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
Learn More 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.
Blend two ancient Greek myths, add the climate change crisis, a screed on capitalism, fears surrounding immigration, sprinkle in delightful, original folk music, and stir.
Playing now at Music Theater Heritage through October 23 at Crown Center is an imaginative new production of 1965's Tony award winning Best Musical 'Man of La Mancha' offered by Musical Theater Heritage.
One of the annual challenges inherent to creating an absolutely new “Spectacular Christmas Show” at Musical l Theater Heritage is how to differentiate this year’s production from the thirteen editions that preceded it.
“Johnny & June” at New Theatre Restaurant is an outstanding, original, tribute concert reminiscent of what TV audiences might have enjoyed at home between the premiere of the “Johnny Cash TV Show” in 1969 and the final “Johnny Cash Christmas Special” in 1985.
The World Premiere production of “Four Children” has been brought to life by the Kansas City Actors Theatre on the City Stage inside Union Station as a minimalist, sadly shocking view of war against children and on a number of levels.
Unicorn Theatre Artistic Director Cynthia Levin enthusiastically welcomed a properly vaccinated, masked, and socially distanced audience to the Levin Theater for the first Covid delayed Unicorn production in eighteen months.
It’s exuberant! It’s tuneful! It will make you want to dance! It is “On Your Feet,” the life story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and their Miami Sound Machine.
New safety limitations and significant high tech investment at New Theatre Restaurant has allowed dinner theater to return to Overland Park and the Kansas City area.