Kansas City Theater Reviews
BWW Review: THE GOLDEN GIRLS PARODY at Starlight Theatre Indoors
by Alan Portner - March 09, 2020
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BWW Review: AMERICAN SON at Unicorn Theatre
by Alan Portner - March 09, 2020
AMERICAN SON is a bold, intense, ninety minute study of race and law enforcement in America during the early twenty-first century. How you interpret what you see depends entirely on who you are and your own preconceptions. ...
BWW Review: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR at KC Lyric Opera
by Kelly Luck - March 08, 2020
KC Lyric's production a bel canto treat...
BWW Review: THE SECRET IN THE WING Opens at the Black Box in Kansas City
by Steve Wilson - March 06, 2020
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 Bo...
BWW Review: PUFFS OR SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A CERTAIN SCHOOL Opens at the Coterie
by Steve Wilson - March 01, 2020
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 writ...
BWW Review: TITANIC (THE MUSICAL) at Barn Players
by Alan Portner - February 18, 2020
Barn Players production of TITANIC (The Musical) opened this past weekend at the Arts Asylum to full and appreciative audiences. TITANIC is a huge (pardon the play on words) Community Theater undertaking in all ways you might imagine it could be. TITANIC (The Musical) was written by Maury Yesto...
BWW Review: SHOW FOR DAYS OPENS AT THE BLACK BOX IN KANSAS CITY
by Steve Wilson - February 17, 2020
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 a...
BWW Review: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS at Yardley Hall
by Alan Portner - February 16, 2020
A third evolution of the American classic AN AMERICAN IN PARIS took the stage at Yardley Hall inside the Carlsen Center at Johnson County (KS) Community College to an almost full audience of 1500 souls. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS has been reborn as an ambitious piece of modern musical theater. It firs...
BWW Review: SWAN LAKE at KC Ballet
by Kelly Luck - February 15, 2020
Carney returns SWAN LAKE with a few new touches of his own....
BWW Review: CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES at New Theatre & Restaurant
by Alan Portner - February 15, 2020
It doesn't much matter whether you happen to be Lutheran, Catholic, another flavor of Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim. All places of worship surely have CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES like these....
BWW Review: COME FROM AWAY at Kansas City Broadway Series
by Alan Portner - February 12, 2020
COME FROM AWAY is a 2017 musical play that memorializes the best of how humans can react in the face of the 911 tragedy. It is both a testament and the best new musical in many years....
BWW Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at The White Theatre
by Alan Portner - February 11, 2020
William Shakespeare's 1595 comedy A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is one of his most often performed light plays. Stripped down, it is a screwball romantic comedy of misdirection written across five acts in verse....
BWW Review: FOREVER PLAID at Musical Theater Heritage
by Alan Portner - February 09, 2020
FOREVER PLAID is a delightful stroll down memory lane for you. This new production designed at Musical Theatre Heritage inside Crown Center is a hoot and one of those “best in kind” experiences....
BWW Review: THE OFFICE; A MUSICAL PARODY at Starlight Theatre Indoors
by Alan Portner - February 05, 2020
The Musical Parody of TV's THE OFFICE is for those who are devoted fans of the 2005 a?' 2013 NBC comedy series. This is an unauthorized version, but it is probable that the best audience members for the parody are those most steeped in the developmental history of how the source show came to be....
BWW Review: FUN HOME at Kansas City Repertory Theatre
by Alan Portner - February 03, 2020
FUN HOME (the musical) is, according to KC Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Stuart Carden, a?oethe most important new musical theater piecea?oe of the last decade. 2015 American Theatre Wing voters agreed by rewarding FUN HOME with Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Lead A...
BWW Review: The Alternative Rock Musical GIRLFRIEND Opens at Spinning Tree Theatre
by Steve Wilson - January 26, 2020
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'...
BWW Review: BABEL at Unicorn Theatre
by Alan Portner - January 26, 2020
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...
BWW Review: THE WHITE ROSE: WE DEFIED HITLER Opens at the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City
by Steve Wilson - January 25, 2020
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...
BWW Review: PROOF at Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre
by Alan Portner - January 24, 2020
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...
BWW Review: CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY OPENS AT THE KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS IN KANSAS CITY
by Steve Wilson - January 22, 2020
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 ...
BWW Review: WHEN THERE ARE NINE at KC Lyric Opera
by Kelly Luck - January 20, 2020
'And Still We Dream' song cycle carries most of the weight of this rather thin production....
BWW Review: 'NIGHT, MOTHER CONTINUES AT THE KANSAS CITY ACTOR'S THEATRE AT CITY STAGE IN KANSAS CITY
by Steve Wilson - January 16, 2020
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...
BWW Review: DIXIE'S TUPPERWARE PARTY at STARLIGHT THEATRE
by Alan Portner - January 16, 2020
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....
BWW Review: BANDSTAND at Yardley Hall
by Alan Portner - December 19, 2019
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'...
BWW Review: Cindy Lou Who Tells a Christmas Tale in WHO'S HOLIDAY in Kansas City
by Steve Wilson - December 14, 2019
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...
