Steve Wilson - Page 4

Halloween is my favorite time of year, with its ghosts, goblins, haunted houses, and Rocky. The season has been made more extraordinary this year with the opening of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at The Black Box, in the historic West Bottoms of Kansas City, MO. Having missed the 2020 season due to the pandemic Padgett Productions has renewed, to the delight of a large audience, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. How good is the show? The best answer I can give is I’ve done something I seldom do, bought tickets to see it again before it closes.

An early start to the year's creepiest season, Halloween, began on Friday night with the return of The Coterie Theatre’s presentation of ELECTRIC POE 2021. This is the second year of the special engagement at the oldest cemetery in Kansas City, Union Cemetery, and runs through October 31. I described last year's performance as “Haunting”, but the intensity of this year's program makes last year appear like ‘Itsy, Bitsy Spider’.

The Barn Players make a triumphant return to the performing arts scene in Kansas City with their presentation of Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical, COMPANY. The conceptual musical directed by Eric Magnus, with musical direction by Michelle Allen McIntire, runs through September 26 at The Arts Asylum in Kansas City, Missouri.

I saw an AMERICAN IDIOT in Kansas City, and I LIKED it. Produced by Padgett Productions, AMERICAN IDIOT explodes onto the stage at The Black Box in Kansas City, Missouri. With only a short run of four days, it begins to give hope to the theater-starved residents that maybe live theater is beginning to return to the metro area. The invigorating and at times moving punk rock musical opened on August 19 and runs through August 22.

Ladies and gentlemen Elvis has returned to the building! The New Theatre and Restaurant in Overland Park presents THE KING IN CONCERT, starring two-time World Champion Elvis tribute artist, Victor Trevino, Jr., now through September 12.

What happens when you give a dragon a taco with spicy jalapeno sauce? This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but instead, it is the marvelous DRAGONS LOVE TACOS now playing at the Coterie Theatre at Crown Center through August 8. This adaption from the New York Times #1bestselling phenomenon, “Dragons Love Tacos” by Adam Rubin, comes to life under the canopy at the Entertainment Pavilion in Crown Center Square.

I can’t think of a better way to welcome live theater back to Kansas City than to BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE a production of Musical Theater Heritage and playing in the 4th-floor theater in Crown Center. This is MTH’s first indoor production in sixteen months due to the pandemic, and as the announcer says at the beginning of the show it will “transport you to a better time”.

The Coterie Theatre has opened its first in-theater production since the beginning of the pandemic as it presents the Mesner Puppet Theaters’ World Premiere of HOW TO SNAG A SEA MONSTER: A TERRICALLY TALL TELL. Live performances began on Friday, April 30, and run Friday through Sunday at the Coterie Theatre located on the bottom floor of Crown Center. All theatergoers are required to wear a mask and maintain social distancing. Online streaming of the production begins May 5th and runs through May 30th.

The Coterie Theatre and the University of Missouri at Kansas City have teamed together to offer the virtual co-production of BRAINSTORM: THE INSIDE LIFE OF THE TEENAGE MIND, which is streaming and on demand now through February 7. The program is suggested for families and grades 6-12.

The Covid 19 pandemic has halted live performances from Kansas City to Broadway, and all around the world. The Coterie Theatre has joined the ever-growing number of theatrical companies that are bringing their performances to their audiences virtually, with their production of THE SNOWY DAY AND OTHER STORIES BY EZRA JACK KEATS. The production will be available for live streaming on-demand through January 3, 2021.

The Unicorn Theatre is currently streaming a virtual theatre production of Will Snider’s play DEATH OF A DRIVER. The feature is available through November 29 and when ordered through the box office the purchaser has 48 hours to view the production. The Associate Artistic Director for The Unicorn, Ian R. Crawford, directs this production as The Unicorn continues to invest resources in an attempt to keep artists working through the pandemic.

The Heartland Mena??s Chorus presented their first virtual program of their 35th season on Saturday, September 26 with their presentation of SMILE A FEEL GOOD CABARET on Facebook Live. The production presented songs to make the audience happy, with one goal to make the audience smile.

As if 2020 wasna??t scary enough, The Coterie Theater ushers in the haunting season with the opening of ELECTRIC POE on Friday, September 19. The play based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe was conceived, adapted, and directed by Jeff Church, Producing Artistic Director of The Coterie, and runs through Halloween night.

The second show of the inaugural season of Forge Repertory Theatre is an ambitious production of Mary Zimmerman's THE SECRET IN THE WINGS. It is hilarious, a generally dark comedy, with moments of violence, masterfully directed by Todd Lanker, but best of all opens Saturday, March 7, at The Black Box in Kansas City.

PUFFS is not the Kleenex tissue, though you may need one to wipe away the tears running down your cheeks from the sustained laughter. PUFFS OR SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A CERTAIN SCHOOL OF MAGIC AND MAGIC opened Friday, February 28 at The Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. Matt Cox has written a hilarious parody of the famous boy wizard series of books and movies which should not be missed. Amanda Kibler, the Education Director for The Coterie, directs this look at the secondary characters from the seven years that Potter was at that school whose name we cannot say.

Fishtank Theatre opened its first show at their new home, the Black Box, with the hilarious comedy SHOW FOR DAYS. Though several productions by other companies have already been staged at the new theater this is the inaugural show for Heidi Van's Fishtank Theatre. The show runs through February 29 at the theater located in the historic West Bottoms district of Kansas City, Missouri.

How sweet it is, GIRLFRIEND, the alternative rock musical written by Todd Almond from the 1991 hit album of Matthew Sweet opened Saturday, January 25 at Spinning Tree Theatre in Kansas City. Directed by Michael Grayman-Parkhurst with Musical Direction by Pamela Baskin-Watson the play based on Sweet's 1991 album of the same name and runs through February 9 at the Black Box Theatre located in the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center.

The powerfully moving play, THE WHITE ROSE: WE DEFIED HITLER, by David Meyers opened Friday, January 24, at The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City. The 70-minute play is produced in cooperation with the University of Missouri at Kansas City Theatre Department and produced with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. The show based on actual events runs at The Coterie through February 9.

On occasion a show comes along that puts a smile on your lips from the opening curtain to the final bows, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is that kind of show. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, presented by The American Theatre Guild, opened on Tuesday night at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. The staged musical is adapted from the children's novel by Roald Dahl with book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.

Thought-provoking, 'NIGHT, MOTHER sheds new light on a subject that few want to talk about, and no one wants to face head-on, suicide. 'NIGHT, MOTHER a play by Marsha Norman and directed by Sidonie Garrett for the Kansas City Actor's Theatre continues at the City Stage in Union Station through January 26.