KANSAS CITY THEATER REVIEWS

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'...

The World Premier engagement of Jacqueline Goldfinger's BABEL (as part of the National New Play Network) is enjoying its first, fully realized production at Kansas City's Unicorn Theatre in Midtown. BABEL is a fascinating, at times funny, and at times terrifying vision of a future that may not be v...

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 Ho...

PROOF is an interesting, four person, theatrical enterprise that explores the nexus between genius and profound mental illness. This 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner by David Auburn is currently completing its extended run at Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre's Warwick Theatre in midtown this Saturday Februa...

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 ...

'And Still We Dream' song cycle carries most of the weight of this rather thin production....

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 Janua...

DIXIE LONGATE'S TUPPERWARE PARTY on the Starlight Stage Indoors is a hoot.  Playing in Kansas City until January 19, Dixie is the outrageous drag stage personae of performer and playwright Kris Andersson.  It is a 90 minute, multimedia, comic presentation and an actual Tupperware Party....

Stopping only for one night on December 17, Johnson County Community College presented a new Broadway style musical called BANDSTAND in Yardley Hall. All told, BANDSTAND is a very good show and worth seeing should it come through again. It is one of those shows that aspires to be great, but doesn'...

It's the Christmas season so what should I do? I'll go to the theater and see Cindy Lou Who. WHO'S HOLIDAY the hilarious parody of Dr. Seuss's a?oeThe Grinch Who Stole Christmasa?? is now playing at The Louis Curtiss Studio Building in Kansas City through December 21. This is not a children's sho...

The 2019 theatrical season has afforded me the opportunity to see several fantastic plays and musicals, unfortunately, Ken Ludwig's SHERWOOD THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD does not rank among them. Yes, if you like slapstick, old jokes, and sword fights then it does provide a nice evening of entertai...

Smoke, gunfire, screams, the sound of a helicopter overhead, it's not just another night in Kansas City it's the opening night for Miss Saigon now playing at the Music Hall through December 15. While other theaters are busy bringing Christmas shows to life the Kansas City Broadway Series brings us ...

It wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to the Folly Theatre in Kansas City for another much-anticipated holiday show performed by the Heartland Men's Chorus on December 7 and December 8. MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT is the name of the 2019 offering for the holiday season and the name describes exactly w...

A strong cast presents an excellent Unicorn production of a very new play, Bernhardt/Hamlet, A Woman Unbounda by Theresa Rebeck. Bernhardt/Hamlet is a smart, comedic, reasonably accurate portrait of a middle-aged, financially strapped, giant of the nineteenth century French stage still with her pow...

Dear Santa, for Christmas please bring me another ticket to Musical Theater Heritage's Christmas show, A SPECTACULAR CHRISTMAS SHOW, what a marvelous way to get into the holiday season. As one theater-goer said, a?oeif this doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit I don't know what willa??. A SPECT...

December 6, 2019 marks the inaugural presentation of Kansas City's new Forge Repertory Theatre. The first production is TV writer Eric Overmyer's 1985 comic fantasy “On The Verge or The Geography of Yearning” performed at the Black Box Theatre in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City....

a?oePhenomenala?? is how one theatergoer, Elaine Jacobs, described the opening night of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, now a Kansas City tradition in its 39th year. Presented by the Kansas City Repertory Theatre the Charles Dickens classic opened Saturday, November 30 at the Spencer Theatre on the University...

The magic of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter comes to life at the Folly Theatre in POTTED POTTER THE UNAUTHORIZED HARRY EXPERIENCE, now playing through December 1st. This hilarious parody covers all seven of the best-selling Harry Potter fantasy series in just 70 side-splitting minutes....

The Barn Players Community Theater, now located at the Arts Asylum, finishes up their 2019 main stage schedule with a good production of Blake Edwards'Victor/Victoria based on the 1982 smash hit film of the same name. Victoria complains that she is disadvantaged as a performer because she is a ...

KC Lyric's La Bohème revives the 2014 production with a lighter tone....

If your washer and dryer sing to you it may be a bad reaction to medication or you may be at the wonderfully humorous and thought-provoking musical production of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, which opened Saturday night November 9 at the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center in Overland Park. The Spinning ...

The only snow I want to see this year is the snow that transforms the stage at the Coterie Theatre into a winter wonderland at opening night of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. William J. Christie directs this hilarious stage adaption by Eric Schaeffer. Written by Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz the p...

Need an evening that stretches your G-rated mind with a fun, supremely entertaining, ninety minute rib-tickling exercise? How about an evening free from national politics? Oddly, it is available in a show about the nation's founders and others. You will enjoy Spamilton, an American Parody literal...

Cruise over to the White Theatre for their wonderful production of ANYTHING GOES now playing through November 17. ANYTHING GOES opened on Saturday, November 2 to kick off the 15th season of the theater located at the Jewish Community Center. Tim Bair directs this whimsical musical with music and l...

MY MOTHER IS ITALIAN, MY FATHER IS JEWISH, & I'M IN THERAPY is a long-running off Broadway comedy show that has landed in Musical Theatre's main room for a three week long run....