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Alan Portner - Page 2

Alan Portner

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.

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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.
  • The Last Romance at New Theatre Restaurant - THE LAST ROMANCE marked the final teaming of Charley Robinson and Michael Learned. Both were charming in a super venue.
  • 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.


Latest Articles

Review: MOBY DICK

Review: MOBY DICK

March 30, 2026

MTH’s World Premiere production of “Moby Dick a sea shanty” should not be missed.

Review: THE GREAT GATSBY at Kansas City Music Hall

Review: THE GREAT GATSBY at Kansas City Music Hall

March 18, 2026

If Broadway’s Great Gatsby trades in spectacle, the first national North American Tour proves that its success on the road depends on something more grounded: a cast capable of sustaining the illusion night after night, city after city.

Review: HAMILTON at KC Music Hall

Review: HAMILTON at KC Music Hall

February 20, 2026

When the musical juggernaut titled “Hamilton” stormed into Kansas City’s gilded Music Hall this week, it arrives not as a relic of mid-2010s hype, but as a living, breathing re-invention of America’s founding fathers.

Review: RENT at White Theatre At The J

Review: RENT at White Theatre At The J

February 3, 2026

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

Review: KIMBERLY AKIMBO at Kauffman Center

Review: KIMBERLY AKIMBO at Kauffman Center

January 22, 2026

“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.

Review: NOBODY'S PERFECT at New Theatre & Restaurant

Review: NOBODY'S PERFECT at New Theatre & Restaurant

December 1, 2025

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.

Review: & JULIET at Kansas City Music Hall

Review: & JULIET at Kansas City Music Hall

November 20, 2025

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.

Review: ALONE TOGETHER at New Theatre Restaurant

Review: ALONE TOGETHER at New Theatre Restaurant

September 22, 2025

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.

Review: BOOK OF MORMON at Kansas City Music Hall

Review: BOOK OF MORMON at Kansas City Music Hall

September 17, 2025

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.




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