talented actors for a small theater and limited costume/makeup. It was an especially involving experience.
Now “playing” at Music Theatre Heritage inside Crown Center through February 22 is the latest iteration of the most produced modern musical play in history.
A new production of Jonathan Larson’s 1996 Pulitzer Prize Winner RENT, itself a re-interpretation of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” arrives like a time capsule that refuses to stay shut as a first ever co-production of the White Theatre (inside the Jewish Community Center) and Kansas City’s vener
“Kimberly Akimbo” is a tiny, idiosyncratic musical with a cast of only nine actors that somehow manages to share the full Broadway experience with its opening night audience at Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Overland Park, KS — The New Theatre & Restaurant has built its reputation on polished, crowd-pleasing comedies, and its latest production of Nobody’s Perfect keeps that tradition humming along with bright energy and old-fashioned farce.
The national tour of “& Juliet” opened Tuesday night for a run through Sunday at the Kansas City Music Hall with enough voltage to transform the theater into a full-color pop arena.
What Audiences at New Theatre’s new production of “Alone Together” experience an immediate, hilarious sense of “Been There… Done That…” and identify mostly with George and Helene, the lead characters.
The national non-Equity tour of The Book of Mormon has landed in Kansas City and if the roar of laughter on opening night is any indication, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez’s irreverent musical comedy hasn’t lost its bite.
The opening night performance of Kansas City Actors’ Theatre production of Antov Checkov’s UNCLE VANYA ended with an enthusiastic standing ovation on City Stage in the lower level of Union Station.
From its first electrifying notes to its tragic final act, WEST SIDE STORY continues to captivate audiences with its blend of urgent drama, iconic music, and groundbreaking choreography.
A surprising, bright, and entertaining production of THE WIZ opened Tuesday night at Kansas City’s Music Hall to an almost full house for a one week run.
The strength of this production is unquestionably the superior musical treatments, including an excellent orchestra of twenty conducted by Matt Richardson.
Kansas City Actors Theatre kicks off their twenty-first season with a super production of Jen Silverman’s THE ROOMMATE about two women who stumble awkwardly towards each other and learn a bit more than either one is ready to absorb.